Woke this morning thinking of my team at work and how the last six months has made us feel like a squad of soldiers trying to survive the AI wars. My next thought slotted a missing chunk of the new book into place. I have a protag with a squad, and now I have starting personalities to work from.

One of the squad members betrays team. Now I know who that is ?. Most importantly, I have the angry, cynical protag’s emotional starting point as a bitter conscript and her end point as a hopeful real...