7.2 KiB
Alice Grove - a pretty rational webcomic, now complete.
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Author: u/ArgentStonecutter Emergency Mustelid Hologram*
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Score: 64
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Created: 2017-07-21T13:26:39
Post:
Comments:
u/Tholo [+26] (54 minutes later)
Pretty sure Jeph follows the rational community- his other comic, Questionable Content, has a character who is an AI police officer named Roko Basilisk.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+22] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (an hour later)
He could be anyone...</>
u/Tholo [+17] (an hour later)
I mean, it's not like he would be in this subreddit, possibly posting his own work, because then that would make my last post SUUUUUPER awkward.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+10] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (3 hours later)
God, good thing I put my coffee down or you'd owe me a new keyboard. Nope, not Jeph. For one thing I'm completely tone dumb. If I put out albums you'd find a new use for Achilles' record player.
u/Arancaytar [+4] (23 hours later)
u/ArgentStonecutter [+4] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (23 hours later)
Why yes.
u/Kishoto [+2] (2 days later)
This comment instantly made me feel 3 points stupider.
u/DaystarEld [+8] Pokémon Professor (6 hours later)
Oh shit, he wrote something besides QC? I loved that comic for years, still do, but ultimately just stopped following it since its storyline, while amusing, was not compelling enough to survive the Natural Purge of webcomics that I couldn't remember to check up on at least once a week after I started writing again.
If he's written something else though, and with a completed story at that, I'll definitely check it out, thanks for posting it!
u/bloodfist [+4] (6 hours later)
I did the same thing. At some point my daily webcomic routine got eaten up by Reddit and I stopped following QC. Always enjoyed it though.
Sounds like this one is binge worthy, so that's exciting
u/Grasmel [+1] (10 hours later)
If you're looking for other stuff he's made, there's also dord.horse to look at. Not much of a story, but still interesting.
u/None [+12] (5 hours later)
Alright, that was a superb blend of storytelling and worlbuilding as well as a great tribute to Banks. Definitely scratched the same itch as the Culture books.
Damn there should be more than that.
u/bloodfist [+5] (6 hours later)
Ooh I just started the Culture series, a little out of order.
I don't have time to start this right now, is it related or just spiritually similar?
u/None [+5] (6 hours later)
Spiritual similar. It's not a fanfiction or something like that, but just has characters and concepts that would not feel out of place in a Culture novel.
u/bloodfist [+3] (7 hours later)
Awesome, thanks!
u/Qwertzcrystal [+11] assume a clever flair (3 hours later)
Oh sweet, didn't hear about it until now. It's just the right length for casual bingeing too.
If Jeph Jacques happens to read this, I'd like to congratulate on a story told well. The story itself is interesting and only enhanced by the chosen medium of a comic.
I managed to pick up on the influence of Banks' work on the comic right from the start, so kudos for pulling that off so well too.
u/sporifolous [+8] (9 hours later)
How do I read this? There's no next page button or anything on mobile.
u/Arancaytar [+3] (23 hours later)
It's annoying to read on mobile, yes.
The only way I found was going on the archive page, and opening each strip in turn (new tab, or using the Back button).
The desktop theme has better navigation.
u/Languid_Solidarity [+2] (14 days later)
On your mobile browser click options then show desktop mode
u/sporifolous [+1] (14 days later)
Thanks! I don't know why I didn't think to try that...
u/TastyBrainMeats [+3] (3 hours later)
Sad to see it end, but it was a good read.
I still want to know what the hell that nanotech thing was.
u/Mellow_Fellow_ [+3] (13 hours later)
What's it about? There isn't a good description on the site.
u/Roxolan [+8] Head of antimemetiWalmart senior assistant manager (a day later)
u/trekie140 [+4] (14 hours later)
I think that's intentional. This is a story that wants to drop you into the world and slowly reveal its facets to you as the plot unfolds. I can confirm, all your questions get answered and everything makes sense. There's some comedy, some drama, some surrealness, some character study, and some transhumanist sci-fi that all becomes clear after a while.
u/CeruleanTresses [+7] (a day later)
all your questions get answered
Come on, no they don't.
u/trekie140 [+6] (a day later)
....oops. Really should've waited until I finished the comic to post that, it really seemed like the story was going in that direction since it was pretty darn rational up until the ambiguous ending. My mistake.
u/CeruleanTresses [+4] (a day later)
Yeah, I guess the author left stuff ambiguous intentionally but I was a little disappointed by all the loose ends.
u/trekie140 [+5] (2 days later)
Same. The journey there was still worth it, the ending just wasn't as satisfying as I wanted.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+1] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (23 hours later)
It's pretty short. You can read it and find out.
u/King_of_Men [+3] (17 hours later)
Great comic, but I disliked the ending. Why did Alice find the AI intervention (or was it the phrase "humanity is going to awaken"?) so amusing? There's something missing here - maybe just one strip.
u/sir_pirriplin [+9] (a day later)
Alice has been "serving" humanity to atone for her actions in the war. She deliberately does not share technology with them because she fears it will be bad for them.
Recently she found out that 1) some humans really don't appreciate her anti-technology policy 2) the AI that she thought were completely apathetic to humanity has been doing more for humanity than her and 3) they did that by undoing all her efforts to keep humanity in the dark age.
Basically she worked so hard to prevent Ardent from fucking up a delicate status quo, but it turns out there are already hundreds like him all over the world.
u/ArgentStonecutter [+3] Emergency Mustelid Hologram (23 hours later)
I don't think she's seeing a good ending to that.
u/everything-narrative [+3] Coral, Abide with Rubicon! (20 hours later)
Alice Grove is an awesome little Sci-Fi story; an hour's read at most. Good worldbuiding, plot, and characters. Alice is very sensible in what she worries about.
u/Deku-shrub [+3] (23 hours later)
I asked Jeff if he was a transhumanist or singulartarian last year, he said no https://mobile.twitter.com/jephjacques/status/741243592405061632