The Moon Is Not My Name

by M.L. Clark

Pax Murillo, big-screen detective of the 2040s, didn’t expect to be rendered sentient for an amusement park gig—let alone for a bunch of aliens who conquered Earth and wiped out humanity. But them’s the breaks. After proving his worth planet-side in Third Planet Fall Down, Murillo finds himself in the administration department on Luna: technically an “upgrade”, because it leaves him with the Archives, where he can try to make sense of his species’ slaughter—at least, once he’s figured out who’s trying to kill the Irian Archivist.

Kindle Edition

Published January 12, 2021

About the author

M L Clark is a writer of speculative fiction, along with book reviews, humanist essays, and news analysis at OnlySky.Media. Canadian by birth, Clark now calls Colombia home, and is an eager translator of classic Colombian lit as well.

In 2023, Clark will be launching six books from Sí, Hay Futuros Ediciones, an indie press that represents the persistence and necessity of hope amid setbacks.

Thanks for following along, if you do.

And thank you for pursuing your own, better dreams, either way.

Reviews

[Steven R. McEvoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second of the Menagerie Mysteries from the pen of M.L. Clark. I loved the first story, but I had to go back and reread a chuck of it. This one in my opinion was even better. I must admit I had pretty high hopes for this story and for the series, and it did not disappoint. I have been following Clark’s works for several years, and I admit to eagerly anticipating each new work. I also lament some that have yet to see the light of day. I went around 25 years with a reading gap on mysteries. I got back into it by being intrigued by one I picked up for my father and have read many over the last 2 or three years. However, knowing Clarks body of work, and having read the first story in this series, Third Planet Fall Down, I was well aware that this would not be a normal mystery. It is a great read for fans of the mystery or Science fiction genre and for mystery fans willing to take a risk.

The story focuses on Pax Murillo, he was an on screen detective in the movies in the 2040s. He was brought back as a character in an amusement park on Earth. But not the Earth he remembers for humans have been wiped out. He was created just as part of an exhibit but after multiple run throughs of a scenario he developed self-awareness and is outgrowing his AI programming. He proved his worth and has been moved to the Archives on the Moon. On Luna he is in the administration development. When several important visitors come to access the archive, there seems to be stress on several of his creators. Both the Irian Archivist and Zin are greatly agitated. And then when the Archivist is poisoned in a way that they thought had been eliminated Pax is back on the case, and a case like no other.

This is an inserting story on many levels. Fist is the nearly completely alien environment and species. The second is Pax’s growing self understanding, and learning to navigate this alien world he has been thrust into. And the underlying arc of the economics of the major species and the game, used to control and manipulate them all. The economics of control, both financial and of information. Of particular interest is species that can revert to earlier stages of development and their need to start over again. And the deliberate suppression of memories or experience learned prior to the reversion. Some secrets should see the light of day. And some secrets others would do anything to keep buried.

For fans of Clarks works this is great volume added to the canon of her work. In many ways I enjoyed this second story even more than the first. It is an excellent read, but be warned it will leave you desperate for the next volume and finding out what Pax is up against then.

Read the review on my blog Book Reviews and More and reviews of other books by ML Clark. As well as author profile and interview with Maggie.

[Jacob Aldrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from a sequel to Third Planet Fall Down, but this second book is every bit as engaging as the first.

The mystery is a bit more front-and-center here, and it's in the process of solving the mystery that Pax Murillo brings out the Big Themes--the biggest, for me, being the idea of performing cultural expectations and using those expectations to navigate tricky situations in an unfamiliar setting (to say nothing of making meaningful change when an individual's viewpoint may be severely limited!). But this goes deeper than Murillo's AI-out-of-his-element musings; we get to see it reflected in just about every character interaction, all of which serve the mystery.

The serious and the silly are balanced very well, too. We get some fascinating sci-fi elements like hive-mind blockchain seaweed, violent sharklike aliens, and arrogant horse-serpents. Clark binds these fantastical elements together with purpose without getting lost in whimsy. (There's plenty of whimsy, but it's always respectful of the reader's time and comes just at the right moments.)

On the whole, The Moon Is Not My Name is a surprising and satisfying read, and I can't wait to see what the third book explores.