From sci-fi visionary and acclaimed author Annalee Newitz comes Automatic Noodle, a cozy near-future novella about a crew of abandoned food service bots opening their very own restaurant. While San Francisco rebuilds from the chaos of war, a group of food service bots in an abandoned ghost kitchen take over their own delivery app account. They rebrand as a neighborhood lunch spot and start producing some of the tastiest hand-pulled noodles in the city. But there’s just one problem. Someone—or something—is review bombing the restaurant’s feedback page with fake “bad …
From sci-fi visionary and acclaimed author Annalee Newitz comes Automatic Noodle, a cozy near-future novella about a crew of abandoned food service bots opening their very own restaurant. While San Francisco rebuilds from the chaos of war, a group of food service bots in an abandoned ghost kitchen take over their own delivery app account. They rebrand as a neighborhood lunch spot and start producing some of the tastiest hand-pulled noodles in the city. But there’s just one problem. Someone—or something—is review bombing the restaurant’s feedback page with fake “bad service” reports. Can the bots find the culprit before their ratings plummet and destroy everything they created?
160 pages
English language
Published Aug. 5, 2025 by Tor Publishing Group.
This was a cool short story.
Centered around the rights of robots. Mixed group get together and open a noodle restaurant.
I hope there's more coming because the story kinda trailed off leaving a lot left to cover just when I felt I was invested.
Fun imagining of abandoned robots in the future and their restaurant.
It’s about robots in San Francisco our newly liberated after a war that decide together to open bang bang noodle shop. They all have competing hopes and dreams and worries together they are able to find a way. It’s low stakes, comfy sci-fi with a heart.
It’s about robots in San Francisco our newly liberated after a war that decide together to open bang bang noodle shop. They all have competing hopes and dreams and worries together they are able to find a way. It’s low stakes, comfy sci-fi with a heart.
If you have time to read this book, please do it. The characters are well developed, the world building is amazing, and the coziness is top notch. This book is fun, quick, and also quite impactful (or at least it was for me).
On the surface, this is a story about a diverse group of adorable people (most of whom happen to be robots) taking care of each other while starting a hand-pulled #noodle shop. Slightly below the surface, and done with a lot of #kindness, Annalee Newitz does a wonderful job of putting the reader in a perspective to see how various kinds of #discrimination and #unskillful action make things unpleasant for everyone while at the same time showing that #handicraft, #compassion, and community-building have lovely results across the board.
