Tag: writerslife

The Uncanny Valley Club Scenes from Chapter six

Click to get your copy of The Uncanny Valley Club

To acquire bots for his new club, Benny the sexbot salesman does an underhanded deal with Quinn’s robotics company at their friend Henry’s expense—and Henry’s life begins to unravel

‘Put it this way, we’ll kill two birds here, Quinn. We’re sitting on a gold mine.’

Quinn lets a snort escape. ‘What birds shall we kill, and where is this gold mine, Benny?’

‘Henry is the bird. I can heal his Little Problem and put The Uncanny Valley Club in motion at the same time, and in case you haven’t realised it yet, the club is our gold mine. It’s a win-win for you, Quinn. If you back this idea, I’ll consider any suggestions for improvement from you. I’ll consider shares, and maybe even a partnership down the track? Put your spin on it—whatever takes your fancy—and at the same time, put the money into your best guy. I’m talking Henry here, not me.’

Win-win for you, Quinn. Quinn likes the sound of that. ‘Have Henry trial your club? You’re a smooth talker—I’ll give you that, Benn—but Henry won’t be fooled into that. He may be bored with himself right now, but he’s not stupid.’

‘You’re not hearing me, Quinn. We both know Henry won’t go for that. I’m not here to tell you how to do your job, of course, but this is what you should do: you ask him to look the club over for you to see if it’s worth the investment, and while he’s in the club, I’ll give him the royal treatment. He’ll love it. You have no idea, Quinn. Have you seen the European clubs? He’ll love it. You’ll love it. For fuck’s sake, we’ll all love it. You think he needs a holiday? This is better than a trip to the beach. Let’s bury him in The Uncanny Valley Club experience, and I guarantee you’ll have your old Henry back. We’ll razz him up good ’n’ proper. All he needs is a good going over from one of your best girls. You know what his problem is, right?’

‘I’ve heard the story.’

‘Let’s have him try out a new model. A man like you, I bet you’ve got an awesome new model in the works.’

‘You’ve got me interested, Benny—I’ll give you that.’ Quinn pokes at Benny’s nose on the gram. ‘Tell me this: how much will Scottie put in? Put me down to equal Scottie.’

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–a split-second pink flash…Moira Burke on detail

Losing It, Moira Burke. Text, 1998.

Losing it is written in the rare, second-person style. This, and the sparse punctuation and stream-of-consciousness manner force you to read quickly, forcing you to tumble over your words. It’s engaging, and addictive, and Moira Burke’s beautiful way of getting inside the detail has the words exploding on the page

“…you’re going to training on a blue train. You’re standing in the open doorway letting the wind come in bringing with it the soft drizzle in bursts. The train’s going over the bridge between Macaulay and Flemington and you look down, down to the wet black street the wet red houses and suddenly there’s a black wet tree. Blossoms all over it shining pink and wet swooping out of nowhere down below, the trains going fast its only a flash a wet flash from nowhere, the trains riding fast, bumpy, you’re in the open doors looking down going over the bridge a split-second pink flash and you go oh! And lean out to keep seeing it, it’s made a print in you like a photo all bright and black outlies in rainshine but it’s gone, gone.” (121)

Particularly engaging for me are the references to 80s Melbourne. Josie’s family holidays in Queenscliff, she hangs out in Melbourne train stations, and she frequents bars with names I remember seeing, or going to—I feel like I’ve even bumped into Josie–that’s how good she is at drawing you in. For me it sits up there with other coming of age stories written in teenage-speak style that we all know, Puberty blues, Catcher in the rye, The Incredible Here and Now.

Losing It was published in 1998, and re-released in 2017 as a part of Text’s campaign to support Australian authors.

For a comprehensive review see my page Agnes Water-books reviewed

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