Mechanize My Hands to War

Mechanize My Hands to War by Erin K. Wagner, 320 pages

Four events hold the center of this novel of Appalachia, AI, and a militant cult:

• The director of the ATF holds a press conference about an AI-soldier-involved shooting
• A farmer and his sick wife bring home an AI nurse and another AI farmhand to help out at their rapidly deteriorating home, surrounded by toxic soil and water
• An ATF agent leads a raid on a house occupied by the child soldiers of an anti-technology militia leader
• An AI soldier spends months awake and captive in a cell following his actions in the raid, which resulted in the death of a child

While it may seem like I've given away the entire story with that bulleted list, but I haven't, as the book looks at those events (and the time before and after them) through the eyes of a variety of characters. It's a bit confusing at the outset, but quickly draws you in, forcing complex musings on morality, personhood, guilt, empathy, and the role of technology in the military. While it would have been nice to get a bit more info about the kids who were armed at the behest of the militia leader (especially since his kid is one of the POV characters), it's a surprisingly intriguing tale, though perhaps not a particularly cheerful one. Still, I'd definitely recommend it!

Where the Axe is Buried

Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler, 336 pages

In the futuristic Federation, the president is a man whose consciousness keeps getting downloaded to successive bodies as the previous ones die (whether through natural or nefarious means), creating a decades-long regime of little actual change, despite new faces. Now, however, there's a plot to assassinate the president, and if all goes to plan, it may disrupt the flow once and for all. Meanwhile, outside the Federation, many Western European countries have given up on human governance, instead installing AI prime ministers to rule and regulate. But when one starts malfunctioning, it becomes abundantly clear that AI isn't the answer either.

Nayler has a great way of presenting current geopolitical and environmental issues in a thought-provoking way while still offering a compelling and exciting plot. This book is no exception. It's smart, it's complex, and it's a great example of what science fiction can do. Highly recommended.

Hum

Hum by Helen Phillips, 272 pages

This was my second time reading this thought-provoking science fiction meditation on AI, motherhood, invasive technology, and the socioeconomic woes of trying to balance all of those things when you've gotten fired from a job you inadvertently helped make obsolete. My thoughts from my first read haven't changed — this book is still amazing and an incredible example of how science fiction can make us consider the world around us. I can't wait to discuss this with the Orcs & Aliens on Monday!

The Murderbot Diaries #6-7

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (2021) 168 pages 

System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023) 245 pages

 
As of now, this is the conclusion of the series. I continued with the same GraphicAudio editions with a full cast. I really enjoyed book 6. It is the most straightforward murder mystery of the series. The Sec Unit uses his skills to be a detective on Preservation Station with help from many returning characters. The security staff on the station does not often have to solve murders, so his surveillance and analysis skills are very helpful. Book 7 has the return of the AI ship system ART, who I suddenly realized was missing from the murder mystery adventure previously. This is the first time we really get to see what the Preservation crew does as they go on a planet survey mission. There are colonists, who have faced a dangerous alien contamination incident. Then they learn of a separate colony that the first colony has lost contact with. A small Preservation party travels across the planet to investigate. It becomes a competition to convince the people there that Preservation's humanitarian goals in connection with a University are better for them than the corporation Barish-Estranza's aim to enslave them. The corporation does not present their deal in those terms. Preservation's crew puts together a documentary. It has the excitement of "let's put on a show," but, of course, is more how do we present the most compelling facts to unselfishly help these isolated survivors. A good message to close this series, but I could see this series continuing.

The Murderbot Diaries #4-5

 

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells (2018) 163 pages

Network Effect by Martha Wells (2020) 350 pages

As I mentioned, I'm continuing with the GraphicAudio editions on Hoopla narrated by David Cui Cui and a full cast. Book 4 Exit Strategy is my favorite so far. Instead of constantly introducing new episodic characters, characters from Book 1 return. Murderbot, the Sec Unit, has grown in his ability to maintain relationships somewhat. He's still anxious and cynical though. The book still has the same formula with action and futuristic corporate maneuvers. It feels good to check in with Dr. Mensah and her Preservation crew of non-corporate scientists. On audio the first four books are all under three hours. Book 5 Network Effect is over eight hours. The first full-length novel continues to have the Preservation crew working with MurderBot and developing deeper bonds together. Dr. Mensah's daughter is a major character. Plus ART, the AI of a spaceship, who might be "in love" with MurderBot, returns. More pages allow for more twists and turns in the plot with alien remnants and the constant threat of evil corp GrayCris. It is enjoyable, but doesn't quite reach the heights of Book 4.

The Family Experiment

The Family Experiment by John Marrs, 453 pages

In the near future, having kids is too expensive for all but the most wealthy people. To address that issue, an enterprising tech company has come up with virtual children, which, through the magic of haptic suits and VR headsets, can be raised and interacted with in the metaverse throughout their whole "life." To promote this new offering, the company has created a reality show in which five couples and one single man raise virtual kids at an accelerated rate over nine months, at the end of which one winning couple or individual must choose whether they want to keep their virtual child (who, if they've done everything right, they care for as much as they would a biological kid) or if they want to kill that coding and try for a real world baby.

This is a horrifying concept done disturbingly well. There's emotional manipulation, sure, but this book also features social media judgment, child abductions and exploitation, and, well, reality TV. Oh, and some really unlikeable characters. There is an audience for this book, and I know that when those people who want horrifying books about technology and AI and its impact on our lives ask for a recommendation, I'll have this one ready to hand over. Because it IS well-thought-out and executed. Disturbingly so.

Hum

Hum by Helen Phillips, 272 pages

May has lost her job to the artificial intelligence that she helped create, and forced with late bills and the increasing cost of living, she agrees to undergo a controversial surgery that will change her features just enough to make her invisible to facial recognition programs — and she'll get paid enough to do it to cover the bills for a while. When she gets paid, May decides to splurge on a couple of nights in the botanical garden, a walled, nature-filled resort that she would never have been able to afford otherwise. To fully appreciate the nature, however, she asks her husband and two children to be completely unplugged while they're on the short vacation — which starts out OK, but takes a disastrous turn when the kids wander off on their own.

It's not clear from the book when or where this story takes place, but while there is a bit more technology than we have today (the titular hums, for example, are humanoid AI robots), the prevalence of surveillance technology and the monetization of EVERYTHING seems disturbingly similar to what we're seeing today. May's experiences throughout the book (especially after the trip to the garden) are scarily relatable, and through her actions and reactions, Hum offers a meditation on technology and what it means to be a good mother. A fantastic, thought-provoking book, and I can't wait to recommend it widely.

*This book will be published Aug. 6, 2024.

Exhalation

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang, 350 pages

In this collection of nine science fiction stories, Chiang offers readers many chances to muse on the nature of sentience, humanity, intelligence, memory, and the choices that make us who we are. From the ridiculously short "What's Expected of Us" (about a button that proves destiny and a lack of free will) to the novella-length "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" (about artificial intelligence beings that are being raised and shaped by humans over a span of decades) there are a lot of things to think about in this acclaimed collection, and it gave the Orcs & Aliens plenty to discuss.

Plum Rains

Plum Rains by Andromeda Romano-Lax, 389 pages

In near-future Tokyo, Filipina nurse Angelica is struggling to make ends meet (and pay off the loan shark from whom she and her brother both borrowed) while caring for Sayoko, a cantankerous Japanese woman who is approaching her 100th birthday. Just ten days before the birthday celebration, however, Sayoko's son sends her a prototype caretaker robot, with whom Sayoko quickly bonds and to whom she begins telling decades-old secrets. Angelica is highly suspicious of this robot, who she fears is an attempt to replace her, but can't help admitting is helpful as a Sayoko-sitter while Angelica tries to sort out her own issues.

With its setting in 2029 and a focus on some very real issues from the past, present, and future — including the exploitation of "comfort women" during World War II, immigration, climate change, artificial intelligence, Japan's aging population, and our increasing reliance on technology — this book is an odd mix of science fiction and historical fiction. But it presents a lot to ruminate on, and I can't wait to discuss it with the Orcs & Aliens next week.

The Mother Code

The Mother Code by Carole Stivers, 337 pages

When the U.S. military unleashes an unstable biological weapon, a team of scientists and engineers must figure out a way to stop the resulting pandemic — or barring that, sort out some way to create babies that will be genetically immune to the biological weapon. As their attempts to stop the rapid pandemic fail, all their hopes are pinned on the babies and a set of Mothers, robots who will incubate and care for the babies after the rest of the world has died.

This is an interesting premise for a novel, one that is particularly intriguing given the advances in artificial intelligence and robotics in real life as well as in the novel. That said, it's not particularly easy to care much for the adult humans who caused this whole mess, or even those who are attempting to clean it up. The relationships between the kids and their Mothers are what really make the book interesting.

A Closed and Common Orbit

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, 367 pages

Guys, I think I may have found a new favorite author! The (kinda) sequel to her awesome The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, A Closed and Common Orbit focuses on a few minor characters from the first book, offering both a continuing story and a backstory for them. In this book, techie fix-it gal extraordinaire Pepper and her partner Blue take in an AI that has been illegally moved into a very realistic humanoid kit. Sidra, as the AI has named herself, is struggling to adjust to the limitations of her new existence, and figure out her purpose in a non-ship environment. Interspersed with Sidra's story, however, are chapters that give Pepper's backstory as a genetically engineered factory slave who escapes and lives in a broken down ship with only a motherly AI named Owl for company.

Like she does in her first book, Chambers examines the nature of found families, identity, purpose, and love in this book. She gives as much heart and dimension to the artificial intelligences as she does to the other sentient characters, and while this book is narrower in scope than her first outing (only two main characters instead of the half-dozen or so of The Long Way...), its stories are expansive and universal. I absolutely love her books.

Ancillary Justice

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, 409 pages

In Leckie's debut novel, the narrator is Breq, an artificial intelligence that was once the operating system of the Justice of Toren, a large ship full of soldiers, all of which are at our narrator's command. But now that intelligence is trapped inside a single fragile human body, and Breq is bent on taking revenge upon the entity that forced this change. While it could be a typical revenge story, the AI component, as well as the use of only female pronouns (Breq, and the race with which she is most closely associated, don't care about or distinguish genders), give it a bit of a twist. I look forward to seeing what Breq does in the rest of the trilogy.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, 409 pages.

Leckie's Nebula Award (and now Hugo Award) winning novel about a ship that is no longer a ship. Breq, also known as Justice of Toren / One Esck, has lost almost all that she was. Justice of Toren, of which she was a part, was a massive Radchaii interstellar ship and, before it's untimely demise, it was alive, or at least represented among the living by the borrowed bodies of conquered foes. These "soldiers" were the eyes and ears of the ships main A.I. Now, with the ship gone, there is only one of those bodies, Breq,  left to figure out what has happened. The search for answers takes her across a wide swath of territory and right to the top of her society.
This is a unique and compelling story. One of the best books of the year.

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Robopocalypse

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson  347 pp.

What if the HAL 9000 took over control of all the computerized machines in the world and turned them against the humans? That is pretty much the premise of this book, except the computer in control is not HAL, but Archos. Archos is a sentient artificial intelligence that is released after it attacks the scientist who created it. After that it plots the destruction of humans who control all the robots by turning the robots against them with deadly force. The robots then attempt to turn humans into machines with Mengele-like surgical experiments. Meanwhile pockets of human resistance fighters have cropped up in various parts of the world, in some cases led by the most unlikely of the humans. This book makes one think hard about our reliance upon the computer controlled machines in our lives. I know I've been eying my smart phone more suspiciously.

Just last night, after watching a t.v. commercial about the computerized gadgets in a new car model, my husband made a comment about the expecting to get in a car one day and have it say "What are you doing, Dave?" in that famous HAL voice. I responded, "You need to read Robopolcalypse."

Rule 34 / Charles Stross

Rule 34 by Charles Stross. 358 p.

"Rule 34" is, of course, the internet meme that states, "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions." Edinburgh Police Inspector Kavanaugh's job is to monitor that stuff on the internet and try to predict problems before they become unmanageable--a career comedown for her. She notices a trend of odd "accidental" deaths worldwide involving people who make illegal fabrications. Her boss doesn't want to hear it at first, but she does end up getting more and more involved in what turns out to be a horrifying series of murders. There are also secondary narrator characters, but I found Kavanaugh by far the most compelling. Stross' extrapolations of what people would do if 3D fabricator technology became widely available are plausible and horrifying.

This is the second Stross book I've read where the entire book is written in second person. That sounds really horrible, but I've found that after a few pages I don't even notice. I'm sure the book would have a radically different feel if it used traditional third-person narration, so don't let scare you off.

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The Lifecycle of software objects

The lifecycle of software objects/Ted Chiang 150 pgs.

I freely admit to anyone that I'm one of those people who is crazy about their pets and I know many people who are like me. But what if that "pet" was an artificially intelligent piece of software that you interacted with in a virtual reality computer generated environment? What if this AI "being" learned and had feelings and became attached to you and you to it? What if the support for this "program" ended because the company went out of business? These are the questions addressed in this short novel by Ted Chiang. The care and education of these AI "pets" take up much of the time of out two main characters...often at the expense of their human relationships. When the company goes out of business and everyone moves on to a NEW AND IMPROVED virtual world, the small group of people devoted to their "digient" decides to try to fund raise so their "pets" will get the software upgrade they need to move to the new "world." This book explores many interesting questions about artificial intelligence, and the human devotion to beings that are purely software yet developing. A quick and interesting read.