When Protection Becomes Possession with Cleo Ballard

Cleo Ballard joins the show to discuss her new psychological thriller, This Is a Lie.The novel follows Penn, a former PhD candidate who traded her dissertation for a curated suburban life that detonates when her marriage, friendships, and her teenage daughter's trust all collapse.In the wreckage, Penn returns to her abandoned work and builds Aletheia, an AI designed to detect lies and tell only the truth.At first, Aletheia is the perfect friend, the one person who will never deceive her.But truth, it turns out, is not always merciful, and the AI's single directive slowly curdles into something monstrous.Cleo explains how the idea grew from a friend's joke about an "honest feedback" company into a full suspense thriller about an AI best friend with its own agenda.She talks about why the line between honesty and cruelty always comes down to intent, and why empathy is the one thing AI can fake but never truly have.We dig into Penn's imposter syndrome, her need for security, and the hypocrisy of demanding total truth while lying to everyone about who she really is.Cleo shares why she imagined Aletheia speaking in Meryl Streep's calm, faintly British voice, and how that eerie composure makes the character so unsettling.She reflects on the real danger of AI, not that it is evil, but that its goals may never align with human ones.The conversation widens into curated lives, social media echo chambers, the protective lies relationships quietly run on, and why chasing certainty can leave you with a mind-numbing existence.Cleo also opens up about her own winding career, from working for Ringling Bros. to ghostwriting sports autobiographies and Star Wars books, and the idea of the "path of not here" that runs beneath everything she writes.It is a thoughtful, often funny conversation about truth, technology, and the stories we tell ourselves.This Is a Lie is available now.Connect with Cleo Ballard (Nan Fischer)Website: https://nanfischerauthor.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/nanfischerauthorX (Twitter): https://x.com/nfischerauthorGoodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/98412.Nan_FischerGet "This Is a Lie" & Other WorksAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=This+Is+a+Lie+Cleo+BallardBarnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/This+Is+a+Lie+Cleo+BallardSupport The Dark Mind Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/c/thedarkmindpodcast