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Ignore All Previous Instructions

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Pub Date 12 May 2026 | Archive Date Not set


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Description

A script supervisor for an AI media conglomerate is caught between her intense need for an orderly life and her deeper, darker queer desires. From the creator of the Outside trilogy, a heartfelt interplanetary epic of identity, longing, and a space pirate who smuggles inappropriate stories.

Kelli Reynolds loves creating stories more than anything in the world. But on Callisto, a generative AI company called Inspiration owns everything, including all the media, and only Inspiration determines which stories can be told.

Kelli has a rare and coveted job where her autism is to her advantage: She precisely edits AI output into “appropriate” stories for Inspiration’s massive TV audience. Her proudest creation is the pirate Orlando—a dashing do-gooder based on stories she used to tell friends.

Reenter Kelli’s ex-boyfriend Rowan, the person Kelli based Orlando on. Back when they were teenagers, their relationship was a secret. Kelli had thought that Rowan, a trans man, was her schoolmate Am, a girl.

Rowan is tangled up in the black market after he needed to get money for gender reassignment surgery. He needs Kelli’s help with something . . . illegal. So, now Kelli has to decide: Will she risk the safe, tidy story of her life now for the world she once wished for? What would Orlando do?

Passionate, dangerous, and tender, Ignore All Previous Instructions is a sweeping, poignant novel about censorship, forbidden love, and growing up.

A script supervisor for an AI media conglomerate is caught between her intense need for an orderly life and her deeper, darker queer desires. From the creator of the Outside trilogy, a heartfelt...


A Note From the Publisher

Ada Hoffmann is the queer and genderfluid author of the Outside space opera trilogy, the collections Monsters in My Mind, Million-Year Elegies, and Resurrections, as well as dozens of speculative short stories and poems. Their work has been a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Compton Crook Award, and the WSFA Small Press Award. They are also the winner of the Friends of the Merrill Collection Short Story Contest and a five-time Rhysling award nominee. Hoffmann’s novel-length work is represented by Hannah Bowman of Liza Dawson Associates. An adjunct professor of computer science at a major Canadian university, Hoffmann now researches the social effects of generative AI on professional fiction writers. Their 2018 PhD thesis was on computer-generated poetry. Under their legal name, they have published over a dozen papers and presented their work at conferences around the world. Hoffmann was diagnosed with autism at the age of thirteen. Their Autistic Book Party review series (2010–2023) was devoted to in-depth discussions of autism representation in speculative fiction. Much of their own work also features characters who are autistic or otherwise neurodivergent. They are a former semi-professional soprano, tabletop gaming enthusiast, and LARPer. Hoffman lives in eastern Ontario with a curious black cat.

Ada Hoffmann is the queer and genderfluid author of the Outside space opera trilogy, the collections Monsters in My Mind, Million-Year Elegies, and Resurrections, as well as dozens of speculative...


Advance Praise

Praise for The Outside
Philip K. Dick Award finalist
Compton Crook Award finalist
Earphones Award winner

[STARRED REVIEW] “Hoffmann confidently layers morality and disability rights into a breezily told adventure that bursts with sheer fun.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Compellingly written, tense, and thrilling, with fascinating (and weird) worldbuilding and brilliant characters, The Outside is a fantastic debut.”
—Locus

“A boffo combination of hard science fiction, cosmic Lovecraftian horror, both cyber-and-god-punk, some ridiculously charismatic aliens, and a fascinating female protagonist somewhere on the autism spectrum.”
—Skiffy and Fanty

“A gripping examination of the battle between good and evil on a grand scale.”
—The Guardian

Praise for The Outside
Philip K. Dick Award finalist
Compton Crook Award finalist
Earphones Award winner

[STARRED REVIEW] “Hoffmann confidently layers morality and disability rights into a breezily told...


Marketing Plan

Features, interviews, and reviews targeting major Canadian media outlets including the Globe and Mail, National Post, CBC, and the Toronto Star

Features, interviews, and reviews targeting U.S. media outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, NPR Books, Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times

Book promotion at major trade and genre conventions, including the International Convention for the Fantastic in the Arts, the World Science Fiction convention, and the World Fantasy Convention and CanCon

Author book launch event, tour, readings, and signings in Canadian venues

Planned galley distribution and book giveaways to include NetGalley, Goodreads, Reactor and SF Signal

Advertising and promotion in national print, online outlets, and social media

Features, interviews, and reviews targeting major Canadian media outlets including the Globe and Mail, National Post, CBC, and the Toronto Star

Features, interviews, and reviews targeting U.S. media...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781616964566
PRICE US$18.95 (USD)
PAGES 320

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