Bedford, K. A. HYDROGEN STEEL

Bedford, K. A. Hydrogen Steel. Calgary: Edge SF&F, 2006.

Fiction: SF/Detective novel, set in universe of KAB's early Orbital Burn and Eclipse. Reviewed briefly by Amy J. Ransom, SFRA Review #280, April-June 2007: 23, our main source for this citation; see also review by Victoria Strauss . Hydrogen Steel "is a powerful machine intellignence willing to destroy anything that threatens the security of information it was programmed to protect […]" (Ransom). In addition to AI see for "nanofactured" androids called, and seen as, "disposables." Ransom suggests that the HS's "potential critical interest may lie in its contribution to robot/AI fiction. However, its very self conscious [sic: two words] speculation about the nature of humanity offers little beyond that found in [K.] Capek's R.U.R." AJR sees HS also related to P. K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (hence, I'll add, it's related to BLADE RUNNER) in looking at the question of "the treatment of androids as things." Since the protagonist is a "(female) android police detective," the novel should be important for gender issues and also "the issue of postcolonial identity" (Ransom). (RDE, 8 July 2007)