Watchlist Countdown, Day 7: “Ladykiller” by Miracle Jones

     “We are gonna talk about Facebook in the future like our parents talk about cocaine,” he said.

       from “Ladykiller” by Miracle Jones

Miracles Jones’ story in the Watchlist anthology may start out in familiar territory landmarked by such things as Facebook, Buzzfeed listicles (“13 Things That Only People Born in 1990 Would Know”), and the ubiquitous Chili’s restaurant (the “place you went when your life was over and you were ready to die”), but it quickly morphs into a nightmarish vision of the future. Sex-starved drones are a real thing in “Ladykiller” and our hapless protagonist, Tre, is easily seduced by one with “high definition red lips and big soft cartoon eyes” as he sits in Chili’s drinking bad wine and eating fried cheese. It’s like a Fatal Attraction-Blade Runner mash-up and it has totally put me off of android sex for good.

Watchlist: 32 Short Stories by Persons of Interest, edited by Bryan Hurt, will be published by O/R Books on May 21.  The “persons of interest” contributing short stories to the anthology include Etgar Keret, Robert Coover, Aimee Bender, Jim Shepard, Alissa Nutting, Charles Yu, Cory Doctorow, David Abrams, Randa Jarrar, Katherine Karlin, Miracle Jones, Mark Irwin, T. Coraghessan Boyle, Dale Peck, Bonnie Nadzam, Lucy Corin, Chika Unigwe, Paul Di Filippo, Lincoln Michel, Dana Johnson, Mark Chiusano, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Chanelle Benz, Sean Bernard, Kelly Luce, Zhang Ran, Miles Klee, Carmen Maria Machado, Steven Hayward, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Alexis Landau and Bryan Hurt.

Pre-order your copy here