What I’m Reading: SILICON MAN by William Massa

This short novel (~180 pages) shows up in the “Also Bought” section on some of my books, so I decided to give it a try.

The premise behind Silicon Man is that cybernetics has advanced to the point where “mechs” are prevalent in society. Synthetica, the most advanced producer of artificial life, is able to develop androids that can pass for human, with real skin and body heat. They can even eat small amounts of food so as to be able to break bread with their human masters.

In Massa’s world, it’s a given that these AIs are self-aware. The interesting part is when they begin to exercise free will, and a small segment of the AI population is able to break free of their programming. In his words, “humans had created AIs to make their lives better, but in the process, they’d given birth to a new form of intelligent life. To enslave androids was as much of a crime as slapping shackles on any conscious, living being.”

While the world debates the rights of “mechs,” an Underground Network is formed to get renegade AIs to safety. The team tasked with hunting down rogue androids is AI-TAC, led by one Cole Marsalis.

The story really gets rolling when Cole is convinced to have his entire psyche digitized and transplanted into a look-alike android so he can infiltrate the Underground Network. The hunter becomes the hunted, and you get to see what the world looks like from the other point of view.

Fast and fun, Massa delivers a no-holds-barred action story with historical overtones of slavery and civil rights.

David Bruns is the creator of the sci-fi series The Dream Guild Chronicles, and one half of the Two Navy Guys and a Novel blog series about co-writing the military thriller, Weapons of Mass Deception.