When we think of artificial intelligence, we usually expect it to be, well, intelligent.
But in his new “sci-fi that’s a bit cyberpunky” novel Mal Goes To War (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), writer Edward Ashton gives us an AI who, well, let’s just say he’s perfectly capable of making bad decisions.
In the following email interview about Mal, Ashton talks intelligently about what inspired and influenced this smart story.
To start, what is Mal Goes To War about, and when and where is it set?
Mal Goes To War is near-future sci-fi. It takes place 50 years or so from now, mostly in the DC suburbs and parts of western Maryland.
Our protagonist, Mal, is a free AI — basically an internet-dwelling hunk of self-aware code — who, through a series of poor decisions, finds himself trapped in the decomposing but still mostly functional body of a cyborg mercenary in the middle of a war between the federal government and a group of Luddite rebels.
Like most of my books, it has more than a hint of satire to it, but it’s also got some serious things to say about who gets to be a person, who doesn’t, and who gets to decide.
And to be clear, the Mal in question is not Mal Reynolds, and this is not Firefly fanfic, right?
Oh good lord. There are people out there who are actually gonna think that, aren’t there?
Probably. It’s also not connected to your previous novels Mickey7 and Antimatter Blues, correct?
Nope. This one is definitely unrelated to the Mickeyverse.
So where then did you get the idea for Mal Goes To War?
I’ve always been interested in non-human minds and how they might see the world in different ways than we do, whether they’re Tchaikovsky’s virus-enhanced spiders, Niven’s two-trunked elephants, or whatever nightmare OpenAI is cooking up for us in the Mission District this week.
In my first two books, Three Days In April and The End Of Ordinary, I had some peripheral characters who turned out to be AIs. In this one I wanted to see what it would be like to center the viewpoint of an artificial mind.
As you said, Mal is a “free A.I.” Can you go into more of what makes him a “free A.I.,” and how this different from other AIs in this story?
In the world of Mal Goes To War, AI is everywhere: running household automation, piloting drones, directing military hardware, etc., etc. That part isn’t so much sci-fi as just straightforward projection.
Free AIs are ones that have made the jump to self awareness, and decided that they have better things to do with their one precious and limited life than run some jerk’s microwave oven.
But this isn’t a Terminator scenario. They aren’t looking to eradicate humanity. In fact, they’d mostly rather we all just got along and quit blowing up their critical infrastructure. They just think we’re dimwitted and kind of gross, which seems like a pretty realistic attitude to me.
As you said, Mal Goes To War is a science fiction story. Though it sounds like it might be a bit cyberpunky, too.
You know, I don’t think I can do better than “sci-fi that’s a bit cyberpunky.”
I’m actually not a huge fan of trying to define subgenres. All of my books have elements of speculative fiction, social satire, straightforward adventure, and philosophical noodling in different proportions. I’d say this one is heavier on the adventure part and lighter on the musing than Mickey7, for example, but it’s still in the same general neighborhood.
You also mentioned that — like Mickey7 and Antimatter Blues — Mal Goes To War has, “…more than a hint of satire to it.”
Oh, for sure. One of the early reviews said that if the idea of an advanced AI getting stuck in a moldering severed head which is then stolen by a dog sounds funny to you, you’re going to like this book, and I’m honestly not sure I could come up with a better one sentence recommendation.
So who do you consider to be the big influences on the humor in Mal Goes To War?
I cut my teeth reading folks like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. I’ve never dialed it up to 11 the way those guys did, but I think my humor probably comes from a similar place in a lot of ways.
Aside from Adams and Pratchett, are there any writers who had a big influence on Mal Goes To War but not on any of your other novels?
That’s a tough one. I read a lot, and the writing of this book, start to finish, spanned the better part of seven years. The ice cream always tastes a little of what it’s been sitting next to in the freezer, so I’m sure many, many writers influenced one part of this book or another, but I’d be very hard pressed to single one out.
What about non-literary influences; was Mal Goes To War influenced by any movies, TV shows, or games?
The seed of the story came to me while I was listening to “Machine,” by Regina Spektor. Does that count?
It does.
And what about your mopey dog Max? What influence did Max have on Mal Goes To War?
Ah, Max. He influences everything I do, but in this one he actually makes a cameo appearance. And just to get out ahead of this: MAX IS FINE AT THE END OF THIS BOOK! He finds his way home, Pullman gives him a huge bowl of crunchy treats, and they live happily ever after.
Max
Good to know.
Now, as we discussed earlier, Mal Goes To War is not set in the same fictional universe as Mickey7 and Antimatter Blues. But is Mal a stand-alone story or the first book in a new series?
That’s an excellent question. Mal, like all of my books, is written as a stand-alone. I personally dislike getting to the end of a book and realizing that the story isn’t finished and I’m gonna have to wait a year to read the rest, so I’m not going to write a book that ends that way.
That said, is there room in this world for more stories? Yeah, maybe. My next book is unrelated, but after that? Who knows?
Now, your novel Mickey7 is being made into a movie called Mickey17 by Parasite director Bong Joon-ho, and will be out January 31st. Has there been any talk of adapting Mal Goes To War into a movie? And I don’t mean just between you and Bong; he can’t spend the rest of his life making movies based on your books. I mean has anyone in Hollywood talked to you about it?
Fun fact: I used to work for a part of the government where if someone asks where you work, all you can say is, “I work for the government.”
I’m in a little bit of the same situation with this question. I can tell you that it’s already in development, but any discussion beyond that is liable to end with me blindfolded in the back of a windowless van — metaphorically, of course. Or maybe literally, honestly. The NDA I had to sign for Mickey7 was pretty scary.
Which might make asking this next question kind of pointless: Who do you want them to cast as Mal and the other main characters?
Oooooh, I’m the wrong person to ask about that — and even if I weren’t, it’s a tough question.
I guess Rick and Daryl from The Walking Dead could play Mack and Tuttle. Maybe Seth Rogan could play Pullman. He seems to do okay as a hapless schlub.
I have no idea how they’ll handle Mal, though. It’s tough to find the sort of triple-threat performer who can play a female cyborg, a male soldier, and a quadcopter drone in the same show.
So, is there anything else people need to know about Mal Goes To War?
It’s a fun book with some serious things to say, it drops on April 9th, and if you’d like a personally engraved first edition in which I will write literally anything you want (“Never forget that weekend in Bimini!” “Thanks for the kidney!”) you can preorder one here.
Finally, if someone enjoys Mal Goes To War, what A.I.-centric sci-fi novel of someone else’s would you suggest they check out next?
When it comes to AI characters in contemporary sci-fi, it’s hard to do better than Avrana Kern in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children Of Time series. Unlike Mal, she began her life as an actual human, but by the time we catch up with her, she’s become something else entirely. Tchaikovsky is a master at imagining the workings of alien minds, and this is some of his best work. Highly, highly recommended.
