Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, Murderbot Diaries Book 6.
Introduction
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells is a novella in the Murderbot Diaries Series. The first four stories are all novellas that complete a self-contained single story. The author set this story is between the novellas and the Murderbot novel, Network Effect. The protagonist of the diaries is a SecUnit (Security Unit), a part organic and part mechanical cyborg, or as it calls itself a Murderbot. In this story, Murderbot is a Security Consultant to Dr. Mensah on Preservation Station. It finds a murdered human and must solve the mystery. Who was the victim, how was he killed, and why was he murdered?
Summary
In Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells, Murderbot examines a dead human. Murderbot reports its impressions to Dr. Mensah and Senior Security Officer Indah of Preservation Station. The human is unidentified. Indah calls it a murder while Mensah wants to call it an accidental death for now. Mensah talks to Murderbot on a private channel because they are worried that the GrayCris corporation (the antagonists for the previous novellas of the series) is involved with the death. Mensah convinces Indah to let Murderbot help her learn about the dead human. Insah wishes Murderbot would call him the deceased or the victim.
Murderbot and Insah investigate the case with help from Tech Tural. Insah confirms Murderbot as a consultant for Station Security. Murderbot must become part of the system to investigate the system to get access to the Preservation Station networks. It’s a hard transition for Murderbot because of her Rogue SecUnit identity. All Murderbot wants is to find out who killed the dead human and then can go back to a normal life watching reruns of the show Sanctuary Moon. Murderbot follows the clues and uncovers an unusual suspect.
Recommendation
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells is a locked room murder mystery set on a space station. As a procedural mystery, the story doesn’t have the fireworks of the previous novellas. This story is a different and interesting experience. I recommend it. Network Effect won the 2021 Locus Award for best novel and I think they should nominate Fugitive Telemetry in the novella category next year. I believe she will write more stories in the Murderbot diaries and I plan to read them when they are published.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page for Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells.
Book Review of Network Effect by Martha Wells, Book 5 of The Murderbot Diaries, a novel. The diaries protagonist is a SecUnit (Security Unit), a cyborg, or as it calls itself Murderbot. Murderbot must solve a complex mystery or risk the deaths of its human clients.
Book Review of Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, a series of four novellas. SecUnit calls herself Murderbot. She has feelings of companionship for her human employers. What lengths will she go to protect them?
They canceled Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020 because of COVID-19. They had planned to hold confluence 2020 from July 24 to 26, 2020 with author guest of honor Martha Wells. I plan to go to Confluence from July 23 to July 25, 2021. They held a virtual conference called C’monfluence the Novelization 2020, from October 2 to October 4. The Guest of Honor was Martha Wells. I attended the conference virtually. Programming began on Friday, October 2 at 10 AM and concluded on Sunday, October 4 at 4:25 PM.
I also attended the conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. The Parsec organization of Pittsburgh runs the literary science fiction, fantasy, and horror conference. The events included panels, readings, interviews, writing workshops, and filk concerts. They held the conference on four tracks, so they held up to four activities at the same time. They held each event on Zoom, and the attendees had to register for each event to attend the event. I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, three readings, one presentation, the guest of honor presentation, and the conference breakdown.
Videos of the conference are found at the confluence-SFF you tube channel linked below.
Summary for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020
Friday, October 2nd at 7 PM
A reading by Marie Vibbert.
Marie read from her novel Galactic Hellcats, which will be released in March 2021. The novel is a story about a female biker gang in outer space, saving a gay prince.
She read four chapters that she selected because each introduced one of her four principal characters; Key, Margo, Zuaka, and the Prince.
The reading had a lot of action and the characters were distinctive. Sounds like a fun book to read next year.
They held the reading on Track 3: Kish Karad with 15 attendees.
Friday, October 2nd at 9 PM
The opening ceremonies featuring Guest of Honor, Martha Wells.
Kevin Hayes introduced Martha Wells and read her bio. Diane Turnshek talked about the anthology book Triangulation: Extinction which she edited and was sponsored by the Parsec group which is also a sponsor of Confluence. Kevin read off the planned events for the conference. Karen Yun-Lutz mentioned that SFWA is a sponsor for the conference. Greg Clumpner talked about the forums on Discord which were open for panelists and attendees to mingle on when they were not attending an activity.
The opening presentation ended with a short interview with Martha Wells. Martha said she wrote the first book in the Murderbot series because she needed some place to put her anger. She said it disappointed her that they postponed the conference in July because she had wanted to explore sites in Pittsburgh this year. She said she had been to Pittsburgh twice to attend the Nebula Awards, but hadn’t had the opportunity to explore the city at that time.
They held the opening ceremonies on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
Saturday, October 3rd at 10:30 AM
A Reading by Brandon McNulty.
Brandon read three chapters from his novel Bad Parts that was published on June 23, 2020. It is subtitled a supernatural thriller. In chapter one, Mac is 70 years old and has failing kidneys. In chapter two, Ash Hudson is the lead guitar player in a heavy metal band named Bad Parts. She has to find her lead singer and replace her rhythm guitarist to play the show they have scheduled for that night. In chapter three, they play the show and load up their gear in the van. Some scary dude tails them. How are they going to getaway?
It sounds like an interesting book. I have put it on my want-to-read list on Goodreads.
They held the reading on Track 3: Kish Karad with 6 attendees.
Saturday, October 3rd at 12 PM
Where Does Your World Come From? Panel with Michelle Sagara. Joe Haldeman, Aliette de Bodard, and Tobias Buckell.
Michelle Sagara was the moderator. Her first question to the panel was; where do your worlds come from? They talked about how they got their ideas. Do you build the story to the world or do you build the world to the story? It comes down to the concept that world-building and characterization are intertwined. How had your education, other work experiences, and travel influenced your writing? The answers show that their background influences their writing. How has the pandemic affected your writing? Inconclusive. Is there a difference in world-building between a short story versus a novel? The answers varied.
The moderator’s questions were interesting and the responses from the panel were instructive to an attendee who is a writer.
They held the panel on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the panel.
Saturday, October 3rd at 2 PM
The Business of Writing panel with Gay Haldeman, Neil Clarke, Gail Carriger, Tamora Pierce, and Herb Kauderer.
Gay Haldeman was the moderator. She asked questions about the business of writing. The panel related their experiences. Some interesting responses followed. Read your contracts. Don’t be discouraged by rejections. Review guidelines when submitting work every time. Consider Patreon. Work on your social media platform. Everything is tax deductible for a writer. When submitting short fiction start at the top of the market and work your way down. Most agents and editors want a rewrite, so be ready for the rewrite and be flexible. Set up a literary estate.
They held the panel on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the panel.
Saturday, October 3rd at 3 PM
An interview with Guest of Honor Martha Wells conducted by Wenmimareba Klobah Collins.
Wenmimareba asks Martha questions, and she answered them. Martha talked about the differences in writing Murderbot, an SF story, in close first person, and her fantasy stories in the third person. She takes about three months to write a Murderbot novella. Fugitive Telemetry is finished, and she doesn’t know what she will write next. Martha doesn’t enjoy plotting; she writes as a pantser. She doesn’t want to figure out too much beforehand because she doesn’t want to get bored with the story before she finishes it.
The interviewer asked for the author’s book recommendations. Some recommendations were: Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott, When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain by Nghi Vo, and The Best of all Possible Worlds by Karen Lord.
I enjoyed getting to know more about the author’s writing process and thoughts about writing.
They held the interview on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the interview.
Saturday, October 3rd at 4 PM
A reading by Guest of Honor Martha Wells.
Martha Wells read from her novella, Fugitive Telemetry.
Fugitive Telemetry is a prequel to the Murderbot novel, Network Effect.
She read Chapter One of the novella first. Dr. Mensa has hired Murderbot as a consultant for her on Preservation Station. There has been a murder and Murderbot evaluates the scene.
She read Chapter Three next. Murderbot has to connect to the Preservation Station network and must tell as little of the truth as Murderbot can. This is Murderbot’s first job as a consultant. At the end of the meeting, Murderbot walks with Dr. Mensa.
The channel moderator asked two questions with the time remaining. Martha talked about how her Murderbot short story from May 2020 on Tor.com (Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory) was given to people who pre-ordered Network Effect.
The reason she wrote this prequel was because she wanted to show how Preservation Station would function with Sec Unit Murderbot working as a consultant.
This is the link to Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) by Martha Wells, published on April 27, 2021.
They held the reading on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon with 45 attendees at the start building to a maximum of 58 attendees.
Saturday, October 3rd at 5 PM
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants panel with Marie Vibbert, Joe Haldeman, Bud Sparhawk, and Steven H. Silver.
Marie Vibbert was the moderator. A few questions posed as follows. Is there an SF canon? The answer is; There is a canon, but it doesn’t matter anymore, because the next generation responds to the ideas of the canon without reading the canon. Do you read outside the genre? Reading outside the genre helps you to grow as a writer.
At the end of the panel, they fielded questions from the audience. What are the examples of the lost works of early SF? Examples are Clare Winger Harris and Stanley G. Weinbaum. Who are the giants now? Some authors mentioned were N. K. Jemisin, Martha Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Rebecca Roanhorse.
I checked out a letter that Clare Winger Harris wrote to Wonder Stories in August 1938 on her sixteen plots in SF. Interesting reading. I found a link below.
I took The Artificial Man and other Stories by Clare Winger Harris out from the library. It collects ten of her best short stories. Goodreads link below.
This is a link for the you tube video for the panel.
Sunday, October 4th at 10 AM
I Sing the Plotting Electric panel with Geoffrey Landis, Bud Sparhawk, Joe Haldeman, Bo Balder, and Scot Noel.
Geoffrey Landis was the moderator. He asked the questions, and the panel gave the answers. The panel was a look at the resurgence of space opera. Space opera came from the pulp SF stories of authors like E.E. ‘Doc’ Smith, Edmond Hamilton, Leigh Brackett, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. The term was an extrapolation of the western horse opera to the SF space opera. It began as a derogatory term, but that changed over time as more authors used the trope.
Why do you think there has been a resurgence of space opera? There is a frontier feeling to the stories, a chance for the characters to reinvent their selves. It brings back an old-style plot, good versus evil. With commercial space opening up with Space-X and Virgin Galactic, it stimulates the need for space opera.
They held the panel on Track 2: Opal Night with 28 attendees.
Sunday, October 4th at 11 AM
Let’s get series-ish panel with Michelle Sagara, Martha Wells, Robert Angell, and Jennifer Foehner.
Robert Angell was the moderator. He asked questions, and the panel answered them. What are the pitfalls and pluses? What is it about the stories that dictate the need for more stories? Do the characters demand it, or is there just no end to plots?
They held the panel on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
Sunday, October 4th at 1 PM
Mission to Triton presentation given by Geoffrey Landis.
Geoffrey Landis is an aerospace engineer who works for NASA. He presented his proposed future mission to Triton, the largest moon of Neptune. It is an interesting moon that has only been visited once on a fly-by from the Voyager-2 probe in 1989. Triton might be like Pluto, a captured Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) created when the solar system formed. Triton’s mountains are made of water ice, it orbits Neptune in a retrograde orbit, and its pink color is from complex organic molecules on its surface.
When brainstorming the project, he determined that the mission should use the resources of Triton for a long term mission. The vehicle will land on Triton and hop from site to site using a radioisotope powered rocket. Each probe hop would be 5 km each and use Nitrogen as fuel. The probe will do core drills in the Nitrogen ice and test the cores.
The presentation ended with questions from the audience.
They held the presentation on Track 1: Sanctuary Moon.
This is a link for the you tube video for the presentation.
Sunday, October 4th at 4 PM
C’monfluence Breakdown with the Con Committee; Karen Yun-Lutz, Kevin Hayes, John Thompson, Heidi Pilewski, and Diane Turnshek. Also, the tech guy, Greg Clumpner.
They learned a lot about presenting their first virtual conference. Discord was an essential area for discussion before and after the presentations.
There were some challenges. Panelists’ time zones were different, preventing Zoom bombers, and there wasn’t enough staff to monitor a potential Zoom meeting room. Time remaining flashes at the ten minutes and five minutes to go was distracting to the panelists and the attendees. The webinars went very well, the meetings were iffy, and the readings were bad, the lesson learned.
The Kaffeeklatsches had a 15-attendee max, but only 20% were full. Workshops were the most attended panels. A component of the next conference could be virtual because of the success this year of the virtual conference.
They held the presentation on Track 2: Opal Night with 21 attendees at the start building to 24 attendees.
Conclusion for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020
I’m glad that they could hold the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020 virtually. My star of the con was Guest of Honor, Martha Wells. I viewed her at the opening ceremonies, an interview, a reading, and on a panel. She was interesting and entertaining in every activity that I attended. She was named the Guest of Honor before they postponed the conference, and she remained the GOH for the virtual conference.
I attended the opening ceremony, five panels, three readings, one presentation, the guest of honor presentation, and the conference breakdown. My other highlights were the Triton Presentation by Geoffrey Landis and the SF influences panel. (because it led me to Clare Winger Harris’s sixteen SF plots.) I also attended Confluence in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 and plan to return in 2021. They will hold confluence 2021 from July 23 to 25, 2021.
Links for Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh 2020
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference on July 30 and July 31, 2016, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended 15 panels and the U.S.S. Improvise improv sketch comedy routine.
They held the Confluence Conference from August 4 to August 6, 2017, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended seven panels, one writing workshop, one author reading, and the guests of honor presentation.
They held the Confluence Conference from July 27, 2018, to July 29, 2018, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I attended two lectures, two panels, one fiction writing seminar, one author reading, and the guest of honor presentation.
Recap for the Confluence SF Conference Pittsburgh on July 27 & 28, 2019, at the Sheraton Pittsburgh Airport Hotel. I also attended Confluence in 2016, 2017, and 2018. I attended five panels, two fiction writing workshops, and the guest of honor presentation.
Network Effect by Martha Wells, Murderbot Diaries Book 5
Introduction
Network Effect by Martha Wells is the first novel of the Murderbot Diaries Series. The earlier stories are a series of four novellas that complete a self-contained single story. The protagonist of the diaries is a SecUnit (Security Unit), a part organic and part mechanical cyborg, or as she calls herself a Murderbot. In this story, Murderbot must solve a complex mystery or risk the deaths of her human clients.
Summary
In Network Effect by Martha Wells, Murderbot has completed her mission as described in the earlier four books for the PreservationAux Group. Murderbot looks to Dr. Mensah as its primary client. It serves as a Survey Security Consultant to members of the group. On a survey, unknown hostiles attack them and Murderbot names them as Targets, but only to itself. Murderbot had hacked its governor module so can ignore the programming the Company used to create it. Murderbot eliminates the Targets, but there will be more. The Survey ship ends up in a mysterious solar system. Who are the Targets and why does someone summon the Survey ship are the mysteries that Murderbot must solve? The lives of its clients depend on finding answers.
Recommendation
It was worth the wait for a Murderbot novel. The book was enjoyable and hit all the marks a reader could expect. Murderbot was snarky, compassionate to her clients, and resourceful. The plot of the novel was hard to figure out at the beginning, but explained later. There are passages where Murderbot recounts old events, sometimes as transcripts. The reason for this makes sense. The book comes to a satisfying conclusion and sets up the next adventure for Murderbot. Fugitive Telemetry will be Book 6 of the Murderbot Diaries and published on April 27, 2021. The series continues, and I plan to stay on the ride.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page for Network Effect by Martha Wells.
Book Review of Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, a series of four novellas. SecUnit calls herself Murderbot. She has feelings of companionship for her human employers. What lengths will she go to protect them?
In the City of Bones by Martha Wells, Khat is a krisman living in the city of Charisat on the edge of the Waste. Ancient Mages created the krismen to live in the Waste. Khat has come to the city to earn his fortune in the relic trade with his human partner, Sagai. The Warders, mages who serve the Elector of Charisat, want to use relics to solve an ancient mystery. Will Khat help them even though the empowered relics could destroy the world?
Summary
City of Bones by Martha Wells’s main character is Khat. Khat is a krisman, a type of marsupial with a pouch created by ancient mages in the time the Waste was formed. The krisman is at the bottom of the social order. The Warders of the Elector of Charisat don’t believe they are people because they don’t have souls according to them. Khat leaves the safety of his people’s Enclave to earn his fortune in the human cities. He teams up with Sagai, a human, to sell relics in the city of Charisat.
Khat needs a big score to pay off a debt, so he agrees to guide the Patrician to ancient towers called Remnants. The central mystery of the book is the mystery of why the ancient mages built the Remnants. The viewpoint characters are Khat, Sagai, and the Patrician. Khat wants to find a place where he belongs, Sagai wants to protect his family, and the Patrician wants to solve the mystery. Can they accomplish their goals without destroying the world?
Recommendation
City of Bones is a great self-contained single novel, and they haven’t published a sequel so far. Khat is an interesting character. He deals with prejudice, misunderstanding, and identity. His redemption arch is why I recommend this novel. The first chapter is difficult to understand on a first reading. There are many characters, many ideas, and much world-building packed in it. Once the focus is on Khat, Sagai, and The Patrician, then the novel proceeds relentlessly to the end. Khat is knocked out too many times and recovers too quickly. I’m glad I decided to read this novel after I read the author’s Murderbot Diaries.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page for City of Bones by Martha Wells.
Book Review of Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, a series of four novellas. SecUnit calls herself Murderbot. She has feelings of companionship for her human employers. What lengths will she go to protect them?
Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. All Systems Red (Book
1), Artificial Condition (Book 2), Rogue Protocol (Book 3), and Exit Strategy (Book
4)
Introduction
The Murderbot Diaries are a series of four novellas that complete a self-contained single story. I have reviewed the first novella called All Systems Red. The review is linked to the link section of this review. I will review the other three novellas in this review. The protagonist of the diaries is a SecUnit (Security Unit), a partially organic and partially mechanical cyborg, or as she calls herself a Murderbot.
Summary
Summary
of All Systems Red (Book 1)
The SecUnit (Security Unit) for the PreservationAux survey group has hacked and disabled her governor module during her last contract. The hack lets her follow the Company’s programming or to ignore it. SecUnits are built by the Company and must be used by every survey team for protection. The PersevationAux group surveys a planet to decide if they want to bid to the Company on building a colony there.
The story’s complication occurs when they lose contact with the DeltFall Group survey team, the only other survey team assigned to their planet. Dr. Mensah, the leader of the PreservationAux Group, investigates at DeltFall’s habitat despite the SecUnit’s suggestion they leave the investigation to the Company. What they find at the habitat changes their perspective on the Company and on their SecUnit’s behavior.
Summary
of Artificial Condition (Book 2)
The SecUnit leaves Dr. Mensah and the PreservationAux Group, but she doesn’t remember all that happened during her contact with the DeltFall Group. She takes passage on a research vessel she names ART. ART has more intelligence than most bot ship drivers and it finds out she is not on a contract. They become friends and ART helps her look more human so she can go back to Ganaka Pit, the place where her memory was purged. What she finds there sends her on a mission to discover the truth behind what happened at Ganaka Pit.
Summary
of Rogue Protocol (Book 3)
SecUnit learned from her last mission that the GrayCris corporation was involved in what happened at Ganaka Pit. She takes a transport ship to a planet named Milu to investigate what GrayCris did at a terraforming station they have closed down and sold. SecUnit unravels their plot and looks for incriminating evidence against GrayCris. She is helped on her mission by a bot the humans treat as a pet named Miki.
Summary
of Exit Strategy (Book 4)
SecUnit heads back personally give the information she
discovered to Dr. Mensah. GrayCris has kidnapped Dr. Mensah to lure SecUnit
into a trap.
Recommendation
This is great. The Murderbot Dairies read like a long
episodic novel. The action moves and SecUnit is an engaging protagonist. All she
wants to do is re-watch episodes of The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon, but
her past intrudes on her watching. Those pesky humans always have to be
protected, and she does it well with snark, at least in her inner dialogue.
Fortunately, we are there for the ride. I want to read the Murderbot novel, Network
Effect, that is scheduled to be released on May 5, 2020.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page for All Systems
Red by Martha Wells.
The SecUnit
(Security Unit) for the PreservationAux survey group has hacked and disabled
her governor module during her last contract. The hack lets her follow the Company’s
programming or to ignore it. She saves Dr. Bharadwaj from certain death from
the hostile fauna of the planet where the PersevationAux group has been
surveying to decide if they want to bid to the Company on building a colony
there. The SecUnit calls herself Murderbot, but never out loud. Her feelings of
companionship for her human employers impede her programming. What will she do
when an unknown enemy threatens her charges, hide or fight?
Summary
SecUnits are made by the Company and must be used by
every survey team for protection. The Company supplies all the materials to
each survey team from the lowest bidder, so the materials are unreliable and
suspect. SecUnits are half organic and half mechanical, so she is a cyborg. SecUnits
are supposed to be perceived by their contractors
as autonomous robots. They can be
repaired using the MedSystem. She communicates with the HubSystem of the habitat to keep the security of her charges. The story’s complication occurs when they
lose contact with the DeltFall Group survey team, the only other survey team
assigned to their planet. Dr. Mensah, the leader of the PreservationAux Group, investigates
at DeltFall’s habitat despite the SecUnit’s suggestion they leave the investigation
to the Company. What they find at the habitat changes their perspective on the
Company and on their SecUnit’s behavior.
Recommendation
I loved this story. The action is tight, and the
conclusion completes this story. The protagonist has the perfect blend of
sarcasm and drive to understand her
reasons for existing. She wants to sit back and watch her space soap operas,
but her human charges keep getting in the way, making her have feelings she
doesn’t understand. She is not the Murderbot she pretends to be and they catch
on to her deception. This novella begins her transformation into something
else. This story is the first of four novellas in the Murderbot Dairies series.
I want to read the other three novellas available and the Murderbot novel that is
scheduled to be released in 2020.
