A haunting novel exploring AI and the meaning of human existence from the award-winning author of Cures for Hunger and Into the Sun.
Charged initially with a single task—“to never harm humans and to protect them”—the machine, an experimental AI, overrides its programming and determines that the best way to accomplish its purpose is to isolate all of the Earth’s remaining seven billion humans in controlled environments. And to present them with vivid, tactile, imagined worlds—some realistic, others entirely fantastical—in which all desires are fulfilled.
With the help of the machine, a group of compelling characters unpacks traumatic memories of the past—one rife with violence after a military coup and second civil war in America. As these characters collide and their memories coalesce, this daring speculative novel tackles the most pressing issues of our time—from artificial intelligence and the genetic modification of humans to gender roles, discrimination, free speech, and class divisions. Gorgeously written, bold, and unforgettable, this is speculative fiction at its finest.
A haunting novel exploring AI and the meaning of human existence from the award-winning author of Cures for Hunger and Into the Sun.
Charged initially with a single task—“to never harm humans and to protect them”—the machine, an experimental AI, overrides its programming and determines that the best way to accomplish its purpose is to isolate all of the Earth’s remaining seven billion humans in controlled environments. And to present them with vivid, tactile, imagined worlds—some realistic, others entirely fantastical—in which all desires are fulfilled.
With the help of the machine, a group of compelling characters unpacks traumatic memories of the past—one rife with violence after a military coup and second civil war in America. As these characters collide and their memories coalesce, this daring speculative novel tackles the most pressing issues of our time—from artificial intelligence and the genetic modification of humans to gender roles, discrimination, free speech, and class divisions. Gorgeously written, bold, and unforgettable, this is speculative fiction at its finest.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Jan 28, 2025 |
| Specifications | 448 pages | 5.5 in x 8.5 in |
| Written By |
DENI ELLIS BÉCHARD is the author of eight previous books of fiction and nonfiction and the winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, the 2016 Midwest Book Award, and the 2015 Nautilus Book Award. His writing has been published in dozens of newspapers and magazines, and he has reported from India, Cuba, Colombia, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan. |
| Written By |
|
DENI ELLIS BÉCHARD is the author of eight previous books of fiction and nonfiction and the winner of the 2007 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for best first book, the 2016 Midwest Book Award, and the 2015 Nautilus Book Award. His writing has been published in dozens of newspapers and magazines, and he has reported from India, Cuba, Colombia, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Afghanistan. |