“We’re machines, kiddo. Humans can go to rusting therapy, or drink coffee, or get dogs. The best thing we can hope for is better data storage.” 

Jordie lives a normal life: an android stealing from the human world for a secret underground factory, observing the eccentric friends with whom he shares a hive mind. Everything changes when his team encounters Tien, a rogue android secretly bargaining with aliens for a new world order. A runaway now living as a wealthy human in Worcester, Massachusetts, Tien is a threat to the factory and its inhabitants. Sent after him, Jordie is faced with uncomfortable truths about connection, isolation, and coffee with pepper. Factory Town, with its cast of lovable androids, turns a winking eye on humanity, with humor, dark honesty, and gloriously obscure references.

SCI-FI | Paperback | 2025 | ISBN: 979-8-9909764-5-0

Age Recommendation: Middle and High school

Discussion Questions

• What are some examples of humorous aspects of being human that Factory Town outlines through the eyes of its android characters? Any that particularly stand out to you? Any you may not have considered before until reading this book?

• Tien has strong feelings about Zeynab’s cousin’s art piece imitating robots. How do you, as a reader, feel about robots’ attempts at imitating humans throughout the book in their different ways?

• Certain androids are connected to a certain “link” to one another. What are the pros and cons of that as explained by the multiple characters in Factory Town?

• Compare and contrast Jordie and Tien’s motivations as android characters; especially in response to themes of war and freedom. Anything that stands out? Compare and contrast Magdalena and Robin’s acts of leadership. How are they similar? How are they different?

Writing Prompts

• Write a brief narrative about your first day alive or awake. This can be fiction or nonfiction.

• What are the things that make you nervous or make you tick that are similar to how the androids embody their own nervousness/activations?

• Write about a fictional heist that takes place at night. Then, write about that same heist that takes place in the day. What changes? What remains the same?

• Write about a time when something you once thought to be true about the world ended up being wrong (at least partially if not completely). How did it make you feel? What did you do with this new-found information?

Group Activities

• Create your own android character. Doodle it. Write a character description for it. What does this android look like? What makes this android tick? What brings this android joy? What kind of link is this android a part of, if any?

• Watch a YouTube video of a robotics demonstration. Take notes on what you see. Write a narrative in the perspective of that robot.

• Visit a local art museum or gallery. Draw, sketch, or take notes.