Man, Made to Order

Man, Made to Order – A complete novella

Leah had never been able to connect in relationships with men, but when a brochure offering the “perfect man” popped up in her private message feed, she was intrigued. After all, didn’t she have needs like everyone else?

Not that they could be selling true love, she wasn’t that naive, but a reasonable facsimile would do just fine for now. The “man” was more expensive than a Manhattan penthouse, but she held her breath, cleaned out her retirement account, and placed an order.

When he arrived, he was amazing. He really was perfect, but she never could have anticipated just how perfect.

In the future companies are manufacturing artificial men and women. Androids of varying degrees of sophistication suited to particular tasks. But a new, revolutionary advance in design has allowed artificials to serve as pleasing companions, to people wealthy enough to afford them, by mimicking the most powerful human emotion, love.

Leah is frustrated by wasting her time on messy, awkward human relationships. She orders one of the exclusive new artificials made to her exact specifications. And he turns out to be quite a quality product. She finds herself responding to him in ways she could never have expected. But is his love only mimicry? How does one tell? And does it matter?

A wise man once said, “A difference that makes no difference is no difference.” (Spock, okay it was Spock. Yes, I’m a Star Trek geek.) Leah will have to decide if she believes her artificial has real feelings and to judge what they are worth for herself. That decision has the potential to change her life forever.