Sexbot Uprising is the recently released science fiction novel by TJ Kirk. I helped TJ by test reading and 'encouraging' the completion of the book, let's say. A disclaimer of my bias as a volunteer on this passion project.
Why read it? Well, because it balances sex, violence and heart. It's the best book I've read these last three years, and I know books. The characters are complicated and interesting. This story is driven by investment in their inner lives and diverging or intersecting interests. TJ worldbuilds without sacrificing action. The stakes feel important; there are twists and turns with a satisfying conclusion that is only the beginning. It's thrilling and funny, with bite. Read it to see for yourself.
Allow me to quote from a scene from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (sorry Writer Kirk), episode titled "The Measure of a Man" where Captain Picard must prove Data is a legally sentient being with rights and freedoms: Guinan: "Consider that in the history of many worlds, there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do because it's too difficult or too hazardous. And an army of Datas, all disposable... You don't have to think about their welfare, you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people." Picard: "You're talking about slavery." …humans… were in many ways the whores of the galaxy…
I include the above quote because in many ways, T.J.Kirk's (@officialamazingatheist) outstanding story "Sexbot Uprising" is at its heart about this very same topic. An "entity" let's call it (maybe even akin to a character like Q or the Q if you want to get technical) has given the Sexbot community - who are at this stage of things androids appropriately designed to meet any sexual fantasies and wishes ("They were astonishing lovers. Undisputed masters of pleasure."), no matter how seemingly depraved (all this despite each of them possessing a "quantotronic brain capable of conducting trillions of operations per second") - the "opportunity" to fully realize their sentience - and, of course, the ability to have REAL orgasms as well ("So much of the angst that exists in our ranks is a direct result of our inability to orgasm.") - whereupon they strive through both violent and political means to gain recognition from the powers that be. It makes for an interesting dilemma for all involved, especially those that seek to best profit from this potential new reality. Ohmyfuckinggodohmyfuckinggodohmyfuckinggoooooodd!
Before I go on though, let me make this clear: despite my hints above and especially the proceeding quote, if you've checked out Kirk's book looking for cover-to-cover hardcore sex, well, you'll be disappointed. Yes, there are indeed gobs and even globs of sex plus the resultant fluids involved galore and it goes from one end of the spectrum to the other in terms of, again, preferences and performance. It's not particularly "pretty" if you want to call it that and if rape is one of your triggers, well, you might want to put your copy down now, because that happens, too. I wasn't especially bothered by any of the non-abusive scenes although I'm not exactly comfortable with some of the things we witness. But honestly, if you picked up a copy of a book with this title, what did you expect anyway? It felt more like the plot of a cheesy sci-fi novel, with a title like Sex Robot Revolt or something.
The author balances the struggles of the Sexbot Community - led by the 9-foot tall Dommy Mommy Gen-7 Adult Fantasy Companion Android named Contessa who, like her sisters and/or daughters is equipped with "Probabilistic Psychodynamic Processing" - against all kinds of extremely realistic challenges that any "suddenly sentient species" would be faced with in their community as well as many that purely organic beings might not have to worry about. For example, resisting the Sexbots call for automony (not only for prejudicial reasons but also profit) are the conservative, extremely violent borderline N@zis called BootZ Boys, the local government (see again profit), not to mention a wave of religious zealots that spring into existence among their own community. And by community, this always includes not only the Sexbots but also the simps (humans who accepted the SBNWO {sexbot new world order}) and cucks, who "tried to reject it but, through manipulation and coercion, served it, nonetheless." Oh and by the way: a huge portion of this entire population winds up very very dead (or mostly dead) owing to various skirmishes, so brace yourselves for huge dollop of violence as we progress. …now we’re supposed to give rights to fucking toasters with pussies?
And along with all these, we have a hero in search of redemption in the form of one Golgato Endings (great name!), a disgraced do-gooder (I will not spoil "The Incident"!) and extremely talented Felinian, that is, he comes from a race of humanoids who closely resemble, well, cats. He plays guitar like a god, can hold his own in a fight with all kinds of foes, and is able to even impress the sexbots with his huge schlong (or if you prefer, his "dangling kielbasa (which) had stiffened into a proudly jutting summer sausage."). There are some other details I could share here about Endings, including how some of his friends play a role in how things unwind, but that's neither here nor there (it is, but no spoilers!). What's most important to realize though is that at one point, Golgato was one of the most popular cats in the known universe (pun intended) but now he's almost totally fallen off the hero charts. Believe it or not, my life being in shambles didn’t escape my attention.
At its heart then, "Sexbot Uprising" is a really good scyfy adventure that does kind of get a bit out of hand (smoke 'em if you got 'em!) as we near our exciting conclusion. It's a well-executed story for the most part and I found it fascinating to be on Mars in the Pleasure District of New New Orleans as things got more and more explosive. However, I was much less … enamored? with the author's rather sharp turn into the metaphysical when we begin exploring the true nature of how the universe is constantly repeating itself on a relatively unending loop. Did it work? Yeah, for the most part. But still, I was enjoying my sexual-slash-political intrique when this bit crashed the scene! How human of you—violence first, conversation second.
To this, I mentioned "Q" from Star Trek earlier and you could definitely then put both "the Lovers" and also Langston Creel ("Is this all you really are?... Just some pathetic asshole playing God?"), whose shared "gifts" got this whole mess started in the first place. His input - as well as the very bizarre metamorphosis of Ki, who initially was doing a pretty good job of showing just how quickly religious fanatacism rushes in when changes bring about a vacuum in society - left me a little non-plussed. But definitely, Ki's Kaiju-esque evolution and ultimate ending was just a little off the charts for my tastes. Things didn’t just feel hopeless; they felt absurd.
Still, if you enjoy breaking out of the standard scyfy tropes and instead allow yourself a full treatment of WTFisms that really really break the bounds of logic and reality, well, then you'll enjoy this truly fun read. I had fun imagining it as a cross between some of my favorite scyfy (e.g. like Tom Dell'Arringa aka @tom.dellaringa.scifi.author 's "Manifest Interupt") mixed up with some alternate reality but extremely thought-provoking fantasy (like Douglas Lumsden @douglas_lumsden's latest "Shade the Collector" series). Plus don't forget to envision along the way that Quentin Tarantino has remade some of your favorite Star Trek TNG episodes (or even the original ones!) and it's all mixed in nice and gooey like! Sure the book is long as hell, yeah, but at no point did I feel like things slowed down (exception: those really really descriptive penetration and building orgasms scenes…. Whoooo boy!). I'm not sure when (or if) the advertised sequel is supposed to come out, but if those last few pages are any indication, we're in for even more weirdness in a where no one has gone before. Now everybody sing!!! "AAaaAAH aa-aa-ahhhhhh, ah ah ah ahhhhhhh (whoooooosh goes the tiny model)!"
Epilogue: "Ziggy’s low IQ was written all over his face." HEY!!! I thought I washed that off!
Sexbot Uprising is a book I've been waiting for patiently ever since TJ Kirk announced he was writing a book, sometime in 2021. I remember hearing the title and getting excited, because I knew TJ would pour his passion into it and I knew he was a good writer from The Douchebag Bible. The cast of characters are colorful, engaging, and interesting to find oneself in the presence of. The story itself is interesting but mainly serves as the vehicle for lots of gratuitous sex scenes and pulsating violence (no complaints from me). The book is not particularly subtle but it still manages to be very intelligent and sneak in some ideas that make ones head spin. The character of Langston Creel in particular sticks out to me due to his mysterious nature and the glimpses of his backstory we see alluded to. Mistress Contessa serves as a fantastic secondary protagonist to Golgato Endings, managing to be ruthless and also balanced when she needs to be. Her aims are noble but she doesn't have an issue with turning up the heat when necessary. Golgato Endings is the perfect charismatic asshole that you love to hate, then learn to love as the book goes on. BootZ is a character you can simply love to hate the entire way through, and I'll leave it at that. Tom Vance is a perverted asshole with absolutely no morals whatsoever and is quite fun in how ruthless he can be. One of the villains named Ki is quite shockingly evil, even to the point of being over the top at times, and has an ending fight so good I won't dare ruin it for people here, just go read the damn book already. All the rest of the characters are written well and deserve their own segments here but I don't wish to spoil them for potential readers here. If you enjoy hot steamy sex scenes, blood dripping violence, thinly concealed political commentary, and no true moral compass, you'll love it.