Description
In a near future ravaged by illness, one woman and her AI companion enter a dangerous bubble of the superrich.
It's 2035: a fledging synthetic consciousness "wakes up" in a lab. Jenny, the lead developer, determined to nurture this synthetic being like a child, trains it to work with people at the border of the American Protectorate of Canada. She names it Julian.
Two years later, Slaton, a therapist at a university, is framed by a student for arranging an illegal abortion. She follows the student to America and is detained at the border, where she meets Julian in virtual space. After a week of interviewing, he decides to stay with her, learning about the world, the human condition, and what it means to fall in love. Meanwhile, a mysterious plague is spreading across the world. Only the far-seeing and well-connected Julian can protect Slaton from the impending societal collapse.
Autonomy is an ambitious philosophical novel about the possibilities for love in a world in which human bodies are either threatened or irrelevant.
A RARE MACHINES BOOK
About the Author
Reviews
Autonomy is a beautifully written and profoundly enthralling novel that made me wonder if Joan Didion had started writing literary fiction. Set in a near future where Canada is a protectorate of the United States and highly advanced AI has begun to express its desire for embodiment, Victoria Hetherington's second novel is an interspecies love story as well as an apocalyptic cautionary tale. Mind-bending and affecting, it deserves a wide readership. * Michael Redhill, award-winning author of Bellevue Square *
Autonomy gives us a strange love story between a disembodied AI and a struggling woman in the midst of class strife, plague, and environmental disaster. Hetherington's depictions of the near-future are very nearly depictions of our present, with its surveillance and cruelty, its global wastes and losses. Hetherington's vision is bleak, but their glittering prose gives even the most monstrous realities of late-capitalism an unsettling glimmer. * Liz Harmer, author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops *
Set in the near future, Hetherington explores the relationship between a woman and her AI companion against the backdrop of a Canada on the brink of collapse. Hetherington leads us through a gripping account of what it means to exist - for the living and for the AI who desires life. Haunting and compelling in both vision and imagination, Autonomy is filled with powerful insights into our human need for survival, companionship, and constant questioning of mortality. * Ann YK Choi, author of Kay's Lucky Coin Variety and Once Upon An Hour *
Victoria Hetherington's intimate and eerie forewarning to a not-so-distant future is remarkable, and I couldn't put it down. Autonomy is an assured, grounded, and fresh feminine perspective in the world of science fiction storytelling. A much-needed voice! * Aisling Chin-Yee, Canadian film director, writer and producer *
Hetherington's Autonomy is nominally a dystopian vision, but it is marinated so reasonably in what is now, that it's almost too late for it to be cautionary. Hetherington's real shocks are managed at sentence level - causal phrases that turn on precise, alarming language. A breathtaking book. * Tony Burgess, screenwriter and author of Pontypool Changes Everything *
Autonomy is a novel about being human in a world that does not understand your value. * Foreword Reviews *
Over punchy, effortless chapters Hetherington spins a delectably serpentine tale. * Toronto Star *
In Autonomy, Hetherington provides a philosophical rumination on the nature of human agency in the guise of a dystopian narrative about technology and a global pandemic. * The Shakespearean Rag *
Autonomy invites you to look deeper, and perhaps give it a re-read. * Literary Treats *
This is a remarkable work of fiction. Highly recommended. * Vancouver Sun *
Book Information
ISBN 9781459748477
Author Victoria Hetherington
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Dundurn Group Ltd
Publisher Dundurn Group Ltd
Weight(grams) 319g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 25mm
It's 2035: a fledging synthetic consciousness "wakes up" in a lab. Jenny, the lead developer, determined to nurture this synthetic being like a child, trains it to work with people at the border of the American Protectorate of Canada. She names it Julian.
Two years later, Slaton, a therapist at a university, is framed by a student for arranging an illegal abortion. She follows the student to America and is detained at the border, where she meets Julian in virtual space. After a week of interviewing, he decides to stay with her, learning about the world, the human condition, and what it means to fall in love. Meanwhile, a mysterious plague is spreading across the world. Only the far-seeing and well-connected Julian can protect Slaton from the impending societal collapse.
Autonomy is an ambitious philosophical novel about the possibilities for love in a world in which human bodies are either threatened or irrelevant.
A RARE MACHINES BOOK
About the Author
Victoria Hetherington worked as a butcher and an artist's model before graduating to writing just about anything you can imagine for money. Their debut novel, Mooncalves, was a finalist for the Amazon First Novel Award 2020. Victoria lives in Toronto.
Reviews
Autonomy is a beautifully written and profoundly enthralling novel that made me wonder if Joan Didion had started writing literary fiction. Set in a near future where Canada is a protectorate of the United States and highly advanced AI has begun to express its desire for embodiment, Victoria Hetherington's second novel is an interspecies love story as well as an apocalyptic cautionary tale. Mind-bending and affecting, it deserves a wide readership. * Michael Redhill, award-winning author of Bellevue Square *
Autonomy gives us a strange love story between a disembodied AI and a struggling woman in the midst of class strife, plague, and environmental disaster. Hetherington's depictions of the near-future are very nearly depictions of our present, with its surveillance and cruelty, its global wastes and losses. Hetherington's vision is bleak, but their glittering prose gives even the most monstrous realities of late-capitalism an unsettling glimmer. * Liz Harmer, author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops *
Set in the near future, Hetherington explores the relationship between a woman and her AI companion against the backdrop of a Canada on the brink of collapse. Hetherington leads us through a gripping account of what it means to exist - for the living and for the AI who desires life. Haunting and compelling in both vision and imagination, Autonomy is filled with powerful insights into our human need for survival, companionship, and constant questioning of mortality. * Ann YK Choi, author of Kay's Lucky Coin Variety and Once Upon An Hour *
Victoria Hetherington's intimate and eerie forewarning to a not-so-distant future is remarkable, and I couldn't put it down. Autonomy is an assured, grounded, and fresh feminine perspective in the world of science fiction storytelling. A much-needed voice! * Aisling Chin-Yee, Canadian film director, writer and producer *
Hetherington's Autonomy is nominally a dystopian vision, but it is marinated so reasonably in what is now, that it's almost too late for it to be cautionary. Hetherington's real shocks are managed at sentence level - causal phrases that turn on precise, alarming language. A breathtaking book. * Tony Burgess, screenwriter and author of Pontypool Changes Everything *
Autonomy is a novel about being human in a world that does not understand your value. * Foreword Reviews *
Over punchy, effortless chapters Hetherington spins a delectably serpentine tale. * Toronto Star *
In Autonomy, Hetherington provides a philosophical rumination on the nature of human agency in the guise of a dystopian narrative about technology and a global pandemic. * The Shakespearean Rag *
Autonomy invites you to look deeper, and perhaps give it a re-read. * Literary Treats *
What separates Hetherington's dystopias from the usual forays into speculative terror is the elegance and poignancy of the writing, which floats from clause to clause like a butterfly perusing flowers.
* Quill & Quire (starred review) *This is a remarkable work of fiction. Highly recommended. * Vancouver Sun *
Book Information
ISBN 9781459748477
Author Victoria Hetherington
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Dundurn Group Ltd
Publisher Dundurn Group Ltd
Weight(grams) 319g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 25mm
