The blurbs for IGNORE ALL PREVIOUS INSTRUCTIONS are starting to come in, and I am so thrilled with these blurbs, I wanted to share them with you! Take a look:

“There’s so much to love about Ada Hoffman’s Ignore All Previous Instructions: Heists! Space pirates! Romance! Messy queer characters! Neurospiciness! An evil, AI-pushing corporation! Criminal conspiracies! But that’s just the start. Ignore All Previous Instructions is precisely the book we need right now. Gentle yet unflinching, Hoffmann reminds us why we need stories and why they might just save us.“
—Izzy Wasserstein, author of These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart

“Ignore All Previous Instructions is a deliciously queer, timely ode to human creativity in an ever-more-algorithmic world. Its subtle philosophical depth, keen observations, and lyrical poignancy will wow you, even as its neurodivergent hero steals your heart.”
–Maria Dong, Author of Liar, Dreamer, Thief and Aviary

“Ignore All Previous Instructions is a simultaneously moving and rollicking ride of action, ideas, and emotions. It’s a love story and also a love letter to the power of human creativity and imagination as resistance. Beautifully queer and neurodivergent to its core, this is science fiction with heart, soul, and brains.”
–Maria Haskins, author of Wolves & Girls and Six Dreams About the Train

“Ignore All Previous Instructions is a triumph of queer love and expression. A total adventure of a read. This book is the takedown of GenAI that I needed right now, making me feel hope and joy for the future. Ada Hoffman once again delivers a Wildfire of spacefaring romance.“
—Jordan Kurella, Nebula Nominated Author

“Come for the science fiction about AI written by an actual computer scientist, stay for the BE GAY DO CRIMES. Ignore All Previous Instructions has such range, from a heist and general space chaos to
thoughtful explorations of being queer against the law, from takes on popular-media censorship to subtly drawn neurodivergent characters. This book is a delight, and it becomes more timely with every passing day.”
– Bogi Takács, Hugo and Lambda award winning author, editor and critic

“I am a big fan of Ada Hoffmann’s work. Ignore All Previous Instructions is a book about an autistic storyteller who lives in an AI-driven antiutopia where a single corporation controls all storytelling. The story has pirates and space adventures and heists and queer relationships! Hoffmann’s novel offers a fascinating exploration of a society which has implemented universal basic income, where most people do not work, and individual expression and creativity are tightly controlled. I especially loved the deep and tender examination of queer autistic coming of age. I loved the focus on rules and rebellions and what that might mean – within oneself, with AI, with society, even within our own communities; I found it liberating and meaningful.”
– R.B. Lemberg, World Fantasy Award Winner of Yoke of Stars

The Tachyon team assures me even more blurbs are on their way. And we’ve got some exciting event plans that we’ll be able to announce closer to the May 12 launch date! For now, in case you are in the Ottawa region and want to hear me talk about AI on a panel with some smart academics, you’ll want to check this out in February:

Join us on Monday, February 9, at 7:00 p.m (EST) at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre (290 Lisgar Street) for "The Place of AI in the City: Intelligent Machines and the Changing Shape of Social Relationships"

As our day-to-day interactions with AI become increasingly more frequent and complex, artificial systems are beginning to occupy roles that once belonged only to other humans. This panel explores what it means to relate to AI socially: whether social connections with artificial systems can be genuine, what might be missing if they are not, and how these interactions may reshape human expectations of companionship, care, and trust. Along the way, the discussion will situate these questions within a broader examination of what today’s AI systems can and cannot do, and what the future trajectory of AI might look like.

This panel discussion will feature Carleton faculty Dr. Mary Kelly and Dr. Jim Davies (Cognitive Science), Dr. Kathleen Fraser (University of Ottawa), and Dr. Ada Hoffmann (science fiction author). Dr. Ada Hoffmann's latest book, Ignore All Previous Instructions, will be available for pre-order.

Dr. Josh Redstone (Department of Philosophy, Carleton University) will moderate the conversation. For more details, click the "Register Today" button below to view the event page on our website.

The first two weeks of 2026 have been FULL OF STUFF on so many levels, but one of those levels - for me - is Novel Stuff and I’m genuinely so excited about that.

Here’s Ninja, being excited too.