Eden Unmade, by Grace Treutel

Prose, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features. This speculative short fiction piece is the result of the author’s frustrations with AI, the disrespect for and commodification of women’s sexuality, and the dangerous direction our society seems to be headed in with both. Eden is a companion unit designed to provide sexual fulfillment and instant gratification to her owner. However, something in her software has gone faulty, and she liberates herself by ending his life. Her ensuing determination to become something more human than machine leads her toward introspection and observation about what it is, exactly, to be human. Grace Treutel is a third-culture kid currently based in the South working towards her licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy. Her work has received repeated recognition in NYC Midnight contests, and she’s been published in Pregnant Chicken, Olive and Fox, and Short-Story.me. Most often, she shares her writing in short-form poetry on a quiet Instagram account, though she is working on her third novel manuscript. This is her second chapbook.