A trilogy of stories from the past, present and future, exploring friendship, bereavement, identity, and AI.
Meet me @
Whilst working at the reception of his local spa & beauty salon on the second anniversary of his best friend Sarah’s fatal accident, Kieron receives a mysterious phone call.
The Dialog Tree
Milton isn’t enjoying early retirement. His hopes of a rural idyll came partly true, but it’s not the same without his love. Milton had avoided the chatbots as Desiree wasn’t keen on a digital recreation unless Milton was the curator. Today, Milton is ready to take up the challenge, is he ready for the results?
Tia’s Inheritance
In an anonymous back alley in Zürich, 1847, Tia’s life is going nowhere fast. The daughter of a stage magician and Mer, the occasional supporting act, Tia’s life slowed when Mer went missing. When Tia receives a surprise marriage proposal her world is sent into a spin, then Mer returns.
A trilogy of stories from the past, present and future, exploring friendship, bereavement, identity, and AI.
Meet me @
Whilst working at the reception of his local spa & beauty salon on the second anniversary of his best friend Sarah’s fatal accident, Kieron receives a mysterious phone call.
The Dialog Tree
Milton isn’t enjoying early retirement. His hopes of a rural idyll came partly true, but it’s not the same without his love. Milton had avoided the chatbots as Desiree wasn’t keen on a digital recreation unless Milton was the curator. Today, Milton is ready to take up the challenge, is he ready for the results?
Tia’s Inheritance
In an anonymous back alley in Zürich, 1847, Tia’s life is going nowhere fast. The daughter of a stage magician and Mer, the occasional supporting act, Tia’s life slowed when Mer went missing. When Tia receives a surprise marriage proposal her world is sent into a spin, then Mer returns.
As Sarah quickly clambered over the stones and reached the edge, she didn't look back at her less than enthusiastic friend who had stumbled and fallen behind her.
"Look, Kieron, look! I'm on top of the world!"
Kieron, out of breath and exasperated at how much he was lagging behind his bestie, sucked some air back in his chest.
"Well…you're on top of Alvany edge, not quite the world is it."
Sarah launched into her best impression of her favourite online fitness guru as she started doing star jumps toward the edge, bouncing and laughing, seemingly without a care in the world.
"I made it to the top! The EDGE, Kieron. Hurry up over here, we can be on top of the world together! Hurry up, before the others get here."
Kieron wasn’t having it, he wasn’t rushing over the loose stones scattered around the edge. They weren’t built for his new trainers.
"I’m trying. I don't know how you stand like that, so close to the edge. It's just so..."
Sarah let out a huge laugh at her friend’s reluctance.
"Oh Kieron, I'm sorry for laughing. I just can't help it. It's just watching you struggle up here, it's like you're on your last breath or something."
Kieron had another spill over the stones and swore before replying.
"Thanks, Sarah. That's really supportive of you."
Sarah stopped bouncing about and was suddenly still. Curious even.
"Are you?"
Kieron replied quickly, without thinking.
"Am I what?"
"On your last breath? Or have you got more left??”
Kieron dusted himself off and rubbed his forearm. He suspected it was grazed, probably bleeding into the sleeve of his new fitted cardi. Kieron was starting to think this trip was a bad idea.
What We Don't Know About Our Friends is a collection of three short stories by the British author L Christie. While the three stories are separate to each other, the tales contain similar underlying themes surround love, friendship and what it means to be human in an increasingly digital age.
"Meet me @" follows the story of Kieron as he comes to terms with the loss of his close friend, Sarah. When Kieron starts receiving mysterious calls from Sarah's mobile phone, many are quick to dismiss him, but is it possible that Sarah's spirit still lives on?
"The Dialogue Tree" features two characters across the mortal and virtual divide. After losing his life partner, Milton turns to artificial intelligence to bring back his beloved Desiree. Whether he is ready for what this version of Desiree is another thing altogether.
Set in the backstreets of 1847 Zurich, "Tia's Inheritance" places the titled protagonist in the heart of emotional conflict, marry into money at the expense of happiness or escape, poor and isolated.
The premise of all three stories have potential, particularly "Tia's Inheritance" which could have been expanded to become a novel or novella in its own right. The story-telling itself is weakened in the places where the author, Christie, chooses to convey a lot of information by telling the readers what is happening, unknowingly skipping over swathes of detail in the process. There is a distinct lack of place setting in all three stories, information which makes the stories feel hurried at times and disconnected from the locations which feel a bit flat.
The book's opening has trigger warnings that, in my view, never fully come to pass. For example, it is suggested that themes of homosexual awakenings are addressed in the book, yet the one place where this is possibly alluded to is so vague it would be easy to overlook it altogether. The precursor to "Tia Inheritance", a reader warning to not to consume poisonous berries, also feels like a statement that should not be needed in a book written for adults.
There are elements of nice storytelling in What We Don't Know About Our Friends, a book that needed better place setting to score higher than 3 stars.
AEB Reviews