Objects of Affection (18+)

As a connoisseur of monsterfucker fiction I've been eyeing your books for a while, and I'm proud to say this is the first one I've bought. Maybe it's because I have a bias toward robots, maybe it's because I also read Chobits and have been kinda disappointed by it in retrospect.

I have to confess I was more interested in reading this for The Themes rather than actually being aroused by it, and my experience was pretty in line with my expectations. I think my own robotfucker preferences are more in the realm of soft sci fi and Robots as Characters/Individuals, so I got less personal appeal out of "this is a toy/object", although Ratna's Repair did get me going a bit, and I think had me thinking about Robot Personhood the most/had me questioning whether Mari actually was sentient or I was just falling for the illusion the robotics company is selling us.  (While I'm talking about Ratna's Repair, on a more personal level it made me fondly think of all my friends who build PCs, and my own work creating databases for Deepvocal and UTAU. It's easy to get attached to and anthropomorphize these systems, but also maybe there is something strangely intimate about the TLC that goes into running diagnostics.)

On terms of "themes", though... I bought this book because I was disturbed and intrigued by the premise and previews, and I was appropriately disturbed and intrigued throughout.  I'm not sure if "erotic horror" is really the genre for me if I want to get off, but this definitely did probe into my psyche and explore some of the implications I've been considering with settings like Chobits, my own robot characters from my own stories, and how We Live In A Society and how people treat even objects and images that evoke femininity.  Definitely something I'm gonna have a long think on for a while.

Segments ranked by both Personal Horniness Level and how much I enjoyed reading them:

• Ratna's Repair
• Samart's Sweetheart
• Touma's Toy

Will definitely check out more of your stories, but will also tread carefully for my own sake.

absolutely stellar work as always. a perfect blend of creepy and sexy while still being more than surface-level

I was instantly hooked from the preview !! I was lurking on the creators socials waiting until it released finally, and it will be my first of this creators works. (But honestly I might get them all!) insanely good work!! 

I just read the first story and holy cheese and crackers, I want to finish this whole little book right now, and I would if I collage wasn't my mortal enemy at the moment, BUT THE FIRST STORY IS ALREADY SO GOOD!!

Touma and Shima's relationship is so messed up and an absolute treat to read, I absolutely love the consistency of Mari-ko's expression in the art, and it's so clear that she's just a vehicle for Touma and Shima's development and having absolutely no choice in the matter at all, its honestly horrifying, I love it.

god i love this. the blend between sensual scenes and disquieting behavior from the people within this work is top-notch: fitting for a story that explores different types of objectification.  

i love how their attitudes towards mari-ko reflect their underlying attitudes towards the real women in their lives - esp with the implication that the mari-ko throughout all three stories is the same model. it's *chefs kiss.* gonna be thinking these short stories for a loooong long time (esp ratna's repair. the mechabare scenes are gorgeous.)

holy shit. that was amazing. i love how strangely human the android (im assuming all 3 of them are the same prototype mari-ko) felt in all 3 of these stories. its so eerie but also strangely endearing?? seeing mari mouse interact with ratna, and especially the ending where it feels like she shows just the slightest hint of humanity, a ghost in the sparkly shell, only to be unceremoniously "killed". it feels like ratna has so much scorn and appreciation for her. it feels like connection, like a genuine beginning to a sweet relationship, even if i know that the other "person" is essentially a cleverly created set of code.

i also really adore how these stories veered into straight-up psychological horror at times. shima and touma's story, and the way its framed in the artwork makes mari-ko feel like this fucked up, mechanical horror, yet touma's downright abusive treatment of her and shima gave me the disquieting feeling of watching a person being abused and manipulated into sex she never wanted, even as the text reinforces her artificiality and blank stare. it gives me the creeps. and in samart's story, with his obsessive, deluded abuse of himself, and his slips into pure, violent misogyny makes his story fully cross the line into psychological horror, instead of erotica. theres something about the explicit doll-like nature of marinette, the way she repeats platitudes at him, while still mimicking the motions of a real relationship with just enough accuracy to enter the uncanny valley, and his equally artificial "love" for her that has me watching the story like a slow-motion train crash. its creepy in all the right ways. i have a feeling that this one will only grow more haunting the longer i sit with it in my brain

beautifully written prose, and beautifully written moral dilemmas about the nature of robots, ai and love. awesome work!!!

already sent an ask about my feelings but I’ll do it AGAIN! 

genuinely such an amazingly written story that’s as hot as it is ghoulish. The way each human character (surprise surprise) objectifies their respective android is so fascinating and makes for a really interesting character study each time. There’s so many little details that make the characters feel REAL- and it makes the androids stand out as artificial that much more. 

I really enjoyed the power dynamic that Touma and Shima had- that was the story I was the least interested in pre-read but I think it ended up being my favorite.  

Ratna was such a fun character to read and her admiration of Mari’s inner mechanics and apathy towards her artificial personality really amplified that hot/ghoulish feeling. Also god, Ratna is so hot. 

And Samart… the way the story tries to maintain this “innocence” when you can see his actual true feelings towards Marinette and actual human women slip through the cracks is genuinely haunting. I really feel like this toes the line towards horror more than any of Taylor’s previous work. 

Overall, very very very very good. came for the sexy robots, stayed for the really fucking great character studies. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhh i loved it! I was so excited i tore through it in one sitting and enjoyed every minute of it. Touma's Toy was definitely my favorite - freaky little power dynamics between Touma and Shima my beloved~