Welcome To The Bobiverse
Beyond a doubt, this is my favorite "discovered in 2025" series. The Bobiverse books, by Dennis E. Taylor, chronicle the adventures of one Robert Johansson. He was cryonically suspended, murdered and uploaded by a Christofascist future government, and installed as the enslaved brain of a space probe designed to do the Von Neumann thing: replicate, replicate, replicate, and explore the galaxy.
And that's in the first hundred pages, give or take, of the first book. Then Bob, in his new space probe body, blasts out of the solar system and the adventures really start. Yes, replication works. No, the copies are not identical to the original. Much less the copies of the copies. And thereby hangs a tale.
This is space opera at its best: unashamedly escapist, with heroic but conflicted heroes and unconflictedly wicked villains. Also: aliens. Space battles. Threats to the Whole Human Race. And a virtual Admiral Ackbar.
Amazingly, Taylor could not find a "regular" publisher for the books. So, with his agent, he did it himself. There are audiobooks, too . . .
Taylor has written five Bobiverse books, and – so I hear – plans five more. I can't wait. Except, I gotta.