AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'An ambitious anthology from award-winning Australian publishing house Twelfth Planet Press, Mother of Invention will feature diverse, challenging stories about gender as it relates to the creation of artificial intelligence and robotics.
'From Pygmalion and Galatea to Frankenstein, Ex Machina and Person of Interest, the fictional landscape so often frames cisgender men as the creators of artificial life, leading to the same kinds of stories being told over and over. We want to bring some genuine revolution to the way that artificial intelligence stories are told, and how they intersect with gender identity, parenthood, sexuality, war, and the future of our species. How can we interrogate the gendered assumptions around the making of robots compared with the making of babies? Can computers learn to speak in a code beyond the (gender) binary?
'If necessity is the mother of invention, what exciting AI might come to exist in the hands of a more diverse range of innovators?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Notes
-
Includes the work of the following international authors: Octavia Cade, John Chu, Sandra McDonald, Seanan McGuire, Lev Mirov, Soumya Sundar Mukherjee, Justina Robson, E.C. Myers, Nisi Shawl, and Bogi Takács.
Contents
-
Junkyard Kraken,
single work
short story
science fiction
fantasy
A scientist draws from myth and legend to create mimetic robots for exploration and discovery.
- The Goose Hair of One Thousand Miles, single work short story science fiction (p. 47-58)
- The Art of Broken Things, single work short story science fiction (p. 59-71)
- A Robot Like Me, single work short story science fiction (p. 97-104)
- New Berth, single work short story science fiction (p. 105-115)
- Fata Morgana, single work short story science fiction (p. 117-140)
- Bright Shores, single work short story science fiction (p. 141-155)
-
Reflecting on Indigenous Worlds, Indigenous Futurisms and Artificial Intelligence,
single work
essay
'I am a Palyku author of Indigenous Futurisms, a term coined by Anishinaabe academic Grace Dillon to describe a form of storytelling whereby Indigenous peoples use the speculative fiction genre to challenge colonialism and imagine Indigenous futures. Indigenous Futurist writers draw from worldviews shaped by our ancient cultures, from our inheritance of the multigenerational trauma of colonialism, and from the sophisticated understandings of systems of oppression that are part of the knowledge base of all oppressed peoples. Because of this, we share similarities that shape our works and provide a fruitful base for cross-textual analysis. But because we are many individuals from many Indigenous nations, each with our own homelands, cultures, and identities, there is also great diversity between us all. As such, my viewpoint is one among many Indigenous viewpoints.' (Introduction)
Note:Published on the publisher's website as a preview to the release of the anthology.
- Knitting Day, single work short story science fiction fantasy (p. 269-282)
- The Revivalist, single work short story science fiction (p. 283-302)
- Arguing with People on the Internet, single work short story science fiction (p. 303-322)
- Tidefall, single work short story science fiction (p. 339-348)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Mother of Invention
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 117 2019; (p. 55-56)
— Review of Mother of Invention 2018 anthology short story essay
-
Mother of Invention
2019
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis , no. 117 2019; (p. 55-56)
— Review of Mother of Invention 2018 anthology short story essay
Awards
- 2019 winner Ditmar Awards — Best Artwork Likhain, for cover illustration.
- 2019 winner Ditmar Awards — Best Collected Work
- 2019 joint winner Norma K. Hemming Award — Long Work
- 2018 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction — Anthology Division