Nick Leshi

Nick Leshi
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Bronx, New York, United States of America
Birthday
December 13
Bio
Writer, actor, media professional, fan of entertainment, pop culture, and speculative fiction. Contact nickleshi@aol.com for more info.

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AUGUST 27, 2012 10:45PM

The Science Fiction of Daniel H. Wilson

Rate: 3 Flag

I'm reading a terrific novel right now by writer Daniel H. Wilson called Robopocalypse. You may have heard of it.  It's a bestseller and Steven Spielberg is directing a movie adaptation of it.

As the title suggests, it's a science fiction tale about mankind's battle to survive a robot uprising. We've seen stories before of artificial intelligence gone wrong, but it's the execution that makes Robopocalypse so special. We witness scenes recorded by the very machines that surround us in the near future -- the cameras, the monitors, the mobile devices, the android servants, the mechanical creations that turn on their creators. Characters are introduced who will play a larger role later, and it all feels very cinematic. No wonder Spielberg was attracted to the content. The early part of the book feels a bit like World War Z in terms of being a patchwork of vignettes from different points of view, but Wilson makes it work in what turns out to be fresh plotting and characterization.

I'm excited to read Wilson's next novel, Amped, another speculative fiction adventure, this one set in a future world in which some people have implants that enhance their abilities, and a new social order develops in which amplified and non-amplified human beings have different rights and face different persecutions.

Wilson has also written How to Survive a Robot Uprising, A Boy and His Bot, How to Build a Robot Army, The Nostalgist, and Code Lightfall and the Robot King, and he's collaborated on Where's My Jetpack?, Bro-Jitsu, and Mad Scientist Hall of Fame.

If you want to jump into his stories, I highly recommend just delving right into his two big novels Robopocalypse and Amped. You will not be disappointed.

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I haven't read Daniel Wilson, but I want to thank you for reviewing him here. We often forget that there are books written by real writers out there that spawn many a movie, and that some of them contain the magic that makes reading the wondrous experience that it is. In these hard publishing times, it's even harder to promote books of any genre...I'm glad that you found something infectious and enduring to savor by an author not everyone will recognize...and even more glad that you were excited enough to share!
As witnessed by today's world the rapid introduction of automatic machinery including the occasional but yet rather rare autonomic humanoid robot (since, even at current sophistication, they are quite inept and awkward and limited) has radically divided human society. Although robots can work incessantly and more accurately and with greater efficiency than humans, the do not reward the working sector of humans with funding to purchase the output of industry to form a greater market for the goods produced. This gross mismatch in social organization has initially highly rewarded the owners of the production machinery but this fragile success is destroying sensible society. The owners and their robots form a sharp division with the bulk of humanity and it is probable that the bulk of humanity is due to revolt, not the robots and their owners. This is an aside to your recommendation and is a bit extraneous to your review but perhaps a bit closer to reality.
Coincidentally, my 14-year-old son's name is Daniel Wilson!! ... I have not read sci-fi in years, but your review has really piqued my curiosity about this writer. Thanks for sharing your impressions of his work. R.
Jan, as always, excellent point. And as you know, science fiction is often a metaphor for greater issues.