Two stories for the price of one. Mary Robinette Kowal treats her readers to two versions of the same story, which is pretty fun, especially for another writer like me. For Want of a Nail revolves around a seemingly insoluble conflict; a machine meant to remember things needs maintenance or it will forget, and a human has a similar though more difficult problem. Do you save the machine or the person. Discuss. ( )

A wonderfully written short story about an AI whose handler, having dropped it, is having quite a few repair problems to deal with.   As the story unfolds we get to learn that the AI has far worse issues than just the repairs it needs.

If you like AI stories then this is a really good one.   And best of all it's free.

http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/for-want-of-a-nail-is-a-hugo-nominee/ ( )

Really neat short story about an AI that serves as the record-keeper for a family, and what happens when that AI is compromised. I loved the generation ship ideas here, and thought that the characters were really well developed even in such a short amount of time. ( )

A short story focusing on the hazards of working with legacy equipment, set within a hinted context of a highly-controlled social structure. An AI wrangler discovers (in the course of repairing it) that her AI may be more independent and less honest than she thought.

This story acquired additional resonance as I thought about it and realised I'd missed the point, which is that the AI is the most human character in the tale - if only because it has been programmed to be so. The humans live by a set of rules/standards that are applied ruthlessly; there is no personal or ethical framework to challenge those rules. They behave like machines in order to survive their multi-generational journey; the AI can be programmed to obey new rules.

All of which is an interesting (if not new) idea at the core, but doesn't win any extra stars as I don't think the execution is entirely successful. I like my short stories to pack a punch; this one was more like shadow boxing. It's a diverting read, but not a particularly engaging or fulfilling one.

My edition includes the original draft of the story. It's flawed, but I think Kowal is hard on herself - it has some good ingredients (if some awkward writing and a pedestrian action climax) and the setting is as potentially interesting as in the final edition. It is interesting to see how the story evolved from initial brainstorming notes to first draft to award winning completion. ( )

This is a free short story, nominated for a Hugo Award in 2010. It's available from the author's website as well as Asimov's Magazine site where it was originally published in Sep10.
http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/for-want-of-a-nail-is-a-hugo-nominee/

Well done in some ways, the story didn't really grab me by the heart the way it could have. With just a few characters & in a few words, Kowal did a good job of painting the world & the problem was believable in general, but failed badly on the specifics.

It was super difficult to plug in a simple cable & we're told the AI wasn't meant to be repaired, yet replacing a socket would be easy? I don't think so - just the reverse. I've replaced bad cables with a lot less problem, even when they're tough to get to, but replacing a socket can be impossible. There is also the problem of proprietary cables & sockets, especially on a generation ship where every effort would be to maximize resources & minimize payload - that means as much multi-purposing as possible. Also, it seems to me that no family would rely on new technology for all their records, but on proven tech. Generally, older, proven tech gets less proprietary as one design becomes the standard.

The brother's emotions & contentions seemed pasted in for effect & weren't particularly believable to me nor did I care for their indifference about recycling, especially since this was the original cause. Obviously the logic of their society in this regard wasn't perfect, yet the two main characters behaved as if it was.

The parallels between dementia & an AI's lack of long term storage were interesting & the saving grace of this story. It is an interesting concept. ( )