Kowal's Hugo-nominated story "Evil Robot Monkey" as a Creative Commons audiobook, PDF

Hugo nominee Mary Robinette Kowal sez, "I released 'Evil Robot Monkey,' which is one of the short story Hugo nominees, as a Creative Commons licensed audio and pdf.

(As an object of curiosity, I illustrated the pdf. I was an art major back in the day and this is the way I kept myself amused while waiting for the Hugo ballot to be officially announced.)"

Sliding his hands over the clay, Sly relished the moisture oozing around his fingers. The clay matted down the hair on the back of his hands making them look almost human. He turned the potter's wheel with his prehensile feet as he shaped the vase. Pinching the clay between his fingers he lifted the wall of the vase, spinning it higher.

Someone banged on the window of his pen. Sly jumped and then screamed as the vase collapsed under its own weight. He spun and hurled it at the picture window like feces. The clay spattered against the Plexiglas, sliding down the window.


In the courtyard beyond the glass, a group of school kids leapt back, laughing. One of them swung his arms aping Sly crudely. Sly bared his teeth, knowing these people would take it as a grin, but he meant it as a threat. Swinging down from his stool, he crossed his room in three long strides and pressed his dirty hand against the window. Still grinning, he wrote SSA. Outside, the letters would be reversed.


Evil Robot Monkey

(Thanks, Mary!)