Human Software is a novel that illustrates the delicate relationship between IT workers and their employers. It shows how smart, intrinsically curious and self-motivated people can be driven to burnout by long hours and overwork. It also shows how strictly hierarchical organisations, accommodating governments and local authorities, can make decisions that affect not only employees but also their families and local and natural environment through technical projects such as data centres and AI usage.
Set in the decaying English port town of Sandport, the story follows Beth Walters, an exhausted software engineer nursing failing logistics systems through 3 a.m. support calls, and Chrissie Hegarty, an ambitious American executive sent to force through a massive AI overhaul. The narrative shifts from corporate satire into a high-stakes technothriller when a data leak leads to a murder investigation, revealing that the company is using AI to sabotage its own infrastructure and frame human employees.
Human Software is centred on two women on opposite sides of a corporate collision course. As the company bets big on data centres and AI-driven “efficiency,” the two find they may have more common ground than either expected.
As such, I’ve framed Human Software as a cross between “The Phoenix Project” and “Local Hero”. It’s a techie story with a moral.
Should companies use Data Centres and AI to eliminate employees? Should employees always go the extra mile for their employers?
A few reactions from early readers:
“Freaked me out more than any Stephen King novel.”
— Jeremy Markey, Rands Review
“A pacey thriller that throws us right into the maelstrom of the big issues we all face today.”
— Verified Amazon reviewer
“Could scarcely be more of the moment.”
— Charles Humble, Tech Consultant & Journalist
Written by Richard W. Bown, a software engineer and DevOps practitioner with thirty years in the industry.
FREE DISCUSSION GUIDE
There’s a free book club discussion guide to go with it — icebreakers, themed questions, workshop prompts built around specific scenes. Useful whether you’re reading this with your actual book club or getting your team to argue about it over lunch.
BULK COPIES FOR TEAMS AND BOOK CLUBS
Copies are available at a discount for groups of 5 or more, first-edition cover included, while stock lasts. The discussion guide comes free with every order.