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Table of Contents
About The Book
For fans of Kevin Wilson and Andrew Sean Greer, a helper robot and his thirty-five-year-old ward embark on a madcap adventure to save the fate of the family company in this whimsically speculative ode to Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster.
Cy wants nothing more than to be useful, raise his utility score, and receive the next update for his operating system. But that’s easier said than done when he's tasked with helping his owner’s thirty-five-year-old son “get out of his funk.” Grayson is nothing like his go-getter, CEO sister Charlotte. He didn’t inherit the family robotics company when their dad passed last year, he doesn’t have a master’s degree, and he just can’t seem to figure out the San Francisco dating scene. He’d rather eat synthesized mozzarella sticks and make pottery at his studio, Kilning Time.
When Grayson learns of Charlotte’s plan to sell the company to a tech conglomerate, he panics. It’s not just the family business at stake, it’s all the technology—like Cy—their dad invented over the years. So he does what anyone would do: he steals the flash drive with his father’s most important work stored on it and plans a corporate takeover. If only he knew what that meant.
To make matters worse, a fellow VALET deserts his owner and asks Cy to help him hightail it out of town, Grayson’s first real date—and her dog—keeping showing up at inopportune times, and the behemoth tech company wants this deal closed yesterday. Grayson, Cy, and their trusty golden retriever, Sasha III, must go on the lam until they figure out exactly what to do, and whom to trust.
A hilarious, madcap adventure that is as tender as it is insightful, Valet asks not just what it means to be human, but what it means to be family.
Cy wants nothing more than to be useful, raise his utility score, and receive the next update for his operating system. But that’s easier said than done when he's tasked with helping his owner’s thirty-five-year-old son “get out of his funk.” Grayson is nothing like his go-getter, CEO sister Charlotte. He didn’t inherit the family robotics company when their dad passed last year, he doesn’t have a master’s degree, and he just can’t seem to figure out the San Francisco dating scene. He’d rather eat synthesized mozzarella sticks and make pottery at his studio, Kilning Time.
When Grayson learns of Charlotte’s plan to sell the company to a tech conglomerate, he panics. It’s not just the family business at stake, it’s all the technology—like Cy—their dad invented over the years. So he does what anyone would do: he steals the flash drive with his father’s most important work stored on it and plans a corporate takeover. If only he knew what that meant.
To make matters worse, a fellow VALET deserts his owner and asks Cy to help him hightail it out of town, Grayson’s first real date—and her dog—keeping showing up at inopportune times, and the behemoth tech company wants this deal closed yesterday. Grayson, Cy, and their trusty golden retriever, Sasha III, must go on the lam until they figure out exactly what to do, and whom to trust.
A hilarious, madcap adventure that is as tender as it is insightful, Valet asks not just what it means to be human, but what it means to be family.
About The Author
Photograph by Tran Nguyen
J.P. Lacrampe received his MFA in creative writing from Saint Mary’s College. His short fiction has been published by Glimmer Train, McSweeney's, Instant City, and in Howl: A Collection of the Best Contemporary Dog Wit. He is a teaching professor at Santa Clara University, where he teaches courses in composition, fiction, and screenwriting.
Product Details
- Publisher: S&S/Saga Press (June 2, 2026)
- Length: 272 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668216453
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Raves and Reviews
"Valet is a hilarious and bracing examination of the near future, where Cy, a techbot servant, must navigate the complexities of humans to maintain his utility score. What makes this such a winning and openhearted novel is that J.P. Lacrampe goes beyond the initial premise by looking at the universal anxiety of family, of being tied to people with whom you will rise and fall, either toward a new update or into obsolescence."
– Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here and Run for the Hills
"With grace and humor, Valet grapples with the major question of our times: how do we live up to our full potential in a world where AI outperforms us all? Wise, witty, big-hearted, hilarious, and totally brilliant! J.P. Lacrampe’s robot narrator stole my heart—and reminded me what it means to be human. 10/10! A marvel!"
– Mary Pauline Lowry, author of The Roxy Letters
"With the anxiety of AI and tech at an all-time high, J.P. Lacrampe's VALET is the breather we need to slow down and laugh at the absurdity of the moment, while digging deep into the questions that really matter—what it means to be human and, perhaps more importantly, what it means to be family. Written with intelligence, wit, and tremendous (robot) heart, VALET is a debut for our age."
– Lysley Tenorio, author of Monstress and The Son of Good Fortune
"Infused with commentary on both AI and humanity, J.P. Lacrampe’s sci-fi take on Jeeves and Wooster is a delightful rollercoaster—high stakes but also plenty of humor and heart."
– Reactor
"A rambunctious little mystery with fun notes about consciousness and the value of both hard and soft skills."
– Booklist
"This madcap novel has plenty of heart."
– Publishers Weekly
"In Lacrampe’s debut, the family drama reads like Knives Out but with robots instead of human staff, and the relationship between Grayson and Cy, a cross between P. G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster and brothers-in-all-but-blood (or lubricating fluid, as it were), gives the story its heart and makes readers care about the characters."
– Library Journal
"Come for the robotic riff on Jeeves and Wooster, stay for the Vonnegut-inspired insights into how humans would incorporate artificial intelligences into not just their lives but their family structures."
– LitHub
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