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The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination
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"Instead Of A Loving Heart" by Jeremiah Tolbert
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I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this story. Not really ambivalence, since I liked it, I'm just not sure specifically why I liked it.
A sort of alternate history on the eve of World War II has a mad scientist, Dr. Octavio, creating his ultimate invention in his secret laboratory. The story is written from the PoV of an automaton seemingly formed of a mechanical (not necessarily humanoid) body with a human brain, but somehow wired to obedience.
There's a real (almost amazing) economy to the storytelling, leaving much of the background to our imagination but giving us plenty of hints. Dr. Octavio's relationship to Lucinda and both their histories, the origin of the PoV automaton "Zed", and Zed's relationship to Lucinda & Octavio, are sketched with just a few dropped hints. I think that's a sign of excellent writing?
A sort of alternate history on the eve of World War II has a mad scientist, Dr. Octavio, creating his ultimate invention in his secret laboratory. The story is written from the PoV of an automaton seemingly formed of a mechanical (not necessarily humanoid) body with a human brain, but somehow wired to obedience.
There's a real (almost amazing) economy to the storytelling, leaving much of the background to our imagination but giving us plenty of hints. Dr. Octavio's relationship to Lucinda and both their histories, the origin of the PoV automaton "Zed", and Zed's relationship to Lucinda & Octavio, are sketched with just a few dropped hints. I think that's a sign of excellent writing?
BTW, Tolbert writes a lot of SF for John Joseph Adams, And I generally enjoy his stories in JJA's Lightspeed online magazine.
E.g., try In the Dying Light, We Saw a Shape, Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass (fantasy), or Taste the Singularity at the Food Truck Circus.
E.g., try In the Dying Light, We Saw a Shape, Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass (fantasy), or Taste the Singularity at the Food Truck Circus.
I couldn't help myself picturing Zed as a Dalek, what with the way he was described.
"Instead Of A Loving Heart" by Jeremiah Tolbert
From the scifi anthology The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination, part of our discussion of The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination anthology.