kev67
11-15-2015, 02:18 PM
I am not really enjoying this book, but at least it is short and the chapters are not very long. I wanted to read it because it is arguably the first science fiction book. Actually, it seems to a sub-genre of science fiction, but I am not sure it has a name. That is, it is not a first-contact, or post-apocalypse, or cyber-punk. It is a mad scientist/dodgy corporation makes a monster/android/sexbot/super-human. In Bladerunner. the monsters were genetically engineered superhumans, although in the book it was derived from, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the monsters were androids. The last film I saw of this type was Ex Macchina, in which the monster was a sexy fembot, and Frankenstein was a sort of Mark Zuckerberg figure, although the corporation he heads reminded me more of Google. Common tropes include:
the monsters are superhuman in some way, e.g. very strong, very attractive, very intelligent.
the monsters develop minds of their own, become impossible to control, and eventually turn on their creators.
the monsters are sociopathic, either through desperate self-defence, lack of socialization, repeated rejection, or a natural lack of empathy.
The only book of this sub-genre that does not quite follow this pattern (although I have not read it) was The Stepford Wives.
the monsters are superhuman in some way, e.g. very strong, very attractive, very intelligent.
the monsters develop minds of their own, become impossible to control, and eventually turn on their creators.
the monsters are sociopathic, either through desperate self-defence, lack of socialization, repeated rejection, or a natural lack of empathy.
The only book of this sub-genre that does not quite follow this pattern (although I have not read it) was The Stepford Wives.