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Paul Clayton
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Talk to a Real, Live Girl: And Other Stories Kindle Edition

by Paul Clayton (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 18 ratings
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2021 !WINNER! in Science Fiction -- Los Angeles Book Festival! Readers’ Favorite 5 Star review: Talk to a Real, Live Girl And Other Stories by Paul Clayton is a short collection of light sci-fi tales. The flagship story is Talk to a Real, Live Girl. Disillusioned with the extreme societal and political changes on Earth and a ruined relationship, Alex leaves home to work at a mine on Kratos, a distant planet. Kratos also offers some free time diversions, one being particularly appealing to men far from home; robot females who are perfect and always willing. Alex has no real interest in them, despite his loneliness. Then, one day he meets Traci, a “real, live” girl. Do Alex and Traci have any real hope of a future together? In the next story, The Lawn, Bob Hanlon struggles mightily to come to terms with his forced retirement and the strange presence that seems to have taken up residence in his overgrown yard. In the third story, Happy Acres, a couple finds their new life on Mars less perfect than what they had been promised. Finally, the first two chapters of a novel-in-progress about the fabled Lost Colony of Roanoke complete this collection of stories. In Talk to a Real, Live Girl And Other Stories by Paul Clayton, readers find entertaining stories that almost read like episodes of beloved classic sci-fi TV series. The main story, a poignant tale of loss, new possibilities, and adventure, makes some subtle, near humorous observations about contemporary American society and what the future could hold. The other two stories, while lighter fare and shorter, are no less interesting. These stories are a quick, enjoyable read, and Paul Clayton has a talent for immersing readers almost immediately in their narrative, including the bonus chapters at the end. Any message the author is trying to convey does not get in the way of the basic flow of the stories, which is a desirable feature. He also draws attention to other stories he has written, and readers will find themselves willing to invest time in reading these. Alex has fled a broken marriage and a society on Earth grown hostile toward men. Landing on the mining planet, Kratos, known to its male work force as “Boyz Wurld,” he hopes to lose himself in hard work, drinking, and the illusion of female companionship provided by robots. Will that be enough? In time, Alex finds himself longing to Talk to a Real, Live Girl. Predictably, there aren’t many on Kratos. Then he finds Traci, as well as the dream of a new beginning back on Earth—a normal life—if only the forces controlling Kratos will permit it.A genuine love story, Talk to a Real, Live Girl explores consequences of a #MeToo movement run amok, and of adaptations brave individuals may be forced to make.
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  1. Print length
    143 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    February 4, 2019
  5. File size
    1043 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07NDNZ1YF
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Amazon KDP (February 4, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 4, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1043 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 143 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.8 3.8 out of 5 stars 18 ratings

About the author

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Paul Clayton

Paul Clayton

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Paul Clayton is the author of a three-book historical series on the Spanish Conquest of the Floridas-- Calling Crow, Flight of the Crow, and Calling Crow Nation (Putnam/Berkley), and a novel, Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam (St. Martin's Press), based on his own experiences in that war.

Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam was a finalist at the 2001 Frankfurt eBook Awards, along with works by Joyce Carol Oates (Faithless), David McCullough (John Adams), and Alan Furst (The Kingdom of Shadows).

Clayton's historical novel -- White Seed: The Untold Story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke -- explores the mystery of the vanished English colonists on Roanoke Island. His realistic contemporary novel, In the Shape of a Man, explores the dark side of the go-go lifestyle of turn-of-the-century Silicon Valley workers.

Clayton's collection of traditional sci-fi and fantasy stories, Strange Worlds, pays homage to the sci-fi greats. Clayton’s novel, Van Ripplewink: You Can’t Go Home Again, is a modern twist on the classic Rip Van Winkle story, that wades into America’s current socio-racial dysfunction. Clayton's novella, Crossing Over, tells the story of the 2nd American civil war. His latest sci-fi collection, Talk to a Real, Live Girl, tells of a future world where the MeToo movement and the sophistication of robotic companions... collide with unforeseen and astounding consequences.

Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5 stars
3.8 out of 5
18 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Donald Brown
4.0 out of 5 stars Literary Sci-Fi
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2022
Verified Purchase
Loneliness, longing for love, and exploring whether it's possible to flee from your problems--these are some of the themes found in the main story. And these fundamentally human challenges are what makes it not just sci-fi, but actual literature. The other stories in this anthology are also literary sci-fi for similar reasons.

In "Talk to a Real, Live Girl," Alex is a fresh arrival on the planet Kratos and is beginning his new mining job. The pay is solid, there is plenty of entertainment and recreation, lots of other guys his age are there, and perfectly lifelike robotic women are always available for companionship and more. But none of these things are why Alex is really on Kratos. Instead, he left Earth because he is running away from the pain of a shattered life.

While on this distant planet, he finds Traci, an actual woman whom he can pay for conversation and interaction (physical contact is forbidden). And from here the heart of the story forms, with the above-mentioned themes (and more) being explored more fully.

Two other tales appear in the anthology. First is "The Lawn," which is the one I most enjoyed. Indeed, "The Lawn" is probably my favorite selection of the book. In it, an aging guy's overgrown back yard serves as a metaphor. Does his inability to maintain it and keep nature at bay mean he no longer is a man? Are the seemingly irrational fears that are keeping him from doing such a simple task a sign that he also is losing his mind? Or is there something more going on?

"Happy Acres" is another good tale. It's darkly humorous and its overall tone makes it seem like it could've been a missing story from Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles."

I know the author of "Talk to a Real, Live Girl: And Other Stories." However, I bought the book (paperback) without him requesting me to do so. It's a solid purchase for anyone interested in sci-fi, particularly because it transcends the genre and rises into being a literate read.
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D.M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Futuristic tale of men being men after earth is taken over by "the women."
Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2019
Paul Clayton has a real gift, in that he creates characters readers come to care about and empathize with no matter the setting or subject of the work.

In this offering, Clayton gives us Alex, who having lost the right to have contact with his young daughter due to the unfair female-controlled system on earth, takes a job on the planet Kratos, where the only females he expects to see are robots.

Depending on which character you're looking at, the planet Kratos is everything from a non-stop party with gaming and the buying of sex from female bots to an escape hatch where a man can work the weeks away trying to forget the hurt he endured back on earth.

Over the course of this novella, readers discover that an earth under the complete control of women is not better, or easier, or more fair, but in fact a place where very few human beings would choose to live. Yet Clayton is merely following the militant feminists and their culture war to its logical conclusion.

Kratos came alive for me as I read this book. Clayton has a knack for engaging readers and allowing them to live in the story. I could see the arcades where men spent their evenings finding "female" companionship with bots. I could feel Alex's pain when he remembered his little daughter as he spent evenings alone in his apartment, wishing for "real" female companionship.

And when he did find "a real live girl" I cheered for them both.

However the above themes are only part of the story. There is a force of darkness on Kratos, and this darkness does not allow Alex and the other characters any real freedom, despite the games, the bots, and even the horses that can be rented and ridden on a pretty part of the planet.

This is a work like no other--a look into a horrific future where some men actually do become caricatures of "toxic masculinity", not because they were born that way, but because women, in their quest to climb to the top, create a society where its almost impossible for men to do anything else.
2 people found this helpful
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Craig Bodeker
5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking and cleverly subversive stories
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2019
TALK TO A REAL LIVE GIRL AND OTHER STORIES is a book that is modest in size but substantial in ideas. In the title story, that reads like a good sci-fi movie, Alex begins a new job as a space miner, but the sex-bots just aren't doing it for him.
Just as in Clayton's other novels and collections, he uses sly and subversive humor to weave four, fascinating short stories featuring honest, well-written characters drawn into chilling, yet entirely plausible situations. Each story is as thoughtful as it is entertaining.
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A great science fiction story
Reviewed in Canada on March 6, 2022
Verified Purchase
In this small collection. The longest story in the book, "Talk to a Real Live Girl" is one of the best short stories to come about in years.
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