Artificial Artifacts

Tales from the Dawn of the Artificial Intelligence Era

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Pub Date 8 Aug 2024 | Archive Date 31 Oct 2024

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Description

A visionary debut collection of eleven loosely interconnected short stories explores the rise of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, revealing their profound impacts on human existence. This is not your typical sci-if - it’s an intricate puzzle. Can you solve the mystery that is Peter Byrell?

From a small rural American town subjected to horrors brought by an elaborate deep-fake hoax, to Black Mirror-esque fables about technology dependency, age extension, and psychological invasions, Artificial Artifacts invites readers on a journey where the boundaries between human and machine blur, and the consequences of our creations become chillingly profound.

The stories include a number of fascinating new technological concepts, including a fitness watch that predicts your death, nanotech that can read your thoughts, AI avatars that mimic your personality and handle small talk for you on dating websites, immersive VR/AR domes where you can do yoga in the cosmos, and movies that adapt in real-time based on your mood and subconscious thoughts. 

As enigmatic tech mogul Peter Byrell's story unfolds, so does the tapestry of our digital age, leaving us to ponder: in a world where truth is malleable and consciousness is encoded, what does it truly mean to be human?

A visionary debut collection of eleven loosely interconnected short stories explores the rise of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies, revealing their profound impacts on human...


A Note From the Publisher

Fennec’s interwoven stories ask important questions about creativity, truth, and what it means to be human in an era where consciousness can be encoded and reality is malleable.

The book explores timely issues such as technological dependency, everlasting life, psychological invasions, the concept of time, mistrust of governments and large corporations and the enduring legacy of human creativity, all while reflecting on the transformative marvels and existential threats posed by tech advancements.

Whitefox Publishing is a hybrid non-traditional publishing house.

Fennec’s interwoven stories ask important questions about creativity, truth, and what it means to be human in an era where consciousness can be encoded and reality is malleable.

The book explores...


Advance Praise

'Offers provocative perspectives on where technology could be going, with some innovations more imminent than one may think.' - Yvonne Li, VP of Enterprise Artificial Intelligence, Chief AI Officer, Top 100 Leaders in AI, 40 under 40 Data Leaders

'A thought-provoking glimpse into a future teeming with disbelief and ethical dilemmas.' – Elizabeth Sandler, HumanTech Advisor, The AI Humanist

'A gripping kaleidoscope of facets of human stories past, present and future, that weave into a captivating plot.' – Christina Nesheva, deep tech investor, CEO and advisor

'If you like Black Mirror, you will love this.' – Dr Barbara Hager, MD, Neurology

'This book is masterful. AI terrifies me and this book wonderfully poses questions on the future interplay between smarter artificial intelligence and human society...it blends entertainment, satire, and thought-provoking philosophy seamlessly into a very strong - and well-rounded - anthology.' - Mark Davies

'This book is so different and if you are a lover of sci-fi or the fantasy genre then I think this is definitely one to pick up. It’s made up of eleven stories of differing lengths and whilst sometimes you’ll find little connections between them, they can each stand their own ground alone. The stories are extremely clever and imaginative of the near future when AI is more and more widespread and how this may in fact cause a headache for humanity.' - cozylittlereadingcorner


'Offers provocative perspectives on where technology could be going, with some innovations more imminent than one may think.' - Yvonne Li, VP of Enterprise Artificial Intelligence, Chief AI Officer...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781916797345
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PAGES 295

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Featured Reviews

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📚Book Review📚

Artificial Artifacts
John Fennec

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I always say that I'm not super into sci-fi genre books (or TV/films) - yet whenever I get the chance to really delve around in there, I always come out having loved it - and this collection of short stories is no exception.

This book contains 11 stories ranging in length that will intrigue, delight and petrify readers.

Each story presents an idea and explores the consequences of different forms of AI and other technologies that have been improved and adapted over many years.
These were perfectly presented and developed - especially given the nature of a short story - to create some really thought-provoking material.

I especially loved The Orchestral Adaption Of Gorilla Music which took us on a journey over a couple of decades - starting in the near future and travelling back to the 'present' day - essentially starting with a bang as we see the consequences first and then follow back through the development and decisions made over just a few years.

I think this stood out to me because it shows the relatively short period of time that it takes to drastically change and impact human existence.

Having grown up through an era of huge change - this is already a topic that I talk to the kids about - but these stories take things beyond anything that I could ever imagine - yet don't seem hugely fantastical.....which makes them just that little bit more scary!

Although this is a debut book - this was incredibly well written and you can see the amount of research done by the author.
Whilst this deals with some pretty clever concepts, the humour that's woven throughout makes this a really enjoyable read.

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book .

I enjoyed this book immensely, much more than I thought I would.. There are some real gems in this collection. What an imagination this writer has. Or perhaps it is inside knowledge!

The Gorilla Music story which opens the collection is both amazing and disturbing. in its depiction of the capabilities on AI. I remember reading a newspaper report recently about machines which were set up to do a task and given a language but the machines soon developed their own impenetrable language and had to be shut down. The Gorilla story is told backwards in time but it is also worth reading from the end to the beginning just to clarify things.

I particularly liked the crossovers in the stories with mentions of the Byrell company cropping up throughout and the last story is a WOW moment. The stories are set in different parts of the world and some of them leave you hanging, to decide your own ending. I actually quite liked the sound of some of the things AI could do!

There is such a lot to think about and some of the pieces would be excellent for discussion groups or as school texts. I don't think it is too much of a stretch to liken the author to Ray Bradbury.

OK, sometimes parts of the stories have a slight air of a "write a descriptive piece" and other tasks in a creative writing course and occasionally there is a bit of telling not showing but generally the writing is free flowing and easy to read. and, as i say, the sheer inventiveness is a joy.. 4.5 up to 5.

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A really interesting collection of interlinked short stories, set mainly in the near-future,
which address our current worries about AI, and its' insidious creeping into our lives, in a very human way.
He also bring in sci-fi elements - parallel universes, alternate lives....
All in all, a good thought-provoking read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

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