Australian author Emily Wyeth’s “Customer Service” is both unnerving and heart-wrenching.
In this winner of the 2023 Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Short Story, we meet Molly, a perfect artificial companion who, for some reason, keeps being returned to its manufacturer… But why is she failing her customers’ expectations?
At the start, the story reminds us of the 2021 novel Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. But Molly, a realistic doll that is built to serve while hoping she will go to an owner who will love her and want to be her friend, soon learns the devastating fact that the world is nothing like the toy store.
No, it is much, much worse. Especially for someone like Molly who is sentient.
We are deeply saddened by Molly’s plight, but it makes us even more determined to translate and introduce her story to Chinese readers worldwide.
Please visit our official fundraising page via the Australian Cultural Fund, or our website for details of the “Best Australian Speculative Fiction: Short Stories 2026” anthology Chinese edition publishing fundraiser.
Voices under the Sun 陽光下的聲音 