Nanodaemons: The Fir Smart-Tree

Cyberpunk Fairy Tales

By: George Saoulidis

Narrated by: Steve White

Length: 15 mins

Publisher's summary

When Christmas comes, the Fir Smart-Tree awaits for the best family to buy it and enjoy the holidays together. But will it manage to find a suitable family, when it’s quite expensive and sits there on the store shelf, when it is quite picky and scares away interested customers and when Christmastime is quickly about to arrive?

A sci-fi retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Fir Tree.

©2018 George Saoulidis (P)2019 George Saoulidis

Maximum overdrive machine awareness

I love George’s world, many of his stories are all (at least in my mind) in the same futuristic world. Couldn’t help but think of maximum overdrive only no killer machines here, just self aware ones. This was just ok for me.
Narration was excellent.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy at no charge by the author, publisher and or narrator

Cyberpunk retelling of "The Fir Tree"

This is a cyberpunk retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir Tree."

This fir tree is an artificial tree, a tree powered by nanotechnology, able to do an amazing range of things that can make it the perfect Christmas tree.

And the fir smart-tree has a very high opinion of itself. It decides it will be purchased only by a person worthy of itself. The right income, the right address, the right tastes, preferences, habits. And of course, a proper family to properly observe Christmas.

It is a charming little story, even if it has a slightly grim ending.

Recommended.

I got this audio short story as part of an "it's a pandemic; let's do something nice" giveaway, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

Another nice Anderson adaptation

This cyberpunk version of The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Anderson is again nicely done, though not as heart-wrenchingly brutal as Anderson's original. For a Smart Tree has not grown up in the forest, is not alive in fact, so its regret about its arrogance doesn't cut us as deep. Nevertheless, a fun 21st century interpretation.

This story was given to me for free at my request and I provided this review voluntarily.

A cautionary Christmas tale

The story of a smart tree that was too smart for it’s own good. Sitting in the store snubbing shopper after shopper as it waiters for what it felt would be the perfect buyer. Impressions can be wrong

Enjoyable

I received this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

This is a retelling of The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Anderson with a modern twist. A good lesson in humility.

The narrator did a nice job.

Interesting retelling, though a bit grim

If you like a side of schadenfreude with your Christmas cheer, this may be just what you're looking for. I wasn't familiar with the original fairy tale, and having now read it, I think this is a creative retelling. Anderson's fairy tales are all a bit dark though, and this took the cautionary tale in an even darker direction. This tree is more obnoxious than the original, so you might enjoy when he receives his just deserts. I prefer Christmas stories with a happy ending, so I was disappointed that there is no redemption here.

Narrator Steve White does a nice job creating different voices and recounting the story in a lively, entertaining way, but he reads quickly, and I had a bit of trouble understanding his accent at times.

Note that while this is classified as a children's story, young children probably won't understand it. It will be more fun for older children and adults.

Cute story

I received this book for free at my request but the opinion is of my own. This is a cute little story of a tree believing it’s the best one and only deserves the best family. However, the tree might find that technology smarts don’t always add up.

The cycle of life...

Nanodaemons: The Fir Smart-Tree (Cyberpunk Fairy Tales) by George Saoulidis and narrated by Steve White is a fun little Christmas tale about the cycle of life, future tech, and a couple other life lessons. Recommend if you’re looking for a short story revolving around Christmas tech. The narrator, Steve White, did a good job. Depending on your views, you may take the ending as a good or bad (recycling=good, loss of the tree=bad). Either way, I recommend as it will have you pondering multiple aspects of life.

*I received this copy for free in an email. Not sure if I need to write this or not, so here it is.*

Cool little cautionary tale

Good, short listen. A gentle reminder of humility. This story was also in the spitwrite vol 3 collection