My newest story in Asimov's Science Fiction, "Vox ex Machina," is a stand-alone tale that only exists because, in the real world, the guys who built the Philip K. Dick "android" lost the thing's head. Commence fiction.
My next story in the "Old Man" sequence, "Each in His Prison, Thinking of the Key," will appear in the April/May issue of Asimov's, which comes out in February. The previous stories in the sequence continue (for now) to be available via Amazon for Kindle and the Kindle app. (Here's hoping that once I write the fifth and final story, "The World Will Be the World Again," someone will assemble all five stories between two covers.)
Though the stories jump around chronologically, they should be read in the order in which they were written: "Helping Them Take the Old Man Down," "Clockworks," and "Unearthed," which take place in 2001/2, 1962, and 1925, respectively. The new story takes place in 2006. As for the final story . . . you'll see.
14 comments:
I'm looking forward to reading both of these!
Thanks!
Speaking of Dick... Did you know he was a fan of TV series "The Invaders"? Not that surprising, I guess.
Heh. I didn't know that! That show's brief life set the tone for my TV viewing throughout my life: anything I thought was really cool was doomed to be cancelled. X-Files violated that. So did Lost—but then it turned into nonsense, having self-destructed instead.
If you google "the invaders we are your police", you should find a site with the outline for an episode he later tried to sell them.
That being said... I know what you mean about shows that you like being doomed to cancellation.
I just got done reading "Vox ex Machina" and wow, what a story. Easily one of the best stories in Asimov's this year.
I'm enormously pleased that you thought so well of the story. One never knows how people (or any one person) will respond. Thanks for stopping by to tell me.
Best wishes,
Bill
Just finished it. Strongly reminded me of a Karen Fowler story, which I mean as a compliment. (Of course, having the protagonist named Karen may have suggested it, too. But it feels a bit like her work, in a good way.) I liked the way you kept up the ELIZA script, so the responses were always scripted. And her own response at the very end was scripted too. Very good.
Thanks, Cal. Much appreciated.
And until two minutes ago, I didn't know the term "ELIZA script."
I thought of Fowler, too, but only after the story was ready to send.
And the character is named Karen because, physically, she's based on an old school pal by that name who became a flight attendant.
My superimposing "Karen" in your story with Karen Fowler is entirely my own mind at work; I didn't mean to imply you were trying to imply that. The tone of the story did remind me a lot of her stuff, though.
Oddly, even after I thought of Fowler, I never thought, "Oh, sonovagun, I named her Karen!"
The bliss of my aging mind.
Will you be offering "Vox ex Machina" on Amazon like your other stories?
Good question. The Old Man stories are at Amazon so people can follow the series even if they come to it late. I'd have to think about whether I wanted to bundle "Vox ex Machina" with some other things--such as my other two pre-Old Man Asimov's stories--or whether it's worth it (to readers) to offer it on its own.
Thanks for asking.
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