Patrick Quinlan

Biography

Patrick Quinlan is the author of at least 30 books and ebooks, written under his own name, and three pen names. One of his pen names is the author of more than a dozen popular military/political thrillers, including a USA Today Bestseller.

Books written under Patrick's own name include the crime novels Smoked, The Takedown (renamed The Falling Man for ebook publication), The Drop Off, and The Hit. Smoked made numerous bestseller lists in various parts of the world and was translated into four languages.

His thrillers also include the two books of the Demons Among Us horror series, The Girl Inside the Wall and The Demon. He is also the author the cyberpunk sci-fi novel Sexbot.

Patrick is the co-author, with legendary film actor Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Nighthawks, The Hitcher), of Rutger's memoir, All Those Moments. Available in English and Dutch, All Those Moments was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Patrick is also the co-author, with Elena Nikitina, of Elena's memoir of the First Russian-Chechen War, Girl Taken.

Patrick has been featured or reviewed in major media throughout the world, including the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the London Times, the Daily Mail, Entertainment Weekly, Maine Public Radio, BBC Radio News, and many others.

He divides his time between Maine and Florida.

Smashwords Interview

How did your novel "Sexbot" come about?
I got the idea for Sexbot while riding the train from New York to Florida. The dining car only has about 20 tables, so they make you sit with people you don't know. This is a nice thing in that you eat your meal with people you wouldn't meet otherwise.

One day, I had lunch in the dining car with a Manhattan real estate developer. He was a rich guy, and talkative. He was interested in a lot of things. At first, he was telling me about how the Japanese are in the process of developing robot sex dolls that are nearly lifelike. He was excited by this prospect. He thought that within another ten years, the dolls would be so lifelike that you wouldn't be able to tell them apart from real women.

The important thing, however, was that the sex dolls wouldn't be real women. This is important because real women come with so much baggage - they have opinions, ideas, moods, frustrations, children, ex-husbands, money problems, health problems, jobs, menstrual cycles, favorite sex positions, not to mention sex acts they're unwilling to perform. The real estate developer thought the ideal woman would be someone who had none of these things. All she would have is a perfect body, forever young, and a desire to please her master.

He said, "What would something like that be worth? For me, I know I'd pay at least $100,000. At that price, I'd probably buy more than one." That's where the idea for the Sexbot product came from.

Later, he told me that he had contracted to have himself cryogenically frozen when he dies, kind of like Walt Disney did. He said that within 50 years, scientists will have perfected a process for downloading human awareness into machines. When they do, very wealthy people will be able to live forever, more or less. When the machine starts to break down, you just swap the awareness into a different, newer, and in all likelihood, even more advanced machine.

Even weirder, maybe you make copies of your awareness, and download it into several different machines, or put it aboard a spaceship heading out of the galaxy, or wirelessly transmit it to a receiving station on Mars. You could put your awareness inside the perfect Sexbot type body, or inside a robot submarine, a predator drone, or make yourself into some kind of Robocop / Optimus Prime warrior bot. Once your awareness is downloadable and transferable, the limits as to what you can be are gone.

So why was this guy planning to freeze himself? Because alas, he didn't think he'd be alive long enough to see these breakthroughs. So he plans to come back after he dies, and then be downloaded.

I asked him what he thought about heaven and the idea of missing out on it.

He told me that even if there is a heaven, it can wait. Heaven is for eternity, which is a very long time. The immortality he's dreaming of can only last as long as there's a modern society to support the robots. How long can that last? A thousand years? Ten thousand? Eventually, human civilization will collapse, the robot immortals will die off, and heaven will still be right there, waiting to receive them.
Read more of this interview.

Where to find Patrick Quinlan online

Where to buy in print

Series

Sexbot
Susan Jones, the inventor of the world’s most advanced sex doll, the Sexbot, has stumbled upon a method for downloading human awareness into intelligent machines. Recognizing the market value of immortality, the company she works for, Suncoast Cybernetics, decides to murder her. Just before she’s killed, she successfully downloads herself into the most intelligent machine she has available – the prototype for the ninth generation of Sexbots. Now, Susan is Number Nine, dead but somehow alive, on the run from the company, and out to avenge her own murder.
Sexbot
Price: Free!
How to Write a Thriller
Get HOW TO WRITE A THRILLER, and you will: - Learn to write a page-turning thriller just like the pros do. - Save yourself years of trial and error. - Write with confidence, because you know exactly what you’re doing. When you buy HOW TO WRITE A THRILLER, here's what you get: - a process for structuring and writing a thriller, that I have used again and again to consistently write page turners, and which has guided the creation of some of the bestselling novels of the past 50 years; - a step-by-step breakdown of how this process works (with a slew of examples), and how to make it work for you; - a shortcut used widely within the publishing and film industries, and which you can use to quickly and easily brainstorm ideas for saleable novels; - how to create so much suspense, it forces the reader to keep turning pages late into the night (despite the fact that they have to work in the morning), and how you can accomplish this effect; - how to hook readers from the very first page, and never lose their attention; - how to develop realistic characters, and the traits that some of the most popular and enduring characters in history have in common;
Stolen Millions
Smoke Dugan is on the run. A bomb-maker by profession, he dropped out of sight because of a misunderstanding with his employers about an airplane crash and $2.5 million in cash. Unfortunately, they've found out where Smoke's living--a picturesque seaside city in Maine. And Denny Cruz, a highly paid assassin, is on his way from New York to collect him. Smoke's girlfriend, Lola Bell, is unaware of his past. Sexy, smart, and tough, Lola's a weed that grew up through the cracks in an inner-city housing project. Her big eyes belie her secret weapon: she's spent a decade studying the martial arts. The tattoo on her shoulder reads "Girls Kick Ass." When Cruz decides to use Lola to get to Smoke, he has no idea what he's taking on. A time bomb is ticking as Smoke, Lola, Cruz, and anyone unlucky enough to come into their orbit are caught up in a drama of abduction, car chases, and triple bluff, where escape or violent death look like the only options. But nothing turns out quite as anyone might expect . . .
Smoked
Price: $2.99 USD.
The Drop Off
Price: $3.99 USD.

Books

World War Nine (Sexbot Part 3)
Series: Sexbot. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 87,200. Language: English. Published: July 1, 2023 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Cyberpunk, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Action & suspense
A high-tech corporation above the law. A genius inventor with nothing left to lose, and a terrifying weapon at his fingertips. A Sexbot harboring the awareness of an amoral killer. High-tech forces collide in a showdown that will change the world, or end it. World War Nine is the third book in the Sexbot series, by Patrick Quinlan. It’s a fast-paced, sexy, high-stakes thriller.
Nine Lives (Sexbot Part 2)
Series: Sexbot. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 94,610. Language: English. Published: April 30, 2022 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Cyberpunk, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Action & suspense
Susan Jones is dead, and yet alive. A former scientist for Suncoast Cybernetics, she was murdered by the company. Her awareness is inside Number Nine, the newest prototype of Suncoast’s Sexbot line of robotic companions. Number Nine is on the run with Mr. Blue, the assassin who killed Susan. Blue and Nine are on a collision course with Suncoast, a corporation fast becoming a law unto itself.
How to Write a Thriller
Series: How to Write a Thriller. Price: $9.99 USD. Words: 55,040. Language: English. Published: July 1, 2019 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Nonfiction » Reference » Writing skills, Nonfiction » Reference » Publishing & books
(5.00 from 1 review)
Are you feeling frustrated with your writing? Get HOW TO WRITE A THRILLER, and you will: - Learn to write a page-turning thriller just like the pros do. - Save yourself YEARS of trial and error. - Write with confidence, because you know exactly what you’re doing. Patrick Quinlan is the author of more than 30 books and ebooks. He has been a Los Angeles Times and USA Today bestselling author.
How to Write the Perfect Short Story
Series: How to Write a Thriller. Price: Free! Words: 12,510. Language: English. Published: November 26, 2018 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Nonfiction » Self-improvement » Creativity, Nonfiction » Career Guides » Arts
(2.50 from 2 reviews)
To me, the perfect short story is a story that you write, that editors want to publish, and that readers will enjoy. If you’re lucky, it might even make you some money. Over time, if you write a bunch of perfect short stories, readers might start to remember your name. These are beautiful things. Download this ebook and discover a reliable way to write the perfect short story consistently.
The Drop Off
Series: Stolen Millions. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 108,480. Language: English. Published: October 5, 2016 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Action & suspense
Book #2 in the Stolen Millions series. Smoke Dugan, one-time bomb-maker for the mob, is on the run.There’s nothing on the Caribbean island of St. Mark’s but sun, sand and homegrown highs – making it the perfect place for Smoke to drop off the radar with a cool $2.5 million. But the price on his head is going to get some very bad people doing bad things to find him. “Tightly plotted, and very hip."
Smoked
Series: Stolen Millions. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 93,330. Language: English. Published: October 5, 2016 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Crime thriller, Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Action & suspense
Smoke Dugan is on the run. He dropped out of sight because of a misunderstanding with his employers about an airplane crash and $2.5 million in cash. But they've found out where he's living--a picturesque seaside city in Maine. And Denny Cruz, a high paid assassin, is on his way to collect him. A drama of abduction, car chases, and triple bluff, where escape and violent death are the only options.
Sexbot
Series: Sexbot. Price: Free! Words: 58,040. Language: English. Published: July 29, 2014 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » High tech, Fiction » Science fiction » Adventure
(4.00 from 2 reviews)
What if you could be immortal? Susan Jones is about to find out. A robotics scientist, Susan is the inventor of the Sexbot, the world’s most advanced robot sex toy. But Susan has stumbled upon the key to immortality – downloading human awareness into intelligent machines. Soon to be murdered, she downloads herself into the most intelligent machine available - Sexbot Number Nine. Fast, sexy fun.
The Demon (Book 2 of Demons Among Us)
Series: Demons Among Us. Price: Free! Words: 52,510. Language: English. Published: January 22, 2014 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Paranormal, Fiction » Horror » Occult
Book #2 in the Demons Among Us series. Victor Strake came to this world to feed on human flesh. Now he’s going home. To open the doorway between worlds, he’ll spill the blood of an innocent at the threshold. Jessie James must pass through a magic portal to a hellish alternate world, to fight Strake and save a child from being sacrificed. In the struggle, she may lose everyone she has ever loved.
The Girl Inside the Wall (Book 1 of Demons Among Us)
Series: Demons Among Us. Price: Free! Words: 52,620. Language: English. Published: January 22, 2014 by StrawberryBooks. Categories: Fiction » Fantasy » Paranormal, Fiction » Horror » Occult
Book 1 of the DEMONS AMONG US series. Eleven years old, Jessica “Jessie” James can read people’s minds simply by touching them. She’s plagued by the image of a five-year-old girl trapped behind a cinderblock wall. A man comes. When Jessie touches him, she learns his secrets. He’s Victor Strake, a serial killer of children. Pursued by Strake, Jessie struggles to save her sanity and her life.

Patrick Quinlan's tag cloud

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