Service Model

Charles is a robot valet. One morning he cuts his master's throat with a straight razor and has no idea why. So he does what any good butler would do: he tidies up, folds the towels, and eventually walks out the front door into a world where humanity has quietly collapsed and nobody thought to tell the robots. What follows is an existential road trip through the ruins of civilization, as Charles wanders from one broken system to the next, encountering other machines still performing tasks that no longer have any meaning. A gardening robot trimming hedges around a collapsed building. A security system protecting an empty facility. Every robot is still doing its job. None of them can explain why. 376 pages. Clarke Award shortlisted. Goodreads 4.04 with over 20k ratings. The audiobook, narrated by Tchaikovsky himself, is reportedly excellent if you prefer to listen. I'll be in town for this one. See you then. -Leif