The Turing Test eBook Chris Beckett
Download As PDF : The Turing Test eBook Chris Beckett 
Winner of the Edge Hill Short Fiction Award 2009, this a collection of 14 short stories by the author of Dark Eden and The Holy Machine.
Comments from James Walton, Chair of Edge Hill panel of judges
‘I suspect Chris Beckett winning the Edge Hill Prize will be seen as a surprise in the world of books. In fact, though, it was also a bit of surprise to the judges, none of whom knew they were science fiction fans beforehand. Yet, once the judging process started, it soon became clear that The Turing Test was the book that we’d all been impressed by, and enjoyed, the most – and one by one we admitted it.
‘This was a very strong shortlist, including one Booker Prize winner in Anne Enright, and two authors who’ve been Booker shortlisted in Ali Smith and Shena Mackay. Even so, it was Beckett who seemed to us to have written the most imaginative and endlessly inventive stories, fizzing with ideas and complete with strong characters and big contemporary themes. We also appreciated the sheer zest of his story-telling and the obvious pleasure he had taken in creating his fiction.’
The Turing Test eBook Chris Beckett
Chris Beckett has assembled a fine collection of some of his best early short stories--including two that ultimately became books. This collection demonstrates his development as an SF writer and his expanding set of key themes as a budding writer of science fiction. Even though much of his growing body of work is focused on technology and AI, there is a deep grasp of the dimensions of being human that radiates from these little gems.Product details
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The Turing Test eBook Chris Beckett Reviews
It's too bad this isn't available from a US publisher, because it's a very nice collection of short stories. I don't agree with the "feels like first chapters" comment above. These seem pretty well self contained to me. They are faintly Gaiman-ish, but they are all science fiction, not fantasy. What I like best is Beckett doesn't generally feel much need to explain how things work; he concentrates more on the effects of technology on people than on how it works.
I find it interesting that judges who awarded this collection the prestigious Edge Hill Prize were so apologetic about liking science fiction stories. Maybe if they read more of them, they would realize Beckett is good but by no means unique within the genre.
I assume the $120+ price means these are collectors' editions, but I don't collect books, I just read.
The city is wrecked; abandoned. As you walk the streets avoiding the potholes, unremitting rain invades the roofless, crumbling houses. And then you turn on your implants suddenly you are surrounded by lights, traffic, people! The modern, perfect metropolis bustles around you - people stop and stare, murmuring at your insanely high resolution. Sometimes they spit the word `physical'.
You are old and spiteful; you lure a young delinquent to your home in the suburbs. He is raw, uneducated - has no idea that he lives in augmented reality. Your elderly husband objects but he's easy to manipulate. You're going to take this kid's illusions away one by one; wait till he finds out where he really is, and what part of him is all that remains in the real. And there is nothing he can do about it.
Part `The Matrix' and part horror, this is the world of two of Chris Beckett's stories in his collection `The Turing Test`, just released on .
We travel with Cardinal-Major Illucian of the 32nd Pristine Guard to a most secure prison island. The warrior Half-and-Half has been imprisoned for one hundred years but the legendary soldier is unchanged. The war is going badly for the Empire and his duplicitous skills are needed again. In vain the immortal explains `So the Emperor thinks he can make use of me, does he? Doesn't he know how I got my name? I'm Half-and-Half! Whoever I serve, whoever I have dealings with, I do them just as much harm as I do good and just as much good as harm.'
The Emperor thinks he can `channel the warrior in the right direction', just like all his predecessors. To this end, Half-and-Half is fitted with an antimatter bracelet which can be remotely detonated - and sent off to reverse the tides of war. Success and betrayal this is the scientific age and no-one believes in the offspring of angels and demons - what could possibly go wrong?
Karel Slade is Executive Director of Christians for Human Integrity. His organization is opposed to artificial intelligence, cloning and copying. He is also a secret leader of the Soldiers of the Holy Ghost, CHI's militant wing which bombs and kills its opponents. Perhaps he should not have been surprised when he woke in what seemed to be his hotel room to discover the door led only to an interrogation suite.
Mr. Thomas seems affable enough, but as for Mr. Occam ... Karel is shackled in the interrogation chair and can't quite see what Occam is doing in that cabinet, but he can plainly hear the steely clink of the instruments of torture. Karel looks to his faith to sustain him, but his tormentors convey a terrifying possibility they have copied the real Karel and he is the copy. So why should he suffer excruciating agonies to save the secrets of his `original', someone who'd care not a fig for him? What a dilemma ... but there again, perhaps his captors lied?
The fourteen stories in this collection first appeared back in 2008 when they received stellar reviews. Beckett writes well, hooks the reader from the very first paragraph and keeps the pages turning. His latest novel, Dark Eden was released a couple of months ago and is already tipped to win a major award this year.
Like probably every American who's read this book, I picked it up because I heard something vague about it winning a prize. I exploited 's Super-Saver Shipping policy to get it essentially for free with a case of hot cereal. It took three frickin' weeks to arrive from England, but I'm glad I got it.
I'm glad, because Chris Beckett has a talent you almost never see in science fiction he knows exactly when to end a story. If you read SF to be entertained, to forget your day-to-day life, and to forget the story itself once your cat needs feeding, then Chris Beckett is not the writer for you. But if you crave thoughtful, smart and subtle - something that involves you in the complexity of life rather than distracting you from it - then you will find The Turing Test very much to your liking.
Wonderful stories full of thought and humor with just the right amount of darkness to make them fun. A tasty treasure worth reading.
This is the best book I've read in quite a while.
I ordered his other two books from before I finished it.
These aren't Hard SF techno stories. They deal with identity, reality, and paranoia. Philip K Dick like themes.
The difference is these stories are wonderfully written (no one ever accused Dick of being a prose stylist) and focus more on the human reaction artificial or alien context than on paradox and illusion.
They're just plain fun stories to read too.
I read these stories because, after many years of avoiding SF, I decided to try it again. Short stories seemed like the way to start. Anyhow, I managed to get through the whole thing. Some stories I liked, some not so much. I thought several of the stories did not really end; they just stopped. Maybe that is a characteristic of short stories, but it left me hanging. Anyhow, after reading the Turing Test, I think I will try some more SF. Not sure I will try Chris Beckett again, however.
This is a collection of 14 SF short stories that I bought for my ereader. I have Subscriptions for both Analog SF & Fact and Asimov SF and this book reads like the best issues with story after story surprising me with great ideas and emotions. Very well written and immensely satisfying in variety and and color. If you have a subscription to Interzone you will recognize a few that were published in this magazine over the years. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I have.
Chris Beckett has assembled a fine collection of some of his best early short stories--including two that ultimately became books. This collection demonstrates his development as an SF writer and his expanding set of key themes as a budding writer of science fiction. Even though much of his growing body of work is focused on technology and AI, there is a deep grasp of the dimensions of being human that radiates from these little gems.
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