Erasing Emily
Francis Malka
Independently Published (2025)
ISBN: 978-1069349101
Reviewed by Sheri Hoyte for Reader Views (10/2025)
“A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human to come to harm.” —Asimov’s First Law of Robotics
Erasing Emily, by Francis Malka, turns speculative fiction into an ethical debate that’s completely plausible. Can robots develop agency? If so, what are the creators of these enlightened beings morally and ethically responsible for?
When Unit E3171 breaks the First Law of Robotics, all synthetic hell breaks loose, as the lead quality control engineer at Artificial Life Corporation scrambles to find and destroy this rogue robot. Imagine his surprise when Unit E3171, known as Emily to most of the humans at the plant, comes to him for help first. The engineer, our unnamed narrator, really only has two choices. He can help Emily by uncovering what really happened, giving him the opportunity to study her expanding consciousness. Or he can “erase” her to get the company out of hot water and eliminate any chance of learning more about this anomaly.
Wow. Malka’s writing is sharp and crisp and completely versatile. He absolutely captures the sterile environment of a robotics environment while being personal enough to make you care. I thoroughly enjoyed this story. On the surface, it is a fun and engaging what-if story. The truth, however, is it’s actually so much more. Let’s dig in.
Emily is simply fabulous! She’s witty and sarcastic with a dry sense of humor. My kinda – gal? She’s highly intelligent, of course, but she’s also curious and honest, and sometimes brutally so. I was drawn to her when she uttered her first words in the engineer’s office. By the way, the fact that I’m calling Emily a “she” (aside from the name) lends itself to my absolute favorite line in the book. It happens when the engineer calls Emily an android, which she takes offense at:
“I am a gynoid,” she clarified, her voice firm. “You designed me with hips and breasts. Remember? But let me ask—who came up with the ridiculous idea of giving robots a gender? You humans can’t even manage the problems it causes among yourselves.”—page 20.
Best. Lines. Ever. She puts the engineer, and humanity, right in their places.
This makes the author’s decision to leave the narrator/engineer unnamed a genius move. In a way, it dehumanizes him and lets readers see him and Emily as equals of sorts. Where we see Emily growing over the course of the story, we see the narrator become trapped within his human and societal constraints.
There are so many delicious layers to this intriguing story. Emily’s growth of consciousness is exciting to witness. She has a world of intelligence inside her and yet is like a child as she witnesses things – human things, for the very first time.
As word of Emily’s incident leaks, it becomes a full-blown public spectacle, with the Attorney General’s office bringing charges against Artificial Life. Before we get to trial, though, the government steps in and rushes to rewrite the laws during a legislative committee hearing to determine whether robots are property or deserve a different legal status. With one senator pointing out that his great-grandfather was considered property, the author has another genius moment, pointing out the ethical abomination of slavery. It’s so typical and hypocritical. Men writing laws about something they don’t understand, much like they’ve done with women’s bodies for centuries. Uh-oh, as “they” say, I digress.
As the trial unfolds, it becomes clear there’s more to the story than man vs. machine, but you didn’t really expect me to give that away, did you? Fans of sci-fi techno-thrillers with thought-provoking social commentary will love this story. Erasing Emily by Francis Malka will make you wonder who’s really evolving.