Saturn's Children

by Charles Stross

Overview

Sometime in the twenty-third century, humanity went extinct, leaving only androids behind to fulfill humanity’s dreams. And, having learned well from their long-dead masters, they’ve established a hierarchical society—one with humanoid aristo rulers at the top and slave-chipped workers at the bottom, performing the lowly tasks all androids were originally created to do.               

Designed as a concubine for a species that hasn’t existed for two hundred years, femmebot Freya Nakamichi-47—one of the last of her kind still functioning—accepts a job from a stranger to deliver a package from mercury to Mars. Unfortunately, she’s just made herself a moving target for some very powerful, very determined humanoids desperate to retrieve the package’s contents…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440634840
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/01/2008
Series:	A Freyaverse Novel
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	567,779
File size:	543 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Charles Stross was born in Leeds, England in 1964. He holds degrees in pharmacy and computer science, and has worked in a variety of jobs including pharmacist, technical author, software engineer, and freelance journalist. He is now a full-time writer.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Good fun... Heinlein himself would've liked this."
-SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

"Sex oozes from every page of this erotic futuristic thriller."
-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"One of the most stylishly imaginative robot tales ever penned."
-BOOKLIST

"A smart and playful romp."
-TIMES (LONDON)

Editorial Reviews

The act of creation seems to come easily to Charles Stross...He is peerless at dreaming up devices that could conceivably exist in 6, 60, or 600 years' time.

New York Times

Where Charles Stross goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow. (Gardner Dozois, Editor, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine)

Gardner Dozois

Stross sizzles with ideas.

Denver Post

Charles Stross may be the science fiction field's most exciting writer.

SF Revu

Sex oozes from every page of this erotic futuristic thriller. In a far-future class-driven android society, most of the populace are slave-chipped and owned by wealthy "aristos." When low-caste but unenslaved android Freya offends an aristo and needs to get off-world, she takes a courier position with the mysterious Jeeves Corporation, but the job turns out to have dangers of its own. Designed as a pleasure-module, Freya isn't quite as obsolete as she could be, as androids have sex with each other incessantly. Hugo-winner Stross (Halting State) has a deep message of how android slavery recapitulates humanity's past mistakes, but he struggles to make it heard over the moans and gunshots. Readers nostalgic for the SF of the '60s will find much that's familiar (including Freya's jumpsuit-clad form on the cover), but that doesn't quite compensate for the flaws. (July)

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Publishers Weekly

After the extinction of the human race in the 23rd century, robots and androids continue to function, forming their own stratified society to carry out their creators' dreams of space colonization. Freya Nakamichi 47-a femmebot designed as a concubine for a race that no longer exists-occupies a place in society midway between the elite Aristos and the slave-chipped worker robots. Having to make her own way, she accepts a commission to deliver a small package from Mercury to Mars, unaware of the trouble that awaits her as humanoid factions vie for the contents of the package. The author of Singularity Sky and The Atrocity Archives always brings a fresh perspective to the genre, reinventing the future in bold new ways. Part space opera, part homage to late sf Grand Masters Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, this tale of a very "human" android belongs in most sf collections.
—Jackie Cassada

Library Journal

"Good fun... Heinlein himself would've liked this."-San Diego Union Tribune

"Sex oozes from every page of this erotic futuristic thriller."-Publishers Weekly

"One of the most stylishly imaginative robot tales ever penned." -Booklist

"A smart and playful romp." -Times (London)

“A tightly plotted, Maltese Falcon-esque thriller with reversals and surprises galore…This is a fabulous book, a witty and deep critique of the field’s shibboleths.” – Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother

From the Publisher