‘Everything alive on this planet exists in its current form due to mutations’

During a mission, Bricker discovers his inability to die when an instinct prevents him from deploying his parachute. This revelation unveils his superior species status, an evolutionary leap for humanity. Dr. Gordon aims to study Bricker, but authorities consider him deceased. However, Bricker's consciousness resides in the multiverse, where he explores various lives. Each visit uncovers a frightening journey.

‘The Creeps’ and ‘The Brute’ were truly nightmarish, they made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and slightly queasy, I have no doubt this was the intention but it was very visceral. This took more of a horrific gore and rape twist than the other books, which was hard to endure. (CW Episode name Channel 14)

The storyline takes on a peculiar trajectory, becoming challenging to follow midway through, and I ended up quite confused. Whilst I love Pauley as an author, overall this one was not for me I’m afraid.

The narrator was great as usual and has a fantastic range of character voices.

Automated Daydreaming by William Pauley III is brilliantly bizarre! Pauley is one of my favorite authors and is a genius y'all! Who can conjure up such imagery that is not only one of a kind but also intriguing yet creepy, suspenseful and horrific with undertones of humor all rolled into one. With a poke at societal dread, madness and mayhem, Automated Daydreaming will make you not want to dream again.

Usually, I love Pauley's books, and I have read nearly everything he has written. While I usually give Pauley's books 5 stars, this one didn't land as nicely as the others. Honestly, I think I was too triggered by this book. For example, there was one particularly graphic scene of rape with a truly "bizarro fiction" twist. It was too much. The writing was so vivid, and it was so disgusting that it literally turned my stomach.

The above being said, I am still giving this book 4 stars. Pauley is a master at description. It is what I love about his writing. Connor Brannigan returns as the narrator; his performance was as great as usual. Bricker Cablejuice (great character name) is immortal, and he is forced to live the lives of 5 other people through "automated daydreaming." It was a little confusing how the lives intertwined as Cablejuice "switched between channels." Each of the lives was very interesting and unique.

If you're looking for a light and fluffy read, this is not the book for you. But if you're interested in a dark, weird, vivid, and imaginative story, then Automated Daydreaming is definitely worth checking out. Just be prepared for some disturbing content.

4.5⭐️ rounded up to 5.
The story was creepy and surreal and uncomfortable. I couldn’t stop reading and it was extremely enjoyable. If you love complex storytelling, I highly recommend this book. The narrator for this audiobook was fantastic. Truly felt like i was listening to multiple people narrating the book.
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Automated Daydreaming was a truly excellent read, full of action, weirdness and excitement! As always the narration was phenomenal by Connor Brannigan, just like the story. William Pauley III is an absolutely incredible author so far this was my favorite by him!

I highly recommend reading this brilliant book and also all of Pauley’s works, every single book he writes is honestly just perfect!

Thank you @netgalley and @doomfiction for an AudioARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’m convinced that anything William Pauley III writes and Connor Brannigan narrates, I WILL read it or listen to it.
This book, much like the other I listened to, is so weird and exciting. This book was longer than the astronauts dream book, and it was packed full of strangeness. I love the descriptions given, I love that WPIII will take one weird detail and just run with it. There wasn’t anything about this book that I didn’t like. I can’t wait to enjoy more!
Thank you to NetGalley and William Pauley III for the opportunity to listen and review this story

The narrator did a very good job. He read a tad slow for my taste but thankfully there's a faster playback speed option so it didn't bother me. His annunciation was on point and he spoke very clearly. If anything he enhanced the story a little because his voice matched so well with the character as we explored his memories and lives. I really enjoyed the non linear approach this story had, and the elements of multiverse and immortality have always intrigued me. I thought overall the story was solid. It got a little slow in the middle but it never felt like it overstayed its welcome. I'd definitely recommend it as a one time listen/read to friends.

Listening to the life of Bricker Cablejuice, or should I say five multiverse life alternatives, you might think one at least would be fun filled. But for him all are experienced constantly cycling/re-cycling in a horror filled experience. Relief in death can’t come quick enough, yet death is not a possibility. Have I learned from this audio experience? Yes, the multiverse is not nearly as pleasant as the movies make out, and mermaids are more likely a reality than a positive outcome to the challenges life brings. Four stars - even William Pauley III doesn’t escape this nightmare. (But this audio is superbly written and produced horror!)Thank you to Doom Fiction and NetGalley for the audio ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

I received this book from NetGalley and have to admit that the reason I requested it was because of the genre it was listed as.

That Genre is Horror.

AUTOMATED DAYDREAMING starts off slowly but immediately the reader realizes that they are not in Kansas anymore. If you enjoy your horror with Sci-Fi elements, you will probably enjoy this book.

The author may be a bit twisted, but it is exactly those bizarre elements that work for him, and that suck the reader into his stories.

William Pauley III has a terrific grasp on human motivation and a true talent for creating three dimensional characters.

All in all, I enjoyed this trip into the fantastical world of AUTOMATED DAYDREAMING, but I definitely think you need to be in the correct frame of mind to delve into the truly bizarre when you read this book.

I rate it as 3 out of 5 Stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I really like this author, but this story let me confused, we had lots of dives into what happened that I actually got lost in the story. Actually to really enjoy a story by William Pauley III you need to be in the right space of your mind,like the same story in a different spirit may sound completely different. I still enjoyed the ride even if I got a bit lost.

But that being said, I loved that It was Connor Brannigan reading it, I’ve said it before and I will said it again, this man is really a one man band, he alone makes you believe several others are reading with him, and it really shows how he is enjoying his work reading it.

I am sorry that I took so long in giving a review for this tittle, but it kind of got lost in my netgalley app (I swear I feel so old when trying to understand how a new app works).

Thank you NetGalley and Doom Fiction Audio for the free AAC and this is my honest opinion.

Trigger warnings; violent SA, extended scenes of SA, medical torture, surgical scenes, blood/gore, violence, death/murder, death of a child

At the start of this book we meet out main character, who everyone thinks is dead because he is basically a jar of various organs. That is until the police get a letter from the doctor who is wanted for the man’s murder. The doctor is quite insistent that said jar of various organs is indeed alive and just has to be hooked up to a computer to prove it. Once that is done the thoughts of the MC will be able to be read off of it. Our MC is now hooked up to the multiverse and as he is now immortal, it is impossible for the doctor to have killed him. Is our MC (who is in fact alive) really hooked up to this, able to watch and live the lives of multiple people, or is it the fever dream of the massively tortured.

I have conflicting feelings about this book. Many sections were very well written. The various lives that we dipped our toes into were for the most part fascinating. I absolutely flew through this in a day because I was so engrossed in the story. No one in this story is having a good life though. Almost everyone is at least depressed. Many of them either have terrible things done to them, do terrible things to other people, or both.

This is very much not for the faint of heart. Each of the lives dips into seriously troubling/traumatizing subject matters. Each of the people that you follow are functionally immortal but they don’t want to be. All of them talk in depth about how they want to die and how they want to kill themselves but they can’t. Also immortal doesn’t also mean invulnerable. Many of the people you follow suffer from some kind of serious illness or trauma. And I do mean suffer. For example, they can’t die but that means the cancer can’t kill them.

There are many scenes of extreme violence of some kind. They really didn’t bother me much even though many of the scenes are over the top brutal violent. What did bother me was the graphic descriptions of SA. There were two scenes that were directly described (the first one goes by quick (but is still upsetting) but the second one goes into traumatizing detail. The woman is literally SAed to death. It is deeply unpleasant to read and I really wish it wasn’t included. It was 100% not plot relevant and cutting it wouldn’t have taken away from the plot at all. SA is deeply woven into the plot of the book for other reasons also and I severely recommend staying away from this if that’s a trigger for you.

I really struggled to come up with a star rating for this. I was honestly leaning to a two star review but I decided that the parts that I liked made it lean more to a three.

I can’t emphasize enough how hard this book can be to read at points. If any of them trigger warnings bother you, do not read this book. I think I recommend for readers that can handle the trigger warnings however.

I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The book is interesting, displaying interconnected lives. While the writing is good, it was not to my taste.

A twisted Vonnegutian tale of an individual unstuck in identities and time. ‘Automated Daydreaming’ feels like a bizarre cross of ‘Citizen Cane’, ‘City of Lost Children’, and ‘12 Monkeys’. Seemingly disjointed stories writhe and overlap with echoes of Pauley’s other works throughout but ultimately come full circle and leave one wanting to dive into the stories one more time. Full of quotable quotes and perfectly delivered by the narrator. Worth a listen, but not for the faint of heart. Strap in for a wild, fantastical ride.

The concept is nice and something relatively common in the sci-fi literature. The consciousness of a person being downloaded and transferred from one place to the other, one generation to another. But I found the delivery quite boring. I did not get excited about this book so I left it half-way through.

I did enjoy this but found some of it a little overwritten. I think because it was an audiobook I sometimes found myself losing track of the plot. But there were some really visceral, dramatic scenes that have stuck in my head, and as always, William Pauley III is so creative and weird (in a good way!)

Audiobooks are always fun to listen episodically divided and narrated. If you're looking for an audio book to lsiten to which is both interesting and nice while travelling or bored out, this is the best book for you

Automated Daydreaming is a haunting novel about the dark side of immortality. There are several VERY uncomfortable sections and the general feeling of the book shifts halfway through. The addition of the gratuitous rape scenes that start at this point are the reasons why. I ended up speeding up during those sections because they added nothing to the experience for me.
The concept was very fascinating but the execution was just off for me. I spread through because it is written well and I wanted to know how it was going to all wrap-up but, but I found myself caring very little about the middle and then let down by the ending. There is one section that is FANTASTIC and after that everything fell flat.
Connor Brannigan also does a fantastic job of narrating this novel. He captures the vibe of this book perfectly and channels both the format of the narrative and also the emotion of the characters which saved the experience for me.
Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free ARC copy of the audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Confusing execution of a bizarre concept.
The narrator is great however it made my head hurt.
Not my cup of coffee, but I sense that some other people would enjoy it.

A horrific experiment. An individual - a cyborg, really - living simultaneous lives. The megalomanic behind it all. As a scifi fan, the premise of "Automated Daydreaming" drew me in. It's unfortunate, then, that the book did not live up to its promise.

I'll begin with the positive: having listened to the audiobook version, I found the performance to be absolutely stellar.

As for the content: Feeling like a mix between Kafka's subversive tales and the most violent parts of Ghost in the Shell, this book did indeed require a content warning. Even that may not have prepared me for the brutality of the narrative - especially the dream sequences. But I can put aside any personal distaste I may have for descriptions of violence if it serves either the narrative or to subvert established power structures in our real lives. It could be argued that art does not bear that burden - but I do not agree.

Unlike Kafka, there is no deeper meaning here. There is no subversion - no truth spoken to power. The narrative - with its overblown language that still someone places the reader at a distance from the story - serves only to re-establish the power structures within which we live. I see here nothing of value: I read into it only self-indulgence, as if these are entries in a journal of nightmares rather than daydreams.