Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
All about Emily
Theater legend Claire Havilland fears she might be entering the Sunset Boulevard phase of her career. That is, until her manager arranges a media appearance with her biggest fan--a famous artificial intelligence pioneer's teenage niece. After precocious Emily's backstage visit, Claire decides she's in a different classic film altogether. While unnaturally charming Emily sw...more
Hardcover, 96 pages
Published
December 31st 2011
by Subterranean Press
(first published December 6th 2011)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
663)
Claire Havilland is an aging theater actress making a quick costume change for her latest Broadway production, Only Human, when her agent stops by her dressing room. She knows he's working an angle but can't quite decipher his intent when he pitches a couple of interviews. Her artfully referenced objections--using quotes from prior Broadway roles--fall on deaf ears. Within days she's greeting a famous scientist and his niece, Emily, backstage, streamed live by multiple tv stations as part of the...more
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Claire Havilland is an aging Broadway actress who considers herself too old to wear a leotard and fishnets, but is not quite ready to be called a “legend.” One of her most successful roles was playing Margo Channing in the Broadway musical adaption of the film All About Eve. When Claire meets a charming young woman named Emily, who seems to know all about Claire’s career, Claire feels threatened. Could Emily be planning to steal Claire’s career, as Eve Har...more
Claire Havilland is an aging Broadway actress who considers herself too old to wear a leotard and fishnets, but is not quite ready to be called a “legend.” One of her most successful roles was playing Margo Channing in the Broadway musical adaption of the film All About Eve. When Claire meets a charming young woman named Emily, who seems to know all about Claire’s career, Claire feels threatened. Could Emily be planning to steal Claire’s career, as Eve Har...more
A nice quick novella to read, told in first person about AI and Broadway and the Rockettes, and essentially being human--aren't they all? Charming illustrations.
This is a short story packaged as a book. The tale of an artificial intelligence inside a humanoid body explores the issue of how society should respond when machines that can do almost any human task are able to enter the work force and replace just about anyone.
Willis cleverly sets her story in the world of Broadway theater and makes ongoing comparisons to the movie All About Eve that was turned into the musical Applause. It is about an ingénue usurping a celebrated actress who is getting on i...more
Willis cleverly sets her story in the world of Broadway theater and makes ongoing comparisons to the movie All About Eve that was turned into the musical Applause. It is about an ingénue usurping a celebrated actress who is getting on i...more
Character-driven. Thought-provoking.
Where does the line between humanity and artificial life fall? This novelette explores that question in the not-too-distant-future of the New York theater scene. An aging Broadway star meets a new android who not only loves the theater and movies but decides that what she wants most in the world is to become a Rockette. An alternate take to Asimov's three laws and the rules that would govern android behavior.
Recommended for those who have enjoyed A Plague of A...more
Where does the line between humanity and artificial life fall? This novelette explores that question in the not-too-distant-future of the New York theater scene. An aging Broadway star meets a new android who not only loves the theater and movies but decides that what she wants most in the world is to become a Rockette. An alternate take to Asimov's three laws and the rules that would govern android behavior.
Recommended for those who have enjoyed A Plague of A...more
I'm a huge fan of Connie Willis' brand of speculative fiction, but have found I usually prefer her time travel tales to her other stories. However, this little novella, which I polished off during a lazy lunch hour, is charming. Willis could have expanded it and filled it with fluff to make it a full-length book, but that would have been a waste of her time and ours. Instead, this tale, lean but as charmingly curvy as each Rockette to which Claire's protege, Emily, aspires to be, gathers the his...more
Even though this subject matter is outside her famous time travel books, this is classic Willis. People who love what they do (in this case, Broadway and classic film) constantly relating their real life experiences to their obsessions. I love that about her books, because I love people who are passionate about what they do.
In the tradition of science fiction writers going back to Asimov, Willis addresses the question of robots and humanity. If you build a robot that seems so human that most hum...more
In the tradition of science fiction writers going back to Asimov, Willis addresses the question of robots and humanity. If you build a robot that seems so human that most hum...more
1 like
·
like
· see review
A nice little appetizer to much upon while waiting for the next big book. This is a quick read - I devoured it in one evening - and while reviews so far seem to be mixed, I'm siding with those in the camp of "really liked it."
Some people have said that it's an overused theme - a robot that wants to be human - and to that I say two things: One, it's a Christmas story, and what Christmas story doesn't have the same themes of want, loss, and redemption? And two, this may be a theme as old as the s...more
Some people have said that it's an overused theme - a robot that wants to be human - and to that I say two things: One, it's a Christmas story, and what Christmas story doesn't have the same themes of want, loss, and redemption? And two, this may be a theme as old as the s...more
Connie Willis is so much fun. This novella reminds me very strongly of another one with a older, nearly washed-up actor - though that one dealt with immortality, not AIs. If only I could remember the name or author!
For this book, I loved Emily and I loved all the musings on the differences between an average teenager's desires and Emily's. The difference between programmed thoughts/emotions/consciousness and the living versions are quite common themes when dealing with AIs, but Mrs. Willis asks...more
For this book, I loved Emily and I loved all the musings on the differences between an average teenager's desires and Emily's. The difference between programmed thoughts/emotions/consciousness and the living versions are quite common themes when dealing with AIs, but Mrs. Willis asks...more
This is really little more than a short story, both in length and concept. It's 17,000 words, 96 pages in large type. Willis does tend to use this to best advantage, however. It's well written with good build up. A very competent story about artificial intelligence. I did really like the ending, but it got far deeper than the story led me to believe. It left me wondering if the ending was consistent for not just the primary character (and speaker), but the others as well. I wondered if the endin...more
Another work of pure reading pleasure by the incredible Connie Willis. She has this ability to create an utterly believable near future, mixing current events and people from our present (in this case Lindsay Lohan!) with probable technological advances (time travel, AI). Sometimes she includes natural disasters or challenges (such as the Pandemic of Doomsday Book and although that wasn't mentioned in this book, it would have come as no surprise if Mr. Dunworthy and Co. had dropped in to see a B...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Claire Havilland is a Broadway star, and is wary when a dewy-eyed teen who knows all about theater comes to her dressing room. Can Emily be another Eve, as in "All About Eve," come to steal Claire's part and her life? She soon realizes that Emily is something even worse--an artificial intelligence programmed to be cute, lovable, and non-threatening. But when Emily develops a goal in life--something the "Uncle" who invented her says she can't do--Claire can't resist helping the not-quite-human cr...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Connie Willis was my writing idol, but I'm tired of novelettes (this is NOT a novella at only 17K words) and novellas put between hardcovers and charged at novel prices. I'm tired of waiting for the next great novel and getting Passage. I want the Connie Willis I remember, not someone who puts out short stuff in lieu of a novel. I want Doomsday Book or To Say Nothing of the Dog or Bellwether or Uncharted Territory. I know Blackout and All Clear are out now, but I'm worried these are just more ol...more
I'm a big fan of Connie Willis and her work . . . I think I've read most of it at this point, though I'm trying to wrap up a few loose-end pieces that are out there.
To be up front, All About Emily is a short work of fiction. It took me maybe all of two hours to read it. If you aren't a fan of novelette or novella works, then this probably won't suit you. Likewise if you're not a fan of Connie Willis' style, her fascination with trivia, history and minutiae having to do with a specific subject,...more
To be up front, All About Emily is a short work of fiction. It took me maybe all of two hours to read it. If you aren't a fan of novelette or novella works, then this probably won't suit you. Likewise if you're not a fan of Connie Willis' style, her fascination with trivia, history and minutiae having to do with a specific subject,...more
Connie Willis has written four of my favorite books--Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Blackout, and All Clear. She is a brilliant author, one of the most honored science fiction writers around. However, this novella, All About Emily, was just okay. I liked it, but it was just a nice short story, nothing more. Maybe my love for her writing falls in her time travel books, since all four of the previous reads and loves are that. There were certainly interesting aspects to All About Emily,...more
Great story! The combination of SF and theater/classic movies worked really well for me. Especially the narrator's frustration with the current generation not knowing or remembering the older musicals and characters.
I picked this up in the library because I like Connie Willis but couldn't imagine paying for a hardcover book that is only a short story, but if I can find a reasonably priced ebook version I would buy it because the author deserves to be paid for this gem.
I picked this up in the library because I like Connie Willis but couldn't imagine paying for a hardcover book that is only a short story, but if I can find a reasonably priced ebook version I would buy it because the author deserves to be paid for this gem.
A slim novella (or novelette according to the blurb) from the whimsical mind of Connie Willis. Yes, the title is a nod to the Bette Davis classic film about fame and ambition, but Emily is not the calculating Eve Harrington coldly focused on stardom. She’s a robot, sweet and wide-eyed innocent, who just wants to follow her dream and be a Rockette.
Humanity, artificial intelligence, and free will - all weighty themes, delightfully packaged in this little gem.
Humanity, artificial intelligence, and free will - all weighty themes, delightfully packaged in this little gem.
What starts out as a tale about an aging actress afraid the innocent looking Emily will replace her, turns into a story about free will and Broadway and what it means to be human. Being a novelette, this is a short and quick read. It is also delightfully fun with a smattering of pop culture references between bouts of witty humor. And though short and funny, Willis manages to delivery and emotional impact that had me crying at the end. Loved it.
Fun, but more of an appetizer than a meal. It seems to me that the potential was there to make a longer, more fully realized book out of this story, but Willis elected to go the novella route and so the book is not quite as satisfying to me as some of her longer fiction.
Still, I love Connie Willis and will read anything she writes. This was a nice little amuse bouche, but it left me hungry for the next full-length novel.
Still, I love Connie Willis and will read anything she writes. This was a nice little amuse bouche, but it left me hungry for the next full-length novel.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
How does so much get into so few pages? Connie Willis' knowledge of the theatre and reference to plays provides a very relatable backdrop -Eve, Cassie, Margo, they are all wrapped up in this conflict of real and almost real. The ending, a very direct homage to I, Robot was smack in my face.
This is only the 2nd Connie Willis title I have read. I really should read more.
This is only the 2nd Connie Willis title I have read. I really should read more.
I love Connie Willis, but I'm not a huge fan of live theater or classic cinema, so clearly I wasn't the target audience here. If you yourself like either of these things (or the Rockettes, or strange thought experiments based on the possibility of developing extremely intelligent humanoid robots), then this slim novel will be a real treat.
New Connie, hurrah! Emily is a robot who wants to be a Rockette. Claire is an aging theatre actress who finds herself helping Emily, despite all of her cynicism and misgivings. I wish this was longer - it went in directions I hadn't really expected, and the end made me so sad, that it was so easy to do it. It was like death. Merry Christmas!
Broadway star encounters stage struck robot, and doesn't respond the way you think she should/could/would. Compared to the author's usual doorstoppers at only 96 pages this is more like a haiku, and just like a good Show it'll take you on an emotional rollercoaster but send you away smiling.
It's a novella involving the theatre and robots, what's not to like? It's a very quick read about a getting-up-there-in-age actress and the robot that seemingly wants to be part of it. It's a perfect size book for this story, and entirely enjoyable. Really liked this, glad I picked it up.
I love love love Connie Willis. I don't really like short stories. This novella seemed more like author notes or character sketches to me. I found myself unable to "flesh it out" in my mind. I would love this as a big novel, but found it unsatisfying in this snippet form.
I was unaware that Connie Willis had another novella out. ALL ABOUT EMILY is her homage to Broadway and the classic film, "All About Eve." Set in the near future, fading actress finds out one of her biggest fans is an android - an android who wants to be a Rockette!
Good, but not great, novella by Willis with engaging characters and a fun take on A.I. potentials (but mired a bit in nostalgic trivia...which maybe isn't a bad thing given its hooks with the plot).
If you're a theater or movie fan, you'll like this one.
If you're a theater or movie fan, you'll like this one.
1 like
·
like
· see review
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She is one of the most honored science fiction writers of the 1980s and 1990s.
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Ficti...more
More about Connie Willis...
She has won, among other awards, ten Hugo Awards and six Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for All Seated on the Ground (August 2008). She was the 2011 recipient of the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award from the Science Ficti...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
May 01, 2013 07:05am
May 01, 2013 07:56am