A Review by krazydiamond of Everyone Died and My IPhone Stopped Working:
An oral history of the robot apocalypse by AaronRubicon
Writing comedy is damn difficult. I would say it's harder than telling a joke to an audience. Face to face, you can read a person's facial expression and see the physical evidence if your humor worked or not. Comedy on paper leaves a lot more to chance.
Done well, with a smattering of satire, the occasional pun, and a steaming pile of wit, comic writing will have you laughing loudly in inappropriately settings while your coworkers back away slowly. In searching for stories to review for this issue, I found myself in this situation several times. Then there was this one.
There were several memorable passages I read out loud until the two of us were cackling like hyenas. I'm sure from the front window we appeared quite unhinged, but Everyone Died is that kind of story.
Told in survivors' accounts in a style similar to World War Z, Rubicon is both character and narrator of the robot apocalypse. With his trusty Lucas, and two (possibly three) Pulitzers collecting dust, he sets out to reveal how robots destroyed the world, and what humans did and didn't do to help that along. There are many delightfully tongueincheek nods to the zombie apocalypse that never was, plus pokes at consumerism and the general self centered/selfserving attitude of humans.
Everyone Died also achieves what I think is vital in comic science fiction. It makes a rather dark scenario hilarious. It is easy to see the doom and gloom side of artificial intelligence being the downfall of mankind. We have about fifty movies that do just that. How many portray the A.I.'s with sassy personalities in an argument where done tries to out zing the other? Not enough.
I learned many things reading this story. For one, the Amish possible had the right idea all along. Plus the significance of hedgehogs, to never trust squirrels in large numbers, and the true worth of toilet paper. There was also possibly the best insult I've read in quite some time that was worth a solid five minutes of snorts and giggles.
So, keep an eye on the skies, stock up those supplies, and find yourself a 'Lucas'.
The Robot Apocalypse is here and it's a riot.