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    For Want of a Nail
    For Want of a Nail
    For Want of a Nail
    Ebook53 pages45 minutes

    For Want of a Nail

    By Mary Robinette Kowal

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    "For Want of a Nail" is the 2011 Hugo award-winning short story by Mary Robinette Kowal. This science-fiction short story explores the choices that an AI and her wrangler must make to solve a seemingly simple technical problem. The catch is that they are on a generation ship, and the resources are limited.

    Also in this edition, is bonus material that includes author's notes as well as a look at the writing process. The original and unedited first draft of this story has a completely different plot. Read it and the brainstorming notes to get a peek into the creative process.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMary Robinette Kowal
    Release dateApr 28, 2011
    ISBN9781458088710
    For Want of a Nail
    Author

    Mary Robinette Kowal

    Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning alternate history novel, The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series. She is also the author of The Glamourist Histories series and Ghost Talkers and has received the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, four Hugo Awards, the Nebula, and Locus Awards. Her stories appear in Asimov’s, Uncanny, and several Year’s Best anthologies. Mary Robinette has also worked as a professional puppeteer, is a member of the Award-winning podcast Writing Excuses, and performs as a voice actor (SAG/AFTRA), recording fiction for authors including Seanan McGuire, Cory Doctorow, and Neal Stephenson. She lives in Tennessee with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters.

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    Reviews for For Want of a Nail

    3.5/5

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    • 3/5
      A short story focusing on the hazards of working with legacy equipment, set within a hinted context of a highly-controlled social structure. An AI wrangler discovers (in the course of repairing it) that her AI may be more independent and less honest than she thought. This story acquired additional resonance as I thought about it and realised I'd missed the point, which is that the AI is the most human character in the tale - if only because it has been programmed to be so. The humans live by a set of rules/standards that are applied ruthlessly; there is no personal or ethical framework to challenge those rules. They behave like machines in order to survive their multi-generational journey; the AI can be programmed to obey new rules. All of which is an interesting (if not new) idea at the core, but doesn't win any extra stars as I don't think the execution is entirely successful. I like my short stories to pack a punch; this one was more like shadow boxing. It's a diverting read, but not a particularly engaging or fulfilling one.My edition includes the original draft of the story. It's flawed, but I think Kowal is hard on herself - it has some good ingredients (if some awkward writing and a pedestrian action climax) and the setting is as potentially interesting as in the final edition. It is interesting to see how the story evolved from initial brainstorming notes to first draft to award winning completion.

    Book preview

    For Want of a Nail - Mary Robinette Kowal

    For Want of a Nail

    by Mary Robinette Kowal

    Published by Mary Robinette Kowal at Smashwords

    For Want of a Nail ©2010 by Mary Robinette Kowal

    Unthread the Rude Eye ©2008 by Mary Robinette Kowal

    All other content ©2011 by Mary Robinette Kowal

    The cover illustration, For Want of a Nail is by Mary Robinette Kowal after Charles Dana Gibson.

    ©2011 by Mary Robinette Kowal

    For more information, visit http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    For Want of a Nail

    Author's Note

    Unthread the Rude Eye, 1st draft

    Brainstorming Notes from Unthread the Rude Eye

    About the Author

    Introduction

    For Want of a Nail by Mary Robinette Kowal, originally appeared in the September 2010 issue of Asimov's Magazine. It became a finalist for the Hugo award for short story in 2011. However, the story started out with a very different plot. All that remains are two characters and one scene. The first draft of that original story, Unthread the Rude Eye is included, with author commentary, for your amusement.

    For Want of A Nail

    With one hand, Rava adjusted the VR interface glasses where they bit into the bridge of her nose, while she kept her other hand buried in Cordelia’s innards. There was scant room to get the flexible shaft of a mono-lens and her hand through the access hatch in the AI’s chassis. From the next compartment, drums and laughter bled through the plastic walls of the ship, indicating her sister’s conception party was still in full swing.

    With only a single camera attached, the interface glasses didn’t give Rava depth perception as she struggled to replug the transmitter cable. The chassis had not been designed to need repair. At all. It had been designed to last hundreds of years without an upgrade.

    If Rava couldn’t get the cable plugged in and working, Cordelia wouldn’t be able to download backups of herself to her long-term memory. She couldn’t store more than a week at a time in active memory. It would be the same as a slow death sentence.

    The square head of the cable slipped out of Rava’s fingers. Again. Dammit! She slammed her heel against the ship’s floor in frustration.

    If you can’t do it, let someone else try. Her older brother, Ludoviko, had insisted on following her out of the party as if he could help.

    You know, this would go a lot faster if you weren’t breathing down my neck.

    You know, you wouldn’t be doing this at all if you hadn’t dropped her.

    Rava resisted the urge to pull the mono-lens out of the jack in her glasses and glare at him. He might have gotten better marks in school, but she was the AI’s wrangler. Why don’t you go back to the party and see if you can learn something about fertility? She lifted the cable head and tried one more time.

    Why, you little— Rage choked his voice, more than she had expected from a random slam. She made a guess that his appeal to the repro-council didn’t go well.

    Cordelia’s voice cut in, stopping what he was going to say. "It’s not Rava’s fault.

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