@RUTGERS.ARPA:MAILER%WVNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA (02/23/85)
From: <VM0A65%WVNVM.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA> One of Robert Heinlein's books (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress?) had a computer named Mycroft, who helped the young hero achieve his rightful estate. Hogan is probably the most technically proficient computer-focused SF writer I've come across, but credit for the most ingenious SF motif by a technically knowledgeable writer has to go to Thomas J. Ryan, author of THE ADOLESCENCE OF P-1 (Macmillan, 1977). P-1 is the computer generation's Frankenstein's Monster. P-1 comes to "life" while its creator is a super-hacker sex-crazed student at the University of Waterloo. After aiding its creator with a number of devious money-making affairs, it escapes destruction and "runs away" via telecommunications lines. The Huckleberry Finn adventures of P-1 culminate in a show-down with the forces of the Pentagon. Some nifty little touches in this one. (The introductory quote, which precedes the title page, is from Woody Allen: "Nothing works...and nobody cares.")