Busted Synapses

Humans are rapidly replaced with humanoid robots in this gripping cyberpunk novella from Satifka (Stay Crazy). Solfind, the company responsible for creating the robot “New People,” are on track to take over the world as automation grows and human workers become obsolete. But the New People have not yet overtaken Wheeling, W.Va., where the deeply antirobot civilian Jess works for a remote Solfind call center. When a New Woman named Alicia arrives in town to work at the call center, Jess wants to hate her, knowing that her presence will cause layoffs. But Alicia is determined to befriend Jess, forcing her way into Jess’s life and revealing that she wasn’t sent to Wheeling by the company; she ran away from the Solfind lab and took dangerous corporate secrets with her. Meanwhile, Jess’s friend Dale is fired from his fast-food gig and copes by escaping into a dangerous virtual reality game that can only be accessed via illegal pharmaceuticals. Satifka effortlessly packs a full adventure into a limited page count. Readers will be hooked. (Nov.)