Start gifting
Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
Limited-time offer
Get two free audiobooks when you make the switch!
Now’s a great time to shop indie. When you start a new membership supporting local bookstores with promo code SWITCH, we’ll give you two bonus audiobook credits at sign-up.
Make the switch
Gift audiobook credit bundles
You pick the number of credits, your recipient picks the audiobooks, and your local bookstore is supported by your purchase.
Start giftingMal Goes to War
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn moreBookseller recommendation
“Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton is just a fun sci-fi adventure story with such a great, well-rounded view of humanity. Mal, a free AI, accidentally ends up stuck on Earth in human bodies, and just wants to go home. But unfortunately, there's a war on, and his access to home is cut off. He collects a strange group of 'best pals' along the way. It's irreverent and just a great read, and the narrator is perfect for this one.”
— Anna • Katy Budget Books
The humans are fighting again. Go figure.
As a free A.I., Mal finds the war between the modded and augmented Federals and the puritanical Humanists about as interesting as a battle between rival anthills. He’s not above scouting the battlefield for salvage, though, and when the Humanists abruptly cut off access to infospace he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary, and responsible for the safety of the modded girl she died protecting.
A dark comedy wrapped in a techno thriller’s skin, Mal Goes to War provides a satirical take on war, artificial intelligence, and what it really means to be human.
A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.
Edward Ashton (he/him) is the author of the novels Three Days in April, The End of Ordinary, and Mickey7, as well as of short stories which have appeared in venues ranging from the newsletter of an Italian sausage company to Escape Pod, Analog, and Fireside Fiction. He lives in upstate New York in a cabin in the woods (not that cabin in the woods) with his wife, a variable number of daughters, and an adorably mopey dog named Max. In his free time, he enjoys cancer research, teaching quantum physics to sullen graduate students, and whittling.
Reviews
"Ashton offers a technothriller with heart that will appeal to fans of the 'Murderbot Diaries' from Martha Wells but also to readers looking for more AI-led stories like Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill and Emergent Properties by Aimee Ogden." —Library Journal, starred review
"Ashton’s vision of the future feels all too plausible and his blend of action and humor keeps the pages flying. This is sure to please the author’s fans." — Publishers Weekly
Praise for Mickey7:
"Sci-fi readers will be drawn in by the inventive premise and stick around for the plucky narrator." —Publishers Weekly
"Mickey7 is a smart philosophical satire masquerading as an adventure novel.” —New York Journal of Books
"The fun [in reading Mickey7] is trying to keep up with Mr. Ashton’s twists and turns, and the extra fun is that you never do." —The Wall Street Journal