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Nihon Cyberpunk #2
A Clockwork Orientation
After going on a rampage against its own creators at Ashita Institute in Tokyo, a renegade cyborg is relocated to Okinawa for reprogramming. Can a bad cyborg be reformed? Find out in A Clockwork Orientation, the second short story of Brian Barr's Nihon Cyberpunk series. A Clockwork Orientation is a short story tribute to Anthony Burgess's classic novel, A Clockwork Orange
34 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2018
4 people want to read
About the author
Brian Barr
146 books60 followersMy name is Brian Barr. I am a published fiction author. Along with novels and short stories, I've also written comic books, including the Empress series with Chuck Amadori. I am NOT the author of God's Plan for Us, written by some other Brian Barr.
My debut novel is Carolina Daemonic, Book I: Confederate Shadows. My second novel is Psychological Revenge: The First Super Inc. Novel, and I have a short story collection called Daemensions. All books are out now on Amazon, for Kindle and Print.
Carolina Daemonic is a dystopian alternative timeline urban fantasy-horror with LGBT, steampunk, and occult elements.
Psychological Revenge is a fun, campy superhero novel with zany villains and lots of action.
Check out my short stories, some of which are in anthologies, a few reprinted on Kindle for .99 cents.
Thank you for visiting my page.
www.brianbarrbooks.com
My debut novel is Carolina Daemonic, Book I: Confederate Shadows. My second novel is Psychological Revenge: The First Super Inc. Novel, and I have a short story collection called Daemensions. All books are out now on Amazon, for Kindle and Print.
Carolina Daemonic is a dystopian alternative timeline urban fantasy-horror with LGBT, steampunk, and occult elements.
Psychological Revenge is a fun, campy superhero novel with zany villains and lots of action.
Check out my short stories, some of which are in anthologies, a few reprinted on Kindle for .99 cents.
Thank you for visiting my page.
www.brianbarrbooks.com
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 16, 2018
A cyborgs regenerated body becomes nothing as planned, meant to feel the pain of the other it killed over bordem. The story asks questions of the nature of pain, sorrow and emotions can something like this be programmed or is it real?
Read forth and get ready for a cyborg rebuilding and the madness that follows.
This little cyberpunk packs a lot of Sci-Fi in just 30 pages.
Read forth and get ready for a cyborg rebuilding and the madness that follows.
This little cyberpunk packs a lot of Sci-Fi in just 30 pages.
March 13, 2018
The story deals with an artificial intelligence who goes berserk one day and kills over a hundred people. Rather than scrap the creature, its owners decide to attempt to rehabilitate them with a new program that will allow the creature to feel pain, specifically his victim’s pain. This has some unexpected results.
The story asks some deep questions on the nature of emotional development. The cyborg main character, Mannix (not named after the TV show character, I discovered), murdered over a hundred people because he was bored, because he was given toys but not allowed to use them. This is sociopathic behavior in a human, but with artificial intelligence the ability to emote to another life form is not a given. Part of our empathic nature is that we are nurtured by others and shown love, but artificial intelligence will not have that. They will blink on with full consciousness. If they are empathetic it will be towards their own kind, not us.
Some may say that emotions can be programmed. But, as the story points out, are they real? Or will a pre-programmed set of actions just cause an AI to go through the motions, while harboring other ideas beneath them. You cannot force someone to care about something, as the story demonstrates, even if you torture them, as what happens to the protagonist. This is the fascinating nature of the story. Quite a lot for only thirty two pages.
The story asks some deep questions on the nature of emotional development. The cyborg main character, Mannix (not named after the TV show character, I discovered), murdered over a hundred people because he was bored, because he was given toys but not allowed to use them. This is sociopathic behavior in a human, but with artificial intelligence the ability to emote to another life form is not a given. Part of our empathic nature is that we are nurtured by others and shown love, but artificial intelligence will not have that. They will blink on with full consciousness. If they are empathetic it will be towards their own kind, not us.
Some may say that emotions can be programmed. But, as the story points out, are they real? Or will a pre-programmed set of actions just cause an AI to go through the motions, while harboring other ideas beneath them. You cannot force someone to care about something, as the story demonstrates, even if you torture them, as what happens to the protagonist. This is the fascinating nature of the story. Quite a lot for only thirty two pages.
August 8, 2018
The second short story in his Nihon cyberpunk series, this tale tells of cyborgs gone rogue, culminating in a massacre of human co-workers by the cyborg Mannix. Dr. Nagai and the other Ashita Institute scientists create a program to instill empathy in cyborgs through fabricated experiences of pain and fear. Mannix is too cunning, however, and he is only interested in the officer who deactivated him at the crime scene, turning this digital tall tale into a warped love story.
Brian Barr is a natural storyteller, whose characters stay with the reader. His stories don’t so much twist and turn as they flow like a river around bends and past tall trees, sometimes shady, sometimes sunny. Mannix totally owns the ending in this cyberpunk short fiction. Look for upcoming reviews on laelbraday.com for other short stories in the Nihon cyberpunk series.
Brian Barr is a natural storyteller, whose characters stay with the reader. His stories don’t so much twist and turn as they flow like a river around bends and past tall trees, sometimes shady, sometimes sunny. Mannix totally owns the ending in this cyberpunk short fiction. Look for upcoming reviews on laelbraday.com for other short stories in the Nihon cyberpunk series.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews