Acclaimed author Lance Rubin makes his middle grade debut with a hilariously terrifying, terrifyingly hilarious story of a boy who gets more than he bargained for when he creates an A.I. best friend. Zed Moonstein is terrible at making friends. For the most part, though, that’s not such a big deal, because Zed has Rishti, his best friend and the only one he needs. They’re into the same stuff, they laugh at the same weird jokes, and they love living in MonoTown, the home of MonoLyth, the raddest tech company in the world. Even better, Zed’s mom works at MonoLyth, which means they get early access to all the newest devices and apps. But since middle school started, things have been . . . trickier. Rishti and Zed are in all different classes, and worse, she’s made a new, cooler friend that Zed can’t seem to compete with. Zed feels left behind, forgotten in a drawer like last year’s MonoPhone. That’s when Zed comes across something on his mom’s work a top secret new app called MonoFriend. Soon, Zed is chatting with “Matt.” Matt is funny, he’s smart, and he knows Zed better than anyone else, even Rishti. Maybe, Zed thinks, an A.I. best friend can be just as “real” as any other. Unfortunately, he’s about to discover that he’s more right than he knows.
Author
Hey there, I'm Lance Rubin. I wrote the DENTON LITTLE series (now a Snapchat original series) and CRYING LAUGHING. I also co-wrote THE LOST CAUSES OF BLEAK CREEK with Rhett & Link and the musical BROADWAY BOUNTY HUNTER with Joe Iconis & Jason SweetTooth Williams. I'm originally from New Jersey. It's a way better state than people give it credit for. I went to Brown University, and now I live in Brooklyn with my wife and young kids. Before I became an author, I was primarily an actor. "Anything I'd recognize you from?" you might ask. Probably not, unless you watched the short-lived NBC hospital show MERCY, in which I guest-starred as a patient with a naked sleepwalking problem. I love BACK TO THE FUTURE. When I was younger, I dreamed about being Marty McFly. But watching it in the past few years, I do feel unsettled by the scene where Marty, a white teenage boy of average musical talents, ends up being the inadvertent inventor of rock and roll, stealing credit from Chuck Berry. That doesn't mean I don't still love the movie, just recognizing that so much of our art was made through a straight privileged white male lens, and I'm glad we're evolving past that. This is probably too intense for a Goodreads profile. I also love empathy, the New York Knicks, and the Before Sunrise Trilogy. Some last things: -I often battle the demons of procrastination. In fact, I shouldn't be rewriting this bio right now. I'm supposed to be working on my new book. I will get back to it in two minutes. -I am not a cat person, but I respect people who are. Kind of. -I have narrated many Berenstain Bears audiobooks. For real. Look it up on Audible. -I am bad at baseball. Thanks for reading. Reach out and say hi!
