Originally published in 1991, and set in the middle of the 21st century, Marge Piercy's He, She, and It shows extraordinary prescience about environmental disaster, the power of multi-national corporations and the development of artificial intelligence. Central to the story is the creation of Yod, a cyborg who/which is built to protect Tikva, (an independent Jewish town in New England ) against physical and cyber attack. Hod's programming is so sophisticated that he learns many human traits and arguably develops into a sentient being. Shira, returns to Tikva from Y-S, a powerful corporate zone, after divorcing her husband and losing custody of her son. She is tasked with socialising Yod, so he can work among humans in the town, and a relationship develops between them. In tandem with this narrative is a story about about the creation of a golem in 16th century Prague in the Jewish ghetto. Malkah, who is responsible for the more creative and human aspects of Yod's programming, tells the story to Yod which mirror's his own. There is also a strong sense of Jewish culture in both the past and future elements of the story, and both stories delve into the nature of humanity and personhood and the responsibility of a creator.

Annoyingly this expired before I was able to read it - would have liked to as have heard good things

I was thrilled to discover Marge Pierce when Woman on the Edge of Time was recently re-issued. I loved it (read more here) so when I saw that Ebury was re-publishing Body of Glass as He, She and It I jumped at the chance of getting a review copy!
This is another dystopian novel, originally published in 1993 it is once again a little scary how many of the things predicted in this already exist. Marge Pierce was clearly keeping on top of the latest tech when she wrote this!

She writes about the middle of the twenty-first century. Life has changed dramatically after climate change and a two week war that utilised nuclear weapons. The population is much smaller and concentrated mainly in a few domed hubs. But some things don’t change and Shira Shipman is a young woman whose marriage has broken up, on top of that her young son has been awarded to her ex-husband by the corporation that runs her zone. Despairing she has returned to her grandmother’s house in Tikva, the Jewish town where she grew up. There she is employed to work on socialising a cyborg implanted with intelligence, emotions – and the ability to kill.

This is quite a different book from Woman on the Edge of Time, in some ways it’s a mirror image of it. Here the whole book is set in the future but there is reference to the distant past through a story told to the cyborg, whereas the other book has a woman travelling from now to the future. The futures are also mirrored – this is truly a dystopian vision whereas the other was utopian. But what doesn’t change is the quality of writing which creates an envelope around you so you feel completely immersed in the world.

Although this is a deeply moral tale, asking us to question what makes us human and how we treat others, it is also a cracking good story! Full of tension, corporate intrigue, blackmail, badass modified humans, bombs, and of course a mother desperate to be reunited with her toddler son.
Back when it was first released it won the Arthur C Clark Award. Definitely worth reading!

5 Bites

This is a reprint of a 1991 book, I believe, that at once feels old and new. It has that sense of female-authored 1970s SF about it. The main character, Shira, is working for a 'multi-corp' in the 22nd century, in midst of a divorce when her son is taken off her, awarded to her ex and they are sent far away. She resigns from the multi-corp and goes back home to Tivka, the Jewish free town where she grew up, to the grandmother who raised her, and a new job training an illegal cyborg. Hijinks ensue.

Ahem. So it's rather more complicated than that. As Shira's story progresses, dealing with old loves, missing her son, the ramifications of what makes a cyborg a person or not, the multi-corps trying to hack into free towns and so on, we also get chapters of the grandmother telling the cyborg a story of the Maharal in Prague, making a golem in the 16th century.

It's an 'interesting' book. I found the first chapter compelling, then it slowed right down for me. It took until I was about 40 per cent in to feel really dragged into the story. It's very female focused and all the main female characters are differentiated really well. The men less so, perhaps, Yod the cyborg aside. I'm glad I read it.