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Sad Robot Stories
Robot is one of millions of androids on an Earth that recently saw the extinction of human life. While Robot's mechanical brothers and sisters seem happy, Robot finds himself lost and missing the only friend he had, a human named Mike whose family accepted Robot as a piece of their personal puzzle. Without both the mistakes and the capacity for miracles that define human civilization, is civilization even worth having? Explore this question in the hilarious yet heartbreaking full-length debut of popular Chicago performer Mason Johnson. A Kurt Vonnegut for the 21st century, his answers are simultaneously droll, surprising and touching, and will make you rethink the limits of what a storyteller can accomplish within science fiction."Take an early interest in Dr. Seuss, mix with critically bad sci-fi movies such as 'Enemy Mine' and 'Tron,' blend in a heavy dose of 'Star Wars' literature, stir in 'mecha' TV shows like 'Robotech,' boil with Dashiell Hammett detective fiction and top this concoction off with a studied understanding of Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and Dorothy Allison. That gives you 'Sad Robot Stories.'" --Chicago Tribune"If we were to prescribe the image of a human as the synecdoche for literature, and your basic C-3PO as Science Fiction, then 'Sad Robot Stories' is a costume of a robot worn by what you assume is a human, but is really just C-3PO playing around." --HTMLGIANT"[A] brilliant retelling of the classic post-apocalyptic tale...not one drop of ink goes to waste. The story excels in style, invention, and pacing. Johnson deserves praise for sheer originality and also for how far he goes in examining humanity through the eyes of our would-be successors. It is as authentic an examination of the human condition as any literary classic." --SF Signal
- GenresScience FictionFiction
143 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 31, 2016
The general consensus was that the apocalypse had made everything considerably quieter.
Most of the robots are glad those pesky humans are finally gone, but not Robot. He misses them and their cats...and their Happy Hours. But most of all, he misses his friend Mike. Mike treated Robot like another human, made him feel like a member of Mike's family and taught him to love books and stories.
And then...that damned apocalypse...
Robot felt what it was like to be human and he didn't like it.
This is a sad, sweet story about a robot who yearns for a heart and emotions only to learn that hearts can break and sadness lasts forever.
But...
Hope, Robot decided, was nice.
About the book itself:
This is one of those times where you want to say "Screw e-books!"
I know many of you want to say that ALL the time...but this is one case where you WANT to buy the actual, physical BOOK. If you buy it here - http://www.cclapcenter.com/hypermodern/ - you will get an adorable little HANDMADE book. (Honestly, I squealed like a little girl being presented with a REAL unicorn for her birthday - it's that damned cute!)
For a modest sum, you will receive a signed and numbered HANDMADE book. Seriously...how many of THOSE do you have in your collection?
Pack your lunch all next week and buy this book instead.
Most of the robots are glad those pesky humans are finally gone, but not Robot. He misses them and their cats...and their Happy Hours. But most of all, he misses his friend Mike. Mike treated Robot like another human, made him feel like a member of Mike's family and taught him to love books and stories.
And then...that damned apocalypse...
Robot felt what it was like to be human and he didn't like it.
This is a sad, sweet story about a robot who yearns for a heart and emotions only to learn that hearts can break and sadness lasts forever.
But...
Hope, Robot decided, was nice.
About the book itself:
This is one of those times where you want to say "Screw e-books!"
I know many of you want to say that ALL the time...but this is one case where you WANT to buy the actual, physical BOOK. If you buy it here - http://www.cclapcenter.com/hypermodern/ - you will get an adorable little HANDMADE book. (Honestly, I squealed like a little girl being presented with a REAL unicorn for her birthday - it's that damned cute!)
For a modest sum, you will receive a signed and numbered HANDMADE book. Seriously...how many of THOSE do you have in your collection?
Pack your lunch all next week and buy this book instead.
September 15, 2013
Favourite scene: Robot is babysitting on the kids of his good friend. The 4-year old girl that was sitting right next to him, is all of a sudden not there anymore. All possible disasters go through Robot’s brain, but it looks like someone just forgot to program an option for ‘the child might have forgotten to disclose they had just started playing hide and seek’.
This imaginative novella is an incredible sweet story that made me smile pretty much from start to finish. I especially loved the first part where Robot is discovering he isn’t like the other robots, and wants to become part of human society. I couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of this robot asking for a job change, going to the local pub, play pool and wonder whether he shouldn’t buy himself some shoes.
I had this mental image of Robot being a blend of R2D2 (the cutest robot ever) and Marvin, the Paranoid Android from the Hitchhiker’s Guide, and that was a brilliant canvas to build on.
The humans in this story are very well done as well. Mike is just such a solid character, and who wouldn't connect to Sally from the start when she invites Robot in for ‘casserole’?
I think the strength of this novella is that despite the main topic being a robot, it really isn’t for sci-fi-freaks only. Many contemporary fiction lovers will enjoy this book, because at the very core, it isn't about robots or science, this book is about being human and what that means to us.
This imaginative novella is an incredible sweet story that made me smile pretty much from start to finish. I especially loved the first part where Robot is discovering he isn’t like the other robots, and wants to become part of human society. I couldn’t stop smiling at the thought of this robot asking for a job change, going to the local pub, play pool and wonder whether he shouldn’t buy himself some shoes.
I had this mental image of Robot being a blend of R2D2 (the cutest robot ever) and Marvin, the Paranoid Android from the Hitchhiker’s Guide, and that was a brilliant canvas to build on.
The humans in this story are very well done as well. Mike is just such a solid character, and who wouldn't connect to Sally from the start when she invites Robot in for ‘casserole’?
I think the strength of this novella is that despite the main topic being a robot, it really isn’t for sci-fi-freaks only. Many contemporary fiction lovers will enjoy this book, because at the very core, it isn't about robots or science, this book is about being human and what that means to us.
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December 30, 2015I'm not going to rate this one because I am promoting it, but I strongly recommend it to anyone who loves science fiction, speculative, apocalyptic fiction, or just a plain ole well told story. You'll fall in love with Robot as you follow along on his journey through the humanless world...
September 7, 2013
I received this book from CCLaP in exchange for a fair and honest review.
A robot with feelings? A robot who makes me cry because of how amazing he is? A robot who loves humans?
Robot (that’s his name) might seem unique to you, and it’s true because in Sad Robot Stories by Mason Johnson, he’s actually unique to everyone.
The book opens up with the how-can-you-not-be-hooked first line of:
“The general consensus was that the apocalypse had made everything considerably quieter.”
For the full review, visit Love at First Book
A robot with feelings? A robot who makes me cry because of how amazing he is? A robot who loves humans?
Robot (that’s his name) might seem unique to you, and it’s true because in Sad Robot Stories by Mason Johnson, he’s actually unique to everyone.
The book opens up with the how-can-you-not-be-hooked first line of:
“The general consensus was that the apocalypse had made everything considerably quieter.”
For the full review, visit Love at First Book
August 22, 2013
Summary: It is Pixar's "Wall.E" without focus and devoid of charm.
(And, looking at these other reviews, I guess I am the only person on Goodreads who did not enjoy this Novella.)
I am a Computer Scientist. I teach robotics, programming, and an "Ethics of Independent Agents" course. I wanted to love this novella, but, I could not.
First, it needs an editor. Ungrammatical sentences litter its pages:
"Every time a human threw up their arms" :"Human" is singular, "their" is plural.
"Pushed their teeth up against his feet." :Sentence fragment
"Left him feeling weightless, flying uncontrollably away like a helium balloon." :Sentence fragment.
"Had no questions when Mike talked about this." :Sentence fragment.
There are numerous sentences where it is difficult to determine the subject:
"Like botched origami; a swan, but too phallic."
"They'd hear the weight of his footsteps as if they brought impending doom with them, and they'd bolt." :Who heard? Who brought? And who bolted? Your guess is as good as mine.
The voices of Robot and the narrator are not consistent. In some sentences they speak in human vernacular, frequently using contractions and dropping the final "g" : havin', ain't, freakin', gettin'. Why? In other sentences they are the short, precise voices of machines. It is difficult to tell if Robot is thinking, if the narrator is talking, or, if the narrator is talking about what Robot thinking. And then, in the final act, we switch viewpoints to another character altogether.
The narrator oddly breaks the 4th wall in places: "I could tell you that this was his favorite part of the day, but you probably know that already" Why would I know that and why are you now speaking directly to me when the previous 10 pages were written in third person omniscient?
So, if these flaws that make the story a chore to read and follow were corrected, what is the reader left with? Not much.
This is the story of a lone Industrial Robot who becomes sentient and befriends a human factory worker named Mike. His wife is a freelance computer programmer who writes, we are told, robotic control software. She spends her free time working on an Artificial Intelligence named Gladys hoping to create and AI that can think and feel human. But the way in which artificial intelligence is described and the way in which we are told Sally works to achieve her goal is factually wrong. This is a huge problem with the story: it is grounded in our time and our world but does not extrapolate from what is. Further, this entire exercise to create a sentient AI is moot, as Robot is clearly, demonstratively sentient. How could an AI programmer not notice this?
The second part of the novella careens wildly in viewpoint and time. To describe the story arc without spoilers is impossible. I just did not care about any of the human characters and I certainly could not relate to the robots as described here. The world left by the apocalypse the author presents is not scientifically possible. I was unable to suspend my disbelief because the author did not maintain consistency within the world of the story. I had to make a conscious, sometimes painfully conscious, decision to accept the contradictions and read on.
Maybe if this story had been described as a parable or technological fairytale I could have found its charm. But its marketing blurp tells me to consider this science fiction and "A Kurt Vonnegut for the 21st century". For me, it was not.
(And, looking at these other reviews, I guess I am the only person on Goodreads who did not enjoy this Novella.)
I am a Computer Scientist. I teach robotics, programming, and an "Ethics of Independent Agents" course. I wanted to love this novella, but, I could not.
First, it needs an editor. Ungrammatical sentences litter its pages:
"Every time a human threw up their arms" :"Human" is singular, "their" is plural.
"Pushed their teeth up against his feet." :Sentence fragment
"Left him feeling weightless, flying uncontrollably away like a helium balloon." :Sentence fragment.
"Had no questions when Mike talked about this." :Sentence fragment.
There are numerous sentences where it is difficult to determine the subject:
"Like botched origami; a swan, but too phallic."
"They'd hear the weight of his footsteps as if they brought impending doom with them, and they'd bolt." :Who heard? Who brought? And who bolted? Your guess is as good as mine.
The voices of Robot and the narrator are not consistent. In some sentences they speak in human vernacular, frequently using contractions and dropping the final "g" : havin', ain't, freakin', gettin'. Why? In other sentences they are the short, precise voices of machines. It is difficult to tell if Robot is thinking, if the narrator is talking, or, if the narrator is talking about what Robot thinking. And then, in the final act, we switch viewpoints to another character altogether.
The narrator oddly breaks the 4th wall in places: "I could tell you that this was his favorite part of the day, but you probably know that already" Why would I know that and why are you now speaking directly to me when the previous 10 pages were written in third person omniscient?
So, if these flaws that make the story a chore to read and follow were corrected, what is the reader left with? Not much.
This is the story of a lone Industrial Robot who becomes sentient and befriends a human factory worker named Mike. His wife is a freelance computer programmer who writes, we are told, robotic control software. She spends her free time working on an Artificial Intelligence named Gladys hoping to create and AI that can think and feel human. But the way in which artificial intelligence is described and the way in which we are told Sally works to achieve her goal is factually wrong. This is a huge problem with the story: it is grounded in our time and our world but does not extrapolate from what is. Further, this entire exercise to create a sentient AI is moot, as Robot is clearly, demonstratively sentient. How could an AI programmer not notice this?
The second part of the novella careens wildly in viewpoint and time. To describe the story arc without spoilers is impossible. I just did not care about any of the human characters and I certainly could not relate to the robots as described here. The world left by the apocalypse the author presents is not scientifically possible. I was unable to suspend my disbelief because the author did not maintain consistency within the world of the story. I had to make a conscious, sometimes painfully conscious, decision to accept the contradictions and read on.
Maybe if this story had been described as a parable or technological fairytale I could have found its charm. But its marketing blurp tells me to consider this science fiction and "A Kurt Vonnegut for the 21st century". For me, it was not.
August 12, 2013
Review: „Sad Robot Stories“ by Mason Johnson
Includes very slight spoilers
My overall impression comes first: I love this book. It is indeed possible that it becomes one of my favorite books – I will read it again to grasp even more details.
I have a couple of reasons why I love it:
At first, there is only a Robot, in a world with many Robots, who figures out that he is not at all like the others. He gets bored from his work so he demands different one. He is interested in human behavior so he starts to join the human workers at the local bar. It's not that he is one super tough robot: he struggles and he desperately tries to understand the world, the humans, the robots and on top of that, himself. He is different and every other person on this planet who was ever “different” knows what that means in our world. But Robot is having it his way (gets laughed at) and then he meets the human Mike who stands up for him and with this he's found a friend.
So this is the first aspect why I love this book. It tells you something very basic that most people tend to forget: everyone has a choice. It might be hard and it is definitely easier to choose something that doesn't draw attention to you, but we should try to understand that we are not making choices to please others, but rather to be ourselves. This doesn't mean that the book wants you to be an egoist. It just emphasizes you to be yourself.
The second most lovely thing this book did was to remind me how many small things there are, that make a human a human. A little smile, a simple routine between friends and colleagues: how we behave with each other without realizing it. Robot realizes and wonders about them. Especially with people we love, we seem to react automatically but with a tenderness that is definitely there but doesn't get the attention it deserves. If we could learn to be more mindful about those small things, we would realize how much we do for each other. In a world that feels so cold at times this would make a difference.
Third: Hope. Because “Things always go on”. If you read the book you will understand this one.
Fourth: Sacrifice. The story unfolds into something that I didn't expect. There weren't extreme “WOW” effects – but I think that would have ruined it anyway. There are twists and turns and slowly there is the realization that doing things for others is sometimes (more like often) better than thinking about yourself all the time. There are people out there that sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of others. Would you do it?
Another (for me rather funny) part was a little, I'll just call it side story, about believing in God or not and the question: How does that affect our choices? I think the authors ideas (and the conversations) on this matter were exactly what I would have written. But that's only me talking because I (as a non believer) would have been in that warehouse...
For me “Sad Robot Stories” is a story about growth and about what it means to be a human in a world where everything seems to be dominated by industrialized capitalism (and believe me, working Robots are already here and better ones are on the way). We all have a choice. Those are our lives. We are Robot. Do you understand? Read the book and then make a choice.
Includes very slight spoilers
My overall impression comes first: I love this book. It is indeed possible that it becomes one of my favorite books – I will read it again to grasp even more details.
I have a couple of reasons why I love it:
At first, there is only a Robot, in a world with many Robots, who figures out that he is not at all like the others. He gets bored from his work so he demands different one. He is interested in human behavior so he starts to join the human workers at the local bar. It's not that he is one super tough robot: he struggles and he desperately tries to understand the world, the humans, the robots and on top of that, himself. He is different and every other person on this planet who was ever “different” knows what that means in our world. But Robot is having it his way (gets laughed at) and then he meets the human Mike who stands up for him and with this he's found a friend.
So this is the first aspect why I love this book. It tells you something very basic that most people tend to forget: everyone has a choice. It might be hard and it is definitely easier to choose something that doesn't draw attention to you, but we should try to understand that we are not making choices to please others, but rather to be ourselves. This doesn't mean that the book wants you to be an egoist. It just emphasizes you to be yourself.
The second most lovely thing this book did was to remind me how many small things there are, that make a human a human. A little smile, a simple routine between friends and colleagues: how we behave with each other without realizing it. Robot realizes and wonders about them. Especially with people we love, we seem to react automatically but with a tenderness that is definitely there but doesn't get the attention it deserves. If we could learn to be more mindful about those small things, we would realize how much we do for each other. In a world that feels so cold at times this would make a difference.
Third: Hope. Because “Things always go on”. If you read the book you will understand this one.
Fourth: Sacrifice. The story unfolds into something that I didn't expect. There weren't extreme “WOW” effects – but I think that would have ruined it anyway. There are twists and turns and slowly there is the realization that doing things for others is sometimes (more like often) better than thinking about yourself all the time. There are people out there that sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of others. Would you do it?
Another (for me rather funny) part was a little, I'll just call it side story, about believing in God or not and the question: How does that affect our choices? I think the authors ideas (and the conversations) on this matter were exactly what I would have written. But that's only me talking because I (as a non believer) would have been in that warehouse...
For me “Sad Robot Stories” is a story about growth and about what it means to be a human in a world where everything seems to be dominated by industrialized capitalism (and believe me, working Robots are already here and better ones are on the way). We all have a choice. Those are our lives. We are Robot. Do you understand? Read the book and then make a choice.
April 28, 2014
Since I was in a temporary sci-fi mood, the publisher of this novella offered me this book in exchange for a review, since I really liked 'Starship Grifters' by Robert Kroese. Now, 'Sad Robot Stories' is an entirely different animal. In fact, it's hardly sci-fi at all - despite the fact that it has robots in it. After its opening pages, which function as a somewhat depressing flash forward to the halfway point of the book, I was easily warmed up to the main character Robot. (I pictured him as a cute version of Futurama's 'Bender', you know, old school scifi robot style) Robot is practically a factory drone in the beginning of his story, but unlike his 'co-workers' he questions his existence, develops/discovers humanlike character traits. This sends him on an existential journey during which, unfortunately, an apocalypse happens to take place.
Now, the novel was dedicated to - among other fictional characters - Joe Christmas, and I can see why; this character from Faulkner's 'Light in August' was part black, part white in blood, and therefore struggled with his identity and his place in society. In the first part of 'Sad Robot Stories', Robot has the same problem; he's too much of a robot to fit in with humans, and has too many 'human' thoughts to be at ease among the other robots at the assembly line. I really enjoyed this existential duality and kind of wish a larger chunk of the book was devoted to it.
In a way, though, it is - in a different way. Before, during and after the apocalypse, Robot takes us through many relatable aspects of our everyday life; he learns about friendship, loss, hope, religion, love, the power of literature (since he 'grows' through all these new experiences, I found it kinda fitting to label this novella as 'coming-of-age'). His existential crisis just expands I guess, and ultimately Big questions arise; why are we here? To do what? To be what? For who? Questions that often pop up in literature, and were not always delved into deep enough here to fully engage me.
Stilistically, this book is a quick and easy read - in fact, some mild profanity aside, I sometimes imagined reading this book to a child. Sure, it has its bleak moments story-wise, but the narrative just had this 'children's story' feel to it.
To sum it all up, 'SRS' is a sweet humanistic approach to post-apocalyptic fiction, filled with nice observations concerning human existence. Personally I would've like some heavier existentialism, but maybe that's just my way of saying I wished this book was longer. ;-)
Now, the novel was dedicated to - among other fictional characters - Joe Christmas, and I can see why; this character from Faulkner's 'Light in August' was part black, part white in blood, and therefore struggled with his identity and his place in society. In the first part of 'Sad Robot Stories', Robot has the same problem; he's too much of a robot to fit in with humans, and has too many 'human' thoughts to be at ease among the other robots at the assembly line. I really enjoyed this existential duality and kind of wish a larger chunk of the book was devoted to it.
In a way, though, it is - in a different way. Before, during and after the apocalypse, Robot takes us through many relatable aspects of our everyday life; he learns about friendship, loss, hope, religion, love, the power of literature (since he 'grows' through all these new experiences, I found it kinda fitting to label this novella as 'coming-of-age'). His existential crisis just expands I guess, and ultimately Big questions arise; why are we here? To do what? To be what? For who? Questions that often pop up in literature, and were not always delved into deep enough here to fully engage me.
Stilistically, this book is a quick and easy read - in fact, some mild profanity aside, I sometimes imagined reading this book to a child. Sure, it has its bleak moments story-wise, but the narrative just had this 'children's story' feel to it.
To sum it all up, 'SRS' is a sweet humanistic approach to post-apocalyptic fiction, filled with nice observations concerning human existence. Personally I would've like some heavier existentialism, but maybe that's just my way of saying I wished this book was longer. ;-)
August 1, 2013
The saving grace of “Sad Robot Stories” is that I can understand why Robot was sad at having lost Mike and Sally. I loved the histories Johnson gave these two characters. From social outcast to pulp novel enthusiast to womanizer to, finally, devoted family man and robot friend, we get to know Mike’s charms and shortcomings. The private school and university educated Sally, with her interest in literature and artificial intelligence, is representative of Millennial women who surpass their male counterparts in education and employment opportunity. And Sally’s drive to perfect Gladys’ AI creativity feels like a quest for immortality normally reserved for men, or expressed as devotion to childrearing.
Johnson’s description of Robot’s siblings in the post-catastrophe world was entertaining. One can sympathize with their relief at being freed, like slaves, from their human masters. The “faithful” community represents the next step on the AI evolutionary rung in which the programmers used religion to subjugate the slaves. It could have been an opportunity to further explore conflict between robots, but instead of resolving the conflict it was ended by a convenient plot device—e.g. lightning bolt.
Johnson’s description of Robot’s siblings in the post-catastrophe world was entertaining. One can sympathize with their relief at being freed, like slaves, from their human masters. The “faithful” community represents the next step on the AI evolutionary rung in which the programmers used religion to subjugate the slaves. It could have been an opportunity to further explore conflict between robots, but instead of resolving the conflict it was ended by a convenient plot device—e.g. lightning bolt.
January 10, 2014
The following review has been copied from http://behnamriahi.tumblr.com
Sad Robot Stories, written by Mason Johnson and published by The Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP), is a science-fiction novella told from the third-person point-of-view of Robot, an urban manufacturing robot from the not-too-distant future. Robot isn’t like other robots—sometimes, he seems a little too in touch with humanity. All for the worse when the apocalypse happens and everything dies. Everything but robots, that is. When Robot has nowhere to turn, nowhere to go, he recaptures his humanity through story, in recalling the same stories his human best friend, Mike, told him. However, not all stories have happy endings.
Mason and I have known each other for ages, probably. Back in our college days, it felt as if everyone weighed their hopes on either one of two writers in in our class. Mason and myself. Of those two writers, only one of us has successfully published something at least novella length. Yay, congratulations, Mason. When I modestly asked Mason for his autograph, he signed my book, “To my favorite anime character.” Finally, someone gets me. However, despite my affection for Mason, I’m also rife with jealousy, so expect a fair and honest review.
I actually enjoy CCLaP’s novellas. This is not the first one I purchased—although this one does have a few typos that were over-looked. Not an abundance—certainly not as many as, say, Shogun, but enough that I noticed them and have chosen to introduce them as my first lash against Sad Robot Stories. I understand that Columbia College’s fiction department didn’t put a huge emphasis on spelling and grammar, but c’mon, Mason. You edit stuff for work.
That aside, I have very few other complaints about this book. The descriptions, though brief, acknowledge the most honest details about each character in order to portray accurate, extraordinary pictures of the lives they live. And though most of the characters in this book meet their end as a result of the apocalypse, from Robot’s non-sentimental point-of-view, those characters contrive a sentiment unique in its own way as they muse about their lives, their pasts, their “futures.” In a strange way, despite how short-lived some characters were, I grew very attached to them and spent each page waiting for them to come back again. I won’t give anything away, but Johnson is very imaginative when it comes to surprising his audience.
Though Robot lacks sentiment, the narration, despite being from Robot’s point-of-view, is purposefully unreliable. What that means for this book is that, despite all hope and pain the audience feels, it comes a lot sharper because of the narrator, who chooses to include herself in spite of playing little role in Robot’s story. This sharpness is perpetuated by the narrator’s own distance from the characters and their fates, allowing us to perceive struggle in a way that’s almost objective, even in all of its subjectivity. Johnson doesn’t pound an idea into us to make us give a shit—he merely tells it straight through a point-of-view with fictitious admissions, leaving us to wonder whether that very straightness is as accurate as the story that Mason himself conceived or if it became mired heavily by the perceptions of his characters as they filled the shoes of other characters. It’s like if Catcher in the Rye were told from the point of view of Holden’s little sister, Pheobe. Except, in this case, Holden is a non-emoting robot. Or Salinger. No, Holden.
I think the most marvelous part of all is the titular moments of the story. These instances, in their own way, are the story. Sad Robot Stories is the story of a sad robot telling sad stories, sad robot stories. I thought, at first, Mason was just fucking with me when I heard the title of this book, but no moment, not even the book’s title, is wasted. Each word is carefully chosen in order to move the story quickly, at the pace of a novella, while telling the story as fully and meaningfully as possible. Whenever each line is cast out into the literary sea, they all seem to be hooked in the same fish’s mouth as the book builds to its paramount ending, one so profound with emotion that I almost shed a tear, despite imagining Mason’s handsome face smugly grinning at me after I remembered the author.
I suppose you can overlook typos. I know that when the quality of the work shines through in spite of them, I can. Though the editorial system may not have been quite so robotic, the story wasn’t either. It’s carefully littered with meaning, emotion, and character, pureed into one beautiful, imaginative, powerful, sad, robot story. I have no other alternative but to give Mason the rating he deserves.
Sad Robot Stories, written by Mason Johnson and published by The Chicago Center for Literature and Photography (CCLaP), is a science-fiction novella told from the third-person point-of-view of Robot, an urban manufacturing robot from the not-too-distant future. Robot isn’t like other robots—sometimes, he seems a little too in touch with humanity. All for the worse when the apocalypse happens and everything dies. Everything but robots, that is. When Robot has nowhere to turn, nowhere to go, he recaptures his humanity through story, in recalling the same stories his human best friend, Mike, told him. However, not all stories have happy endings.
Mason and I have known each other for ages, probably. Back in our college days, it felt as if everyone weighed their hopes on either one of two writers in in our class. Mason and myself. Of those two writers, only one of us has successfully published something at least novella length. Yay, congratulations, Mason. When I modestly asked Mason for his autograph, he signed my book, “To my favorite anime character.” Finally, someone gets me. However, despite my affection for Mason, I’m also rife with jealousy, so expect a fair and honest review.
I actually enjoy CCLaP’s novellas. This is not the first one I purchased—although this one does have a few typos that were over-looked. Not an abundance—certainly not as many as, say, Shogun, but enough that I noticed them and have chosen to introduce them as my first lash against Sad Robot Stories. I understand that Columbia College’s fiction department didn’t put a huge emphasis on spelling and grammar, but c’mon, Mason. You edit stuff for work.
That aside, I have very few other complaints about this book. The descriptions, though brief, acknowledge the most honest details about each character in order to portray accurate, extraordinary pictures of the lives they live. And though most of the characters in this book meet their end as a result of the apocalypse, from Robot’s non-sentimental point-of-view, those characters contrive a sentiment unique in its own way as they muse about their lives, their pasts, their “futures.” In a strange way, despite how short-lived some characters were, I grew very attached to them and spent each page waiting for them to come back again. I won’t give anything away, but Johnson is very imaginative when it comes to surprising his audience.
Though Robot lacks sentiment, the narration, despite being from Robot’s point-of-view, is purposefully unreliable. What that means for this book is that, despite all hope and pain the audience feels, it comes a lot sharper because of the narrator, who chooses to include herself in spite of playing little role in Robot’s story. This sharpness is perpetuated by the narrator’s own distance from the characters and their fates, allowing us to perceive struggle in a way that’s almost objective, even in all of its subjectivity. Johnson doesn’t pound an idea into us to make us give a shit—he merely tells it straight through a point-of-view with fictitious admissions, leaving us to wonder whether that very straightness is as accurate as the story that Mason himself conceived or if it became mired heavily by the perceptions of his characters as they filled the shoes of other characters. It’s like if Catcher in the Rye were told from the point of view of Holden’s little sister, Pheobe. Except, in this case, Holden is a non-emoting robot. Or Salinger. No, Holden.
I think the most marvelous part of all is the titular moments of the story. These instances, in their own way, are the story. Sad Robot Stories is the story of a sad robot telling sad stories, sad robot stories. I thought, at first, Mason was just fucking with me when I heard the title of this book, but no moment, not even the book’s title, is wasted. Each word is carefully chosen in order to move the story quickly, at the pace of a novella, while telling the story as fully and meaningfully as possible. Whenever each line is cast out into the literary sea, they all seem to be hooked in the same fish’s mouth as the book builds to its paramount ending, one so profound with emotion that I almost shed a tear, despite imagining Mason’s handsome face smugly grinning at me after I remembered the author.
I suppose you can overlook typos. I know that when the quality of the work shines through in spite of them, I can. Though the editorial system may not have been quite so robotic, the story wasn’t either. It’s carefully littered with meaning, emotion, and character, pureed into one beautiful, imaginative, powerful, sad, robot story. I have no other alternative but to give Mason the rating he deserves.
February 24, 2014
FTC DISCLOSURE: I am the publisher of this book.
I'm the publisher of this book, so I hope all of you will have a chance to check it out soon, especially since you can download the ebook version completely for free at [cclapcenter.com/sadrobot]. I will soon be publishing an essay here on all the reasons I liked "Sad Robot Stories" enough to sign it in the first place.
I'm the publisher of this book, so I hope all of you will have a chance to check it out soon, especially since you can download the ebook version completely for free at [cclapcenter.com/sadrobot]. I will soon be publishing an essay here on all the reasons I liked "Sad Robot Stories" enough to sign it in the first place.
February 27, 2014
4.5 stars. I was touched and feeling pretty sentimental as this concluded. Through the eyes and ears of Robot, we learn much about the human condition and what is important in life. The author did a great job conveying the power of determination and love in a trying situation. Highly recommended.
January 28, 2015
Quick and interesting read. I'm a big fan of sci-fi and especially stories concerning consciousness in created beings. Enjoyed Robot's story and experienced all the feels a few times during the course of his tale.
June 9, 2014
"Cats" — an excerpt:
Robot had one daily duty he performed, a duty he was assigned not long after joining the backups: he was responsible for keeping the cats fed. It was funny that the cats needed to be fed at all, considering that they were there to take care of the rat problem, and there were a lot of rats. But the cats kept having kittens, and they wanted food. Their bowls were out a side door of the plant. Robot would go out there early and they’d be waiting for him. At first they’d scatter. They’d hear the weight of his footsteps as if they brought impending doom with them, and they’d bolt.
Eventually, the cats stopped running away from Robot. They’d look up expectantly at him as he poured the brown food into a bowl and placed a water dish down for them. Then, one day, they started rubbing against his hard edges. Arching their back as their sides dug into his legs. Pushed their teeth up against his feet. A few days later, he woke up from being asleep—not quite shut down, just running diagnostics—with one of the cats on his shoulder. The next day, he woke up with a cat on each shoulder.
He turned his head left then right, taking each tabby in. “You just know who feeds you,” he said, as if he believed that was the only reason they liked him. I could tell you that this was his favorite part of the day, but you probably know that already.
Robot got called into the managers’ office one day.
“You have to terminate the felines,” the robot manager said.
“What?” Robot asked.
“Ya gotta kill the cats!” Phil — the human manager — said.
“But why?”
“We had rats, so we got cats. We no longer got any rats, we no longer need any cats. Costs us money to feed ‘em, you know.”
“I can’t just… kill them.”
“Sure you can, kid. It’s your job, so go do it.”
“What if I took care of them? What if they were mine?”
“Yours? Yours?” Phil stood up. “You got money to feed them? You got a house you can keep them at? You are ours. You got that? We own you.”
“You are company property and will do as you are told,” the robot manager said, looking towards Robot, which was rare.
“I can’t kill them.”
“Well, then get the hell outta here.”
Robot woke in the morning and grabbed the bag of food and bowl of water as usual. There were no cats though. The bowls were there, but nothing rubbed against his legs or jumped onto his shoulders.
He dropped to the concrete, his legs out straight and his back against the brick of the building, and watched the sun rise orange and furious above the skyscrapers as if it was saying, “Just try and stop me.”
He realized that in the human world, if you don’t do what you’re told, they’ll find someone who will.
He was taken out of the backups after that and reassigned to his old job: watching washers go by, more than even he cared to count.
Robot went on to realize that he knew the definition of happiness only because of how unhappy he was those days he was forced to return to his old job on the assembly line. The sudden parallel of life before and after was so vastly different, such an ocean of difference, it seemed unsailable. There was no wind.
Robot had one daily duty he performed, a duty he was assigned not long after joining the backups: he was responsible for keeping the cats fed. It was funny that the cats needed to be fed at all, considering that they were there to take care of the rat problem, and there were a lot of rats. But the cats kept having kittens, and they wanted food. Their bowls were out a side door of the plant. Robot would go out there early and they’d be waiting for him. At first they’d scatter. They’d hear the weight of his footsteps as if they brought impending doom with them, and they’d bolt.
Eventually, the cats stopped running away from Robot. They’d look up expectantly at him as he poured the brown food into a bowl and placed a water dish down for them. Then, one day, they started rubbing against his hard edges. Arching their back as their sides dug into his legs. Pushed their teeth up against his feet. A few days later, he woke up from being asleep—not quite shut down, just running diagnostics—with one of the cats on his shoulder. The next day, he woke up with a cat on each shoulder.
He turned his head left then right, taking each tabby in. “You just know who feeds you,” he said, as if he believed that was the only reason they liked him. I could tell you that this was his favorite part of the day, but you probably know that already.
Robot got called into the managers’ office one day.
“You have to terminate the felines,” the robot manager said.
“What?” Robot asked.
“Ya gotta kill the cats!” Phil — the human manager — said.
“But why?”
“We had rats, so we got cats. We no longer got any rats, we no longer need any cats. Costs us money to feed ‘em, you know.”
“I can’t just… kill them.”
“Sure you can, kid. It’s your job, so go do it.”
“What if I took care of them? What if they were mine?”
“Yours? Yours?” Phil stood up. “You got money to feed them? You got a house you can keep them at? You are ours. You got that? We own you.”
“You are company property and will do as you are told,” the robot manager said, looking towards Robot, which was rare.
“I can’t kill them.”
“Well, then get the hell outta here.”
Robot woke in the morning and grabbed the bag of food and bowl of water as usual. There were no cats though. The bowls were there, but nothing rubbed against his legs or jumped onto his shoulders.
He dropped to the concrete, his legs out straight and his back against the brick of the building, and watched the sun rise orange and furious above the skyscrapers as if it was saying, “Just try and stop me.”
He realized that in the human world, if you don’t do what you’re told, they’ll find someone who will.
He was taken out of the backups after that and reassigned to his old job: watching washers go by, more than even he cared to count.
Robot went on to realize that he knew the definition of happiness only because of how unhappy he was those days he was forced to return to his old job on the assembly line. The sudden parallel of life before and after was so vastly different, such an ocean of difference, it seemed unsailable. There was no wind.
July 3, 2015
Sad Robot Stories is a CClap novella; it was released a while ago. I’m not sure when, but that doesn’t matter. Despite the fact that it takes place through the mind of a robot, Sad Robot Stories is a coming of age novella. The main character, simply called Robot, is a machine that feels for humans and is an outcast amongst other robots. For some reason, he sympathizes with the humans that surround him, and wants to break through the monotonous life of a machine. So he ventures out and hangs out with humans, befriends them, and then the world ends, leaving him all alone. I feel like Robot might just be a metaphor, is a metaphor the right way to explain this? Robot is a symbol of alienation, the type of person who isn’t in the crowd, a misunderstood person. When he ventures out to other people, he is soon accepted. There is somebody out there who will take you into their world and become your companion; you just have to find them. The coming of age theme seems to be the development in all of the characters, where they change and grow out of their flaws. They move on and accept the changes around them. There is nothing more human than accepting what surrounds you, even if you have to claw your own eyes out to see how it feels. When everything is gone, the only thing a person needs to understand is that everything is temporary. I feel like I’m not doing justice for this book, I don't really have much to say about it. it’s really one of those books that warms your heart, just like the characters’ relationships with books. It’s one of those books that you look back on and think, “Wow, that was a really nice story.”
October 5, 2013
Robot stories tells about the end of humanity, and Robot, a robot among other robots, is the only one who mourns them. Told largely in flashback, we learn of robot, who gains a personality almost spontaneously, and whose personality is nurtured by a human, and they build a friendship. Through this, we learn the life of the human and the meaning he gives it, but it ends, and we are left with Robot, who remembers, but who can do nothing except live. There's a journey that happens, but then we get to spoiler territory.
Where this story succeeds is in its incredible humanity. It is the story of the beginning of thought and the understanding of love. It tells us what is so great about being human, from love and expression, by way of giving these common feelings to a being to whom they are incredible. Johnson is a beautiful writer on the sentence level, packing this novella full, so that it weighs in at only 150 pages, but the weight of it is easily double that. It doesn't linger, it doesn't make a fuss, but it renders everything necessary with a minimal beauty. I wouldn't have believed it before I read it, but this is a story about the wonders of love as could only be told from the point of view from an assembly line robot after the extinction of humanity.
Where this story succeeds is in its incredible humanity. It is the story of the beginning of thought and the understanding of love. It tells us what is so great about being human, from love and expression, by way of giving these common feelings to a being to whom they are incredible. Johnson is a beautiful writer on the sentence level, packing this novella full, so that it weighs in at only 150 pages, but the weight of it is easily double that. It doesn't linger, it doesn't make a fuss, but it renders everything necessary with a minimal beauty. I wouldn't have believed it before I read it, but this is a story about the wonders of love as could only be told from the point of view from an assembly line robot after the extinction of humanity.
January 2, 2015
From The Book Wheel:
I received this book from CCLaP in exchange for a fair and honest review.
When Rebecca at Love at First Book first recommended this book, I was a little bit wary because I’m not big into robots. I haven’t watched all of Wall-E and I fell asleep during iRobot. The only robots I like are the Brave Little Toaster and, of course, Rosie from The Jetsons. But, Rebecca rarely steers me wrong and the other reviews I had seen were overwhelmingly positive, so I bit the bullet.
Trust me, no one is more surprised by how much I loved this book than I am. Sad Robot Stories is a charming novella by the young Mason Johnson about a single robot, Robot. From his first day on the assembly line to his days working alongside humans, Robot knew that he was different. He was a little bit too interested in how humans interacted and began to pay attention to them. After being welcomed into the home of a human family, Robot knew he was forever changed.
For the full review, click here.
I received this book from CCLaP in exchange for a fair and honest review.
When Rebecca at Love at First Book first recommended this book, I was a little bit wary because I’m not big into robots. I haven’t watched all of Wall-E and I fell asleep during iRobot. The only robots I like are the Brave Little Toaster and, of course, Rosie from The Jetsons. But, Rebecca rarely steers me wrong and the other reviews I had seen were overwhelmingly positive, so I bit the bullet.
Trust me, no one is more surprised by how much I loved this book than I am. Sad Robot Stories is a charming novella by the young Mason Johnson about a single robot, Robot. From his first day on the assembly line to his days working alongside humans, Robot knew that he was different. He was a little bit too interested in how humans interacted and began to pay attention to them. After being welcomed into the home of a human family, Robot knew he was forever changed.
For the full review, click here.
November 8, 2013
Thanks to CCLaP for a free copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I just loved this book. The quirky style of the unknown 3rd person narrator felt strange at the beginning, but the story of Robot, an Android who is more human, feels more deeply, and expresses himself better than most of us, pulled me in completely. We watch him grow on his journey as he makes a friend, gets adopted into a family, loses the family and all human companionship in the apocalypse, and with that the will to live. I won't say what rekindles that will, but suffice it to say that Robot's love affair with the human race is reciprocated, and his loves, losses and sacrifices made me laugh, and cry, and will stay with me for a very long time.
I can't recommend this book enough. Kudos to Mason Johnson for a funny, moving, and meaningful story about the power of storytelling and what it means to be human.
I just loved this book. The quirky style of the unknown 3rd person narrator felt strange at the beginning, but the story of Robot, an Android who is more human, feels more deeply, and expresses himself better than most of us, pulled me in completely. We watch him grow on his journey as he makes a friend, gets adopted into a family, loses the family and all human companionship in the apocalypse, and with that the will to live. I won't say what rekindles that will, but suffice it to say that Robot's love affair with the human race is reciprocated, and his loves, losses and sacrifices made me laugh, and cry, and will stay with me for a very long time.
I can't recommend this book enough. Kudos to Mason Johnson for a funny, moving, and meaningful story about the power of storytelling and what it means to be human.
June 1, 2015
Interesting robot narrative. Really enjoyed the interaction between Robot and Mike's family, and really enjoyed the touch on gender and love and a robot falling into heteronormitivity because of society more so than programming.
I do wish this had stayed Robot's story, though, and there wasn't a first person human narrator involved.
I do wish this had stayed Robot's story, though, and there wasn't a first person human narrator involved.
November 29, 2016
This book is insanely shallow and uninteresting. It hints at some deeper social and existential philosophy but never builds a narrative structure to make any plot points seem meaningful. It starts with a promising, light-hearted premise but disappointingly turns in to a charmless slog.
If you're interested in science fiction in any capacity, this is not the book for you.
If you're interested in science fiction in any capacity, this is not the book for you.
July 8, 2014
I wrote my review at Insatiable Booksluts here .
November 20, 2017
Spoilers.
A great setup wrecked with an unneeded (and downright goofy/misplaced) transgender love ending.
A great setup wrecked with an unneeded (and downright goofy/misplaced) transgender love ending.
July 4, 2014
Not sure what to say about this one. It's a bit strange yet charming story about a robot who wants to be human. He befriends Mike, a human, and for a moment, it seems that the sad robot stories are really about Mike and not about Robot. Then the apocalypse happens and these become Robot's sad stories. I enjoyed the novella and it was a quick read. This is the kind of book that people should read based on their own curiosity of it rather than based on other people's reviews. I think anyone who reads this will get something out of it based on their own likes. My 13yr. old daughter ended up reading this before I did because she liked the title (so did I) and she really liked it. I think it would be hard to go wrong with this.
August 28, 2013
"Without change, you got nothing. You got no stories, no life, no nothing."
More - http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/2013/08...
More - http://bentanzer.blogspot.com/2013/08...
January 10, 2016
A lovely, strange, funny, sad little book.
February 22, 2016
Kind of a bleak, sad story about our robots that outlive us and discover (their version of) love.
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