Loading... The Machine Child

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Genres

Queer Characters, Transgender Fiction, Women's Adventure, 1980s, Absurdist Fiction, Speculative Fiction, and Novellas

Trigger Warnings

Sex, Violence, and Profanity

Type of Ending

Series

Not part of a series

Author Prefers A Review On

Goodreads or Amazon

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

Mar 31, 2026

Page Length

132 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

Loading... The Machine Child

Advance Reader Copy

Blurb

Queer, low-fi, weird fiction rabbit hole adventure about the Polybius Arcade legend.

Abby, a transfemme videogame YouTuber, finds an anonymous package left at her door. Inside is a VHS tape that seems to call to something within her, and opens up a door to the 40-year-old mystery of Polybius. The urban legend claims that an arcade cabinet allegedly caused madness and hallucinations in its players while it was installed over a single month in Portland in 1981. The package indicates that there may be even more to the story.

Something about it compels Abby on a journey across the country to discover the truth about the mysterious cabinet, the men in black watching over it, and to finish the story started in 1981.

Details

Genres

Queer Characters, Transgender Fiction, Women's Adventure, 1980s, Absurdist Fiction, Speculative Fiction, and Novellas

Trigger Warnings

Sex, Violence, and Profanity

Type of Ending

Series

Not part of a series

Author Prefers A Review On

Goodreads or Amazon

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

Mar 31, 2026

Page Length

132 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

Author

Publisher

Speculation Publications