Message-ID: <769@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 23-Feb-85 14:13:51 EST
Article-I.D.: topaz.769
Posted: Sat Feb 23 14:13:51 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Feb-85 02:59:56 EST
Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Lines: 18

From: 

One of Robert Heinlein's books (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress?) had a computer
named Mycroft, who helped the young hero achieve his rightful estate.

Hogan is probably the most technically proficient computer-focused SF writer
I've come across,  but credit for the most ingenious SF motif by a technically
knowledgeable writer has to go to Thomas J. Ryan,  author of THE ADOLESCENCE
OF P-1 (Macmillan, 1977).  P-1 is the computer generation's Frankenstein's
Monster.  P-1 comes to "life"  while its creator is a super-hacker sex-crazed
student at the University of Waterloo.  After aiding its creator with a number
of devious money-making affairs, it escapes destruction and "runs away" via
telecommunications lines.  The Huckleberry Finn adventures of P-1 culminate
in a show-down with the forces of the Pentagon.  Some nifty little touches
in this one.

(The introductory quote, which precedes the title page, is from Woody Allen:
"Nothing works...and nobody cares.")