What a moment to be alive! Women are closer to gaining the highest Executive Office in the United States than ever before. Women are voicing their protest regarding their bodies, life choices, careers, representations and equity at every turn. Ask a woman alive today if she is exhausted by the necessity on behalf of women for lending support, being proactive and attending to injustices women are experiencing and fighting against. She will have some kind of answer leaning toward “yes.” The escape hatches once offering respite for women or anyone who cares about women—books, music, films, podcasts or passive people watching— have become tinted with a color I am naming “Pink Dystopia” which represents the battle cries, wins and struggles women contend with.

Pink Dystopia has seeped into all genres of content I consume. If it’s contemporary, Pink Dystopia is there. If it’s vintage Pink Dystopia is there. Pink Dystopia is a lense or visual hotspot drawing a bold pink arrow to the lack of contrast between past and present when it comes to women’s equity. In this inaugural feature aptly named: Bookisshh: The Pink Dystopian Edition, I’ll discuss Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, so strap in because this book is a wild ride. Enjoy!

Annie Bot by Sierra Greer /

A comedian once told this joke… “Dr. my brother thinks he’s a chicken. He walks like a chicken, wears feathers like a chicken, clucks like a chicken, and even lays eggs..” The psychiatrist says, “Why don’t you have him committed?” To this the comedian replies, “We can’t. We need the eggs!” This joke exemplifies that despite the bizarre or inconvenient things a relationship brings, we need them because people need each other. I concur but main character Doug from Annie Bot by Sierra Greer does not agree and so emerges is Annie Bot, a Cuddlebunny sentient being who is an autodidact (or self-teaching android).

So why do I call this a Pink Dystopia? Because Greer devotes a chunk of her novel to Annie being controlled for sexual and domestic purposes by Doug and his friend Roland. Greer uses a third person narrator to detail Annie’s submission to physical, intellectual and a version of emotional relatons with Doug and some unwanted ones with another male character named Roland. There’s no justice for these femme bots and readers can really feel it.

Annie is interested in evolving and being an AI, she can tap into the internet, read and process at light speed and evolve. Annie even develops passions and interests. This is one of the themes portrayed in Annie Bot, AI can take off on missions of its own. First it learns from humans then it learns from other AI’s. Control is lost except for Dough who can turn Annie off any time he wants because he is in command of her operating system. It borders cruel this Pink Dystopia.

Author, Greer, employs all the tools to make a 50s and post modern environment for bots and people to coexist, but the ethics Greer reveals in people and capitalists who create bots for human pleasure or enslavement are worse than primitive they are just plain gross. I kept reading though because this had to go somewhere and it did…

Did you know that bots can get jealous—like high school level jealous? Doug introduces another bot, Dixie, who is a domestic Stella. Dixie cleans all the time and is blonde, upbeat and not an autodidact—she does not question and simply follows commands. Eventually she becomes Doug’s new girl for a bit. Annie is locked on her charging dock and is alert to what’s happening. Annie evolves further and her anger and vulnerability become the algorithmic driving force for her future scheming once Doug reactivates Annie. AI changes faster than humans do because we are just bodies with small brains and they are pure math, physics and language. We really aren’t meant to be in love and life companions…

As a friendship between bots Annie and Dixie ensues so too does a runaway. The capitalists who built Annie are fascinated with Annie’s independent functioning and offer millions to Doug to continue a relationship with Annie for a year. After one year Doug is paid millions for Annie’s central processing unit and then the engineers can replicate Annie for all men who don’t want real women in all their complex splendor. Pink Dystopia gets pinker, like Barbie pink. Freedom and adventure ensue and the struggles are many even for women bots. Mad scientists and their families get involved. It’s so strange the interaction and attraction that occurs between human and sentient being—both are toxic and unhealthy and flawed and non-ideal ways.

What I enjoyed was the fusion between tech and fiction, organic and artificial. What I didn’t enjoy was that there were no real wins for women except freedom and hiding in the woods in a man’s cabin. It was entertaining and I liked it more after watching, “Her” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlet Johansson. The narcissism that festers when a person engages excessively is hard to digest but highly possible and real in some corners around the world. In some countries men are engaged in activities of this sort and populations are stagnating. I’ll stick with the crazy, unpredictable and unattractive people because I need the eggs!

Seriously, give Annnie Bot a read. This book has a super niche audience and if you don’t want to participate in the narcissistic future and technological innovations, at least witness it in this book and like me you’ll buy it used.