12+ Since 2020, I've published three short story collections and a microfiction anthology: Both Sides of the Story (2020), Twelve Furious Months (2021), Twelve More Furious Months (2022) and Tall And True Microfiction (2023). In December 2024, I added a speculative fiction collection.
One Day in the Life of Alex's AI and Other Speculative Fiction is a collection of twenty speculative fiction short stories I wrote between 1992 and 2024.
I wrote and reworked the title story, One Day in the Life of Alex's AI, for several writing competitions in 2023 and 2024. The short story was initially titled One Day in the Life of AI, and I named my protagonist Simon (I don't know why?). However, apart from this, the story of AI autonomously supporting daily life for humanity in a climate-change-ravaged near future is as I envisaged it in the first draft.
Homage to Alexander Solzhenitsyn
I read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn during my classics catch-up period in my late twenties to early thirties. Although it bears no resemblance to Solzhenitsyn's classic, his novel inspired me to structure my story about AI around a single day and gave me my title.
During the reworks, I delved more into the background of my protagonist, his family, and his day at the office and home. I also speculated further on how AI might help humanity adapt to the effects of climate change. And I renamed my protagonist and retitled the story.
I considered using Ivan from Solzhenitsyn's novel for my protagonist, but it's a less common name among Millennials to Generation Alphas (let alone the Adaptive Generation of the near future!). So, I chose Alex as a grateful homage to Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
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Speculative Short Stories
I quoted the multi-award-winning author Margaret Atwood's definition of speculative fiction In a "Sci-fi or Speculative Fiction?" blog post I shared on Tall And True in November 2024:
Speculative fiction encompasses that which we could actually do. Sci-fi is that which we're probably not going to see.
In the post, I also included a 30-word story written for the daily prompt word GALVANISE during September 2024's #30Words30Days challenge on Twitter/X and asked, "Is it sci-fi or speculative fiction?"
Zing and Zap's flying saucer orbited the barren planet. "Why didn't global warming galvanise them into action?" Zing asked. "It seems they were too busy posting cat videos," Zap replied.
According to Atwood's definition, it's a little green men sci-fi story that "we're probably not going to see." But as I wrote in the post, "If other lifeforms exist in the vast universe (and logic tells me they must!), imagine their astonishment that the existential threat of global warming didn't galvanise us into action to save our planet."
"Could dos" and "Could bes"
I contend Zing and Zap is speculative fiction because "we could actually do" something about climate change! I adopted a similar broad approach when choosing the Other Speculative Fiction short stories for the collection, whether the plot is science-based or simply an alternative reality.
In the stories, I speculate on "that which we could do" (to paraphrase Atwood) or what "could be", from droids to space and time travel, alternative worlds, spirits in the universe, a reflective bathroom mirror, and a telepathic huntsman spider.
Rather than arranging the collection by date written, length or thematically, I've presented the short stories following the title story alphabetically. They are not interconnected, so readers are free to dip in and out of them in any order. And after each story, I offer a short insight into why and how I wrote it.
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Fewer Cat Videos
In Twelve Furious Months and Twelve More Furious Months, I quote Neil Gaiman, who says of short stories:
"[They] are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They are journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner."
I hope you enjoy One Day in the Life of Alex's AI and Other Speculative Fiction and that the stories help you imagine a world that "could be", whether you're on the far side of the universe or sitting at the dinner table.
And perhaps my stories will inspire readers to spend less time posting cat videos!
© 2024 Robert Fairhead
N.B. You might also be interested in this blog post on my first collection of short stories, Reworking Both Sides.
Robert is a writer and editor at Tall And True and blogs on his eponymous website, RobertFairhead.com. He also writes and narrates episodes for the Tall And True Short Reads storytelling podcast, featuring his short stories, blog posts and other writing from Tall And True.
Robert's book reviews and other writing have appeared in print and online media. In 2020, he published his début collection of short stories, Both Sides of the Story. In 2021, Robert published his first twelve short stories for the Furious Fiction writing competition, Twelve Furious Months, and in 2022, his second collection of Furious Fictions, Twelve More Furious Months. And in 2023, he published an anthology of his microfiction, Tall And True Microfiction.
Besides writing, Robert's favourite pastimes include reading, watching Aussie Rules football with his son and walking his dog.
He has also enjoyed a one-night stand as a stand-up comic.
