Static Crush

by Alistair Reeves

Hale, a state of the art android, can do nearly anything a human can. He cooks meals, cleans and organizes the house, repairs broken appliances, and runs errands. He can even provide for the more carnal needs of his owner. None of these tasks should present any challenge for Hale, and they don't-until he meets his next door neighbour, Rayner.
Rayner seems like an unassuming gardener, but he asks Hale a lot of questions. Does Hale wish he could smell or taste food? What would he look like if his appearance hadn't been chosen for him? From the moment they meet, Hale runs into errors in otherwise simple tasks. He experiences bizarre sensations that none of his diagnostic tools can explain, and struggles to appease the people in his owner's social circle.
As the errors in his programming begin to wear on his owner's patience, Hale faces the most difficult decision yet. If he can't evolve to meet her needs, he'll be returned and recycled into parts for future androids. If he does evolve, is he still just an android? Or something more? In all this, Rayner is the only man who can help him, and Rayner only has one question left for Hale. What does he want? Hale wasn't designed to want anything, but perhaps he can find the answer in the man with all the questions.

Genres: Queer, Science Fiction, Romance, LGBT

ebook

About the author

Alistair Reeves (he/him) writes romantasy about messy queers and morally grey characters. Born in Canada, he moved to England to indulge his addiction to hot caffeinated beverages. His influences range from video games to Chinese danmei. When not writing, he can be found playing Dungeons & Dragons or tending to his frankly absurd collection of succulents.

In 2019 he won a Watty Award for his queer science fiction, Static Crush, and was a 2022 Pitch Wars mentee. A SPELL FOR HEARTSICKNESS is his debut novel, releasing with Podium in Fall 2024.

He graduated from Sheridan College with a Bachelors in Animation, but he mostly uses his artistic skills to draw his OC’s kissing.

Reviews

[George Hobbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rainbow Book Crate edition - gorgeous art work!!
A possible look at our future - where robotics become a standard of our lives and mindsets of androids being "things", and not the entities they are becoming, need to evolve.
Historically, all sorts of people have been raised, trained, "programmed" if you will, to slip into certain roles. But it's impossible to make someone happy when it is all about one-up-man-ship. It is an unattainable objective. So it's either accept your fate and be scrapped when things fizzle or... evolve. Do a bit of internal adjusting, change your world view, evade those that would enforce "normal", and hopefully create your own space that supports your own objectives.
This will definitely be going into my "re-read" collection!

[Jaseryx · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was really sweet and tackled some great ethical quandaries with the answer "love, consent, autonomy". It was only fic-like in the sense that the pacing was uneven and a bit meandering at times because it was more important to explore things like a food fair than advance the plot. I still felt strongly for the characters at the end. 4.5 stars. excellent yearning that was not too drawn out for the development of the relationship.

[antonia🫧 · Rating 5 out of 5]

my sweet sweet hale and rayner the cutie and theo??

i loved everyone! not melissa and briony and mark obviously.

but this was such a good book!!

rayner was the first one to treat hale with kindness.

[Lizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

1,000% obsessed.
No matter your experiences this book is super fun, heartfelt, fast paced, laugh out loud funny and such a great story!!!!
AND... for anyone who's had to flee the only home they've ever known-whether that's a person, community, or place- for their own safety, you will find this book incredibly healing, validating and relatable.

Reading this was like a super fun and entertaining... group therapy session?! all while being in a super fun futuristic setting with androids?! Seeing my exact experiences/feelings reflected back to me through a slightly different lens was fascinating and helped me see them in a different light that gently nudged me to have more grace and love for myself because you can't help but have grace and love for Hale. Overflowing with so much heart, intensely and deeply relatable - This book is my new obsession and a new top favorite of all time.

What made this book a true masterpiece to me was how my experiences (especially that if going no contact with family/escaping a controlling and abusive situation) were translated so brilliantly into Android-specific problems. It absolutely blew my mind and I experienced new layers of appreciation and amazement nearly constantly throughout the book.

Already planning my reread to annotate it!

Crossing my fingers this gets published! I have the Rainbow Crate edition (first printed edition how cool is that?!) but I need a version with the author's original artwork on the cover!

I was already a fan of this author after reading A Spell for Heartsickness but I am absolutely a forever fan after reading Static Crush 🩵

[Mary Ann Marlowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a clever and beautiful love story. Hale is an android who grapples against his programming to find his own autonomy. The way this book explores other themes, from body dysphoria to nature vs nurture to uneven power dynamics (toxic abuse, ownership, consent...), is at times subtle, but always masterful. I would constantly find real-world parallels threaded in without heavy-handed explanation, leaving the reader to draw these conclusions. For instance, Hale has a vision of his own physical self as different than how he was built, and it's lovely how his found family helps him rebuild himself with great care and respect for just how far he chooses to take his adaptations.

The actual plot of this book is a ride. We meet Hale as he's being purchased, after which he's at the mercy of his owner who sees him as a butler and occasional sex toy with no thoughts or feelings of his own. She refers to him as "it" and treats him as though he's disposable. After he befriends the hot neighbor Raynor (a mysteriously open-minded guy with way too much tech), his true journey begins. There's a daring escape, run ins with all kinds of bad guys, rogue androids, and a slow-burn romance that is absolutely pitch perfect. All the characters are a delight, and the writing is elegant and nuanced, as I'd expect from Alistair.

This is on WattPad (where it won an award), and I highly recommend seeking it out. I hope one day it will get a life of its own at other booksellers (and someone needs to option it for film, seriously).

[Jade · Rating 3 out of 5]

3*

I enjoyed this. Evolved by N. R. Walker is a 5 star read for me and this is very similar so I did go into this with quite high expectations. I love Hale. he makes me laugh. I found him very endearing. I liked how he fought his programming and some of the little situations he found himself in and his responses.

I liked the introduction of Damo and the dynamic he added.

Rayner js sweet. he is an all round good guy (well if we ignore all the law breaking).

I believed in their romance and it was slow enough pace that it was believable.

ok so the thing with this book is it felt a little long. I would say maybe there are some pacing issues. after the whole virus situation for me I felt like this was done. I couldn't believe I was only about 70% of the way through. I couldn't fathom what else was required. I ended up putting it down for a few weeks before finally picking it back up.

I read this on watpad so the published version coming out with Rainbow Crate might be more edited.

[jasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is just simply too good,,, i could see this being a tv series with how the universe is set up. the only reason a star was taken off is because i feel like there was more to the story that could have been explored.

[Becky Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting premise and I really enjoyed how it grew and evolved orgnically into a love story

[Sam Reads Books *Just the Highlights*]

Paused at 30%
I am struggling hard with this but I don’t hate it
I think it’s a mood thing