Ode To The Half-Broken – Redefining Success

I don’t know if this will resonate with anyone else, but I am kinda tired of science fiction books that look at the myriad looming global crises and simply wave them away with “everything is going to be fine; it will all work out.” I have recently started seeking out depictions of our future that…

The Automaton – A New Future History

The Automaton, by Ian Young, is an indie darling that has been teasing me from the aether for a while now. Its striking and bold cover with an old school automaton, staring at the reader, was a sniper shot trained on me. Throw in some concerns about the difference between a digital human being and…

Mechanize My Hands To War – Forever Unto The Breach

Artificial intelligence has been a mainstay within science fiction since the genre’s inception. We all know the various tales of robots, their human creators, and the inevitable rebellions that are mustered forth, just or unjust. The large language models and generative AI that are dominating the cultural discussion and banging on the doors of our…

Exit Strategy – A Temporary End To A Story That Shouldn’t Stop

I feel a bit weird having devoted three whole posts to a series of novella (first two can be found here and here), but Martha Wells is worth it. The Murderbot Diaries, of which All Systems Red just (deservedly) won the Hugo for best novella, comes to a close this year with Wells’ final installment,…