Join me in creating this sci-fi book about anomalous robots and their different paths, the strong bond of friendship between a robot and a cyborg, and the love between friends who lift each other up. Enjoy cozy friendship, discussions of dreams and creativity, light LGBTQ+ elements, a hint of dystopia, and more as we follow a bot and a cyborg who bond through dire circumstances and aim to make something better.

As a long-time sci-fi lover in all its forms (especially when robots are involved), The Lucky Machine is my follow-up love letter to the sci-fi community as a whole (I know, how many love letters can I write?). If you love sci-fi and tech like me, you’ll enjoy trawling the book and picking out all of the references… and maybe even learn some new ones along the way! I am so excited to introduce these characters and this story to you during The Book Bazaar. I hope you’ll love them and all of their fun, sad, and terrifying parts as much as I do.

Follow along as together we develop more character artworks, unlock extra goodies, and just overall have a good time here on The Book Bazaar!

After a life of subservience wrought with extensive memory wipes, personal autonomous android model NX makes the fateful decision to slip from the mid-upper reaches of the city. In the dilapidated lower levels, she meets a talented but disillusioned cyborg named Sylvan who extends to her a temporary place working in his shop. As they sew the bonds of friendship and regain Sylvan's lost passion, NX hones her own unique talents: for optimism, for charm, and for creating. With a little help from some friends -- and a bit of luck -- NX evades the forces that intend to recapture her or destroy her. The lower levels are easy to get lost in, but can she hide forever?

The Lucky Machine was written in November of 2024 as a follow up to The Warm Machine. Readers of The Warm Machine wanted to know about the NX personal model and see more of her and her infectious charm. So, I was happy to oblige them in the best way I could - by writing a whole novella around her adventure prior to re-meeting Zev and Sterling at the landfill. Best of all, this novella may take place in The Warm Machine universe and cross paths with other characters, but it does not require any previous knowledge or prerequisite reading: you can simply pick up the book and follow along on the journey of this fun bot. I’m excited to share this new installment with you so you can get to know NX a little better!

If you've read The Warm Machine, you're already familiar with my bot-writing. However, since NX is a different, less "bot-like" bot with a lot more code restrictions than our boys Zev and Sterling, you can expect to read a more relaxed version of the writing presented in The Warm Machine – a little less techy, that is. NX's story is that of a cozy friendship developed between a bot and cyborg, with only a little bit of looming dystopian dread. Just a touch. ;)

The Lucky Machine and The Warm Machine are both love-letters-to-sci-fi books, with a special focus on robots and cyborgs. If you love Asimov’s works, LD&R, The Murderbot Diaries, Detroit: Become Human, or the Bot & Monk series, you’ll enjoy The Lucky Machine.

Paperback. Approximately 46k words, 190 pages with supplemental bonus illustration and bonus short story.

Cheery and bubbly, Inix has a way with words – along with a peculiar way of getting information. Inix delivers a dimensionality with her emotionally-complexity – or at least one that’s programmed to fake it well. Curious and kind, Inix is quick to find refuge in textures, fabrics, and garments after escaping from her manufactured purpose as a pleasure model in the upper levels.

Cyborg

A downtrodden shop owner living in the lower levels, Sylvan’s a slave to the capitalist society that keeps him dependent on what little income he does make – and keeps him literally chained to his shop. Sylvan’s big dreams to become a fashion designer have been repeatedly stomped into the ground until NX shows up to breathe new life into his visions.

Cyborg

What’s a custom luxury build cyborg doing in the lower city levels, of all places? Feint is the first customer to ask for a custom piece and gets way more than she paid for. But there’s something about her that makes Sylvan wonder… No matter, as long as she keeps paying, he and NX will keep making.

Receive a PDF (and epub) copy of The Lucky Machine only. This tier is not eligible for cross-collaboration rewards.

Receive a physical paperback copy of The Lucky Machine and a digital copy via PDF and epub. Approximately 190 pages, 5.5”x8.5” paperback size, cream colored black-and-white interior with full color covers. Enjoy supplemental illustrations printed inside the book, and short story “GTY4355 Quick Start Guide”

Receive a physical paperback copy of The Lucky Machine and a digital copy via PDF and epub. Approximately 190 pages, 5.5”x8.5” paperback size, cream colored black-and-white interior with full color covers. Enjoy supplemental illustrations printed inside the book, and  short story “GTY4355 Quick Start Guide”. Comes with specialty NX paper doll, which doubles as a bookmark!

Receive a physical hardcover copy of The Lucky Machine and a digital copy via PDF and epub. Approximately 190 pages, 5.5”x8.5” paperback size, cream colored black-and-white interior with full color covers. Enjoy supplemental illustrations printed inside the book, and  short story “GTY4355 Quick Start Guide”. Comes with specialty NX paper doll, which doubles as a bookmark!

Receive 2 physical paperback copies of The Lucky Machine and a digital copy via PDF and epub. Approximately 190 pages, 5.5”x8.5” paperback size, cream colored black-and-white interior with full color covers. Enjoy supplemental illustrations printed inside the book, and  short story “GTY4355 Quick Start Guide”. Comes with two specialty NX paper dolls, which double as a bookmarks!

Receive a physical paperback copy of The Lucky Machine and a physical paperback copy of The Warm Machine, as well as digital PDF and epub copies of both. Approximately 190 pages, 5.5”x8.5” paperback size, cream colored black-and-white interior with full color covers. Enjoy supplemental illustrations printed inside each book, and short story “GTY4355 Quick Start Guide”. Comes with two specialty NX paper dolls, which double as a bookmarks!

Receive 2 physical hardcover copies of The Lucky Machine and a digital copy via PDF and epub. Approximately 190 pages, 5.5”x8.5” paperback size, cream colored black-and-white interior with full color covers. Enjoy supplemental illustrations printed inside the book, and  short story “GTY4355 Quick Start Guide”. Comes with two specialty NX paper dolls, which double as a bookmarks!

Receive a physical hardcover copy of The Lucky Machine and a physical hardcover copy of The Warm Machine, as well as digital PDF and epub copies of both. Approximately 190 pages, 5.5”x8.5” paperback size, cream colored black-and-white interior with full color covers. Enjoy supplemental illustrations printed inside each book, and short story “GTY4355 Quick Start Guide”. Comes with two specialty NX paper dolls, which double as a bookmarks!

(Almost) Everything I've got. The Warm Machine on hardcover, paperback, and ebook. The Lucky Machine on hardcover, paperback, and ebook. NX paper doll. Sterling metal bookmark. 3 oracle cards from the Booktopia 2024 oracle card deck. Backerbot sticker from the 2024 campaign. Plus anything else unlocked along the way! Limited quantity.

If we reach a funding goal of $800 (2x), I will include as a digital reward a digital brush you can use in Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, or anywhere that supports .abr files to make the opal fleck look of Inix's silicone skin!

If we reach a funding goal of $1,000, I will include as a digital PDF an ebook of "The Art of" The Warm Machine and The Lucky Machine, which includes all artworks and sketches I've made of the characters and their world.

If we reach a funding goal of $1,200, all tiers receiving paper dolls will receive an extra sheet of fashion in a color-your-own style... What kind of fashion is to be determined by the backers, so make sure to back and vote in the polls!

NEW! If we reach a funding goal of $1,800, I'll include digital downloads of coloring book pages of Zev, Sterling, and Inix. All backers on a "get something" tier will receive it (tip-only backers will not) if we unlock this!

We will have more goodies along the way.

BackerKit is a buy now, pay later system unlike many crowdfunding platforms out there. BackerKit is unique in that shipping is charged after the project is completed, and separately from your pledged amount. Since shipping rates can fluctuate, shipping will be determined at the time of fulfillment based on the total weight of your package and the destination country. I will do my best to ensure fair rates. 

At this point, I am not shipping physical books internationally from me personally. If there is sufficient interest for it, I can open a drop-ship tier for some international options, otherwise international folks who would like a physical copy will have to wait for the book to be publicly available on KPD and IngramSpark – I can provide a link for that as soon as one becomes available. I have tried to make ebook tiers juicier during this campaign to compensate for the lack of physical shipping options for people I can't ship to.

As for timing, The Lucky Machine is complete, and out with editing at the time of writing this with expectation for completion by the end of the campaign. Aside from specifics that will be determined during the campaign, I am ready to order the physical materials ASAP. I expect the printed copies of the book will take the longest, but other than that everything should go smoothly. Digital rewards can be fulfilled as soon as the final digital file is put together.

Lastly, I try to reduce trash and single-use plastics/mailers by reusing shipping envelopes, usually from Amazon (as that seems to be the bulk of them). This keeps cost down for me and helps lessen impact on the environment, but it does not mean your items came from Amazon. :)

Welcome to The Book Bazaar, a celebration of all things indie and small press! We're collaborating to help make each creator's dreams come true with their publishing project. The more you back, the more goodies you earn. Here's how you can earn more:

🌟 Back five projects, get an exclusive reward. We're offering an exclusive The Book Bazaar reward to anyone who goes all out and backs five or more projects. The Book Bazaar 2025 participants are putting together a one-of-a-kind anthology full of unique and never-before-seen stories. Claim your anthology by showing your support now! Your anthology reward will ship separate from other rewards.

Aimee Cozza writes and illustrates dark science fiction, fantasy, and horror, usually with a bittersweet twist or ending, focusing on the inner workings and struggles of beautifully flawed characters. Aimee primarily focuses on subjects regarding the dark-beautiful, surreal, and unsettling, often mixing or blurring sci-fi and fantasy. She enjoys exploring themes such as duality, disconnection, doomed romance, and mental illness/trauma.

In 2024, her debut sci-fi novella, The Warm Machine, raised for an indie published run of books during a successful crowdfunding campaign. The Warm Machine was met widely to a positive reception. Shorter stories, such as “Roomba Accidentally Saw Outside” and “Washed Ashore”, released as free stories on Itch, were also met to positive reception and resulted in full funding for an audiobook version of “Roomba Accidentally Saw Outside“.

Aimee grew up in New England and attended college at New England College (Formerly New Hampshire Institute of Art), graduating with a BFA in illustration. She has been a lifelong artist, writer, and lover of all things sci-fi.

Visit my portfolio, or follow me on Bluesky, Tumblr, Mastodon, Instagram, or Facebook!