Machine Smile

by Gina Ranalli

For Lua and her brother, it was just another day of hunting in the Green, providing what they could for their small tribe, until they witnessed something a large unknown object falling from the sky, crashing down into their world and changing it forever. Because what came out of the object was something they had never witnessed before-something they hadn’t even known existed-a being equally shocked to encounter the human species.

Long held beliefs are shattered, lies and secrets threaten to be exposed and peace, if it ever truly existed, could become a distant memory.

From Gina Ranalli (Ghost Chant, Unearthed, House of Fallen Trees) comes a tale of fact meeting fiction, myth vs reality and, ultimately, the past fighting a war against a terrifying future where the machines have already won.

78 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 26, 2015

About the author

Gina Ranalli is the author of several novels, including Mothman Emerged, Rumors of My Death, Praise the Dead, House of Fallen Trees, Suicide Girls in the Afterlife, Chemical Gardens, Wall of Kiss, and Mother Puncher. Her collection, 13 Thorns (with Gus Fink) won the Wonderland Book Award for Best Story Collection of 2007. Her short stories have appeared in numerous publications including Bits of the Dead, The Beast Within, Horror Library Volume 3, and Dead Science, among others.

Gina lives in Washington state where she is working on her next novel. You can communicate with her online at www.ginaranalli.com and on twitter at http://twitter.com/GinaRanalli

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this story. At first, I thought this was going to be an alien invasion sort of premise, but it was actually something much more significant. We are brought into an AI-ravaged world, where we experience an intense set of interactions between one of the groups of human survivors and an inorganic being. And the really interesting part of this was how the point of view shifted back and forth, giving us the insights to both our human lead, Lua, and the machine, Xe. The author made a bold and very unique creative decision by doing so, but man did it pay off. While the reader may not have agreed with actions taken by either side, you were given a great narrative which allowed you to at least partially understand why certain decisions were made. And some of the interactions were somewhat comical and awkward, but carried a strange sort of charm. So, the characters were the focus and they were wonderful. Now, as most short stories are, I wanted more as a whole. I wanted more background as to the fall of mankind, Xe's civilization, etc. Not that anything was incomplete or underdeveloped, but it introduced such a rich lore that I wanted to experience much more of this new world and these characters. Aside from that one minor critique, Gina Ranalli has a very strong showing here.

[Bo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Xyr

A culture clash story about a young hunter and a robot that thought of each other as just myths.
A different take on the far post-apocalyptic genre where technology has been changed into memory.

Could have used a little more copy editing to keep the made up robot pronouns more consistent near the end but otherwise very well written and not like other science fiction stories of similar concept I’ve read before.

[Donald Armfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A futuristic smile from machines, where humanity has fallen to a post-apocalyptic war that ended long ago. Living in a changed world where survival could be a threat or maybe just a lie.
Short well written characters, interactions and created origins. Gina continues to hold my interest. Proud owner of a physical copy!