Great Jones - Shop now
$9.99 with 33 percent savings
Print List Price: $14.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Erin K. Wagner
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

An Unnatural Life Kindle Edition

by Erin K. Wagner (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 46 ratings

Murderbot meets To Kill a Mockingbird in Erin K. Wagner's An Unnatural Life, an interplanetary tale of identity and responsibility.

The cybernetic organism known as 812-3 is in prison, convicted of murdering a human worker but he claims that he did not do it. With the evidence stacked against him, his lawyer, Aiya Ritsehrer, must determine grounds for an appeal and uncover the true facts of the case.

But with artificial life-forms having only recently been awarded legal rights on Earth, the military complex on Europa is resistant to the implementation of these same rights on the Jovian moon.

Aiya must battle against her own prejudices and that of her new paymasters, to secure a fair trial for her charge, while navigating her own interpersonal drama, before it's too late.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    192 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Tordotcom
  4. Publication date
    September 15, 2020
  5. File size
    3.1 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Erin K. Wagner is an English professor in the SUNY system, an Appalachian transplanted to the Catskills. Her short stories have appeared in a variety of publications, including Apex and Clarkesworld, and her poetry has been published in Abyss & Apex and the South Dakota Review. Her first novella, The Green and Growing, was published by Aqueduct Press.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B082RTCVLV
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tordotcom (September 15, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 15, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.1 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 46 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Erin K. Wagner

Erin K. Wagner

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Erin K. Wagner is a speculative fiction writer, interested in examining how the human responds to the not-human. She grew up in southeast Ohio on the border of Appalachia, but now lives in central New York, where she hikes in the Catskills and listens for ghostly games of nine-pins. She holds her Ph.D. in medieval literature and teaches literature and writing in the SUNY system. She splits her time between academic research, investigating how medieval English writers navigated their own religious identities, and creative writing. Her stories have appeared in a variety of publications, from Apex to Luna Station Quarterly, and her novella The Green and Growing is available from Aqueduct Press. You can visit her website at www.erinkwagner.com.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
46 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Lars Schweidenback
    5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recomend.
    Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    This was a very good read. Compelling narrative and world building in a short novella. Interesting thoughts on rights and prejudices... for AI.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Henry S. Leavitt
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Meditation on the Meaning of Person
    Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    The central question of the story is an important one and the well-drawn characters support the examination of that question but the plot contrivances feel awkward and sometimes arbitrary. No reason is given for an artificial character, like 812-3, being so perfectly imitative of a human being and the existence of codes or keywords to override his internal controls—even to forcing him to murder a human being—is an obvious plot gimmick. The ending feels abrupt and telegraphed.

    The setting doesn’t quite work, either. Europa is an exotic location but its depiction feels more like a small town in Alaska or Norway. A brief note of “Europa’s low gravitational pull” [p. 92] is the only hint that everyone would be moving very differently than the inhabitants of Alaska or Norway (surface gravity is less than the gravity on Earth’s moon). There’s also a parallel plot of researchers finding, maybe, evidence of exotic life in a Europan geyser that doesn’t mesh with the main story.

    This short novel is satisfying as a character study, but the flaws are distracting.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Simon
    3.0 out of 5 stars familiar concept with great ideas but ultimately feels shallow and needs more details
    Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2020
    An Unnatural Life by Erin Wagner is a quick read about a robot AI having been convicted of murdering a human on a remote planet colony. This theme has obviously been done many times before but the concept never seems to get stale. As our own AI begins to mature and get more complex, it’s only a matter of time in the future before our humanity will need to embrace a similar scenario. Therefore, the concept isn’t that far fetched. As you can expect, An Unnatural Life explores the question of what role humans play in creating just such a scenario as to let a robot being convicted of murder.

    “Humans don’t ask for most things. They still expect them.” – Robot ID 812-3

    We follow Aiya, who decided to leave Earth for the remote planet/moon of Europa, as she first gets the job of rehabilitating the murderbot. However, as she converses with the robot, things take a different turn and she now finds herself acting as lawyer to the robot in hopes of getting an appeal on its murder conviction. Again, the theme here, which I wont’ spoil further, is definitely interesting and got me thinking a lot. However, I think the author failed in its execution. The robot’s presence itself doesn’t feel very “robot-ish”. With the story revolving around a robot convicted of murder, this undermines the very theme itself. It also didn’t help that the robot didn’t get much time in the book to shine on its own. Aiya, thankfully, can be considered a more thought provoking character for her young age. She has her own baggage and reasons for leaving Earth but this was not glossed over in details.

    “Do you want them to see you as a human? Or as a monster?” – Aiya

    It was hopeful of me to expect the story to turn into a courtroom drama. Alas, this was not to be. I think if this did happen though, the story would have been much, much more exciting in my opinion. As it is, the author chose to skip over many of the details. This felt a bit cheap even for a short length book as this. Again, I keep seeing themes and ideas brought up in this book that would have been awesome to explore in more details if the author either had put more thought into it or made the book longer in length. One such theme includes giving robots similar constitutional rights as humans on Earth as well as the idea that humans “can’t have it both ways” where robots are concerned. Pick up An Unnatural Life if you are looking for a quick read into a science fiction fan favorite topic but expect to leave disappointed.
    Helpful
     Report
  • BillofGoods
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, subtle story
    Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2024
    Spoilers ahead

    I've waited several months after reading An Unnatural Life to write a review of it. It's a challenging book, and it has taken a bit to figure out why it has stayed in my mind after reading it. I enjoyed the book immensely, and Wagner is skilled at engaging the reader with prose that is evocative without being overwrought. The scenes in Aiya's apartment on Europa are quiet explorations of how uncanny domestic life can be in science fiction -- at once recognizable, quaint, and also disorienting and challenging. Whether AI-beings are truly human is not a new question in science fiction, and in some ways, Wagner's themes are familiar. But the way An Unnatural Life sits within those issues is quietly multi-faceted in a way that feels fresh and provocative in the genre. Instead of finding depth and significance through big statements about the nature of AI and social issues, the book is profound for its exploration of those issues within the confused emotions and thoughts of its main character.

    The books excels in suggesting a lot without stating it outright. In her storytelling, Wagner does not get bogged down in the technical details of advanced technology or world building, which allows her to focus on the social difficulties and inner struggles of her characters. Instead of feeling like an outsider looking at a fantastic world of futuristic technology, the reader feels as comfortable and uncomfortable as Aiya does on Europa; the advanced setting and technology are normal, and the social issues are recognizable, but the reader, like Aiya and her neighbors, are still somewhat displaced in a fantastic setting that challenges the assumptions they rely on to live together.

    It is this understated, subtle approach to conflict and setting that works so well in this story. Wagner could have written a great deal more about the disconnect between the advancing rights of "unnatural lives" on Earth and the more restricted life of AI on Europa. This lack of broader exploration might feel like a flaw to some readers (just like the lesser focus on advanced technology might for some readers who want more technology in their science fiction).

    But as I have thought more about the book, the more I feel that by placing these social and technological issues in a less explicit format, Wagner more effectively brings the reader into Aiya's personal thoughts and conflicting emotions. Wagner pokes and prods at social and legal issues that feel very familiar to readers today, especially in social and moral issues that feel deeply important, but at the same time, complex and confusing enough to make one feel adrift and unsure of the right actions. Nevertheless, it is difficult to find a solid answer to the questions of AI, life, rights, and prejudice that are central to the book's conflict. Despite Aiya ultimately taking a strong stance on AI rights in the courtroom (in a way that does reflect Atticus Finch), Aiya feels like a woman who is still unsure of her footing - morally and socially. She can't foresee the ramifications of how her court case will impact the world around her or whether her own social life will ever be the same. And Wagner does not provide a booming climax that makes these things clear. The author uses a clever trope of delayed communication between Earth and Europa to illustrate just how mundane and boring the grand changes of history and culture can be, and this makes the climactic courtroom scene at the end of the novel feel nearly too quiet and nuanced to provide full satisfaction. This feels like the point; Aiya does not get clear vindication that she has done the right thing or that her actions will be remembered well, and 812-3 does not fawn over her for her heroism or bravery in the face of social struggle. She has made a choice, perhaps naive and too hopeful, perhaps morally sound and courageous. But the struggle toward that choice, that incomplete answer to the question of what constitutes a life, leaves the reader with an unsettled feeling of accomplishment and partial resolution that fits so well within the setting Wagner has crafted. The result is a deeply realistic portrayal of how most humans would reasonably respond to a question like the rights and prejudices surrounding AI.

    An Unnatural Life is a moving and thought-provoking book that I highly recommend.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Ihaia Tichborne
    2.0 out of 5 stars Let down by the ending.
    Reviewed in Australia on September 27, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Isaac Asimov by way of John Grisham. Short where it should be long; most of the story is taken up by the emotional state of the lawyer character, when what I craved was a focus on the defendant. Also long when it should be short; the intricacies of AI integration in society is glossed over in favour of examining the claustrophobia of living in a small community. Reminds me a lot of the trial in "To Kill A Mockingbird" by the end. Would have given it three stars if not for the end, which I found to be an anti-climax.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report