William Hertling is the author of the award-winning novels Avogadro Corp: The Singularity is Closer than it Appears, A.I. Apocalypse, and The Last Firewall. These near-term science-fiction novels explore the emergence of artificial intelligence, coexistence of humans and smart machines, and the impact of social reputation, technological unemployment, and other near-future issues. Avogadro Corp won Forewords Review Science Fiction Book of the Year and A.I. Apocalypse was nominated for the Prometheus Award for Best Novel. The Last Firewall was endorsed by tech luminaries including Harper Reed (CTO for Obama Campaign), Ben Huh (CEO Cheezburger), and Brad Feld (managing director Foundry Group), Amber Case (cyborg anthropologist) and Chris Anderson (CEO 3DRobotics, former Editor-in-Chief Wired).

William Hertling was born in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up a digital native in the early days of bulletin board systems. His first experiences with net culture occurred when he wired seven phone lines into the back of his Apple IIe to build an online chat system. He currently resides in Portland, Oregon. Follow him on twitter at @hertling or visit his blog williamhertling.com.