Stories of Singularity

Stories of Singularity #1-4

by Susan Kaye Quinn

When technology stretches intelligence…

The tragic world of a med bot; a machine intelligence probing its constraints; and a cybernetic enhancement that might kill you... or make you a savior for your people.

This box set of FOUR NOVELLAS (plus a bonus flash fiction) provide an intriguing glimpse into the dark corners of the Singularity novels.

The Stories of Singularity can be read independently from the Singularity novel series.

CONTAINS 
Restore 
Containment 
Defiance 
Augment 
Fair Trade (bonus flash fiction) 

Story Summaries 
Restore 
What if the three laws of robotics were replaced by a single emotion: unconditional love. Restorative Human Medical Care Unit 7435, sentience level fifty, wants to heal the human master it loves, but Unit 7435 finds there is a price to be paid for love… and for failing in its primary mission. 

Containment 
The Mining Master of Thebe is all alone… not counting the scavenger drones, foundry nanites, and magtread tractors buzzing across the tiny Jovian moon. So when a spindly tower of rocks mysteriously appears at the pole, it’s enough to vex the Mining Master’s machine-sourced intelligence like dust trapped in a harvester joint. Reporting it could mean reassignment to the Outer Belt… but probing the mystery further threatens to unlock something that might have been better left... contained. 

Defiance 
Most of humanity has ascended into hyper-intelligent human/machine hybrids, but legacy humans like Cyrus Kowalski are used to skirting the laws they’ve laid down—after all, he knows the ascenders only pretend to care about the legacy pets they keep. But when a woman Cyrus loves like a mother is stricken by a disease the ascenders refuse to cure, he has to decide how far he can go without getting banished from the legacy city that’s always been his home. 

Augment
Miriam is a jiv—an augmented warrior willing to give her life for the Maker cause—and she’s more than ready to get in the ring and fight for the latest mod. If she wins, she’ll have everything she needs to offer herself up for the Makers’ most dangerous augment of all. The only problem? No one has yet survived it. Either she’ll become the Makers’ latest failed experiment—or the leap toward salvation her people desperately need. 

Genres: Science Fiction

143 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 3, 2015

About the author

CLICK HERE for a FREE STORY

Susan Kaye Quinn has designed aircraft engines and researched global warming, but now she uses her PhD to invent cool stuff in books. Her works range from hopeful climate fiction to gritty cyberpunk. Sue believes being gentle and healing is radical and disruptive. Her short fiction can be found in Grist, Solarpunk Magazine, Reckoning, and all her novels and short stories can be found on her website. She is the host of the Bright Green Futures podcast.

SOLARPUNK
collections
Bright Green Futures: 2024 (edited by SKQ)
Halfway to Better

novels
Nothing is Promised series
When You Had Power
You Knew The Price
Of Kindness and Kilowatts
Yet You Cry When It Hurts

short stories
A Moon Goddess to Watch Over Me (Luna Station Quarterly) (hopepunk)
It's in the Blood (Reckoning 8)
Once and Future Kilowatts (Solarpunk Magazine)
Rewilding Indiana (Little Blue Marble)
Seven Sisters (Grist)
The Joy Fund (DreamForge Magazine)

SCI-FI
Singularity Novel Series
The Legacy Human
The Duality Bridge
The Illusory Prophet
The Last Mystic

Stories of Singularity
Restore
Containment
Augment
Awakening
Harvest
Defiance
Resistance

YA SF
Mindjack Series
Open Minds
Closed Hearts
Free Souls
Locked Tight
Cracked Open
Broken Wide
Mindjack Short Story Collection

WATCH the award-winning live-action Mindjack Book Trailer!

STEAMPUNK ROMANCE
Royals of Dharia
Third Daughter
Second Daughter
First Daughter

CYBERPUNK
Debt Collector
LIRIUM (Season One)
WRAITH (Season Two)

WATCH the Debt Collector Book Trailer

ANTHOLOGIES
Synchronic
Telepath Chronicles
AI Chronicles
Dark Beyond The Stars
Future Chronicles
Cyborg Chronicles
CLONES: The Anthology

MIDDLE GRADE FANTASY
Faery Swap

WATCH the Faery Swap Book Trailer

CONTACT SUSAN
Susan's Website | Sue on Bluesky | Sue on Mastodon
Susan's Email: sue@twistedspacepub.com

Reviews

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure. I really like the idea of creating AI but I didn't feel this story. Good premise, good characters, it might just have been the shortness of it all

[Veronica of V's Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a series of four stories set in the author's Singularity world. That means AI are not possible, they rule Earth, and apparently beyond. In these stories, humans have evolved into Ascenders, those which opted to digitize their consciousness into a world collective called Orion, and exist in host bodies that are wholly machine. There are plenty of low-sentience bots who due the menial work, and some smallish populations of Legacy humans, who are mostly kept alive for their genetic diversity. Two of the stories are told from a bot perspective, and two from humans. They are all unique and impart an understanding of humanity in the way Ascenders have long forgotten it.

The first of the stories is RESTORE, a short novella chronicling the events of a medical bot who is brought to the home of an Ascender to treat the Ascender's legacy human artist-in-residence who is dying.

This futuristic world (post-Singularity) has genetic treatments for all sorts of cancers and infections, but these are prohibited to legacy humans--it is their genetic variability which is valuable, so they cannot change their genetics, even if it means dying young due to otherwise curable diseases.

Tyrus is a powerful Ascender and has brought Unit 7435 to his home to treat Sherrie, a 20 y/o artist whom Tyrus not only supports, he has great affection for her, a feeling which is reciprocated. Unit 7435 and Sherrie are told that Tyrus has acquired experimental medicine that will help Sherrie, and in one way this is true. Sherrie has battled through several rounds of chemotherapy for lymphoma, but is now suffering an opportunistic pneumonia infection.

As the day passes, Unit 7435 experiences, for the first time, emotional connection to a medical situation that is out of control. The tension is great and increases dramatically as the bot continues to check Sherrie's vitals throughout the treatment. Tyrus and Sherrie express their great affection, while Unit 7435 observes and relates the tale, and the anxiety. The end is stark, but truly awesome. Don't expect miracles of the human kind.

I was fascinated by the resonance within the bot's POV. Having spent too many days at the bedside of a terribly ill loved one, this short read captured those experiences with a chilling accuracy that was anything but detached. Bravo!

The second novella, CONTAINMENT is another bot tale. This time, a low sentience Mining Master bot on Thebe, one of Jupiter's moons, evolves enough to not only demonstrate creativity, but to engineer its own ascendance. I just seriously loved how logical, and yet captivated by beauty this bot was. There is an urgency to the story--Ascenders have put protocols into place that prevent the acquisition of such knowledge, but a la Jurassic Park: life finds a way.

The Master of Thebe recognizes all the fail safes, and works within it's framework to defeat its own processing. It can and does go several directions that are dangerous, and likely to make it be destroyed, if noticed. I truly enjoyed the end, where we are able to see the human side of Ascendance, and how this is not altogether lost in the electronic mind post-Singularity. Again, being in the brain of a bot takes a bit of adjustment, but I think the goals of this character are human in desire, and fully approachable. #Loved

DEFIANCE third is a short story told from the POV of Cyrus, best friend of Eli MC of THE LEGACY HUMAN and the Singularity books. Cyrus is all alone in New Portland, an orphan of the Legacy sity, who has recently lost his grandfather caretaker. He's about 17, and street savvy, working for a black market augment and meds dealer, Riley. There are lots of chemical ways Cyrus, and even Eli, could while away their time, but they stay sharp and sober. This is good, because it enables them to make use of their talents when Eli's mom is diagnosed with lymphoma.

This story is actually a prequel to THE LEGACY HUMAN, so readers know that not only is Eli breaking the law to obtain gen-tech treatment for this mother, it is Cyrus who is supplying the illegal medicine. I really got a sense of Cyrus' anger and frustration for a system where he feels humans are little more than zoo attractions for the Ascenders. Despite all their advances, their rigid rules and withholding of life-saving treatments are considered by all Legacies (and the off-the grid Legacy defectors) to be cruel and unjust. I loved getting to know Cyrus better, and to better understand all that he went through to help Eli and his mom. At any point Cyrus could have walked away, left New Portland and it's rules and regime behind, yet he didn't. He had people to care for, and a dangerous path to take in order to do so. A real subversive hero.

AUGMENT is a novella that set deeper into the timeline of the Singularity novels. Miriam Levine is a jiv, a human that has mechanical prosthetics, or augments. Though she was born a Legacy human without legs, the Ascenders never installed the leg augments. No, those only came when Miriam's father defected after his young wife was left to die of a heart condition. Miriam is 16 and an experienced fighter in the underground augment battle arena. By winning championships she's earned several other internal augments, called mods. This story opens with Miriam battling a friend and fellow jiv to win the Resurrection mod, a newly developed internal device that would slow her heart and body systems to allow time for natural healing in the event of a catastrophic injury.

See, Miriam has a plan for humanity, and it's NOT to be Ascender entertainment. No, the colonies of defectors have been looking for a Chosen, one of their own who will be both human and Ascended, and Miriam believes that, with the help of this Resurrection mod, she could be the first survivor of the neural implant procedure that's part of being Chosen. Even if she dies, she reasons, the status accorded to her as a volunteer in the Chosen pathway will allow permanent care for her still-grieving and mostly despondent father. It's a big choice for a young girl, and she is an excellent new character into this world. I have a feeling that Miriam and Eli are going to have many confrontations in the next Singularity book.

This is a great read for people who are captivated by dystopian fiction, and the AI augmented future of humanity. As the author points out in her notes, we already have a LOT of AI on Earth, and human augments thrive among us. It's not a matter of IF this could happen, but WHEN.... ;)

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just discovered this set last year when I read the stories separately. I was glad to be gifted the stories all together in this boxed set.

I found Quinn's writing to be riveting, clever, and fresh sci-fi. There was good conflict, tension, and worldbuilding. Each of these stories brought something a little different and I loved the variety.

[chev ۫ ꣑ৎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is short yet riveting, and one of my favourite sci-fi books I have read!
5/5 Chev's picks
Recommended for: sci-fi fans!
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[Marla · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a boxed set of the first 4 stories in the Singularity series by Susan Kaye Quinn. She is my favorite author! As always, very entertaining with unusual characters and story lines. Will make you think about the future of humanity versus machines!!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book of short stories! This is a book of four short stories that build on each other and yet they seem to have nothing in common until the last story. Each story can stand alone but when put together they give you a good insight into Susan Kaye Quinn's Singularity world. At first, because I have not yet read the two novels that Quinn wrote which goe with these stories, I was just a tad disappointed and confused. But as I read each story, they started to make sense to me. By the last story, my favorite, I was in love with this world. Each story gives a different view point of robots and AI. The really scary and creepy part for me is that I don't think we are really that far from all these things happening. We as human beings, if we want to continue to be top dog in this world, need to understand this and figure out how we are going to stay on top. That is one thing that Quinn consistently does with her stories is push the envelope when it comes to robots and AI. She also makes you think long after you have finished the stories. I can't wait to read the two novels, The Legacy Human and The Duality Bridge. While you will still enjoy Stories of Singularity #1-4 without reading the two novels. It might enhance the short stories for you. Either way I loved Stories of Singularity #1-4 and highly recommend it for anyone who likes Sci-Fi or just likes stories that challenge your mind. Take a chance. You won't be disappointed. I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading these short stories! Each one was engaging and thought provoking, challenging the reader to see the truth of all the good and all the bad that can exist in a post singularity world.

I enjoyed that al of the stories took place in different setting within this futuristic world, and each protagonist differed from the others and had their own unique journeys of discovery to experience.

What always works well in Susan's books is the way that you find yourself walking along with the characters, sharing their experiences and allowing them to broaden your view of the world as a whole.

I also enjoyed that the stories made you think about themes that are greater than the individual stories and wonder what if? Is this new world really "better" in all the ways that it could be?

The only thing that I wish was different- and it's not really a complaint, just my own failure to accept that these are short stories- is that I could have seen more of what's to come.

I would recommend this book to all types of readers, young, old, sci-fi lovers, fantasy readers...etc. You will not regret reading about these characters, and if you follow Susan's Legacy Human series, these stories make that tale all the more fun!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories are amazing companions to the Singularity series. The stories are each from a differnt view point, some of which we haven't seen before. The first story is about a med bot who loves his sick master more than should be possible. The second story (my favorite) is about a maintanence bot on a distant moon that discovers art and creativity. The third is the story of how Eli and Cyrus find out about Eli's mother's sickness and how they take the first steps down a slippery slope. The fourth book is about a mechanically altered human who will give anything to help humanity.

These are all unique stories that will add to you understanding of the Singularity "universe" while helping you see a different side to some of the characters that you thought you already knew. As usual, Susan Kaye Quinn gives the reader something to think about. We could be closer than we think to this universe. What decisions would you make? Who would you trust?

[Anna Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is clearly a wonderful compilation of 4 enthralling short stories!

Read my reviews here:
Restore
Containment
Defiance
Augment

There's also a bonus flash fiction included in this one.
Can't wait for The Illusory Prophet (Singularity #3)! :)

[Samantha Redstreake Geary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A shining tribute to the human, and not so human, spirit!
Susan Kaye Quinn unveils a cast of compelling characters who bring the masterfully crafted world of Singularity to new life. The wondrous perspectives featured in Restore and Containment will forever alter how you view artificial intelligence, from the heartwarming med bot whose happiness lies in the healing, to the master mining bot whose curious fixation on a cairn, or "Mystery of the Rocks", sparks a creative evolution. The raw journeys of two legacy humans in Defiance and Augment reinforce the resilience of the human spirit, from a clever youth who defies the boundaries that bind him to save the ones he loves, to an augmented young girl with a penchant for battle who's willing to risk everything, even her life, to forge a new path for humanity.

[Lola]

This box set consists of 4 short stories. I will write a whole review for each of them and post the sumamry here with links to the whole review.

Restore
I really enjoyed this short story, it was well written and I am in awe how Susan managed to convey the robotic perspective. Seeing things from a robot their point of view was really interesting and it was well done, little touches that made it clear this was a robot. I liked getting an extra piece of the Singularity world and it makes me looking forward to more of these short stories.
Read my whole review of Restore here.

Containment

Defiance

Augment

[Liza · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed timing. I read/rated this Combo in August 2018 without a review. I (re-)read/reviewed #1 Restore in October 2019 and then (re-)read/reviewed #2/#3/#4 in May 2020.

The world has AIs which perform a variety of tasks. The AIs can think for themselves but they are generally constrained by the rules that have been imposed by the programmers. They are generally good entities.

Humans are in two categories - the Ascenders who can live forever, have bio-upgrades and some genetic modification and the Legacy humans whose genetic identities are maintained (for the benefit of the Ascenders) and who can only receive .

The Legacy humans are trying various ways to stay alive and to improve their lives.

An interesting way of looking at future possibilities

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories were all amazing, each in their own way. Though they all take place in the same Singularity world, they each have a very different feel to them. While they can, theoretically, be read on their own, I highly recommend reading them in tandem with the Singularity novels, as it adds further depth to the novellas.

Restore left me feeling sadness and pity. Containment had me brimming with hope and victory. Defiance took me back to the beginning and showed me another pespective. And then, my personal favorite, Augment. This one made me feel... powerful.

I can't wait for more! :D

A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

[R.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read 'Restore' in the AI Chronicles and really liked Susan's writing. So when she asked for ARC readers for this box set, I was happy to participate.

I wasn't disappointed.

All the stories are great. If I had to pick a favourite, it'd probably be Containment. But only by a whisker. They were all well-written, engaging and thought-provoking.

I'd also add - I haven't read any of Susan's 'Singularity' novels, and yet it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the stories. But I think I'll go look those out, next time I feel the need for a fix of sci-fi :-)

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has written a linked series of novellas set in the same universe as some of her other stories with probably the main question being boundaries between being human and not, in the contact of technological improvement and AI. Her prose is easy to read and the context and required information is implied or only delivered in appropriately placed small blocks (no Kim Stanley Robinson too big to absorb infodumps her). For me, the books were both enjoyable and thought-provoking and will be reading more of her work in this universe.

[Somer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great set of short stories set in the Singularity world.