A Dream of Electric Mothers

by Wole Talabi

We’re excited to reprint “A Dream of Electric Mothers,” the 2023 Nebula Award–nominated novelette by Wole Talabi, first published in Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, the NAACP Image Award–nominated anthology edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Novella, Nigeria, Fantasy

22 pages, ebook

First published November 15, 2022

About the author

WOLE TALABI is an engineer, writer, and editor from Nigeria. He is the author of the novel SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON (DAW books/Gollancz, 2023). His short fiction has appeared in places like Asimov’s Science Fiction, Lightspeed Magazine, Tor.com and is collected in CONVERGENCE PROBLEMS (DAW books, 2024) and INCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS (Luna Press, 2019). He has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus and Nommo awards, as well as the Caine Prize for African Writing. He has edited five anthologies including a 2-volume translation anthology in Bengali, AFRICANFUTURISM (Brittlepaper, 2020) and the forthcoming MOTHERSOUND: THE SAUÚTIVERSE ANTHOLOGY (Android Press, 2023). He likes scuba diving, elegant equations, and oddly shaped things. He currently lives and works in Malaysia. Find him at wtalabi.wordpress.com and at @wtalabi on Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Tiktok.

Reviews

[Nataliya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it intellectually more than I enjoyed it emotionally, I suppose. The counsel of ancestors is a concept I can’t always get behind (as Terry Pratchett once said, “You did something because it had always been done, and the explanation was, ‘But we’ve always done it this way.’ A million dead people can’t have been wrong, can they?”), but it’s done thoughtfully here.

The problem is, this story is a bit too short to create a meaningful impact and go beyond a sketch, and it ends too abruptly for my liking. A few interesting dilemmas ended up a bit superficial because of that.

3 stars.

———-
Read it online on tor.com here: https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/a-drea...

Nominee for Best Novelette for 2023 Hugo Awards.

[Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personally I absolutely loved this. As a story about ancestry systems hits perfectly; I liked the use of Oyo and Dahomey historical references. It has some moments of infodumping that I didn’t find that effective and felt could’ve been smoother.

[Banshee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved so much about this story: the fascinating world-building, the seamless combination of tradition and futuristic technology as well as the underlying emotional depth. I just wish it was longer and wasn't cut off so abruptly.

[Ethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one! In a future West African nation, a leader consults a council of "electric mothers" -- a computer containing the voices of the elders, speaking mostly as one but not quite. Along with this science fictional premise, we also get some interesting Yoruba metaphysics concerning personal identity, according to which a person consists of three parts: ara, emi, and ori (terms I have previously read about in a philosophy article, "Personal Identity in African Metaphysics" by Leke Adeofe, which I highly recommend to the philosophically inclined). We also get an emphasis on consensus decision making. I always love to see philosophical explorations of science fictional premises, and Talabi does a great job here, showing that neither philosophy nor science fiction are limited to "Western" traditions. Great stuff!

[ren !! · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh, this was so good! i loved the worldbuilding filled with sci-fi, though it was a bit hard to grasp at first, but hey, it's sci-fi so that's expected (at least for me). i love our main character a lot and i could not help but root for her completely. the emotional part of this is so touching and bittersweet, it filled me with so many thoughts and feelings and emotions all at once. i do think some of the paragraphs should not have been as long as they were (paragraph breaks are important, people!) but that's pretty much my only complaint.

[Silvana · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story ended too quickly, I was surprised it suddenly stopped before anything exciting happened. Cool idea but I needed more.

[Storm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collected in Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, this novella was nominated for the 2023 Nebula, but did not win. The title is a play on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1, the source material for the movie Blade Runner (1982), but other than the title and the fact that they're both science fiction, there's not much else the have in common.

This novella begins with a bang.
“Two hours into the third session of our fourth cabinet meeting on the border dispute with the co-operative kingdom of Dahomey, my colleagues finally agree that we need to seek the dream-counsel of our electric mother.”

Its first sentence immediately grabs ones attention, arousing the reader's curiosity. What is the problem? What is a dream counsel? Or an electric mother?

The premise here is intriguing. Faced with a dilemma, a group of cabinet ministers query a supercomputer containing the minds of the country’s ancestors, which are the Electric Mothers. This isn't a new concept in African traditional lore, in fact, we see a version of this play out in the movie The Black Panther, where T'Challa seeks advice from his predecessors in the Ancestral Plane.


The big difference here is there is a technological aspect to those ancestors, who have been "digitized" and reside in a super computer! Those running the computer claim most will end up asking the same question, but may get different answers depending on their experience. The answers may not be the ones they want to hear, but usually are ones they NEED To hear.

What they do with their advice, is the crux of the matter. The cynic in me thinks this is a complete cop-out, because they can then blame any fall out from their actions on "the Electric Mother told me to do this, and I complied," absolving them of any blame.


This is an interesting story with many philosophical themes. We are only given a very brief glimpse of the world building, which I would have liked to read more about. The emotional core of the story was quite heart breaking, but the story is so short it doesn't give this part room to breathe, plus the ending was quite abrupt. With more length, this could be an excellent story as all the major building blocks are there, it just needs to be fleshed out better.

[AoC · Rating 3 out of 5]

You could argue what A Dream of Electric Mothers does is just apply a coat of African paint on what is a pretty short SF story, and I think you'd be right for the most part, but it pushes all the right buttons to edge it into territory where simply using a different calendar, for example, makes the setting more outlandish than it really is. Sure got me googling terms I was unfamiliar with, but what about the story itself?

We step into the shoes of Odua republic's Minister of Defense Dolapo Abimbola Titilope Balogun, youngest and only the second woman to ever hold that position, as country is on the verge of what is the latest border crisis with their rival Dahomey. This unfortunate state of affairs has been going for centuries. However, Odua holds a trump card specifically for situations when solutions are not apparent - all of their citizens have had their minds copies forming the eponymous Electric Mother, an amalgam of consciousness capable of drawing from all and providing answers. Needless to say blindly running for help rather than sorting out your own issues has detractors in the cabinet, but Dolapo has a secret agenda of her own she hopes to enact during her first dream-council, and it involves communing with her recently deceased mother.

I ended up liking A Dream of Electric Mothers quite a bit. It's short enough to not overstay the simple "get an answer from a machine" premise yet has enough ambiguity without ever spelling anything out for the reader. Unfamiliar term here and there with author NOT hitting the breaks to explain benefits the pacing as well since you can dope out the context on your own. If you're interested you can check it out for free.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In an African country facing conflict, the government decides to consult its ancestors, electronically stored in a facility. But one minister would take advantage of the mental connection to contract its ancestors to try to arrange a meeting with her dead mother. The meeting would, perhaps, lead to another answer on how to avoid conflict, if possible.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice little short with a great afro futurism premise, and a lovely emotional core. I do think the author was trying really hard to stick a lot of worldbuilding into it, and it was a little opaque in that regard, but overall a satisfying story.

[Henri Ette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story from collection 'Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction'.
A group of cabinet ministers query a supercomputer containing the minds of the country’s ancestors. Independence 🆚 compliance.

Quip title play with Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. I liked the blend of futuristic sci-fi and cultural details.

[Narules · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

I liked the use of technology to explore a variety of emotions, but I wanted more from the ending. I would love to experience that elevator. Slight nod to different Philip K. Dick works.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very old-fashioned SF novelette, heavy on exposition. An "electronic mother" is consulted regarding a border dispute. The AI counsels an immediate declaration of war. The minsters decide, rather, to negotiate. It's a pretty good story but not one I'd be likely to reread.

Free copy online here: https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/a-drea...

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023 Hugo Award finalist - Best Novelette
2023 Nebula Award finalist -Best Novelette
First published in Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction edited by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, and Zelda Knight

In an effort to gain clarity in their discussions of the options available in a border dispute, a governing council plugs into the electronic consciousness of their collective ancestors. One of the women uses this as a chance to contact her mother who died without saying goodbye. There are no easy answers with either interaction, perhaps showing that living humans should use their own judgements over artificial cybernetic constructs.

[Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every year I read all the finalists of the most prestigious science fiction awards (at least in the English speaking world): the Hugo awards. This story is a finalist in the Novelette category. I had never read anything by this author, and I was quite excited to try something new.
"A Dream of Electric Mothers" is an alternate history novelette by Wole Talabi. The story is about a nation who preserve the wisdom of their ancestors in a single amalgamation of the minds of the dead, and consult them on difficult political problems. Is the ability to consult the ancestors an incredible boon, or a curse?
An incredibly interesting piece and a strong contender for the award.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023 Nebula Award finalist for novelette

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good little bite of Afrofuturism.

[Pau Lethani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmm not sure I got the full message of this story because if I did then it feels a bit bland. I liked the cultural references though, that was cool and interesting.

[Lis Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brigadier-General Dolapo Abimbola Titilope Balogun is the youngest member of the cabinet of what I think is the country of Yoruba, with what is currently Kenya again separated into Yoruba and Dahomey. (I was intent on the story, and I'm not 100% sure I picked up the political detail correctly, except that Dahomey is definitely "the other country." If someone can correct me, please do.) They are facing rising tensions with Dahomey, over a border dispute, and are seeking a solution that neither surrenders the territory in dispute, nor results in war. So far, they're not having success.

Someone proposes consulting the Electric Mothers, the combined electronic memory of all the people of the country who have died since its creation. It's the Electric "Mothers" and not Elders or Fathers or something else, because when accessed, it manifests as the united voices of many women. This might be because the designer of it was a woman--Balogun's great-grandaunt, in fact.

Balogun is skeptical of the need to consult the Electric Mothers at this point. She feels they haven't been deliberating very long, and they shouldn't rush to seek the electronic ancestors' aid quite this quickly. They can surely work it out themselves.

But, as mentioned, she's the newest and youngest member of the cabinet, and also the only one who has never experienced communion with the Electric Mothers before. She does not carry the day. Even with one of the oldest cabinet members sharing her reservations, they do not carry the day.

They go through some (not all) of the usual formalities, and enter the chamber where they will consult the Electric Mothers. All the cabinet members will commune with the ancestors; they will all experience it individually, and they will all ask the same one agreed question. It won't take long; no such consultation has ever lasted more than five minutes.

Balogun sticks to her duty on that one question, but it turns out she has her own personal question to ask, not at all related to her duty. While the response to the agreed, official question is unexpected and somewhat disturbing, it's with her own question that we learn the most about Balogun, her motives, and about the Electric Mothers. Also, of course, about this African country in a future that's not next week, but also, not the distant future.

It's a very good story, focused on my favorite thing, good, interesting characters in their own setting. I'd love to read more set in this background.

I received this story as part of the 2023 Hugo Voters Packet.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is quite a good story. Interacting with artificial versions of ancestors is a well-trodden path in SF, and is in the process of becoming not-SF. Talabi tries to add a little mystery to the technology with some kind of overdone jargon ("memristic", etc). But that is how he is connecting the spiritual practices of the protagonist's country, and that intent comes across clearly, so for me it's forgivable. Describing the feeding of all of people's available data into a large language model with a particular kind of training would be believable, right now, but would lose that cultural connection.

I was very interested by how the country manages interaction with that entity. It is not a public tool. It is consulted by representatives at need. And part of the tension of the story is whether or not it is really needed. In the end, the Electric Mother AI helps to answer that question in an artfully indirect way. Very much worth reading.

[Stephanie Ravenscroft · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the age of AI this is exactly the kind of Sci-Fi we need. It uses a story to illustrate the innate danger of artificial intelligence and LLMs in repeating the enshrined biases and decisions of our past.

I originally poked at this simply because it was from a very different cultural background and I thought it might be interesting. I just kinda found the different cultural elements a little impenetrable so it wasn't quite the gateway I hoped. Some of the wording felt a little bit janky. Overall though, the story had a strong core and message.

[Mangrii · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25 / 5

Una interesante novelette de ciencia ficción que combina tradición histórica y tecnología futurista donde una líder consulta a un consejo de "madres eléctricas",una computadora que contiene las voces de los ancianos, que hablan casi como una sola persona, pero no del todo, sobre un conflicto actual. La historia es (quizás) demasiado corta para el impacto emocional que pretende, pero sus dilemas éticos, aunque algo superficiales, son interesantes.

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

2023 Hugos Best Novelette Nominee

This was very cool. Great concept, solid execution. Talabi painted a rich world in the background, but centered his story around a very moving human element.

[Allison Henle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let's just say that I understand why it's a finalist for the Nebula Award. Absolutely stunning.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting group mind story.

[jolie]

Really really good i thought this was great all of u guys should read this ngl. Great stuff i dont usually like / read sff!!! https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/a-drea...

[Emma Lorraine Harris]

The last reading for this class! It was interesting but not my cup of tea

[Maria reads SFF]

A reflective Short Story

[Chelsea Moreen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read 03/04/25
I tend not to count short stories towards my reading goal. This one was interesting and had so much potential