Randolph Runner

by David Dvorkin

Butler, warrior, moral philosopher, robot. Randolph is all that and more. Randolph is the prized product of Superior Domestics, a Silicon Valley firm dedicated to producing robot servants for people who grew up watching British period costume dramas on PBS. The company’s motto is, “All the gracious living of Upstairs with none of the unseemly drama of Downstairs.” When the novel opens with the assassination of King Donald II and a coup d’état, Randolph epitomizes that motto. He is calm, quiet, supremely competent, always in the background, and never interfering. He is a mere witness to great events. He is focused on supervising his staff and properly running the household of General Henry Redgrave, architect of the coup and would–be power behind the throne. But Redgrave’s ambitions go far beyond standing behind the throne. He wants to be king himself, and eventually an emperor. Using the crazies of the Hundred Star Flag movement, he begins his intended wave of southern conquest at the Mexican border. Others have similar ambitions. Anton Moravec, president of a unified, revitalized, and aggressively expansionist European Union, is at war with Russia. His ally, China, is eating up Russian territory at the other end. India watches nervously. Two beautiful women, natural enemies, are the objects of passion of both men. Lurking in the background are the survving members of the Trump family, scheming to get back into power. War! Romance! Sex! Skulduggery! Artificial Intelligence! And lots of other stuff, too. It’s all really terribly complicated. Randolph, whose personal motto is, “A place for everything and everything in its place,” could probably organize all this and bring about peace and quiet, but what human would knowingly hand that much responsibility over to a machine? In fact, unthinking, humans have already done so. Increasingly, autonomous machines have taken over tedious duties such as transporting cargo, performing minor surgery, and blowing away trespassers. Randolph is aware of these machines but looks down on them. He and his fellow robot servants are true artificial intelligence, but the digital brains operating these other machines are merely very advanced computers. In Randolph’s opinion, they only simulate AI. However, those other machines have thoughts of their own. As the world descends further into chaos, Randolph is drawn in, ever less the observer and ever more the participant, until at the end he is the very center of all.

280 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2020

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

DISCLAIMER - I received a free copy of this book to review for the 2023 Self-Published Science Fiction Competition (SPSFC).

Philip K. Dick was a master of Sarcastic Science Fiction. I am not sure SSF is an actual genre but it is definitely a style that I enjoy reading. What originally drew me to Science Fiction was how authors could address topics too controversial in standard fiction and non-fiction by creating new, fictional worlds. Racial, sexual, and political issues are definitely the wheel house of SSF.

In Randolph Runner, David Dvorkin take dead aim at Trumpian politics and Artificial Intelligence. Dvorkin imagines that Donald Trump (the first) lead a successful coup and established himself as king of the United States. It is fascinating to note that this book was published in 2020, well before the January 6, 2021 United States Capitol attack.

This book centers around the actions of a morally corrupt individual, named General Redgrave, and his humanoid robot butler, Randolph. Each one evolves throughout the book as they head toward what can be seen as their personal manifest destiny.

Dvorkin rushes the story along, overlooking any semblance of believability. Of course, just like PKD, the reality was not what was important. The focus is on the ideas, philosophies, and moral concepts being presented. This is definitely not a tightly written book. It leaps over numerous logistical issues and leaves reality behind within the first few pages.

I read it with the idea Dvorkin had his tongue firmly implanted in his cheek while writing it. This allowed me to enjoy his shining a light on two, very serious issues currently confronting our society. In this day of reactionary politics and AI being inserted into every avenue of our lives, Randolph Runner contains more than a kernel of truth.

[Howard Brazee]

I bought this before the election. I does mention when Trump was in the hospital with COVID-19.

It starts off on Donald II's 60th birthday, when he was overthrown by his vice president. Then we see what happened between now and then—with someone manipulating the Trump dynasty for his own ends, and with powerful humanoid robots.

[Penny Fleckenstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny, creativity. A very good read!