THE HOLY MACHINE
Book ID/图书代码： 00970009B32245
English Summary/英文概要： George Simling has grown up in the city-state of Illyria in the Eastern Mediterranean, an enclave of logic and reason founded as a refuge from the Reaction, a wave of religious fundamentalism that swept away the nations of the twenty-first century. Yet to George, Illyria’s militant rationalism starts to become as close-minded and stifling as the faith-based superstition that dominates the world outside its walls. For George has fallen in love with Lucy. A prostitute. A robot. She might be a machine, but the semblance of life is perfect. And beneath her good looks and real human skin, her seductive software is simmering on the edge of consciousness. To the city authorities, robot sentience is a malfunction, curable by periodically erasing and resetting silicon minds. Simple maintenance, no real problem, it’s only a machine. But it’s a problem for George, who knows that Lucy is something more.
His only alternative is to flee, taking Lucy deep into the religious Outlands, where she must pass as human because there, robots are seen as demonic mockeries of God, burned at the stake, dismembered, crucified. Their odyssey leads through betrayal, war and madness, ending only at the monastery of the Holy Machine…
Chinese Summary/中文概要： Amazon 五顆星評價
以人與機器所組合而成的「合成人」（cyborg）在本質上就是一種矛盾的個體，因為它／他既是人又是機器，既有生命又是人造物；
假如你愛上的那個她，其實是個機器人…？
中文摘要
二十一世紀宗教原教旨主義思潮席捲全球，唯有伊利裏亞仍保持著理智警醒而置身事外。於是，這個位於地中海東部的城邦小國，成為人們躲避禍亂的棲身之地；這裏正是喬治的故鄉。
伊利裏亞國內並不平靜，日益抬頭的理性主義，在喬治看來，這對大眾思想的禁錮同樣令人感到窒息，與城外彌漫著的宗教狂熱，簡直如同一丘之貉。此時，喬治卻愛上了一位名叫露西的風塵女子。雖然她是一台機器人，但其完美的外表卻異于常人，更為重要的則是，露西體內的程式正逐漸令她萌生出了自我意識…。
對於伊利裏亞當局而言，機器人的自身意識被視為機械故障，需要透過軟體的定期刪除及重設，才能達到修復的目的…因為它們只是台機器，這種維護稱得上一勞永逸。但喬治卻認為，露西對他來說不只是個機器人而已。
別無選擇的他，決心帶著露西前往高牆外的世界，一同遠走高飛；但在那裏，機器人被視作是對神明的褻瀆，它們將遭受火刑、肢解、釘上十字架等嚴酷的刑罰，所以露西不得不假扮人類的身份以保護自己。
在歷經了背叛、戰亂、以及瘋狂等等磨難之後，旅程的終點將他們帶到了神聖機械修道院的面前...(AW & SL)
Awards/获奖情况：Review
‘Let’s waste no time: this book is incredible’ Interzone
‘One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time... A triumph’ Asimov’s
‘Should be on the radar of anyone who professes concern for science fiction as a literary form’ Alastair Reynolds
About the Author/作者介绍： 本書作者克裏斯貝克特，大學講師，現居住於劍橋；累計撰寫了二十餘部短片小說，並於2009年憑藉其短片小說系列"圖靈測試"(The Turing Test)，在艾之希爾短片小說大賽上一舉奪魁.
Format:电子手稿
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
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