I, Human

by Jen Selinsky, Travis Potts (cover artist)

Librarian Ana is frustrated with the her job and how dehumanizing it has become. She, along with the rest of her co-workers are convinced that there is something wrong with their supervisor. Turns out, "she" is and evil robot, set out to turn all the workers into mindless slaves. She will not stop until she reaches the domination of all humans!

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

I have been writing for most of my life, but I did not start taking it seriously until I was fifteen years old. Since then, I have written over 160 books. I write whenever inspiration strikes, and all the art featured on the front covers is either my own, my husband's, or both of ours combined.

My current publications can be found on the following sites: Lulu, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords, Pen It! Publications, and Buy Me Books Now.

While I do not like to think of myself as a genre writer, a lot of people know me for my poetry books. Other areas in which I write include: fiction, short stories, non-fiction, mixed genre, and quotes. Most often, I will write whatever comes to my mind at a moment's notice.

Reviews

[David Boiani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, Human is an interesting, quick science fiction read about an intelligent, evil robot that runs a library and tries to control the people who work there. Not only was I, Human an enjoyable read, I found it to be an accurate reflection on what technology is heading towards and some of the obstacles we, as a society, may struggle to understand and overcome as it evolves.

[R.A. McCandless · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jen Selinsky’s “I, Human”, which is a short story at just over 26 pages, offers an interesting plot, but fails to deliver on and suffers technical elements of writing. Unfortunately, it should be avoided by readers.

Selinsky’s story is the science fiction tale of Ana, a lonely and alone librarian and her supervisor, Lillian, who places an unnecessary burden on all her employees. While there is a twist in the plot, overall, the story plods toward an obvious conclusion, the characters are wholly flat and undeveloped, and the dialogue is stiff and unrealistic. There are a lot of technical issues with the story as well. Tenses and the point of view shifts in the middle of sentences, and there are a lot of typos which will bring the reader out of the world Selinsky is trying to create. The climax results in some unrealistic plot points and relies wholly on a deus ex machina that wasn’t hinted at in the rest of the story.

In “I, Human” Selinsky fails to deliver on the promise of what could be an interesting world with unique character perspectives. A librarian unmasking a plot and facing down her boss could be a fun treat for readers. However, this short story is hard to get through and should be avoided. The author has stated she will revise, and so perhaps an updated version will offer more.