His Robot Girlfriend
Book Excerpt
Mike looked at the clock on the wall. It was 3:20 PM. He counted off six hours on his fingers—9:20. He sat down on the white sofa that was almost never used and looked at the shapely nude robot. With a wry smile, he realized that he could sit and stare at it for the next six hours, or he could get up and do something. He went back to the family room, picked up the texTee, and flipped open Moby Dick, but he didn't read any more of it. Instead he turned the select dial to the bookstore and typed in "names". The titles of half a dozen books appeared including "The Name Book", "The Secret Universe of Names", and "The Baby Name Wizard". He selected the last book of the six: "Virtue Names". It took about twenty seconds for the book to download to the texTee. Looking back to the screen, Mike turned to the first page of the name book. The first name was Agape. Agape? The book said that it had something to
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Readers reviews
i wonder if this kind of robot will be invent. The one that could feel.
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One of the most questionable parts was the super cheap price of the companion bot ($3,000?). She is the equivalent of a Ferrari, with a scooter pricetag. The tremendous value she provides as a companion and homemaker would make everyone want to have one (I'd be first in line!), but I only see truly wealthy people being able to afford her model level.
I highly recommend this story to others, and I will be trying the author's other stories.
There are two types of books: character-driven and plot-driven. Allison's His Robot Girlfriend is an example of the former.
Much of nothing happens in the story. There is a hint of intrigue, an aroma of conflict, a lot of sensuality referred to but not, thank heaven, described blow-by-blow which would make this simply bad porn. Basically the first sentence of the review is the novella in its entirety.
The dialogue is written well, which is a plus for works put out into free domain. The character of Mike Smith is rather well fleshed out though Patience remains ... well, a robot and doesn't have much of a personality as she is basically a Gal Friday with sexual services attached. The settings are intriguing. It is interesting to see what of our culture the author believes will survive in the near future, and and as credit to the author's craft, I did read the novella in its entirety.
However, reviewers are as varied as wildflowers in a meadow. Personally, I like a strong, well-crafted plot with intriguing lines of conflict, no matter how subtle or blatant they may be. If you like just character vignettes and what people may do in the privacy of their homes with a novel toy, then this might just be your five-star story.