Press Enter

Varley, John. "Press Enter." 1984. Novella, available as chapbook and audiobook. "Press Enter" / "Hawksbill Station" (Tor Double #26) by Varley, John; Silverberg, Robert Copy: Paperback. New York: Tor Books. Also available SF Book Club edition. For other editions, look here: [1]

"Victor Apfel, a troubled war vet, gets an odd, pre-recorded phone message, instructing him to go inside the house next door. He opens the door to find his neighbor shot through the head. But is it suicide - or murder? And is it possible that a computer is to blame?"[2]

Featured in the story: "a piece of software running on NSA's computers. We never learn the true nature of this software beast, but get enough indications that it's an AI run amok, that it exists without the knowledge of NSA, & that it is the real murderer of the 3!"[3]

Discussed in Katherine Hayles's "The Life Cycle of Cyborgs: Writing the Posthuman and by Damien Broderick's Consciousness and Science Fiction, ch. 8.

RDE, Completing, 13Jun19