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eBook Category: Science Fiction Nebula Award(R) Winner, Sturgeon Award Nominee
eBook Description: A child's perfect world is interrupted when he learns his body died and his brainscan is just a computer program ... and his family is using an AI interface to pretend everything is normal.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Not of Women Born, 1999
Fictionwise Release Date: January 2001

This eBook is also available in the following bundle(s):

• 2001 Nebula Award(R) Nominee Bundle

866 Reader Ratings:

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Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: eReader (PDB) [45 KB] , ePub (EPUB) [37 KB] , Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [32 KB] , Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [138 KB] , Palm Doc (PDB) [33 KB] , Microsoft Reader (LIT) [48 KB] , Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [101 KB] , hiebook (KML) [113 KB] , Sony Reader (LRF) [63 KB] , iSilo (PDB) [28 KB] , Mobipocket (PRC) [35 KB] , Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [63 KB] , OEBFF Format (IMP) [51 KB]
Words: 10327
Reading time: 29-41 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Here is a story with many levels. On the surface, it is a story of death and a family's efforts to deal with it. From a different angle, it's a story of growing through adolescence. The main character is a boy who lives in a perfect boy's world. Mr. Jeepers waves hello as he passes, the sky is pumpkin orange, and his home is full of toys. But, as the boy grows, he starts to realize that things are not as they seem, and he isn't where he thought he was. This is a fine piece of work - the first one I've read by Walter Jon Williams. I'll certainly be looking for more. -Scott Danielson, Fictionwise Recommender

What if you lived in a perfect world filled with fun and imagination and learning? A land without crime or hatred or pain in which no one ever died? Would this "perfect" world really be so perfect? And in whose eyes? Daddy's World by Walter Jon Williams is a fascinating tale of a fantasy world that's perhaps too good to be true. Are never-ending innocence and a lack of change or growth really all they're cracked up to be? And how healthy is it to keep a child from having any knowledge of the real world outside? Whether the world he creates is heaven or hell, Williams is a master at imagery, bringing the reader through a cycle of emotions that few authors can establish in a lengthy novel, let alone a short story. Daddy's World is a surprisingly emotional tale well worth a read. -Amy Poppenga, Fictionwise Recommender

"Help!" Jamie screamed. "Mister Jeepers! Mr. Fuzzy! Help my Momma!" Tears fell down his face as he ran from Becky to Momma to Daddy, tugging and pulling at them, wrapping his arms around their frozen legs and trying to pull them toward him. He ran outside, but everything was curiously still. No wind blew. Mister Jeepers sat on the ridgepole, a broad smile fixed as usual to his face, but he was frozen, too, and did not respond to Jamie's calls.

Terror pursued him back into the house. This was far worse than anything that had happened to him in the hospital, worse even than the pain. Jamie ran into the living room, where his family stood still as statues, and then recoiled in horror. A stranger had entered the room--or rather just parts of a stranger, a pair of hands encased in black gloves with strange silver circuit patterns on the backs, and a strange glowing opalescent face with a pair of wraparound dark glasses drawn across it like a line.

"Interface crashed, all right," the stranger said, as if to someone Jamie couldn't see.

Jamie gave a scream. He ran behind Momma's legs for protection.

"Oh shit," the stranger said. "The kid's still running."