All Comments on 'Build A Boyfriend'

I love this story because, SCIENCE!!!! :-D

"This was way more fun than dating . . ." Great story. Lots of fun from an engineering point-of-view: the pragmatic, step-by-step development of the prototype was believable and satisfying. I felt a real affinity for Rose: her awareness that she has traits that set her somewhat apart, her confidence in her talents, her sense of humor. Getting to know her was the real highlight of the story for me. I can't say that I found David's AI patter all that romantically charming, but it seemed to have worked for Rose. Perhaps if it had been in the voice of Scarlett Johansson . . .

The story makes it sound as if someone could go out tomorrow and emulate Rose and Sarah's venture. "There is no technology, it's just basic stuff put together in a kind of new way." Maybe you're already working on it? Best of luck if you are! And thanks for writing and posting this nice story.

A fun and quirky story!

And yes, charmingly erotic!

Intriguing to read Rose’s perspective as this all plays out…she is quite interesting and enticing in her own right. I did enjoy her moment at the airport when she wonders about the masturbation habits of all the travelers!

Perhaps I will apply for a job at Rose and Sarah’s company….

Autistic male here. That was fucking glorious. Several factors of this were relatable. This was a great read

Very nice.

A sequel with issues building and testing the first female bot would be appreciated.

The present story has been on my reading list for over a year now, and finally I’ve managed to tackle it! Well, better later than never, right? (My apologies, by the way, to JuanaSalsa for the long, long wait!) It turned out quite the informative read for me! Especially with regards to the workings of an autistic mind (erotic imaginings included). Judging by CloseForComfort’s comment, the writer seems indeed to have made some valid points about autistic life experience. As an outsider (or, at least, someone without an autism diagnosis), I’ll just take it that he’s right!

However (and maybe precisely because I’m not autistic), I recognized pretty much the same strange dissonances while reading the story that I also encountered in my readings of the writer’s other stories. Namely, the notable matter-of-factness or ‘coldness’ in the interpersonal relations of the female narrator as well as her extremely—almost solely—goal-oriented processing and handling of all things erotic.

E.g., there is the phone call with her mother where the narrator doesn’t seem to resonate with or ‘get’ any of her (mother’s) emotional distress, nor does she herself (narrator) seem to express any emotions at all—at least in any observable or ‘externalized’ way. That also seems to be the case with her female best (and only?) friend, Sarah, with whom she has an extremely superficial relationship that strikes one as being all business, lacking pretty much any personal depth. Sarah, presumably, just visits her because staying at the narrator’s place is merely a convenient (and inexpensive) way of accommodation while she’s attending her “conference.” And when the narrator presents to her David’s prototype, she’s right away only thinking about ways to take the narrator’s private construct to market. Again, it’s merely a business relationship! Thus, it’s hardly surprising—indeed, it’s only logical—that the two of them become business partners in the end. If, as the text rather suggests, the narrator handles all her interpersonal relations in this manner, it’s hardly surprising that Ted isn’t all too invested in keeping their relationship going, particularly as they are “just fuck buddies anyway,” though this is merely the narrator’s assessment, which may or may not be accurate, for her characterization would even make it seem plausible that, basically, any relationship with the opposite sex might, in her book, not amount to anything more than “fuck buddies.” Tellingly, that’s also pretty much what her interaction with David comes down to, for the narrator merely works on optimizing his ability to excite her with “dirty talk” and sate her ceaseless need for orgasm with his “quite large” mechanized cock modelled after a famous porn star. But just think for a second of the multitude of possibilities—especially erotic ones—that such an AI-powered “sexbot” could provide beyond being merely used as an elaborate vibrating dildo with a silicone face!

Anyway, when it comes down to the tricky little details, I would have very much liked the writer to elaborate on them even more! Take, for example, the following description of David’s cock’s mechanics, “The cock was so much easier than the face. All I needed was a rod mounted to a piston to thrust up and down. For a bit of extra fun, I mounted the rod to a wheel so that it would move back and forth as it thrust.“ Maybe my imagination or understanding is somewhat limited, but I have a hard time working out what kind of movement David’s cock is supposed to carry out here exactly! I mean, presumably, the piston makes his cock already “thrust up and down,” but isn’t this already equivalent to moving “back and forth as it thrust,” for isn’t this merely a question of perspective or ‘placement’ (e.g., mounting David in cowgirl or doggy)? What kind of alteration of David’s cock’s movement is introduced by mounting the mechanical rod of his cock “to a wheel?”

And then there are the little negligences like the following line, “‘Goodbye, David.’ I said, as I zipped up his pants again.“ Where’s the negligence? Well, it’s found in the fact that David wears “sweatpants,” which, as far as I know, don’t come with a zipper in the front! Of course, such errors are no big deal, but they are still completely unnecessary—und thus annoying.

As to the story’s end, I found it rather odd as it’s a strange mixture of an—ostensibly—happy ending, with the narrator and her female best friend both becoming millionaires, and, at the same time, the complete failure of the narrator to build any deeper relationship to anyone else! Still, after her apparent material success, not her mother, nor Ted, nor anybody else seems of any importance to her. (And, as demonstrated above, David is merely a tool to her.) Her own mother isn’t even once mentioned again! To be honest, I find this rather depressing. The narrator, Rose, ends up stupid rich and completely self-obsessed—or rather self-insulated?—whereas in the beginning, though not exactly rich but also not poor at all, she at least showed some signs of a capacity or ‘willingness’ to reflect on her situation and the people around her and the state of her relations to them (even her own mother!). But in the end she only cares about herself and her business: keeping up with Sarah’s marketing campaigns, making sure that David provides her ever more reliable with the ever sought-after orgasm, and lucratively exporting her self-insulation stratagem to the entire autist community!

Can this really be called a happy ending?

—AJ