Despite my skeptical attitude toward short story collections, there are more and more of them in the contemporary book world. And I’m only talking about the fiction genre, which is definitely experiencing a new wave of popularity in Ukraine. Just recently we wrote about the collection «Palimpsest» by the famous British writer Charles Stross. And now it’s the turn of Ukrainian writer from Kharkiv Oleksiy Dekan and his collection of short stories «Alphabet for Android», published by «HERE». I’ve already read it and am now sharing my impressions, but I can already recommend it to you if you like stories about androids, robots, cyborgs, and all that. It will also work for you if you, like me, read Heinlein and Bradbury’s library collections of stories as a child.
Author Oleksiy Dekan
Publisher HERE
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 168
Cover Solid
Illustrations Є
Year of publication 2022
Size 130×205 mm
Website knygarnya.com
«Alphabet for Android» consists of 13 stories. The plot of some of them can be slightly revealed, while others can’t be said at all, as it would be a complete spoiler, so we won’t do it at all. I will only say that the initial stories have nothing to do with each other, but are only united by the common theme of the relationship between people and robots and, importantly, robots and people. But the last stories are intertwined, creating a kind of thin red storyline that ends epically in the epilogue. This is not a new move, but it works well and is well integrated into this particular collection.
Above, I compared «Alphabet for Android» to the stories of Bradbury and Heinlein. However, this collection also suggests other, more modern and pop-cultural comparisons. It is very similar in style, mood, and atmosphere to the well-known anthologies «Love, Death, and Robots» and «Black Mirror». And while in the second case it concerns some episodes from different seasons, the comparison with «Love, Death and Robots» is as close as possible. Therefore, if you like this format and its visual part, something similar in the text version only will be waiting for you in the collection «Alphabet for Android» by Alexei Dekan.
The stories here contain careful, and not so careful, references to well-known contemporary events, including Ukraine, people, things, and technologies. There are references to Elon Musk and his car being sent into space, as well as to Cyberеruck and the robot Sophia, etc. There are also links to other works by Oleksiy Dekan, and those who have already read them will be pleased to see familiar characters.
The stories themselves are full of deep meanings, allusions, references, philosophy, science fiction, and social fiction. Each work has its own way of touching and creating empathy, if not with the characters themselves, because it is almost impossible in such a short time, but with the topic or problem chosen by the author. There are reflections on the future of humanity and machines, on our relationship with them and their attitude towards us. Dekan also repeatedly shows and says that humans are worse than their robotic creatures, that we don’t deserve them, and they definitely deserve a better future than what they will have with us.
Almost every story in the «Alphabet for Android» collection shows great human vices, including arrogance, thirst for revenge, indifference and greed, the desire to constantly fight, to capture something, and to always argue about it.
I’ve said many times before that the main drawback of all such collections is that someone will definitely not like a story or two. But this is the first time that I liked them all. Of course, some less and some more, but in general, everything is at a good level and everything, personally, worked for me. It doesn’t mean that you will, but there are good chances of that happening.
«Alphabet for Android» easy and fast to read. The available 168 pages are absorbed in just three to four hours. This is due to the author’s excellent relationship with words and short, vivid stories. However, there are too few of these small formats, so for some it will be a disadvantage, because such good books should not be over so quickly.
I can’t help but mention the serious quality of the publication with a bright picture on the cover, which immediately tells you about the genre and focus of the book. The publication is beautifully made, with newfangled color cuts, pictures on the flyleaf, an easy-to-read font, and rich design of the pages themselves. There are various thematic drawings, QR codes and illustrations on them, which are made for each specific story. We didn’t forget about the slapstick.
In general, I have repeatedly said that «TUT» takes its books very seriously. Despite the fact that they promote young Ukrainian writers, which means that they have a chance to sell copies for a long time, they still make their books very attractive to readers.
