[Lidija]

Nebula Awards 2019



Novel
Winner: The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)
The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
Witchmark, C. L. Polk (Tor.com)

Novella
Winner: The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean)
Alice Payne Arrives, Kate Heartfield (Tor.com)
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
The Black God's Drums, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
Fire Ant, Jonathan P. Brazee (Semper Fi)
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.com)

Novelette
Winner: The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com)
“An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan (An Agent of Utopia)
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections”, Tina Connolly (Tor.com 11 Jul 2018)
“Messenger”, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne & R. R. Virdi (Expanding Universe, Volume 4)
“The Rule of Three”, Lawrence M. Schoen (Future Science Fiction Digest Dec 2018)
“The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births”, José Pablo Iriarte (Lightspeed Jan 2018)

Short Story
Winner: “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”, Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside Feb 2018)
“And Yet”, A. T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Mar/Apr 2018)
“The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed Jan 2018)
“Going Dark”, Richard Fox (Backblast Area Clear)
“Interview for the End of the World”, Rhett Bruno (Bridge Across the Stars)
“A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasties”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 6 Feb 2018)







Andre Norton Award—


Winner
Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt)

Finalists
Aru Shah and the End of Time, Roshani Chokshi (Rick Riordan Presents)
Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
A Light in the Dark, A. K. DuBoff (BDL)
Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword, Henry Lien (Henry Holt)
Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Random House)

[Lidija]

Arthur C. Clarke Award 2019


Winner
Rosewater, Tade Thompson (Orbit)

Shortlist
The Electric State, Simon Stålenhag (Simon & Schuster)
Frankenstein in Baghdad, Ahmed Saadawi (Oneworld)
The Loosening Skin, Aliya Whiteley (Unsung Stories)
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Semiosis, Sue Burke (HarperVoyager)

[Lidija]

Color, the 58th Japan SF convention, Saitama, Japan : July 27, 2019


Translated Novel
Winner: Mecha Samurai Empire, Peter Tieryas
Artemis, Andy Weir
Provenance, Ann Leckie
Seveneves, Neal Stephenson
Six Wakes, Mur Lafferty
Waking Gods, Sylvain Neuvel
We Are Legion (We Are Bob), Dennis E. Taylor



Translated Story
Winner: “The Circle”, Liu Cixin
“Between Nine and Eleven”, Adam Roberts
“Cybertank vs. Megazillus”, Timothy J. Gawne
“Liar's House”, Lucius Shepard
“The Martian Obelisk”, Linda Nagata
“A Monster in the Midst”, Julio Toro San Martin
“Pevychování”, Jan Barda

[Lidija]

Prometheus Awards 2019


Dublin 2019, Dublin, Ireland : August 15, 2019 - August 19, 2019
Eligibility Year: 2018



Novel
Winner: Causes of Separation, Travis Corcoran (Morlock) (Book One: Rules; Book Two: Order)
The Fractal Man, J. Neil Schulman (Steve Heller)
Kingdom of the Wicked, Helen Dale (Ligature Pty Limited)
The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com) (All Systems Red; Artificial Condition; Rogue Protocol; Exit Strategy)
State Tectonics, Malka Older (Tor.com)



Hall Of Fame
Winner: “Harrison Bergeron”, Kurt Vonnegut (F&SF Oct 1961)
“As Easy as A.B.C.”, Rudyard Kipling (London Mar/Apr 1912)
“Conquest by Default”, Vernor Vinge (Analog May 1968)
“Sam Hall”, Poul Anderson (Astounding Aug 1953)
Schrödinger's Cat: The Universe Next Door, Robert Anton Wilson (Pocket)

[Lidija]

Locus Awards 2019


SFNovel
Winner: The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)

Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager; Hodder & Stoughton)
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit)
Red Moon, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
If Tomorrow Comes, Nancy Kress (Tor)
Embers of War, Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)
Elysium Fire, Alastair Reynolds (Gollancz; Orbit)


Fantasy Novel
Winner: Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)

The Mere Wife, Maria Dahvana Headley (MCD)
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss (Saga)
Foundryside, Robert Jackson Bennett (Crown; Jo Fletcher)
Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch (DAW; Gollancz)
The Monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson (Tor)
The Wonder Engine, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)
Deep Roots, Ruthanna Emrys (Tor.com)
Ahab's Return, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow)
Creatures of Want and Ruin, Molly Tanzer (John Joseph Adams)


Horror Novel
Winner: The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (Morrow; Titan)

The Outsider, Stephen King (Scribner; Hodder & Stoughton)
Cross Her Heart, Sarah Pinborough (HarperCollins UK/Morrow)
In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey (John Joseph Adams)
The Hunger, Alma Katsu (Putnam; Bantam Press)
Tide of Stone, Kaaron Warren (Omnium Gatherum)
Coyote Songs, Gabino Iglesias (Broken River)
We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk)
The Listener, Robert McCammon (Cemetery Dance)
Unlanguage, Michael Cisco (Eraserhead)


Young Adult Book
Winner: Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)

The Cruel Prince, Holly Black (Little, Brown; Hot Key)
Mapping the Bones, Jane Yolen (Philomel)
Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Random House)
Cross Fire, Fonda Lee (Scholastic)
The Gone Away Place, Christopher Barzak (Knopf)
The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform; Gollancz)
The Agony House, Cherie Priest & Tara O'Connor (Levine)
Half-Witch, John Schoffstall (Big Mouth House)
Impostors, Scott Westerfeld (Scholastic)


First Novel
Winner: Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)

The Poppy War, R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)
Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan)
Witchmark, C. L. Polk (Tor.com)
Semiosis, Sue Burke (Tor)
The Quantum Magician, Derek Künsken (Solaris)
Empire of Sand, Tasha Suri (Orbit)
Armed in Her Fashion, Kate Heartfield (ChiZine)
Severance, Ling Ma (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Annex, Rich Larson (Orbit)


Novella
Winner: Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com)

The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean)
Rogue Protocol, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.com)
The Black God's Drums, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
Time Was, Ian McDonald (Tor.com)
The Descent of Monsters, JY Yang (Tor.com)
Black Helicopters, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Tor.com)
The Freeze-Frame Revolution, Peter Watts (Tachyon)
“Umbernight”, Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld Feb 2018)


Novelette
Winner: The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com)

“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth”, Daryl Gregory (Tor.com 19 Sep 2018)
“Okay, Glory”, Elizabeth Bear (Twelve Tomorrows)
“An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan (An Agent of Utopia)
“Quality Time”, Ken Liu (Robots vs Fairies)
“How to Swallow the Moon”, Isabel Yap (Uncanny Nov/Dec 2018)
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections”, Tina Connolly (Tor.com 11 Jul 2018)
“No Flight Without the Shatter”, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com 15 Aug 2018)
“The Donner Party”, Dale Bailey (F&SF Jan/Feb 2018)
“Queen Lily”, Theodora Goss (Lightspeed Nov 2018)


Short Story
Winner: “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”, Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside Feb 2018)

“STET”, Sarah Gailey (Fireside Oct 2018)
“Firelight”, Ursula K. Le Guin (Paris Review Sum 2018)
“The Storyteller's Replacement”, N. K. Jemisin (How Long 'til Black Future Month?)
“Cuisine des Mémoires”, N. K. Jemisin (How Long 'til Black Future Month?)
“A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 6 Feb 2018)
“The Starship and the Temple Cat”, Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1 Feb 2018)
“The Bookcase Expedition”, Jeffrey Ford (Robots vs Fairies)
“The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed Jan 2018)
“Mother of Invention”, Nnedi Okorafor (Future Tense)

[Lidija]

John W. Campbell Memorial Award 2019

Winner
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco)


Finalists
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
The Freeze-Frame Revolution, Peter Watts (Tachyon)
The Loosening Skin, Aliya Whiteley (Unsung Stories)
Moon of the Crusted Snow, Waubgeshig Rice (ECW)
Semiosis, Sue Burke (Tor)
Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
A Spy in Time, Imraan Coovadia (Rare Bird)
Theory of Bastards, Audrey Sculman (Europa Editions)
Time Was, Ian McDonald (Tor.com)
Unholy Land, Lavie Tidhar (Tachyon)
Remarks:
Current jurors are Gregory Benford, Sheila Finch, Elizabeth Anne Hull, Paul Kincaid, Chris McKitterick, Pamela Sargent, and Lisa Yaszek.

[Lidija]

Shirley Jackson Awards 2019


Novel
Winner: Little Eve, Catriona Ward (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Everything Under, Daisy Johnson (Jonathan Cape)
In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey (John Joseph Adams)
Social Creature, Tara Isabella Burton (Doubleday)
We Sold Our Souls, Grady Hendrix (Quirk)


Novella
Winner: The Taiga Syndrome, Cristina Rivera Garza (Dorothy)
The Atrocities, Jeremy C. Shipp (Tor.com)
Judderman, D. A. Northwood (Dead Ink)
The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com)
The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky, John Hornor Jacobs (HarperCollins)


Novelette
Winner: Help the Witch, Tom Cox (Unbound)
“Adriftica”, Maria Dahvana Headley (Robots vs Fairies)
“The Black Sea”, Chris Mason (Beneath the Waves: Tales from the Deep)
“Blood and Smoke, Vinegar and Ashes”, D. P. Watt (The Silent Garden)
Ghostographs: An Album, Maria Romasco Moore (Rose Metal)


Short Fiction
Winner: “The Astronaut”, Christina Wood Martinez (Granta Win 2018)
“Back Seat”, Bracken MacLeod (Lost Highways)
“Hell”, David Hansen (Fairy Tale Review Mar 2018)
“How to be a Horror Writer”, Tim Waggoner (Vastarien Sum 2018)
“The Woman Dies”, Aoko Matsuda (Granta Sum 2018)


Collection
Winner: All the Fabulous Beasts, Priya Sharma (Undertow)
Drawn Up from Deep Places, Gemma Files (Trepidatio)
Garden of Eldritch Delights, Lucy A. Snyder (Raw Dog Screaming)
The Human Alchemy, Michael Griffin (Word Horde)
Quartier Perdu, Sean O'Brien (Comma)


Anthology
Winner: Robots vs Fairies, Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe, eds. (Saga)
Chiral Mad 4: An Anthology of Collaborations, Michael Bailey & Lucy A. Snyder, ed. (Written Backwards)
The Silent Garden: A Journal of Esoteric Fabulism, The Silent Garden Collective, ed. (Undertow)
This Dreaming Isle, Dan Coxon, ed. (Unsung Stories)
Tiny Crimes: Very Short Tales of Mystery and Murder, Lincoln Michel & Nadxieli Nieto, eds. (Black Balloon)

[Lidija]

Hugo Awards 2019



Novel
Winner: The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton; Harper Voyager)
Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris)
Space Opera, Catherynne M. Valente (Saga)
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)


Novella
Winner: Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
Beneath the Sugar Sky, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com)
Binti: The Night Masquerade, Nnedi Okorafor (Tor.com)
The Black God's Drums, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com)
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.com)
The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean)


Novelette
Winner: “If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again”, Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog 29 Nov 2018)
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections”, Tina Connolly (Tor.com 11 Jul 2018)
“Nine Last Days on Planet Earth”, Daryl Gregory (Tor.com 19 Sep 2018)
The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com)
“The Things About Ghost Stories”, Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Nov/Dec 2018)
“When We Were Starless”, Simone Heller (Clarkesworld Oct 2018)


Short Story
Winner: “A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex Feb 2018)
“The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed Jan 2018)
“The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society”, T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Nov/Dec 2018)
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”, P. Djèlí Clark (Fireside Feb 2018)
“STET”, Sarah Gailey (Fireside Oct 2018)
“The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat”, Brooke Bolander (Uncanny Jul/Aug 2018)


Lodestar Award For Best Young Adult Book
Winner: Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan)
The Belles, Dhonielle Clayton (Freeform; Gollancz)
The Cruel Prince, Holly Black (Little, Brown; Hot Key)
Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
The Invasion, Peadar O'Guilín (Scholastic; David Fickling)
Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Penguin Teen; Random House UK)





Retro Hugo Awards 2019

Novel
Winner: Conjure Wife, Fritz Leiber (Unknown Worlds Apr 1943)
Das Glasperlenspiel (The Glass Bead Game), Hermann Hesse (Fretz & Wasmuth)
Earth's Last Citadel, C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner (Argosy Apr 1943)
Gather, Darkness!, Fritz Leiber (Astounding Science Fiction May,Jun,Jul 1943)
Perelandra, C. S. Lewis (The Bodley Head)
The Weapon Makers, A. E. van Vogt (Astounding Science Fiction Feb,Mar,Apr 1943)


Novella
Winner: The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Reynal & Hitchcock)
“Attitude”, Hal Clement (Astounding Science Fiction Sep 1943)
“Clash by Night”, C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner (Astounding Science Fiction Mar 1943) (as by Lawrence O'Donnell)
“The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath”, H. P. Lovecraft (Beyond the Wall of Sleep)
The Magic Bed-Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons, Mary Norton (Hyperion)
“We Print the Truth”, Anthony Boucher (Astounding Science Fiction Dec 1943)


Novelette
Winner: “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”, C. L. Moore & Henry Kuttner (Astounding Science Fiction Feb 1943) (as by Lewis Padgett)
“Citadel of Lost Ships”, Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories Mar 1943)
“The Halfling”, Leigh Brackett (Astonishing Stories Feb 1943)
“The Proud Robot”, Henry Kuttner (Astounding Science Fiction Oct 1943) (as by Lewis Padgett)
“Symbiotica”, Eric Frank Russell (Astounding Science Fiction Oct 1943)
“Thieves' House”, Fritz Leiber (Unknown Worlds Feb 1943)


Short Story
Winner: “King of the Gray Spaces”, Ray Bradbury (Famous Fantastic Mysteries Dec 1943) (aka "R Is for Rocket")
“Death Sentence”, Isaac Asimov (Astounding Science Fiction Nov 1943)
“Doorway Into Time”, C. L. Moore (Famous Fantastic Mysteries Sep 1943)
“Exile”, Edmond Hamilton (Super Science Stories May 1943)
“Q.U.R.”, Anthony Boucher (Astounding Science Fiction Mar 1943) (as by H.H. Holmes)
“Yours Truly -- Jack the Ripper”, Robert Bloch (Weird Tales Jul 1943)

[Miodrag Milovanovic]

Kakav rodno neravnopravni Hugo!!!
Gde su dobra stara vremena...
Kako ću unucima da objasnim da se bavim ženskom zanimacijom... 

[Lidija]

Ne brini odviše, saživeće se već unuci sa tom situacijom… samo nama je ovde i sada teško. 

Enivejz, pošto žanr stvarno sve slabije proizvodi literaturu za odrasle, možda je pametnije da ga ostavimo deci i ne-odraslima, a mi se okrenemo matici… u to ime, evo Bukera:



Šira lista od 13 romana u konkurenciji napravljena je odabirom između 151 romana objavljenih u UK ili Irskoj:
 

Margaret Atwood (Kanada): "The Testaments" (Vintage, Chatto & Windus)
Kevin Barry (Irska): "Night Boat to Tangier" (Canongate Books)
Oyinkan Braithwaite (UK/Nigerija): "My Sister, The Serial Killer" (Atlantic Books)
Lucy Ellmann (SAD/UK): "Ducks, Newburyport" (Galley Beggar Press)
Bernardine Evaristo (UK): "Girl, Woman, Other" (Hamish Hamilton)
John Lanchester (UK): "The Wall" (Faber & Faber)
Deborah Levy (UK): "The Man Who Saw Everything" (Hamish Hamilton)
Valeria Luiselli (Meksiko/Italija): "Lost Children Archive" (4th Estate)
Chigozie Obioma (Nigerija): "An Orchestra of Minorities" (Little Brown)
Max Porter (UK): "Lanny" (Faber & Faber)
Salman Rushdie (UK/Indija): "Quichotte" (Jonathan Cape)
Elif Shafak (UK/Turska): "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" (Viking)
Jeanette Winterson (UK): "Frankissstein" (Jonathan Cape)
 

[angel011]

Hugo Awards 2019

Lodestar Award For Best Young Adult Book
Winner: Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan)

Ovome nagrada?

Mislim, ima tu dobrog, ali ima i početničkog pisanja. Eventualno može da dobije neku nagradu za roman prvenac (ako se ne nađe bolji te godine).

[Miodrag Milovanovic]

I ovde 8:5... 

Mada... Deluje da među Bukerovcima ima bar 3-4 SF-a... Više nego u Hugu... 

[Lidija]

Pa, ne znam baš za SF, ali fantastike verujem da ima u više od pola naslova. 

Šalu sad ustranu, zadnjih meseci sam odustala čak i od ovlašnog proveravanja novih stranih naslova - ispada da su im čak i sama početna poglavlja dovoljna da oštete fragilne nerve poput mojih  -  pa sam se malo više okrenula domaćoj prozi, i, za divno čudo, prolazim bolje nego što sam strepela. Čak bi se moglo reći i bolje nego što sam očekivala.

[Lidija]

Hugo Awards 2019

Lodestar Award For Best Young Adult Book
Winner: Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan)

Ovome nagrada?

Mislim, ima tu dobrog, ali ima i početničkog pisanja. Eventualno može da dobije neku nagradu za roman prvenac (ako se ne nađe bolji te godine).

Za nju znam samo kroz onu čarku oko naslova, da joj je neko plagirao naslov. Mislim…   

[Miodrag Milovanovic]

Margaret Atwood (Kanada): "The Testaments" (Vintage, Chatto & Windus)
Nastavak "Sluškinjine priče" - dakle SF

John Lanchester (UK): "The Wall" (Faber & Faber)
What might be the consequences of our obsession with consumption, and of global inequalities and mass migration? In The Wall John Lanchester takes an imaginative leap into Britain’s future to dramatise such anxieties.
Lanchester’s previous novel, Capital, humanely satirised the financial excesses of London, where a lucky few depend on the labour of recent immigrants. The Wall moves beyond satire into full-on dystopia. An enormous wall has been built around Britain to keep out all “Others,” de facto enemies who try to enter the island fortress. A climate-related catastrophe known as “the Change” has made these others cast themselves out on lonely, desperate journeys to get here.
Kavanagh is a young “defender of the wall” at the start of his national service, which has been reintroduced. Two bleak years patrolling the wall stretch ahead of him. He begins to wish for some action. Indeed, engagingly played out action scenes drive the story. Strangely it’s not depressing, despite the dark scenario. Innate affability and a heartening tale of human endurance even make it a little sappy compared with, say, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Ako ovo nije SF - šta jeste...

Deborah Levy (UK): "The Man Who Saw Everything" (Hamish Hamilton)
Hm. I ovo bi mogla biti neka fantastika...


Max Porter (UK): "Lanny" (Faber & Faber)
This village belongs to the people who live in it and to those who lived in it hundreds of years ago. It belongs to England's mysterious past and its confounding present.
It belongs to Mad Pete, the grizzled artist. To ancient Peggy, gossiping at her gate. To families dead for generations, and to those who have only recently moved here.
But it also belongs to Dead Papa Toothwort, who has woken from his slumber in the woods. Dead Papa Toothwort, who is listening to them all.
Chimerical, audacious, strange and wonderful - a song to difference and imagination, to friendship, youth and love, Lanny is the globally anticipated new novel from Max Porter.

Fantastika, očito....

Jeanette Winterson (UK): "Frankissstein" (Jonathan Cape)
 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has certainly had a vivid afterlife: subject to countless adaptations, rewrites, and remakes. Jeanette Winterson is the latest to re-animate the 19th-century Gothic classic, both playfully and sometimes arduously bringing it into a contemporary world of smart-tech and artificial intelligence (AI). Frankissstein asks if we might be on the cusp of life-creating inventions as huge, and potentially troublesome, as those Shelley imagined.
Frankissstein includes a graceful re-telling of Mary Shelley’s own life – from how she came up with her famous monster while holidaying with Percy Shelley and Lord Byron through to a smart closing encounter with Byron’s daughter and computer programming visionary, Ada Lovelace. But much of the book is a modern equivalent – ish – of Frankenstein, with a love story at its heart. Ry Shelley, a young male-presenting transgender doctor (“I am fully female. I am also partly male.”) meets Victor Stein, a charismatic AI professor, doing pioneering work on uploading the brain and thus liberating humans from the limits of our biology. Victor is attracted to Ry in part because he sees them as a “hybrid”, who chose to “intervene in [their] own evolution”.
The pair’s improbable sidekicks are an unreconstructed Welsh entrepreneur named Ron Lord, who manufactures grotesquely pliant sex-bots, and an evangelical American Christian named Claire (a strained equivalent of Mary Shelley’s step-sister) who – stretching credulity – sees religious potential in the bots.

Tja, liči, al' ne mora da znači...