From the solicitation, Shmobots looks like it's going to be just goofy fun. That's what attracted me to read it; "Ha ha," I thought. "Slacker robots." And there is definitely some goofy fun in this book. A whole lot of it, actually. But the weird part is, this book isn't just goofy fun. It's also some of the smartest social satire that I have seen in a long time.
Shmobots takes place in a near-future world inhabited by both humans and robots. The robots are in many ways identical to people-- they eat, drink, sleep, have emotions. Although a few of them are 'programmed' in ways that differentiate them from humanity (one character, named Eyeballs, starts and ends every sentence with the word 'Eyeballs') they are generally just like people-- except that they look different.
The robots-- called 'Shmobots' by most humans to signify that they are lazy bums-- are routinely turned out of places of business, are refused employment, are profiled by the police, and are generally looked down upon.
The story follows a group of four friends-- three robots and one human (Rusty, 69.5, Eyeballs, and Miles), all slackers trying to find a way out of their aimless lifestyle. Like any fictional group of slacker friends, they waste what little money they have on crappy fast food and alcohol. When they have enough for a binge, they go to a strip club. The four of them make up a heavy metal band, and they have an upcoming gig that they've romanticized into a shot at the big-time. Your typical group of lazy slacker friends.
However… the writing in this book is fantastic. Adam Rifkin manages to create four lovable slobs in his protagonists, and while there's never any chance that these guys are going to get out of their crappy situation, you're pulling for them all the way-- to survive, at the very least. And it's a tough world to survive in, if you're a robot. Although the protagonists are, to varying degrees, all lazy bums, the implication in the story is that robots have been branded 'shmobots' as a way of subjugating them. Are they lazy and shiftless, or have they just been insulted, denied jobs and disrespected so many times that they've come to fulfill the stereotype? The robots were built to serve humanity; the fact that they think for themselves made them less useful as tools than their purchasers would have liked, and necessitated systemic discrimination to keep them in their place.
But this is depicted subtly. If this was an open-hand slap to the face, it'd be no fun to read, or perhaps fun in a different way. But-- again, kudos to Rifkin-- the social commentary is woven into a totally engaging story. What's going to happen at the upcoming gig? Is 69.5 going to land that job with the speciest used-car dealer? Is Miles going to reconcile with his dad? Is the shmobot killer going to strike the gang?
Like all the best satire, the story is as powerful as the underlying message. Very nicely done.
