Mother of Invention by Rivqa Rafael

Mother of Invention Reviews

• 
  Bogi Takács

  Not reviewing right now, because 1. I have a story in it, 2. It has several trans stories, which I am considering for Transcendent 4.
  
  But, noting that I have a story in this and a nonbinary Jewish story nonetheless :)
  
  _______
  Source of the book: Contributor copy from publisher
• 
  Bina

  Wonderful anthology, recommended!
• 
  Riju Ganguly

  Feminist Science Fiction! What exactly does that mean?
  According to this book, it basically means scenarios where women (scientists, protagonists, characters, virtual realities) play God.
  Aha! So, in all other sci-fi, does men play God?
  Come to think about it... yep! After all those WASP-dominated stuff, there came emotionally soupy overlong stuff— with the joystick (in all sense) remaining firmly with men. This book indeed breaks those stereotypes.
  But, as far as believable stories are concerned, which indeed demolish existing paradigms and infuse a fresh energy into existing tropes, there were very few works. They included~
  1. E.C. Myers' "Kill Screen";
  2. Soumya Sundar Mukherjee's "Rini's God"— undoubtedly the best and most un-American story of this anthology;
  3. Meryl Stenhouse's "Tidefall" (although a pale shadow of 'Spider Rose' penned by unsurpassable Bruce Sterling).
  Overall, I found that most of the authors were trying too hard to write alt-versions of so-called male-dominated sci-fi. In the process most of them had neglected the pool of one's own mythos.
  And none of them bothered to write anything witty. Joker and his perennial question comes to mind after reading such stuff.
  Nevertheless, those who wish to explore scifi that's somewhat unconventional, with at least a few fresh ideas, may go for this one. It's good in that sense.
• 
  Thomas Hale

  A collection of short stories that I helped crowdfund. The majority of these works are by people of colour, and I don't think there's anything in here by a cis man? I could be wrong, though. The goal is to provide visions of invention, parenthood and artificial life through a non-patriarchal lens, so that makes sense. And for the most part, it really succeeds. Some stories are silly and sweet, some are deeply sad, and even the weaker entries have enough ideas going on to keep the pages turning. Particular favourites included "Sugar Ricochets To Other Forms" by Octavia Cade, "Junkyard Kraken" by D.K. Mok and particularly "An Errant Holy Spark" by Bogi Takács, the latter exploring gender, judaism and language. I'm really happy I helped make this book a thing, and have already lent it to a friend.
• 
  Tsana Dolichva

  Mother of Invention edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts is an anthology exploring robots and artificial intelligences created by women and non-binary people, rather than the male inventors many older stories have focussed on. It contains stories covering a wide variety of ideas and settings within this theme and is a must-read if you are interested in exploring diverse robot/AI stories.
  
  This was a very interesting read and I was pleased with the breadth of stories and ideas presented in Mother of Invention. I have found some themed anthologies need to be broken up because of too much similarity in their stories, but that was not the case here. I admit I didn't quite read it straight through, but that was for other, mostly external reasons, not because I found it repetitive.
  
  Overall, this was an excellent read. While not every story necessarily worked for me, I certainly enjoyed the majority of them. My three favourite stories were "Sexy Robot Heroes" by Sandra McDonald, "Quantifying Trust" by John Chu and "S’elfie" by Justina Robson. All three took very different approaches to the theme and, really, the only similarity between them is that they contain artificial intelligences. You can read more of my thoughts on these stories and all the others below, where I have included my mini reviews of the stories that I wrote as I read them.
  
  I would highly recommend Mother of Invention to readers interested in exploring different ideas of robots and artificial intelligences, including as a vehicle for exploration of other themes such as gender, religion and creation. This is not I, Robot, filled with logic-puzzle stories, but rather is filled with stories of humanity and inhumanity, and a spectrum on both sides of that divide.
  
  ~
  
  Mother, Mother, Will You Play With Me? by Seanan McGuire — A story about an AI child learning through games and growing up. I enjoyed it, although it wasn’t what I expected (from the title and author I expected something creepier). I liked how many different ideas it explored, and also the ending.
  
  Junkyard Kraken by DK Mok — A roboticist builds an ocean-exploration robot after failing to get funding for it. A fun story, especially thanks to the inclusion of other AI robots, such that it can be forgiving for being a bit unrealistic.
  
  An Errant Holy Spark by Bogi Takács — A Jewish AI growing up, learning, and trying to talk to aliens. Written in the unique style I’ve come to expect from this author, the inner voice of the AI was very different to conventional (robot/AI) tropes. An interesting story and premise, with baffling aliens.
  
  The Goose Hair of One Thousand Miles by Stephanie Lai — A story written in the form of an annotated translation of a wuxia story. The story itself is particularly bizarre, to my eye, because of the way the robots are included and thanks to the aspects the commentary focuses on. Even so, it engages with ideas of colonialism well.
  
  The Art of Broken Things by Joanne Anderton — An eerie story based on the really interesting premise/theme of kintsugi. I liked the idea and the way different aspects of the story meshed together, but at the same time it creeped me out a bit (mostly in a good way).
  
  Sexy Robot Heroes by Sandra McDonald — I really liked this story. It featured a trans girl mechanic, a whole barge of girl mechanics, and androids bound to serve them. It was the right mix of sentimental and sensible.
  
  A Robot Like Me by Lee Cope — An agender AI programmer makes an AI in their image. A lovely and slightly bittersweet story about gender. I liked it.
  
  New Berth by Elizabeth Fitzgerald — A futuristic take on regency romance that put me in mind if Austen in tone. However, I found it a bit confusing to keep track of characters and motivations and it didn’t really work for me for that reason. I expect some readers will enjoy it more than I did.
  
  Fata Morgana by Cat Sparks — Post-apocalyptic/war-torn Australia with fighting mechs wandering around, at least one of which is intelligent. In rough conditions the mech protects the old lady that was its creator and helps a poor settlement. I enjoyed it.
  
  Bright Shores by Rosaleen Love — A fantastical story about robots (and one woman) living in a nuclear exclusion zone. Clearly taking cues from the Fukushima tsunami disaster, I liked the premise of the robots left behind (because they are too contaminated from dealing with radioactive material), but it lost me a bit with some of the less scientific ideas.
  
  Quantifying Trust by John Chu — A robot engineering grad student works on her design and ponders the question of trust for AI. And meets a postdoc who may or may not be an advanced AI sent from the future. I really liked this story.
  
  Sugar Ricochets to Other Forms by Octavia Cade — A pretty weird story. On the one hand, we have a couple of women running a brothel staffed with magic automaton boys made out of sugar and cake (who often come back with parts missing in the morning). On the other hand, there is a clockwork witch made of brass I love with baby crabs lured by sugar. A compelling read, but also a strange one.
  
  Kill Screen by EC Myers — A teenage girl makes an AI program of her recently deceased best friend. It was a bit morbid, mostly because it dealt with the question of why the friend had killed herself, but also for other reasons (spoilers). I mostly enjoyed it, but it also made me feel uncomfortable (intentionally, I assume), especially near the end.
  
  Living Proof by Nisi Shawl — A story about an AI reproducing. The setting was quite different — a prison — and to some degree aspects of the story put me in mind of Bitch Planet. Not the overall thrust of the narrative, however, which is more about purpose from the AI perspective. Not my favourite story, but I didn’t hate it.
  
  S’elfie by Justina Robson — A very interesting story about a world in which everyone has an AI personal assistant and what happens when they move far beyond what we currently have with Siri etc. Told from the point of view of one of these AIs, while her human is working on something in secret, I really enjoyed the incomplete knowledge of the narration.
  
  Knitting Day by Jen White — A lovely story about knitted robots, poor working conditions and the subversion of capitalism. I enjoyed it, despite its grim setting and whimsical approach to assembly.
  The Revivalist Kaaron Warren A creepy story (of course, look at the author) about a process that imbues discarded robots with the last words of the dead. Mostly murder victims. I liked it. And note it wasn’t heavy on the horror, more creepy/eerie.
  
  Arguing with People on the Internet by EH Mann — An interesting story about an AI set loose arguing with people on the internet to unexpected consequences. Also features an asexual protagonist and engages with the concept of motherhood from a different angle. I quite liked it.
  
  Rini’s God by Soumya Sundar Mukherjee — This story took an unusual approach. Not only was the protagonist AI interested in theological ideas but she has a hidden purpose. Which, in the context of the story was odd since it’s hard to program someone to do something when they have free will, so I found the creator’s motivation confusing from that point of view. Also, running an orphanage of AI humanoids was either sneaky or very strange, I haven’t decided which.
  
  Tidefall by Meryl Stenhouse — Ow, my astronomy hurts. This was absolutely not a story to read at at astronomy conference, in between talks about merging stars oh em gee. So that coloured my reading of it considerably. Questionable astronomy aside, the plot and ideas didn’t really do it for me either. What seemed like it would be a really interesting idea ended up feeling a bit bland.
  
  The Ghost Helmet by Lev Mirov — The AIs in this story are basically ghosts of soldiers whose memories became imprinted on their helmets. Our protagonist is a coder who accidentally caused the situation and now always wears her brother’s helmet so he can talk to and help her. I would have liked the story to spend some more time on the ethics of creating the helmet ghosts (is it really a good form of immortality?) but otherwise it wasn’t a bad read.
  
  4.5 / 5 stars
  
  You can read more of my reviews on my blog.
• 
  Devann

  Anthologies are hard to rate because there's always going to be some stories you really like and some that you don't. Also I find it harder to relate to characters in such a short time and some authors seem to have trouble getting a complete concept across in so few words. This anthology was definitely one of the better ones that I've read. I can't really think of any stories in here that I hated and I don't think there were any two stories that seemed like I was just reading the same thing over and over again [another problem I often have with anthologies]. It does some great things with gender and sexuality in regard to common sci-fi tropes, and I would definitely recommend it to people who are just looking for something different!
• 
  Sue Chant

  Mother, Mother, Will You Play With Me? by Seanan McGuire - excellent story of a robot "child" discovering the emotions that will allow her to grow into a person and finally meet her mother.
  
  Junkyard Kraken by D.K. Mok - lively piece about creating functional yet playful robotic entities.
  
  An Errant Holy Spark by Bogi Takacs - a strange little tale of a robot girl being taught the Jewish religion by her mother/creator's trans sibling, and discovering that she can communicate with extra-terrestrials. Didn't seem to go anywhere.
  
  The Goose Hair of One Thousand Miles by Stephanie Lai - another strange one. Robot sisters trying to use Tai Chi to channel laser weapons through their bodies. Very enjoyable.
  
  The Art of Broken Things by Joanne Anderton - quite good but not memorable.
  
  Sexy Robot Heroes by Sandra McDonald - - transgendered protagonist working as part of a team of "girl engineers" for a seedy business has a crush on a beautiful robot. Very good.
  
  A Robot Like Me by Lee Cope - non-binary person builds a robot apparently for the sole purpose of wittering on at it about gender. Poor, clunky.
  
  New Berth by Elizabeth Fitzgerald - confusing story, couldn't differentiate the 2 central characters. The ending was abrupt and silly.
  
  Fata Morgana by Cat Sparks - a war-bot brings its dying maker to an impoverished post-apocalyptic encampment. Excellent.
  
  BRIGHT SHORES by Rosaleen Love - an elderly survivor of a Fukishima-type accident encounters former rescue-robots that have developed autonomy. Pretty good.
  
  QUANTIFYING TRUST by John Chu - an AI researcher tries to develop an algorithm for trust on the internet. Interesting.
  
  Essay: Reflecting on Indigenous Worlds, Indigenous Futurisms and Artificial Intelligence by Ambelin Kwaymullina
  
  Sugar Ricochets to Other Forms by Octavia Cade - a woman bakes "sugar boy" sexbots from a recipe given to her by a bronze witch who wants to be loved by crabs. A wonderfully bizarre and delightful story.
  
  KILL SCREEN by E.C. Myers - a teenager commits suicide and her best friend re-creates her as an AI. Very good.
  
  LIVING PROOF by Nisi Shawl - an AI creates a "son" to absolve human colonists of their misdemeanors in creating mind-wiped clones to inhabit at the end of their journey to the stars. Interesting idea but somewhat flat.
  
  S'ELFIE by Justina Robson - 2 women develop a personal proxy AI that becomes as ubiquitous as smartphones then use it to turn the tables on corporates and governments to help ensure fairness and equity for everyone. Very good.
  
  KNITTING DAY by Jen White - excellent story of a group of young women working in a factory knitting tiny robots who secretly meet to create their own AIs who can grow and develop as sentient entities.
  
  THE REVIVALIST by Kaaron Warren - unpleasant story of impregnating old robots with murder victims DNA to hear their last words. The premise was so stupid I couldn't suspend my disbelief.
  
  Arguing With People On The Internet by E.H. Mann - a dilettante coder trys to create a self-learning AI by letting it loose in an internet chat room (particularly stupid). It develops great debating skills and starts to persuade mothers to leave their children and build fulfilled lives of their own, informed by the coder's own views. Coder then decides that motherhood is (yawn)great. Poor.
  
  Rini’s God by Soumya Sundar Mukherjee - a woman develops a child-sized robot to wreak revenge on a lover who scorned her. Particularly retrograde idea. Poor.
  
  Tidefall by Meryl Stenhouse - a partially self-aware AI is stationed near a pulsar to alert passing ships of local dangers. After trying to repair damage caused by an infection of malicious code she begins to deveilop full consciousness and empathy. Very Good.
  
  The Ghost Helmet by Lev Mirov - a woman discovers that monitoring code she's written for military-medical helmets retains the personality of the wearer when she retrieves her dead brother's. Doesn't explore the ethical implications but it's a good story.
• 
  Shannon (That's So Poe)

  This anthology has a great premise of stories centering women who create AI, and explores some interesting gender and sexuality themes. It was a bit of a mixed bag for me in terms of how each story landed, but there were a few that stood out:
  
  "Junkyard Kraken" by D.K. Mok, which was ridiculous and fun, about a mad scientist creating robots that brought mythical creatures (like a kraken) to life.
  
  "An Errand Holy Spark" by Bogi Takács, which explores the idea what makes life have a soul and examines religion as it applies to AI.
  
  "Quantifying Trust" by John Chu, which takes some very real modern issues regarding AI ethics and talks about what we actually need to focus on.
  
  "Knitting Day" by Jen White, which has a lot of themes of labor unionizing and anticapitalism in the creation of AI and art.
  
  Overall, there were some really good themes in this anthology, and some very worthwhile stories, even if not every story worked out for me.
  
  
  Content Warnings:
  bigotry, transphobia, gender essentialism, misgendering, sexism, fatphobia, allonormativity pressure, microaggressions, settler colonialism, extreme poverty, noncensensual use of data/use of DNA/medical experimentation, AI prostitution, child neglect, abuse, domestic violence, kidnapping, bullying, parental estrangement, grief, violence, injury, murder, nuclear meltdown, body horror, suicide, vigilante justice, death, death of a family member
• 
  Sam Gibson-Mayne

  Fantastic short story collection that focuses on stories featuring people other than cis white men in the role of the genius/inventor. This is a refreshing and much awaited change to the genre, and many of the stories execute it extremely well. There is certainly some variation in the quality of the stories, but all are worth reading at least once. Personally I particularly enjoyed Bright Shores from Rosaleen Love for its beautiful prose and play on stories from folklore, The Revivalist from Kaaron Warren for the haunting concept and well rendered imagery and Tidefall from Meryl Stenhouse, for a story that uses the perspective of AI to examine life across centuries in space, and potentially the birth of a new creation myth that ties in well with the title of the book, in the way that it can be seen as relative to the concept of motherhood. I also found the essay Reflecting On Indigenous Worlds, Indigenous Futurisms and Artificial Intelligence by Ambelin Kwaymullina to be eye opening, highly recommended reading for anyone involved in fiction as a creator or consumer.
• 
  Scarlett

  It takes me a long time to get through anthologies. This is probably the first I've ever read in full! I really loved so many of the stories. There were a couple of misses, mostly from young/unseasoned authors. But overall, so much that I loved.
  
  Octavia Cade's piece left my mouth watering and hungry for seconds. Cat Spark's wild, dangerous desert world was haunting--I want to read more! Jen White's story was sad but somehow hopeful as well. I was glad to escape gravity and float with Nora the space station in Meryl Stenhouse's universe. Finishing in Lev Mirov's war torn space realm left me a little heartbroken. Really I just want a second installment of so many of these stories.
  
  Also, a wonderful collection for broad representation. Really appreciated the queer, black and gender diverse voices and depictions within the stories.
  
  Great work by the editors!
• 
  Harmony Williams

  It's not often I give an anthology five stars. Inevitably, there's one or more stories that just don't hold my interest. This was NOT the case for this anthology. Every single story was brilliantly captivating and unique. Every single one made me want to keep reading, and to seek out other work by these authors. And I don't think I've ever said that about an anthology before.
  
  This one is next level. I so highly recommend it!
• 
  Freya Marske

  A fascinating and varied collection that I made my way through slowly and with pleasure. Two of the standout stories for me were 'Sexy Robot Heroes' by Sandra McDonald and 'Sugar Ricochets to Other Forms' by Octavia Cade (what a TITLE, can we take a moment?) -- both of which are very different looks at a gender reversal of the sexy-fembot trope.
• 
  Maria Haskins

  A fantastic anthology with a wide range of compelling stories and voices. If you love speculative fiction and especially stories about AI, robots, and women doing amazing things, then this anthology is for you.
• 
  Mel (booksandsundry)

  Fantastic to read along with a friend to discuss the stories.
  
  Like all anthologies this is hard to rate as there are stories you love and stories you don’t get. A great collection regardless and a fantastic concept.
• 
  Pers

  An interesting collection.
• 
  Susie Munro

  Smart, thought-provoking diverse collection
• 
  Lauredhel

  Fabulous anthology of artificial intelligence stories that have nothing to do with "white male genius creator" trope.
• 
  LaShawn

  “Mother, Mother, Will You Play With Me” by Seanan McGuire
• 
  Mills College Library

  Fiction M9184 2018