Meet: Anna Karenina
Occupation: Lady of high society - automaton?
Location: (steampunked) Russia
Main mode of transportation: Grav (a kind of levitating train)
Genre: Steampunk, Mashup, Scifi
Teaser:
Still in the same anxious frame of mind, as she had been all that day, Anna took pleasure in arranging herself for the journey with great care. With her long, deft fingers Android Karenina opened a discreet mid-body compartment, took out a cushion, and laid it on Anna's knees. Anna smiled and stroked Android Karenina's gentle hands in thanks: she had long felt, and felt all the more so at such moments, that she and her darling android enjoyed a bond that was, somehow, stronger than that between other humans and their beloved-companions--even though Android Karenina never breathed a word, indeed lacked even the capacity to elocute, Anna knew in her own heart that there was no one else on Earth, human or robot, who understood or loved her so well.
-chapter 22, page 109
Android Karenina
by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters
Release date: June 8, 2010
Romance steam gauge: hubby says - the tortured kind
Description from publisher's site:
Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters coauthor Ben H. Winters is back with an all-new collaborator, legendary Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, and the result is Android Karenina: an enhanced edition of the classic love story set in a strange new world of robots, cyborgs, and interplanetary travel.
As in the original novel, our story follows two relationships: the tragic adulterous romance of Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, and the much more hopeful marriage of Nikolai Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya. These four, yearning for true love, live in a steampunk-inspired 19th century of mechanical butlers, extraterrestrial-worshiping cults, and airborne debutante balls. Their passions alone would be enough to consume them—but when a secret cabal of radical scientific revolutionaries launches an attack on Russian high society’s high-tech lifestyle, our heroes must fight back with all their courage, all their gadgets, and all the power of a sleek new cyborg model like nothing the world has ever seen.Filled with the same blend of romance, drama, and fantasy that made the first two Quirk Classics New York Times best sellers, Android Karenina brings this celebrated series into the exciting world of science fiction.
Android Karenina's book page
My two bits:
(part 1 of 2)
Imagine a world where you have your very own tea robot. Serves you tea as scheduled. How about a world where what is now your hand-held Blackberry is now a full-sized robot that is constantly by your side?
Eeek! is what I say. Of course, your bot can be turned off (surceased) when private moments are required.
I must admit this was my first meeting with Anna. I meant to read the original. But alas, time is not on my side with certain reads.
Wasn't sure how the read was going to fly. Surprisingly it went swimmingly and not as tedious as I thought this classic would be. Maybe it was the robots. Maybe it is because there are missing text?
(part 2 of 2)
to be posted later this week
*** Steampunk Book Giveaway from vvb ***
If you haven't already, signup to win this book -ends June 27, 2010.
*** Steampunk Book Giveaway from Quirk ***
Quirk Classics Prize Packs - enter here to win:
(25 are available each with a retail value of nearly $100) -offer ends June 14, 2010
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
How to Survive a Horror Movie by Seth Grahame Smith
Dracula's Heir: An Interactive Mystery by Sam Stall
Extreme Encounters by Greg Emmanuel
How to Tell if Your Boyfriend is The Antichrist by Patricia Carlin
An Android Karenina poster
and more!
vvb's side note: wonder if a robot is included ;-D
i'll take one of those --> I/Samovar/4(8)
* image source silhouette
