Rachael Eyre's Blog - Posts Tagged "the-artificial-wife"
A glimpse of my upcoming novel, The Artificial Wife
Due to be released in 2018, The Artificial Wife is a companion novel to my earlier work Love and Robotics, set within the same world. It builds upon that story's themes of human-robot relations and emancipation, and introduces readers to a new cast of characters.
Disgruntled academic Robert Percival believes he will never find a woman to suit him. A friend accidentally suggests a solution: what if he acquires a robot wife?
Robert purchases two artificial humans, Summer and Elle. He changes their names and draws up a program to mould one of them into the spouse he requires.
Thrown into a situation outside their control, Summer and Elle become allies, then lovers. Will they ever break free from Robert's tyranny?
Disgruntled academic Robert Percival believes he will never find a woman to suit him. A friend accidentally suggests a solution: what if he acquires a robot wife?
Robert purchases two artificial humans, Summer and Elle. He changes their names and draws up a program to mould one of them into the spouse he requires.
Thrown into a situation outside their control, Summer and Elle become allies, then lovers. Will they ever break free from Robert's tyranny?
The Artificial Wife and #MeToo
I'm well aware that by releasing The Artificial Wife now, I'll look as though I'm jumping on the #MeToo bandwagon. In fact, when I started writing the story in June last year, it was the culmination of a personal rebellion.
I've always been a staunch feminist. I first became "woke" when I read The Handmaid's Tale as a teenager - it forced me to see that the world I lived in wasn't and couldn't be fair as long as men and women were at loggerheads.
It was appalling to learn that women had only been granted the vote within living memory, that they had been barred from being awarded degrees, that they were expected to give up work after they married. I'd already perceived that men and women were treated differently; this archaic baggage was presumably why. I felt as though Nature had played a dirty trick on me by making me female, and wondered why people didn't seem to be angry about it. I was furious.
This sense of injustice has remained with me. I've heard harrowing accounts of domestic abuse, where men have believed they own their partners body and soul. Rapes, harassment, catcalling - these are part of daily experience for women. Every girl and woman has a similar tale. Yet all too often it's dismissed, tidied away, ignored.
Two events galvanised me. The most significant, culturally speaking, was that President Trump was inaugurated, despite being a predator *by his own admission.* Never mind numerous women had accused him of sexual assault - this was somehow shrugged off. I don't think I've ever been as sickened and frightened as I was that day. The election result said to the women of the world: "It doesn't matter what men say and do. They can still aspire to be the most powerful person on earth - and you can do nothing to stop it."
Around the same time, I read Wendy Moore's How To Create the Perfect Wife. It introduced me to Thomas Day, the charmer discussed in my last blog. Although we'd like to think that we know better nowadays - that a strange man couldn't waltz in and buy two young girls simply because he was wealthy and privileged - the truth is we honestly don't know. Recent revelations have shown that once a man reaches a certain rank in society, he's untouchable. It's only now we're uncovering decades of abuse, in all walks of life.
I thought about transplanting Day's experiment to the modern day, but it felt too raw and unsubtle. By making his victims artificials, I'm saying: if you're upset by this happening to robots, why aren't you outraged when it happens to girls and women in real life?
I've always been a staunch feminist. I first became "woke" when I read The Handmaid's Tale as a teenager - it forced me to see that the world I lived in wasn't and couldn't be fair as long as men and women were at loggerheads.
It was appalling to learn that women had only been granted the vote within living memory, that they had been barred from being awarded degrees, that they were expected to give up work after they married. I'd already perceived that men and women were treated differently; this archaic baggage was presumably why. I felt as though Nature had played a dirty trick on me by making me female, and wondered why people didn't seem to be angry about it. I was furious.
This sense of injustice has remained with me. I've heard harrowing accounts of domestic abuse, where men have believed they own their partners body and soul. Rapes, harassment, catcalling - these are part of daily experience for women. Every girl and woman has a similar tale. Yet all too often it's dismissed, tidied away, ignored.
Two events galvanised me. The most significant, culturally speaking, was that President Trump was inaugurated, despite being a predator *by his own admission.* Never mind numerous women had accused him of sexual assault - this was somehow shrugged off. I don't think I've ever been as sickened and frightened as I was that day. The election result said to the women of the world: "It doesn't matter what men say and do. They can still aspire to be the most powerful person on earth - and you can do nothing to stop it."
Around the same time, I read Wendy Moore's How To Create the Perfect Wife. It introduced me to Thomas Day, the charmer discussed in my last blog. Although we'd like to think that we know better nowadays - that a strange man couldn't waltz in and buy two young girls simply because he was wealthy and privileged - the truth is we honestly don't know. Recent revelations have shown that once a man reaches a certain rank in society, he's untouchable. It's only now we're uncovering decades of abuse, in all walks of life.
I thought about transplanting Day's experiment to the modern day, but it felt too raw and unsubtle. By making his victims artificials, I'm saying: if you're upset by this happening to robots, why aren't you outraged when it happens to girls and women in real life?
Everything About The Artificial Wife You Probably Didn't Ask ...
Here's some trivia about The Artificial Wife, my latest book:
* It was inspired by the real life case of Thomas Day, an 18th century author who bought two little girls and tried to mould one of them into the woman of his dreams. Needless to say, he failed. Read Wendy Moore's cracking How to Create the Perfect Wife for further details.
* I started writing in June 2017 and finished in February 2018 - practically unheard of for me. What can I say? I was hooked on the story.
* Another incentive was that Salman Rushdie was also writing a book about robots. "I'm damned if he'll get his book out before mine!" I declared the moment I heard.
* It's set within the same universe as Love and Robotics, but with relatively few instances of overlap. The only character who prominently features in both books is the odious bent copper Captain Lucy; he is a major figure in Elle's backstory.
* It's set about a year before the trial scenes of Love and Robotics (Robert mentions Josh marrying Claire in passing), so it's approximately 2164.
* This means that the Robotics Code as previously established is still in effect. It goes without saying that over time Summer and Elle break every last rule.
* Princess Azita, the fairy tale that becomes so important to Summer and Elle, is of course a feminist lesbian retelling of the Scheherazade legend. I was so frustrated by her ending up with that murderous git of a Sultan, I rewrote it.
* The novel changed titles a few times before it became The Artificial Wife; in the story itself, it's the title of Robert's ridiculous treatise (though he claims it's metaphorical). Elle was called Colette originally.
* I did write a detailed plan, but as usual I went off piste and all sorts of weird stuff occurred. There are two major plot twists I hadn't initially anticipated, but now it feels like it couldn't have happened any other way.
* It was going to be written in third person, but ultimately I decided that having the main four characters take turns to narrate worked better. I hated writing Robert's sections and deliberately spent as little time in his psyche as possible.
* Found by Amber Run became the book's unofficial theme song.
* It was inspired by the real life case of Thomas Day, an 18th century author who bought two little girls and tried to mould one of them into the woman of his dreams. Needless to say, he failed. Read Wendy Moore's cracking How to Create the Perfect Wife for further details.
* I started writing in June 2017 and finished in February 2018 - practically unheard of for me. What can I say? I was hooked on the story.
* Another incentive was that Salman Rushdie was also writing a book about robots. "I'm damned if he'll get his book out before mine!" I declared the moment I heard.
* It's set within the same universe as Love and Robotics, but with relatively few instances of overlap. The only character who prominently features in both books is the odious bent copper Captain Lucy; he is a major figure in Elle's backstory.
* It's set about a year before the trial scenes of Love and Robotics (Robert mentions Josh marrying Claire in passing), so it's approximately 2164.
* This means that the Robotics Code as previously established is still in effect. It goes without saying that over time Summer and Elle break every last rule.
* Princess Azita, the fairy tale that becomes so important to Summer and Elle, is of course a feminist lesbian retelling of the Scheherazade legend. I was so frustrated by her ending up with that murderous git of a Sultan, I rewrote it.
* The novel changed titles a few times before it became The Artificial Wife; in the story itself, it's the title of Robert's ridiculous treatise (though he claims it's metaphorical). Elle was called Colette originally.
* I did write a detailed plan, but as usual I went off piste and all sorts of weird stuff occurred. There are two major plot twists I hadn't initially anticipated, but now it feels like it couldn't have happened any other way.
* It was going to be written in third person, but ultimately I decided that having the main four characters take turns to narrate worked better. I hated writing Robert's sections and deliberately spent as little time in his psyche as possible.
* Found by Amber Run became the book's unofficial theme song.
