infinity plus

The Autist by Stephen Palmer

The Autist
The Autist
'This is first class SF.' - Tony Ballantyne
'The Autist is exceptional.' - Kim Lakin-Smith

Data detective Mary Vine is visiting relatives when she uncovers a Chinese programme of AI development active within her own family.

Ulu Okere has only one goal: to help her profoundly disabled brother, whose unique feats of memory inspire her yet perturb the community they live in.

And in a transmuted Thailand, Somchai Chokdee is fleeing his Buddhist temple as an AI-inspired political revolution makes living there too dangerous.

In 2100 life is dominated by vast, unknowable AIs that run most of the world and transform every society they touch. When suspicions of a Chinese conspiracy seem substantiated, Mary, Ulu and Somchai decide they must oppose it. Yet in doing so they find themselves facing something the world has never seen before...

'This pretty much hits my sweet spot for intelligent science fiction: a deft twisting together of warring AIs, rogue androids, and the evolution of machine intelligence against a global backdrop that's as thoughtful as it is entertaining.' - Gary Gibson
'His work is unique, original, sometimes challenging, always fresh.' - Amazing Stories
'One of the most inventive and imaginative Fantasy writers I know of.' - Teresa Egerton
'A gripping read to the poignant last line.' - Eric Brown on Beautiful Intelligence, The Guardian
one of our bestsellers

Cover by Steve Jones

Published: 07 Mar 2019

Stephen Palmer

Stephen Palmer is the author of fifteen novels: Memory Seed (Orbit 1996; Infinity Plus ebooks 2013), Glass (Orbit 1997; Infinity Plus ebooks 2013), Flowercrash (Wildside 2002; Infinity Plus ebooks 2013), Muezzinland (Wildside 2003; Infinity Plus ebooks 2011), Hallucinating (Wildside 2004; Infinity Plus ebooks 2011), The Rat & The Serpent (as Bryn Llewellyn, Prime Books 2005; Infinity Plus ebooks 2012) and Urbis Morpheos (PS Publishing 2010). His eighth novel, the surreal and fast-paced Hairy London, was published by Infinity Plus Books as a paperback and ebook in 2014, while the ninth, Beautiful Intelligence, was published in 2015, as was the subsequent short novel No Grave for a Fox. In 2016 Infinity Plus Books published his Edwardian steampunk trilogy, Factory Girl. His most recent novel, published in 2019, is The Conscientious Objector. His short stories have been published by Spectrum, Wildside, NewCon, Unspoken Water, Mutation Press, Solaris, Theakers, Eibonvale, Dog Horn, Manchester Speculative Fiction, Woodbridge Press and elsewhere. He lives and works in Shropshire, UK.

more infinity plus books by Stephen Palmer:

The Conscientious Objector Tommy Catkins The Girl with No Soul (The Factory Girl Trilogy #3) The Girl with One Friend (The Factory Girl Trilogy #2) The Girl with Two Souls (The Factory Girl Trilogy #1) No Grave For A Fox Muezzinland: the author Beautiful Intelligence Hairy London Flowercrash Glass Memory Seed: 25th Anniversary Edition infinity plus: quintet The Rat and the Serpent Hallucinating

the infinity plus shuffle:

Nocturnes and Other Nocturnes Penumbra The Love Machine & other contraptions Spotted Lily The Alchemy of Happiness Little Sisters of the Apocalypse The Life Business One More Unfortunate Muezzinland: the author's edition The Time-Lapsed Man and other stories