Robot Love

[trinityofone]

'Cause I've clearly not been making the best reading material decisions lately, two book-related questions for y'all:

1. Do you know of any books that feature human-robot/android/cyborg/whatever romances? The only thing I can think of is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? but I know there must be others. Robot/robot love would also be interesting, I think.

2. Stealing an idea from siegeofangels, rec me a book or books that starts with the same letter as your username. No serial killers, plz. Or, okay, no serial killer books unless they're really good. I'll rec one back, too, if you like. :)

Comments

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

1. He, She, and It (http://www.amazon.com/He-She-Marge-Piercy/dp/0449220605/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219954845&sr=1-7) by Marge Piercy. One of my favorites. Highly recommended.

2. Ah, I'll get back to you on that. Gotta think a spell.

[serialkarma.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I second the He, She, and It rec. It's definitely worth checking out. The only other one I can think of is The Naked Sun, by Asimov, although that relationship is portrayed as seriously problematic in the story for a number of reasons and isn't the main point of the novel.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Ha, I have that, too. I've read The Caves of Steel and thought Baley and Olivaw were so slashy, though I assume that's not the relationship you're talking about in Sun.

[serialkarma.livejournal.com]

Ha, no, sadly. Two secondary characters. Although I think one of them does get the hots for Daneel. Much to Bailey's *deep, deep discomfort*.

Also, a rec that starts with the same letter as my username: Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson, which you may have read already. In which case I'd recommend Spook Country by William Gibson, who these days is writing contemporary lit that *feels* like sci-fi. I'm kind of fascinated with how he does this.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any Stephenson or Gibson. *fails* I'm a bit intimidated by cyberpunk. I should try to get over that, I think. ;-)

[serialkarma.livejournal.com]

Gibson IS intimidating! It took me three reads to really *get* Neuromancer. But Snow Crash is much more accessible, and really fun, and has a great female protagonist. And a male protagonist whose name is, in fact, Hiro Protagonist. You might enjoy The Diamond Age, as well.

[wychwood]

I agree, they can be scary - but Gibson's more recent books aren't so bad (you may remember my mad love for Pattern Recognition, and Spook County wasn't bad). They're basically mainstream, not too cyberpunky. And as serialkarma says, Snow Crash is really not that intimidating, either; it's definitely worth reading.

[cincodemaygirl.livejournal.com]

Snow Crash is the only one I've made it through, and it was no hardship. I love it more every time I reread it.

I keep starting The Diamond Age over again, and I get a few more chapters in each time, but I'm not even gonna try Cryptonomicon. That thing is huge.

William Gibson is good times but not very clearly written; I'd recommend Neuromancer and then see if you feel like reading any more. I can't speak to any of his recent stuff, though, as I stopped with Mona Lisa Overdrive.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I actually have a copy of that somewhere! Awesome, thanks!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Silver Metal Lover, by Tanith Lee, has a pretty hot, if I remember correctly, human/robot romance. I can't remember if it's any good, though, I read it a looong time ago, but I've heard it mentioned since in a positive way.

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

Oh, that is good. I read it a long time ago, but I remember parts of it quite vividly.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I dig the title. ;-) Thanks!

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

*quietly hopes that you'll let me borrow it once you're through*

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Yes! Good plan! *g*

Also: yay! Isn't it just one of those movies that fills you with joy? :D

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Steerswoman — I just got that from the library. Weird. This post is getting kind of eerie!

[wychwood]

1. There are some short stories, but the one I'm thinking of right now (I think it's by Lester Del Rey? "Helen O'Loy") has *deeply cringeworthy* gender politics. Oh, oh, but there's a sort of thing like you want in the Maureen McHugh story "Nekropolis" (online in this book here), which I suspect is the first part of her *novel* Nekropolis - you might like that. There's also the Asimov - Robots of Dawn, I think it was. And sort of in the original I, Robot, although it's strictly one-sided.

2. *digs out booklog database*
I suggest Woman on the Edge of Time - feminist SF, by Marge Piercy, and one I felt survived rather better than most of that era. Well worth reading. Failing that, if you haven't read Greg Rucka's Whiteout (was it you who suggested it to me?), you might well like that. Did I make you read Watching the English? I think you *did* read that, at some point? Anyway, I still like it.

Rec me! :)

[wychwood]

Oh, and also: possibly Cherryh's azi, from the Merchanter / Alliance / Union universe? Particularly in Cyteen. There may also be some robot-love in the Culture books, by Iain M Banks, but I'm not sure about that - anyone more generally familiar with them than me?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Cyteen's been on my TBR list forever. The sad answer to the question posed in the post seems to be: stuff you already have, that you haven't gotten around to yet. *facepalm*

[wychwood]

Hahaha. At least you know you have been choosing good books, I suppose? Cyteen is pretty good, I have to say.

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

Not that I remember, no, there's disappointingly little robot-love in the Culture novels. The robots are generally comic relief.

[wychwood]

Alas. The robots are usually awesome, though! And while I didn't think there was any robot/human sex, I had a vague memory of robot/robot (or, like, ship Mind/ship Mind), but that may have been fanfic...

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

There's FANFIC?

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I've been (very slowly) working my way through those Asimov books. Not much robot lovin' yet, but maybe I just have to be patient? I downloaded the McHugh—thanks!

I have Woman on the Edge of Time, but haven't read it yet. (Soooooooo many books, but never enough!) I did suggest Whiteout to you, but I haven't read it. (The 40-year-old guy my mom tried to set me up with is the guy who's writing the screenplay for it.) I liked Watching the English very much. :)

Recs. Gonna do a few Ws, 'cause if I have to do Ts all through here, that'll get old. I'd recommend World War Z, which I have already talked about enthusiastically here. Also, Wonder Boys is a lot of fun. And What Do You Care What Other People Think? by Richard Feynman. <3

[wychwood]

I need to re-read the Asimov series, actually; I'm not sure I ever read them all, and definitely not properly in sequence. The one I mentioned is later in the series, anyway.

I think you'd like Whiteout! I am a big fan, and I'm looking forward to the film although I'm sure it'll sex her up and I think they took out the second major female character, but WHATEVER. I TAKE WHAT I CAN GET.

Hahaha, I nearly recommended the Feynman to you! Only I was pretty sure you were the one who reviewed them first. It *is* great, definitely. Wonder Boys is Chabon, right? I want to read more of his. And World War Z sounded awesome - I wanted to read the manual, too. Zombies ftw!

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

I can think of one novel where the fact it's a human/robot romance is a huge plot spoiler... but I think a better fit to what you're after would actually be Charles Stross' book Glasshouse, which is a fucking amazing book in many ways, I think. (Polyamorous transexuals, one of whom used to be a tank! It's great!)

As for books beginning with S.... hmm... I've been reading the Mary Roach book about sex, which is really good, so I shall rec that and also Stiff, her book about death (which is both funny and respectful, and I now think you might even have written about reading it in your book log, in which case I withdraw this rec, heh). And I am currently reading Iain M Banks' State of the Art, which you might like - I'm enjoying it a lot so far.

[randomeliza.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'm also currently reading Bonk - the Mary Roach book about sex - and it's fantastic. Although it goes with neither of our usernames, I highly second that recommendation.

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

I kind of love that she actually got her husband to have sex FOR GREAT JUSTICE (and science). Hee, and also an impressive testament that love can make you do some bizarre things.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I've actually read both Glasshouse and Stiff. I've been meaning to read more Roach, though, and also more Banks. (I've only read Espedair Street—a novel I will always think of "Snape has a band.")

[soupytwist.livejournal.com]

Okay, that description really makes me want to read it. Hee. And State of the Art is short stories, so some will obviously appeal more than others, but I've been really impressed with his ability to sketch out sci-fi concepts without losing sight of characters. (I hearts Asimov, but that was really not his strong point.)

[polaris-starz.livejournal.com]

P doesn't appear to be a very common letter to start book titles with. The only thing I've read this year starting with it is Population: 485, which is about a man who moves back to his tiny hometown and becomes a volunteer firefighter, and how he reconnects with his community that way. It's not a bad book, but I'm mostly replying because I'm curious what you'd rec me.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

I just read that one! I really liked it. Here are some other Ps I've enjoyed:

The President's Daughter by Ellen Emerson White -- Great YA novel about a girl whose mom becomes president.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi -- Fabulous pair of graphic novels about growing up in Iran.
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder -- First in a trilogy of silly-but-fun novels about magic and espionage and stuff.
Paradise News by David Lodge -- Wonderful English humor.
Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett -- My favorite of the Lymond books, although they really should be read in order, starting with The Game of Kings.
The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby -- And finally, a sort of meta-rec, in which Nick Hornby writes about what he's reading.

Enjoy! :)

[busaikko]

1. Borovsky's Hollow Woman by Nancy Kress (short story). Kind of a romance: it's about love and the soul. Not a happily-ever-after story, though.

2. Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet. The autobiography of an autistic savant (he visualises numbers and memorised pi to a bazillion places). About growing up autistic, and being a gay, Christian, autistic adult. Polar opposite of serial killers, Daniel's a real sweetie.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Those both sound great, thanks! *wishlists*

[doyle_sb4.livejournal.com]

1. Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods has a lesbian (as far as the term is applicable when you're talking about a robot) human/android romance.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool! Yeah, I've never thought about robots having sexual identity crises before. Except in the same way as that joke about the Doctor: "Beginning to question sexuality: may have one."

[siegeofangels.livejournal.com]

Hm. I seem to remember you not really liking Elizabeth Peters (although was that just the Vicky Bliss books?) or I'd rec Seeing a Large Cat, one of a series set in Victorian Egypt, about an Egyptologist family. I love this one because Ramses, the protagonist's son, really starts to come into his own and he's sixteen and awesome and there's mystery and archaeology and horses and general awesomeness.

So I will instead say The Silver Pigs, by Lindsay Davis, a different historical detective story, this one about a private eye in Flavian Rome. Humor and great historical detail; first in the series.

Anti-rec: Sister Carrie, which you should not even touch unless you are moving it aside to make room for a book that sucks less.

[cincodemaygirl.livejournal.com]

I was forced to read Sister Carrie in high school and I'm still mad about it. Ugh!

[j00j.livejournal.com]

1. Scott Westerfeld's _Evolution's Darling_ has kinky AI/human sex and some romance (note: the AIs have bodies... does that make them robots or androids? I'm not sure).

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Ha, I actually have that one too. I seem to have been collecting these books at library sales and stuff without even realizing it. Oops.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I third or fourth the Piercy--I took a cybernetics class years ago and that was the final book and I totally fell in love with it.

I have to think some more, but I adore "The Girl Who Was Plugged In" by James Tiptree Jr (her work's pretty great in general).

I wonder if McCaffrey's Ship Who Sang etc might fit in there? No sex but love, right? Was there any sex in I, Robot?

Wow, it's been years since I've read much scifi...it's been too long :D

[arglefraster.livejournal.com]

Kage Baker has a series of books about time travel and cyborgs. They get a bit eh, but the first is the one with the most human/cyborg romance and it's probably the best. In the Garden of Iden is the name.

[trinityofone.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, duh! I've read that. Her cyborgs aren't terribly cyborg-y, though, are they? Just immortal, so that the books are time travel without being terribly time travely, either. ;-)

[mf_luder_xf]

Hmm. Perhaps the best I know of is Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series. I know it has robot/numerous creatures and humans, and there might be robot/robot, too. And for something really light that has robot love (but not sex or any naughtiness in fact) he also has a few books in his Xanth series with robots/metal beings. Vale of the Vole is the one that comes to mind most strongly.

As for a book starting with "M", I'm sure I've read one...but I'm drawing a blank! I should have kept a list all these years. Alas.

[cupidsbow.livejournal.com]

Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. One of my all-time favourite romances.

[roxy-palace.livejournal.com]

The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee...there's a sequel, too, but with different characters.

I LOVED this book when I was a teen. It's lovely.

Human/robot romance rec

[(Anonymous)]

Looking for the Mahdi by N Lee Wood.

It's also about gender and being an Arab-American.

[outsideth3box.livejournal.com]

1) Tanith Lee's S.I.L.V.E.R. series: The Silver Metal Lover, and Metallic Love. The second one is recent, but I read the first waaaaaaay back when it came out and I still love it. It's not *exactly* Young Adult, but most of the main characters are young adults still living at home. But I swear it's still really awesome. I've not yet read the second because I am a space cadet and keep forgetting to pick it up.

2)Wow, it's hard to find books that start with an "O", and I have a lot of books...so I cheated and went with the author instead. Anything by Octavia Butler, but specifically her Xenogenesis series: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago. Truly amazing stories about the nature of humanity.