Lena’s
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(group member since Nov 17, 2014)
Lena’s
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from the Spells, Space & Screams: Collections & Anthologies in Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Horror group.
Showing 1,861-1,880 of 7,895
Spider the Artist by Nnedi Okorafor ★★☆☆☆ Sort of charming but the robots make no sense. They were built to repulse natives from the oil pipeline and do repairs. Now they play music, make selective friendships, all while killing natives and oil workers alike. Oh, and they can act like a medical ultrasound. Next year juggling, bad poetry, and chimpanzee collecting.
Jul 29, 2020 09:24PM
Score, my library system has a hardcopy. I just requested it and should have it in time through the new contactless pickup.
No it was not an emotional story, which i was expecting, but what felt like a new conversation on the politics of robots in society. I cried buckets at Spielberg's AI... my poor date, lol. And maybe i liked the story more because i have been rewatching West Wing.
Maybe you’re right and it was meant to be satirical but this guy spent his life inventing AI and I believe he thought it through beyond the science to what would happen at a governmental/societal level. Trying to legislate the values of the next generation is common, at least in the US. I’ve just never read it put boldly on display in a SciFi story.
We Are All Misfit Toys In the Aftermath of the Velveteen War by Seanan McGuire ★★★★½
Mira Grant, goddess of the gut punch. Mira Grant, queen of Dark and Clever SciFi. (view spoiler)Artificially intelligent toys kidnap their best friends and hold a generation hostage in a devastating Cold War.
I highly recommend The Kingdom of Needle and Bone: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Robot and the Baby by John McCarthy ★★★★☆
This story, purposely chunky with bureaucracy, brought up some great points. As robots become commonplace there would be a push, especially in household robots, to keep them looking inhuman. It would be natural, especially for a generation raised with robots, to think of them as people, life forms, deserving of rights.
“The consequences were pretty much what the opponents had feared: many children grew up more attached to their robot nannies than to their actual parents.”
Canavan, it would have been more interesting if they had passed it sexually - nanobot STD.
Here’s your good moment of the day, a video of a young black man discovering Nirvana for the first time: “We need songs like this!” https://youtu.be/mapzNpcprSw
I don’t work for World Weaver Press but I’m a fan. We’ve read one of their offerings here at SS&S and three in my Solarpunk Group. Their latest offering is a Kickstarter that should go live tomorrow.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
Nanonauts! In Battke with Tiny Death-Subs! by Ian McDonald ★★☆☆☆ Taking from Fantastic Voyage (1966) this story had bones but left out some crucial parts. Why did the 1% get the nanobots? Did they act differently on them? How did they migrate, if that was, in fact, the ending?
Of Dying Heroes and Deathless Deeds by Robin Wasserman ★★★☆☆
The leader of the robot apocalypse is having second thoughts about his future. Central Command sends in a human to help their robot go back to killing humans. That might sound weird if not for the fact that humans excel at killing humans.
The first Iranian American comedy (that I’ve ever heard of)! Plus I love Shohreh Aghdashloo! https://youtu.be/KsWHTJdv-8Y
This month Melanie will lead us in reading six tales that span the genres of ghost story, mystery, horror, and suspense. Some look back on dark times, others look forward to an apocalyptic future, and still others dwell on a terrible present – but they have one thing in common: they are all dark.
Don’t expect happy endings or pleasant characters here, for there is something dark lurking in the shadows of each tale waiting to get out.
Welcome Kaa! Sandkings is a short story by the same author as Game of Thrones. It was also made into a two part episode of The Outer Limits.
Seasoning by Alan Dean Foster ★★★☆☆
Human beings being conquered, pacified, slowly - it’s a good idea. Hardly an edge of your seat story, but good.
Picnic sounds a more amusing mnemonic.
The Golden Hour by Julianna Baggott ★½☆☆☆ Emotional robots, cloning, human slavery... sigh. The ingredients were there but it had no feels.
Sleepover by Alastair Reynolds ★★★½☆
A SciFi story for today, awaken to a world powered down. Due to a war at the edge of reality, and believability, most of the human race sleeps until a better tomorrow is available. I think I liked it because of reminded me of Millenium (1989).
In place of the Olympics a documentary about the dark side of being an Olympian: https://youtu.be/LzGdIh3ciSk
These gender swaps are shockingly good. Female John Malkovich looks like Holly Hunter!
https://www.boredpanda.com/celebrity-...
I’ve reserved the two Staunch winners from the library.
