
The Artificial Kid
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $20.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Fajer Al-Kaisi
-
By:
-
Bruce Sterling
About this listen
In a future world of rampant inequality, a martial-arts video star finds himself in a real fight for survival, in this novel by the author of Schismatrix.
Founded centuries ago by the enigmatic genius Moses Moses, the planet Reverie can either be heaven or hell, depending on whether you live on or above it. The superrich orbit the world in luxury abodes, keeping their sometimes-lethal ennui at bay by watching homemade sex and violence videos created by the peons dwelling on the coral continents miles beneath them. The most popular entertainer of all is the Artificial Kid, an unbeatable combat artist whose bloody, self-produced martial arts videos have made him beloved both above and below. But the Kid is about to stumble onto something no one was ever meant to discover—a mind-boggling conspiracy of science and antiquity that forces him to run for his life into the strange and dangerous wilderness known as the Mass. And when Moses returns to Reverie after seven hundred years of cryogenic sleep, things are about to get much worse.
Written long before the era of YouTube, Ultimate Fighting, and reality TV, Bruce Sterling’s prescient, thoughtful, and wildly satiric novel previews the nascent cyberpunk sensibilities of the acclaimed author’s later works.
©1980 Bruce Sterling (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Involution Ocean
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The powerful narcotic syncophine, commonly known as Flare, comes from only one source: the oil of the gargantuan whale-like beasts that swim the dust sea of Nullaqua. It was John Newhouse’s addiction to the substance that made him a dealer and forced him to move to this airless, inhospitable planet. But when the all-powerful galactic Confederacy declares Flare illegal, the needs of Newhouse and his clientele leave the desperate off-worlder no choice but to sign on as an able seaman aboard a dustwhaler and hunt the giant creatures himself.
-
-
I miss Bruce Sterling
- By Amazon Customer on 06-26-22
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Snow Crash
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.
-
-
A solid sci-fi novel
- By Brent on 02-05-03
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Heavy Weather
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Storm Troupers are a group of weather hackers who roam the plains of Texas and Oklahoma, hopped up on adrenaline and technology. Utilizing virtual reality, flying robots, and all-terrain vehicles, they collect data on the extreme storms ravaging an America decimated by climate change. But even their visionary leader can’t predict the danger on the horizon when a volatile new member joins their ranks and faces a trial by fire: a massive tornado unlike any the world has seen before.
-
-
good writing, little story
- By Jan O'Neill on 08-13-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Holy Fire
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late twenty-first century, technology has lengthened lifespans far beyond what was once medically possible. Existence itself has become relatively easy - if boring. In this futuristic paradise, ninety-four-year-old Mia Ziemann longs for something different and undergoes a radical new treatment that restores both her body and mind to that of a twenty-year-old. After her dramatic transformation, Mia finds herself lost in an avant-garde world of passion, designer drugs, and creative expression...
-
-
Prescient
- By John D. Furber on 12-10-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Islands in the Net
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Rebecca Mozo
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two decades into the twenty-first century, the world’s nations are becoming irrelevant. Corporations are the true global powers, with information the most valuable currency, while the smaller island nations have become sanctuaries for data pirates and terrorists. A globe-trotting PR executive for the large corporate economic democracy Rizome Industries Group, Laura Webster is present when a foreign representative is assassinated on Rizome soil during a conference for offshore data havens.
-
-
Bruce said this audiobook would never happen.
- By Aaron K. Clark on 03-07-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Schismatrix Plus
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Pavi Proczko
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed science fiction luminary and a godfather of the genre’s remarkable offspring - cyberpunk - Bruce Sterling carries readers to a far-future universe where stunning achievements in human development have been tainted by a virulent outbreak of prejudice and hatred.
-
-
Sci-fi should be weird but...
- By Ryan H. on 02-11-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Involution Ocean
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The powerful narcotic syncophine, commonly known as Flare, comes from only one source: the oil of the gargantuan whale-like beasts that swim the dust sea of Nullaqua. It was John Newhouse’s addiction to the substance that made him a dealer and forced him to move to this airless, inhospitable planet. But when the all-powerful galactic Confederacy declares Flare illegal, the needs of Newhouse and his clientele leave the desperate off-worlder no choice but to sign on as an able seaman aboard a dustwhaler and hunt the giant creatures himself.
-
-
I miss Bruce Sterling
- By Amazon Customer on 06-26-22
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Snow Crash
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Neal Stephenson is a blazing new force on the sci-fi scene. With the groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, he has "vaulted onto the literary stage." It weaves virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility - in short, it is the gigathriller of the information age.
-
-
A solid sci-fi novel
- By Brent on 02-05-03
By: Neal Stephenson
-
Heavy Weather
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Storm Troupers are a group of weather hackers who roam the plains of Texas and Oklahoma, hopped up on adrenaline and technology. Utilizing virtual reality, flying robots, and all-terrain vehicles, they collect data on the extreme storms ravaging an America decimated by climate change. But even their visionary leader can’t predict the danger on the horizon when a volatile new member joins their ranks and faces a trial by fire: a massive tornado unlike any the world has seen before.
-
-
good writing, little story
- By Jan O'Neill on 08-13-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Holy Fire
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the late twenty-first century, technology has lengthened lifespans far beyond what was once medically possible. Existence itself has become relatively easy - if boring. In this futuristic paradise, ninety-four-year-old Mia Ziemann longs for something different and undergoes a radical new treatment that restores both her body and mind to that of a twenty-year-old. After her dramatic transformation, Mia finds herself lost in an avant-garde world of passion, designer drugs, and creative expression...
-
-
Prescient
- By John D. Furber on 12-10-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Islands in the Net
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Rebecca Mozo
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two decades into the twenty-first century, the world’s nations are becoming irrelevant. Corporations are the true global powers, with information the most valuable currency, while the smaller island nations have become sanctuaries for data pirates and terrorists. A globe-trotting PR executive for the large corporate economic democracy Rizome Industries Group, Laura Webster is present when a foreign representative is assassinated on Rizome soil during a conference for offshore data havens.
-
-
Bruce said this audiobook would never happen.
- By Aaron K. Clark on 03-07-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
Schismatrix Plus
- By: Bruce Sterling
- Narrated by: Pavi Proczko
- Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Acclaimed science fiction luminary and a godfather of the genre’s remarkable offspring - cyberpunk - Bruce Sterling carries readers to a far-future universe where stunning achievements in human development have been tainted by a virulent outbreak of prejudice and hatred.
-
-
Sci-fi should be weird but...
- By Ryan H. on 02-11-21
By: Bruce Sterling
-
The Shockwave Rider
- By: John Brunner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nickie Haflinger had lived several lifetimes...but technically never existed. He was originally a fugitive from Tarnover, the incredibly powerful government think tank that educated him. First he had broken his identity code - then he made his escape. Now he needed to find a way to restore sanity and freedom to the computerized masses and save a world nearing the brink of disaster. He didn’t care how he accomplished this - but the government did. That’s when his Tarnover teachers took him back into their labs, where Nickie Haflinger was set up to receive a whole new education.
-
-
Best Science Fiction Writer Ever
- By Chonker on 07-23-21
By: John Brunner
-
Blade Runner
- Originally published as Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- By: Philip K. Dick
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was January 2021, and Rick Deckard had a license to kill. Somewhere among the hordes of humans out there lurked several rogue androids. Deckard's assignment: find them and then..."retire" them. Trouble was, the androids all looked exactly like humans, and they didn't want to be found!
-
-
This is the original Do Androids Dream of Electric
- By D. ABIGT on 08-29-10
By: Philip K. Dick
-
Termination Shock
- A Novel
- By: Neal Stephenson
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 22 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One man—visionary billionaire restaurant chain magnate T. R. Schmidt, Ph.D.—has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as “elemental.” But will it work? Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming.
-
-
The Men Who Shoot at Feral Hogs
- By Kindle Customer on 12-02-21
By: Neal Stephenson
-
When Gravity Fails
- Marid Audran Trilogy, Book 1
- By: George Alec Effinger
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a new kind of killer roams the streets of the Arab ghetto, a madman whose bootlegged personality cartridges range from a sinister James Bond to a sadistic disemboweler named Khan. And Marid Audrian has been made an offer he can't refuse.The 200-year-old godfather of the Budayeen's underworld has enlisted Marid as his instrument of vengeance. But first Marid must undergo the most sophisticated of surgical implants before he dares to confront a killer who carries the power of every psychopath since the beginning of time.
-
-
Neuromancer in the Middle East
- By David on 07-28-13
-
Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Rise of Kyoshi
- The Kyoshi Novels, Book 1
- By: F. C. Yee, Michael Dante DiMartino - contributor
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After years of searching for the next Avatar, the four nations have found peace with Avatar Yun - until Kyoshi, Yun’s friend and servant, demonstrates remarkable bending abilities herself. With the identity of the true Avatar at stake, Kyoshi and her fiery friend Rangi flee the Avatar mansion and find supporters in the daofei - outlaws living in the shadows of the Earth Kingdom. But while Kyoshi, Rangi, and their daofei friends face off against underworld rivals, those who seek to control the Avatar draw close.
-
-
Disappointed.... Not the Kyoshi I knew.
- By Daniel Lopez on 09-21-20
By: F. C. Yee, and others
-
Of Sea and Shadow
- The Elder Empire: Sea, Book 1
- By: Will Wight
- Narrated by: Travis Baldree
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Guild of Navigators has ruled the Aion Sea for centuries, using their fleet of mystical ships to collect trade for the Aurelian Empire. Now, the Emperor is dead. For Calder Marten, Captain of The Testament, the Emperor’s death is not an end, but an opportunity. He and his crew seek the legendary Heart of Nakothi, an artifact that could raise a second Emperor...and earn Calder a fortune. But they’re not the only ones who want the Heart. The Consultant’s Guild, an ancient order of spies and assassins, will stop at nothing to keep the world in chaos.
-
-
Harnessed Gibbering Mind Horrors
- By Matthew on 06-08-20
By: Will Wight
-
The Complete Circle Series
- Black/Red/White/Green
- By: Ted Dekker
- Narrated by: Rob Lamont, Tim Gregory
- Length: 52 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An epic tale of evil and rescue, betrayal and love, and a terrorist threat unlike anything the human race has ever known.
-
-
I have all ways loved this series
- By Dustin on 09-02-20
By: Ted Dekker
-
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
- A Novel
- By: Shannon Chakraborty
- Narrated by: Lameece Issaq, Amin El Gamal
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.
-
-
Not City of Brass, A Fun Swashbuckling Adventure
- By Pele on 03-23-23
-
Black Sun
- By: Rebecca Roanhorse
- Narrated by: Cara Gee, Nicole Lewis, Kaipo Schwab, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial even proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world. Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger.
-
-
5-star Concept; Too Many Threads Left Hanging
- By Lisa Davidson on 10-26-20
-
Flesh and Steel
- Warhammer Crime: Warhammer 40,000
- By: Guy Hayley
- Narrated by: James Macnaughton
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born into riches, Probator Symeon Noctis attempts to atone for his past sins by championing the powerless of Nearsteel district. But the sprawling city of Varangantua is uncaring of its masses, and when a bisected corpse is discovered in the neutral zone between Nearsteel and the Adeptus Mechanicus enclave of Steelmound, Noctis finds himself cast into his most dangerous case yet.
-
-
MORE!
- By Anonymous User on 11-05-20
By: Guy Hayley
-
The Age of Ra
- Pantheon, Book 1
- By: James Lovegrove
- Narrated by: Andy Cresswell
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Ancient Egyptian gods have defeated all the other pantheons and claimed dominion over the earth, dividing it into warring factions. Lt. David Westwynter, a British soldier, stumbles into Freegypt, the only place to have remained independent of the gods’ influence. There, he encounters the followers of a humanist leader known as the Lightbringer, who has vowed to rid mankind of the shackles of divine oppression. As the world heads towards an apocalyptic battle, there is far more to this freedom fighter than it seems.
-
-
Fun but trite
- By Patrick Quinn on 02-10-21
By: James Lovegrove
-
Unwind
- Unwind Dystology, Book 1
- By: Neal Shusterman
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After America’s Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement. According to their Bill of Life, human life may not be terminated from the moment of conception until the age of thirteen. But between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, the child may be gotten rid of by their parent through a process called “unwinding.”
-
-
Chilling, Scary, Difficult to Read
- By Joe on 11-11-20
By: Neal Shusterman
Critic reviews
“The Artificial Kid is a work of satirical social commentary with the breakneck pace of a Hong Kong action film.” (Amazon.com)
“Sterling is a writer of excellent fineness. In point of fact, I am somewhat awed by his abilities.” (Harlan Ellison)
“If you want a look at what the future might really be like, read Sterling.” (Gardner Dozois)
What listeners say about The Artificial Kid
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Adhaincroi
- 02-27-21
Outlandishly Boring
How can characters be so over the top and boring at the same time? Also, there is no real plot, just a bunch of unlikable characters wandering from scene to scene being unlikable. Waste of time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful