gknight@ut-ngp.UUCP (Gary Knight) (12/16/86)
Hi gang,
It seems that some of you are getting impatient waiting for my canonical
list of sentient computer novels. I could post a simple list of everything
submitted to me in a couple of days, but I wanted to do more than that. In the
first place, some of the titles weren't about sentient computers at all, but
just had a computer somewhere in the plot. Secondly, I was after novels that
dealt with sentient computers as *principal characters*. I wanted stories
about their genesis, growth, development, capabilities, etc. But a lot of the
titles I received had sentient computers that were just props in the plot and
were not themselves the object of investigation.
So, what I planned to do was read all of them (at least far enough to know
if they qualify or not) and then list each with a non-spoiler paragraph
descriptor.
But I'll do both -- in a few days I'll just barf back the list (without
repeats, of course!). Then later in the holidays, when I finish my reading,
I'll post the list (with commentary) that I originally intended. Okay?
In the meantime, for the *really* impatient who are looking for some good
holiday reads, the following meet my "principal character" criterion and
are definitely worth perusing (asterisks are *highly* recommended):
THE ADOLESCENCE OF P-1 (*)
VALENTINA: SOUL IN SAPPHIRE
MICHAELMAS
THE TWO FACES OF TOMORROW (*)
WHEN HARLIE WAS ONE
CYBERNETIC SAMURAI (*)
COLOSSUS (trilogy)
That oughta hold you 'till Christmas, anyway.
--
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Gary Knight, The University of Texas at Austin.
"All these things will be lost in time, like tears in the rain."
-- Roy Baty