An old man, a young woman, an underclass defined by its access to information -or lack thereof- and a deeply buried secret that can make all their dreams come true... maybe. In a dark world that is short on both hope and miracles, an understated drama plays out. There are no breathtaking action scenes here, no superhuman heroes waiting on the wings, ready to save the day, just a cold, calculated analysis of the consequences in a world we can easily see evolving from our own. "Homo Ex Machina" is an unusual tale. Its tightly woven narrative takes place in a universe that feels disturbingly real. In fact at times it seems almost as if the author had found herself trapped in the world she had just created, but rather than tweak things to allow for a desired outcome, she chose to ride it out, and allowed her original scenario to play out with the same devastating logic that characterizes her characters' responses to their own circumstances. The end result is an intelligent but deeply unsettling story that stares unflinchingly into the abyss, an abyss we may already be in the process of plunging into...