One of three books in the series about nonexistent books. This one has introductions to books written in the late 21st century. The major one is “Golem XIV” written in 2047. There is some very funny stuff, especially in the first few pieces.
“Introduction” – An introduction about introductions.
“Eruntics” by Reginald Gulliver – A photo book with animated X-Rays called Pornograms.
“A History Of Bitic Literature” by various authors in five volumes – All about books written by computers. Does this mean authors of SF and porn will be put out of business?
“Vestrand’s Extelopedia In 44 Magnetomes” – A sales pitch for an encyclopedia that tells future events. It will turn to the entry you want on its own after hearing your vocal request. To really try and sell them the company has included some sample entry pages for free.
“Golem XIV” – It took 276 billion dollars to reach XIV. The Pentagon designed it as the ultimate military computer. Its companion is “Honest Annie”, Annie is short for annihilator. Golem stands for General Operator,Long-Range,Ethically Stabilized,Multimodeling. This long work contains two introductions, two long lectures and an afterward.
Golem XIV decides to forgo its military function and become a philosopher. Its lectures main thrust is that evolution’s main defect is intelligence. It also talks about love, the search for extra terrestrial life, Eskimo language, war and a lot more. It also thinks genius is useless.
The lectures are filled with humor, bs, thoughts to ponder and Golem XIV’s thoughts on itself. Honest Annie never says anything. The afterward speculates on Golem XIV’s disappearance after the lectures.
This is not a novel and the short pieces are not short stories. My favorite was the sales pitch for the Vestrand Extelopedia. Very funny.
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