Automatic Noodle

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A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.

You don’t have to eat food to know the way to a city’s heart is through its stomach. So when a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food—the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around—for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war.

But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis. To keep their doors open, they’ll have to call on their customers, their community, and each other—and find a way to survive and thrive in a world that wasn’t built for them.

Reviews

Praise for Automatic Noodle:

“This is a story—about building community despite adversity, fighting for your rights and individuality, and creating art that you want to see in the world—that I didn’t know I needed right now. And it was so much fun to read!”—Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries and Witch King

“This book will make you hungry. It will also keep you warm.”—Becky Chambers, author of the Monk and Robot series

“A deceptively breezy, sneakily poignant, culinary dystopian redemption tale that blends the pleasures of a heist, a satirical romp, and The Bear. Smart, inventive, and fun.”—Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and Moonglow

“The characters and their dilemmas are so vivid and believable. I choked up more than once and I cheered. Lovely stuff! A cool, joyous post-apocalyptic fable for our divided times.”—M. R. Carey, USA Today bestselling author of The Girl with All the Gifts

“This heartwarming tale of found family, exquisite food, and loveable bots overcoming society’s flawed codes will make readers say, ‘Yes, chef!’”—Samit Basu, author of The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport

Praise for The Terraformers:

“A vibrant, quirky vision of endless potential earned by heroism, love and wit.”—The Washington Post

“An ingenious, galaxy-brain book.”—Los Angeles Times

“Newitz always sees to the heart of complex systems and breaks them down with poetic ferocity.”—N. K. Jemisin, author of the Broken Earth trilogy and The City We Became

“So engaging, you could almost miss the pyrotechnic world-building and bone-deep intelligence. Newitz continues doing some of the best work in the field.“—James S. A. Corey, author of the Expanse series

“Newitz performs a staggering feat of revolutionary imagination in this hopeful space-opera. . . . With the ethos of Becky Chambers and the gonzo imagination of Samuel R. Delany, this feels like a new frontier in science fiction.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review

“Nothing short of magical. After reading The Terraformers you will want to live in Annalee Newitz’s future.”—Javier Grillo-Marxuach, creator of The Middleman and producer on Lost and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

“With an intriguing mixture of AI, intelligent animals, cyborgs, and humans, Newitz depicts a complex but hopeful future where environmental consciousness and people’s rights take precedence.”—Buzzfeed

“Magnificently fun…. The Terraformers explores the future effects of climate change, personhood, scientific advances and more with imagination, intelligence and optimism.”—Ms. Magazine

“Far-reaching and ambitious but also surprisingly cozy and warm. . . . Newitz has a true gift for digging into weighty issues while maintaining light humor, a delightful queer sensibility, and pure moments of joy.”—Booklist, STARRED review

“Warm, imaginative and often funny.”—BookPage

“Undoubtedly destined to become a classic of the hopepunk movement . . . If you’ve been looking for an antidote to the apocalypse, this novel is for you.”—San Francisco Chronicle

About the Author

ANNALEE NEWITZ is an American journalist, editor, and author of fiction and nonfiction. They are the recipient of a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship from MIT, and have written for Popular Science, The New Yorker, and the Washington Post. They founded the science fiction website io9 and served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008–2015, and then became Editor-in-Chief at Gizmodo and Tech Culture Editor at Ars Technica. Their book Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction was nominated for the LA Times Book Prize in science. Their first novel, Autonomous, won a Lambda award.