Cyberabad days (edition 2009)

by Ian McDonald

Series: River of Gods (Short Story Collection), New World Order (1.5)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
472	26	52,872	(4.1)	42
The world: 'Cyberabad' is the India of 2047, a new, muscular superpower of one and a half billion people in an age of artificial intelligences, climate-change induced drought, water-wars, strange new genders, genetically improved children that age at half the rate of baseline humanity and a population where males out-number females four to one. India herself has fractured into a dozen states from Kerala to the headwaters of the Ganges in the Himalayas. Cyberabad is a collection of 7 stories: The Little Goddess. Hugo nominee Best Novella 2006. In near future Nepal, a child-goddess discovers what lies on the other side of godhood. The Djinn's Wife. Hugo nominee and BSFA short fiction winner 2007 A minor Delhi celebrity falls in love with an artificial intelligence but is it a marriage of heaven and hell? The Dust Assassin. Feuding Rajasthan water-rajas find that revenge is a slow, subtle process. Jasbir and Sujay go Shaadi. Love and marriage should be plain-sailing when your matchmaker is a soap-star artificial intelligence Sanjeev and Robotwallah. What happens to the boy-soldier roboteers when the war of Separation is over? Kyle meets the River. A young American in Varanas learns the true meaning of 'nation building' in the early days of a new country. Vishnu at the Cat Circus. A genetically improved 'Brahmin' child finds himself left behind as he grows through the final generation of humanity.… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	toissavuonna
Title:	Cyberabad days
Authors:	Ian McDonald
Info:	London : Orion, 2009.
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
Tags:	None

Work Information

Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

hloken, jcm790, theLackwit, Rawpunk, Treebeard_404, thewilyf, boyboffin, wyllplay, reyazaveri145

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

20
Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi (AlanPoulter)
AlanPoulter: Both are short story collections that seem to accurately capture the trials and tribulations of the near future.

▾Lists

Books Read in 2020 (2,745)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 42 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)

As I noted in my thoughts on [b:River of Gods|278280|River of Gods|Ian McDonald|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173372447s/278280.jpg|2440580], I started reading these two books simultaneously. I eventually quit, because I was learning things from Cyberabad Days that were interfering with the exposition in River of Gods. Good thing I quit when I did, or I would have completely spoiled the ending of RoG. So my recommendation to you is, read River first and then, if you like it, read this book. All in all, I would say that I enjoyed "The Djinn's Wife" the best of all the stories in this collection. Can a human and a disembodied artificial intelligence fall in love? Can it last? Interesting questions given a heartfelt treatment by the author. (

)

Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |

This is a bit more than a collection of stories. The stories illuminate different parts and aspects of a longer history.

Do NOT read this before River of Gods, because it has huge spoilers for that work. And you really should read River of Gods. (

)

wunder | Feb 3, 2022 |

A return to the India of River of Gods in a series of short stories (not connected literally, but in time and geography). The newest aeai's (AI to us) have become almost indistinguishable to humans, perhaps superior in their abilities save their lack of corporeal existence. The US is the bad guy here and has outlawed AI's above a certain intelligence and wield their military and economic power over the now splintered up India to make it so. These are thought experiment stories, in a way, with reasonable characters, but it's more about the 'possibilities' of the cyber future, albeit mostly improbable, not entirely. An AI-human love affair, a genetically engineered Brahmin, the marriage market shifting to women as the generation previous chose to terminate most females are examples. I'm fascinated by MacDonald's No-longer-united-India (could that be happening here instead in the US?) the clash of old and new worlds. These stories will linger in your mind. **** (

)

sibylline | Dec 24, 2021 |

Series of short stories, many dealing with aeais (AI programs of various degrees of sophistication that pervade the infoworld. All the stories take place in India, around Delhi. Some are pretty cool...others are weird.

JohnLavik | Mar 29, 2020 |

McDonald is amazing as always. He seamlessly blends the little 'eyekicks' required of the genre without tedious exposition or sacrificing his elegant and unaffected prose style. Most authors, even good ones, can score at best two out of three. McDonald hits the trifecta, over and over again.

My only recommendation would be to read RIVER OF GODS first, then this one, then all the rest you can get your hands on. (

)

ralphpalm | Nov 11, 2019 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 26 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

4 reviews

add a review

thingScore 94

We believe in this future India because all the invention (and there are masses of inventions casually crowded into these urban stories) do not feel imposed upon the setting but feel rather as if they have grown out of the setting. And because of this sense of natural growth, it is a future that is crowded, dirty, tumultuous, poor, thriving, smelly, joyous, colourful; a future, in other words, that feels like the real world around us.

added by sdobie | editSFSite, Paul Kincaid (Aug 1, 2009)

While some stories are too slight for the welter of wordage employed, McDonald gives a refreshing take on the future from a non-western viewpoint.

added by andyl | editThe Guardian, Eric Brown (Apr 4, 2009)

Every story is simultaneously a cracking yarn, a thoughtful piece of technosocial criticism, and a bag of eyeball kicks that'll fire your imagination.

added by lampbane | editBoing Boing, Cory Doctorow (Feb 27, 2009)

If you are simply looking for weird and smart science fiction that will surprise you, I recommend Cyberabad Days. It's a chance to see the future from a perspective that rarely shows up in Western scifi.

added by PhoenixTerran | editio9, Annalee Newitz (Feb 16, 2009)

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
McDonald, Ian	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Harman, Dominic	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Martiniere, Stephan	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
McAuley, Paul	Introduction	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

New World Order (1.5)

River of Gods (Short Story Collection)

Belongs to Publisher Series

Gallimard, Folio SF (559)

Contains

Sanjeev and Robotwallah by Ian McDonald

Kyle Meets The River by Ian McDonald

The Dust Assassin by Ian McDonald

An Eligible Boy by Ian McDonald

The Little Goddess [novella] by Ian McDonald

The Djinn's Wife (short story) by Ian McDonald

(show 1 more)

Vishnu at the Cat Circus by Ian McDonald

Is a (non-series) sequel to

River of Gods by Ian McDonald

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

British Fantasy Award (Nominee – Collection – 2010)

Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (Winner – Nouvelle étrangère – 2013)

Locus Award (Finalist – Collection – 2010)

Philip K. Dick Award (Nominee – 2009)

Distinctions

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

Cyberabad Days

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2009-02

People/Characters

Important places

India

Nepal

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

First words

Every boy in the class ran at the cry. Robotwar robotwar!

Quotations

The rolling news channels clear their schedules of everything else but cricket. 156

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

The German translation of River of Gods is "Cyberabad" (and "roman" just means novel) please do not combine those with Cyberabad Days, it's the wrong work.

Publisher's editors

Anders, Lou

Blurbers

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

▾Book descriptions

The world: 'Cyberabad' is the India of 2047, a new, muscular superpower of one and a half billion people in an age of artificial intelligences, climate-change induced drought, water-wars, strange new genders, genetically improved children that age at half the rate of baseline humanity and a population where males out-number females four to one. India herself has fractured into a dozen states from Kerala to the headwaters of the Ganges in the Himalayas. Cyberabad is a collection of 7 stories: The Little Goddess. Hugo nominee Best Novella 2006. In near future Nepal, a child-goddess discovers what lies on the other side of godhood. The Djinn's Wife. Hugo nominee and BSFA short fiction winner 2007 A minor Delhi celebrity falls in love with an artificial intelligence but is it a marriage of heaven and hell? The Dust Assassin. Feuding Rajasthan water-rajas find that revenge is a slow, subtle process. Jasbir and Sujay go Shaadi. Love and marriage should be plain-sailing when your matchmaker is a soap-star artificial intelligence Sanjeev and Robotwallah. What happens to the boy-soldier roboteers when the war of Separation is over? Kyle meets the River. A young American in Varanas learns the true meaning of 'nation building' in the early days of a new country. Vishnu at the Cat Circus. A genetically improved 'Brahmin' child finds himself left behind as he grows through the final generation of humanity.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary