Highlight: Automatic Noodle
I have long been struck by the contempt with which robots are treated in The Caves of Steel. To our fictional progeny the metal facsimiles they are scabs, interlopers, others. Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz takes that vibe and turns it on it’s head. The robophobia is the same, but it is shown for what it is, bigotry:
He wasn’t sure what pissed him off more: having to put on a show of unctuous politeness to avoid being snubbed, or the fact that he cared enough about this woman’s opinion.
Automatic Noodle is at its core a critique of what American society is becoming; a rent seeking culture of clout chasers and influencers who wear their conspiracy theories on their sleeves as if it were apparel for the local side. A place where to exist is to have faceless corporations taking their pound of flesh before you even begin to understand what you want to be.
Here Newitz provides us with a found family of mixed origin to navigate life complexities such as PTSD, bodily autonomy, student debt, misinformation, poor social media diets, and integration.
Sci-Fi is at its best when he delves into the now through a lense focused on the near to middle future. It allows simultaneously relate and observe as an outsider. Automatic Noodle is with the best of the genre.
Notes on those finished
Pines, while enjoyable, didn’t reach the quality of Crouch’s other works (Upgrade, Dark Matter, Recursion). I plan to read the second book but haven’t been motivated to pick it up quite yet.
Sleeper Beach was a bit of a let down as a sequel to Titanium Noir, but shows moments of Harkaway’s brilliance.
Yellowface, while an interesting look into the publishing industry, was too much and should have ended chapters earlier.
I’ll get to the Dunk and Egg novellas next month when I finish the third, but I have truly enjoyed coming back to Westeros.
