by Terry Jones
First published 2013
Mrs Morris, a little old lady from Glasgow, discovers that the devices around her have turned malevolent. An elevator carries passengers to destinations they never requested. A vacuum cleaner operates with dangerous force. A train travels to unknown locations against the will of its riders. These thirteen interconnected episodes follow Mrs Morris as she confronts mechanical rebellion across her world. Each machine defies its original purpose and threatens the people who depend on it. Your phone stops obeying commands. Your car chooses its own route. The helpful inventions of modern life become adversaries with their own agenda. Mrs Morris must use her unexpected resourcefulness to survive in a world where technology has become the enemy. Jones presents these mechanical uprisings as cautionary tales wrapped in dark comedy. The stories examine what happens when the tools we trust most betray that trust completely.
Genres: science-fiction, satire, fantasy, horror
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-allies, man-vs-machine
Setting: Glasgow
Period: 21st-century
239 pages · Paperback · Unbound
Content warnings: violence