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Nine Billion Turing Tests
In a post-nuclear event Silicon Valley, a man grieving the loss of his wife struggles to find comfort when he is forced to communicate with his neighbors’ AI devices, rather than the people themselves.
44 pages, ebook
First published February 21, 2024
About the author
Chris Willrich
35 books39 followersChris Willrich writes fantasy and science fiction, and is best known for his sword-and-sorcery short fiction about Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone -- a pair of lovers, partners in crime, and, far more often than they'd like to admit, heroes. The first novel featuring Gaunt and Bone, THE SCROLL OF YEARS, appeared in September 2013 from Pyr, followed by THE SILK MAP in May 2014.
Willrich is also the author of THE DAGGER OF TRUST, a book set in the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing. DAGGER is a tale featuring bards, secret agents, sorcerous evil, monsters, and betrayal.
Willrich is a former librarian for the Santa Clara County Library District who lives in Mountain View, California with his family. He is frequently attacked by youngsters with lightsabers.
Willrich is also the author of THE DAGGER OF TRUST, a book set in the world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game from Paizo Publishing. DAGGER is a tale featuring bards, secret agents, sorcerous evil, monsters, and betrayal.
Willrich is a former librarian for the Santa Clara County Library District who lives in Mountain View, California with his family. He is frequently attacked by youngsters with lightsabers.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 27, 2024
Really loved this story - I found myself crying by the end. I lost my dad in 2017 and for some reason this story really resonated with me beyond the speculative fiction setting, and perhaps allowed me to finally grieve.
February 25, 2024
exceptional storytelling. I would have called this a 4, but bumped it to 5 when I read the last paragraph. damn.
February 28, 2024
The ending of this story completely turns the entire thing on its ear. That fact is so unbelievably moving that it defies description. Read this story. Do it.
May 5, 2024
A story of an elderly man interacts mainly with the AI representations of his neighbours. But when the community becomes flooded, the man, with the help of his AI cane, has to learn to interact with people again to save himself.
The story contains interesting discussions between the man and his cane over the nature of sentience and emotions, especially over the loss of the old man's wife (before the story begins) and of his cat in the story.
The story contains interesting discussions between the man and his cane over the nature of sentience and emotions, especially over the loss of the old man's wife (before the story begins) and of his cat in the story.
March 10, 2024
"You are anthropomorphizing life itself."
"It's what we do."
I'm crying at work again.
"It's what we do."
I'm crying at work again.
March 20, 2024
There wasn't enough worldbuilding or any real plot, per se - mostly just lots of soap boxing about the dangers of A.I.
March 30, 2024
! What is there to say?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews