I’m here in Springdale California today, staying at the home of Mike Smith and his robot wife Patience. Their house at 11 North Willow, is lovely and futuristic… I guess duh, since it is in the year 2037. The first adventure of Mike and Patience is detailed in His Robot Girlfriend and is available at any fine ebook store absolutely free. The new adventure His Robot Wife is just 99 cents, again, where fine ebooks are sold.
I am not an obsessive person by any stretch of the imagination, but if there is anything I obsess over, it is whether my books are selling. I check my sales daily. It’s not about money. I guess you could call it pride. Writing is still a hobby for me, but someday in the distant future, I’d like it to at least supplement my retirement.
I have been selling more than a book a day on average for a while now. I also knew that His Robot Wife would be guaranteed to sell. After all, His Robot Girlfriend has been downloaded over 100,000 times. Of course, it’s free. In the first two weeks His Robot Wife has sold 46 books, and its not even in iBooks or Barnes and Noble or Kobo yet (HOPEFULLY SOON).
I have to say that it’s a really good feeling to get up in the morning and know that I will sell some books that day. My personal goal is to sell 8,000 copies of His Robot Wife in the first year. I’ll let you know how that goes.
His Robot Wife hit the iBook Store last night at about 8PM. It will be a nervewracking couple of months before I find out how it is selling. That’s one great benefit of publishing at the Kindle Store.
On a related note, His Robot Girlfriend, which was number 1 on the Free Science Fiction and Fantasy charts at iBooks, dropped to number 7. I can’t feel too bad about it since numbers 1-6 are all Star Wars books.
For those fans of His Robot Girlfriend, there is now a facebook page devoted to the book. In your Facebook profile under Arts and Entertainment, just list His Robot Girlfriend as one of the books you like and it will pop up in the correct box.
If you haven’t read it, just remember you can get the free ebook of His Robot Girlfriend at http://amathar.blogspot.com/, for Kindle, Nook, and any other reader.
Review by: A. M. Harte on Jan. 06, 2011 :
Middle-aged widower Mike Smith teaches by day and vegetates in front of the TV by night. His life is dull, uneventful. But the humdrum routine is broken when he sees an ad for a Daffodil robot and, on impulse, he splurges on a sexy female robot that can be anything and everything he wants it to be. Mike’s life will never be the same again.
His Robot Girlfriend is set in a not-too-distant future where androids are commonplace, working as waiters, cleaners, gardeners, and more besides. The world is interesting and realistic; the author has put careful thought into the small details, which makes it all the more believable. While I found a few of those details niggling — such as TVs being called vueTees — for the most part the setting of the novel is very immersive.
It certainly helps that the characters are likable: it isn’t so difficult to empathize with Mike’s life as a middle school teacher, and Patience (the android) has an endearing, quirky personality — although I must admit a large part of her charm comes from the fact that she’s not human.
But perhaps the characters are too likeable. Far from being an exploration of the moral issues behind androids and human/robot love, His Robot Girlfriend is a light-hearted romance about two nice individuals whose only wish is to please the other. Of course, given the differences between them (and Mike’s stereotypical maleness), making each other happy is no easy task.
I have to confess that I wasn’t expecting a romance, which somewhat coloured my impression of the book. I was a little disappointed that the novel did not cover any of the expected android themes in any depth, besides in small scenes such as Patience being offended when a waiter calls her an ‘it’, and her not being allowed to gamble in Las Vegas. The concept of the story is interesting, but there is so much more it could offer.
I suppose the main critique I would have of His Robot Girlfriend is that there wasn’t much substance to the plot. While I enjoyed Allison’s vision of a possible future, the story lacks conflict; the two potential challenges Mike would have had to overcome were quickly resolved, and my expectations that the story would develop into something fuller were not met.
Allison’s writing style is perhaps a little choppy, and takes some getting used to, but overall I was impressed by the quality of this ebook. For something free, Wesley Allison has produced a respectable book, and I would be curious to check out his future releases.
In sum, I enjoyed reading His Robot Girlfriend for its unusual vision of the future, although the plot itself is a little thin on the ground. It’s a light-hearted, quick read (I raced through it in one sitting), and I’d recommend it to fans of fluffy HEA science fiction romance.
His Robot Girlfriend is one step closer– or in the case of this robot, many steps.
by foober on Feedbooks.com
Gads.
There’s at least two more books in exploring this story (and ever-so-optimistic romance). Not to mention the potential conspiracy theory angle. Please don’t give up on it!
Without spoiling anything, as a father, I have to say I got tears in my eyes precisely where you expect. It did feel that this rich vein was left unexplored. What really happened?
Hats off Wesley! Very much enjoyed!
by senthusiast on Feedbooks.com
Cute story. A nice light read for me. I enjoyed it.
by: Talisman on Smashwords.com
This book is the first book that i read on my new kobo e-reader. I have to admit the story was real engaging from the very beginning. And I am glad that the story did not follow standard android type plots and moral dilemma’s (Ok maybe the main character had a little guilt about her but not much) With that said the ending was great but very fast, I am with a few questions at the end- Perhaps intended by the author – the basic question i think is it different to fall in love with a “hive” robot- or one with individual quirks and free-will?
by: Charles Brentner on Smashwords.com
I enjoyed this story. What man hasn’t wanted to have the perfect fantasy woman at one time or another. I agree that a sequel would be nice. The characters are well established in “His Robot Girlfriend” and it would be interesting to explore more of what could happen in the world that Mr. Allison has created in this book.
by Awsome on iBooks
A must read !!! It’s also free!!!!!!
by Joel Noriel on iBooks
The book will start slow but this book really shows what the future could look like which isn’t all that much different from our own. But it is a fantastic tale which captivated me in more ways than one. I love this book and if there is a second book I’m sure I won’t be disaapoint.
by Me 4412 on iBooks
Couldn’t put it down. Can’t wait for the next one!!!
Review by: Kevin Lewis on Nov. 12, 2010 : 5 Stars
This book is very well written, with likable characters. It’s a quick fun read for when you are pressed for time. It could use a bit more rounding out, to make the story a little fuller, but still very enjoyable. Thank you for sharing your work with us, and keep up the good work!!
Review by: Talisman on Nov. 11, 2010 : 5 Stars
This book is the first book that i read on my new kobo e-reader. I have to admit the story was real engaging from the very beginning. And I am glad that the story did not follow standard android type plots and moral dilemma’s (Ok maybe the main character had a little guilt about her but not much) With that said the ending was great but very fast, I am with a few questions at the end- Perhaps intended by the author – the basic question i think is it different to fall in love with a “hive” robot- or one with individual quirks and free-will?
Review by: Charles Brentner on Oct. 11, 2010 : 5 Stars
I enjoyed this story. What man hasn’t wanted to have the perfect fantasy woman at one time or another. I agree that a sequel would be nice. The characters are well established in “His Robot Girlfriend” and it would be interesting to explore more of what could happen in the world that Mr. Allison has created in this book.
Review by: S. K. on Sep. 19, 2010 : 5 Stars
i loved this book! i downloaded it to my phone to read when i had time to kill, and some times it would be a month span before i picked it up again but it was so well written that i had no trouble getting right back into it again. i am honestly excited to read another book from this author. and hope that he puts out a second to this one.
His Robot Girlfriend has officially been downloaded 75,000 times. In fact, I’m a little late with this because it’s already past 76,000. 64,000 downloads from Feedbooks.com alone, where HRG remains the #3 all time download. It is also available for download from Smashwords, B&N, Borders, Manybooks, Kobo, iBooks, Diesel, Sony, and Obooko. Also note that this is a free download, so no money made from it. 😦 But hopefully people will purchase my other books.
Robot Soul by James Fink. $2.99 from Smashwords.com
In the year 2015, household robot helpers are as common as electrical appliances. The overabundance of pollution and traffic has driven people out of the big metropolises into smaller suburbs much like Greenview, Il where the nation’s largest producer of these robots, Armonk Enterprises, reside. The town will be shaken by an unforeseen occurrence. One of the best selling machines, the BTX-20 kills
If I were casting His Robot Girlfriend right now, who would I pick to play the parts? For Mike, I would probably go with Collin Firth. Stay tuned for my choice for Patience.
City of Amathar 