‘Araya’ is debut novel by Saggart author Aneta

“THE story wouldn’t exist without Ethan,” explains Saggart-based author Aneta Ciszek-Kowalska, regarding her debut novel, ‘Araya’.

The story of the book is set in 2050, and every household has an AI assistant. Araya is sent to help Ethan, a writer in a time where writing is a dying profession.

When his wife is seriously injured in a car crash, doctors offer one hope: an experimental transference of her memories into a virtual system.

Zara, though, is pregnant, and the baby is not Ethan’s. He needs access to her most secret memories to discover the truth.

Aneta describes Ethan as a “very distinctive protagonist”, particularly protective of his family, wife and son.

He is acutely aware of the “traps and pitfalls of the modern technology”, has an inquisitive nature, and is not afraid to question authority.

On top of that, being a rather accomplished writer, he still gets “frowned upon, ridiculed even,” due to the fact that the job he does is a “dying profession,” and he relies on the governmental grants to keep him afloat.

When he is presented with a dilemma, something that goes against his nature, then the central conflict of the book comes into play.

The idea for this book came to Aneta through a conversation with her colleagues, where they discussed the “doom and gloom” of what is to come regarding AI.

This conversation also saw them discuss what it would mean to certain aspects of life and some professions, with Aneta remarking, “the fear that the writers might get replaced was something that has shaken me to the core, and the idea was planted.”

She cites her favourite part of writing ‘Araya’ as creating the characters, watching how they all came to life and “dictated” to her what to write, and the twists of the plot too.

The technological and medical aspects of writing the book were the biggest challenges for Aneta, as she remarks that she did as much research as she could.

“For any faults or errors, I sincerely apologise to the readers, and I hope I’ll be forgiven due to the fictional nature of this book.”

In regard to what messages she hopes readers take from ‘Araya’, Aneta reflects that she hopes she has drawn a strong enough picture of “what it means to be a human”.

She wants people to question that “perhaps where we are right now is on the verge of crossing a line that we never have before.”

For future projects, Aneta has two more adult books already written, several chapter books for children and numerous texts for children’s picture books, along with some short stories and even short theatre plays.

These are all waiting to be polished, edited, and possibly published based on how well ‘Araya’ performs.

Aneta would like to thank her best friends, husband, family, friends, neighbours, and colleagues for their support with this book.

She also acknowledges her two “little but biggest cheerleaders”, Robert and Hubert; graphics designer PJ; publisher Ellis Delmonte from Hawkwood Books; and readers.

‘Araya’ will be published on June 16 by Harkwood Books UK; the paperback can be pre-ordered on Amazon now.