The Murderbot Diaries
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Murderbot Diaries |
| Abbreviation(s): | MBD, Murderbot |
| Creator: | Martha Wells |
| Date(s): | 2017-present |
| Medium: | book, short stories |
| Country of Origin: | US |
| External Links: | Martha Wells - official website |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Murderbot Diaries is a science fiction book series by Martha Wells. It follows the adventures of the self-designated Murderbot, a human-bot construct who has hacked its governor module, as it explores the galaxy and tries to figure out what it wants to do with its life (besides watch a lot of media).
As of September 2022, it is still considered a Yuletide fandom, having under 1000 complete works on Ao3. However, by March 2023, the AO3 tag had grown to over 1400 works.[1]
Overview
The series consists of five novellas, a full length novel, and several short stories published online at Tor.com and wired.com.
The first novella, All Systems Red, was published in May 2017 and won the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novella. It follows Murderbot, a Security Unit, in its as a security guard for the PreservationAux survey team. The events of the novel cause Murderbot's subversion of its governor module discovered, but it's free to explore the galaxy.
The next three novellas were published in 2018. Each of these introduced a new cast of characters as Murderbot travels to new places, of whom Art/Perihelion proved to be a fan favorite. This series of four novels brought the arc of the story back to the Preservation group, ending with Murderbot agreeing to go to Preservation's homeworld and work with Dr. Mensah.
The first full length novel, Network Effect, was published in 2020. It won a Nebula Award for Best Novel, Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, and was a Hugo Award Finalist for Best Novel. The novel details Murderbot's further adventures working with the Preservation team and ART.
The sixth installment in the series (and fifth novella), Fugitive Telemetry, was published in 2021. It takes place chronologically before Network Effect and depicts Murderbot solving a murder mystery on Preservation Station.
The series as a whole was a 2021 Hugo Award Finalist for Best Series.
Characters
Fandom
Reflecting the narrator's own distaste for romance and relationships, the fandom mostly creates gen content. There are a lot of fanworks focussing on the friendship of Murderbot and ART, and on the relationship of Murderbot with Dr. Mensah, Amena Mensah, and the rest of the Preservation team. There is also a lot of interest in exploring the worldbuilding of the series, whether that be the cut-throat and dystopian Corporate Rim, the more egalitarian Preservation, or the other worlds that Murderbot visits. Original Character secunits and bots, exploring the ethics and legalities of different types of entities in the universe, are also popular.
The Murderbot Diaries 2.0 Discord server is one of the largest hubs of Murderbot fandom. It is open but has an invite waitlist. Interested parties can join the queue by requesting an invite from current members on Tumblr or making a post on r/murderbot.
Fanworks
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanfic
- In Control, Archived version by Mayasynth -- "Four times having a governor module fucking sucked, plus one time [REDACTED: FILE MISSING]." Murderbot, ART, the Preservation team, takes place after Network Effect.
- ARTs and Craft, Archived version by Elizabeth Culmer, a short fic about ART and Murderbot exchanging postcards after the events of Exit Strategy.
- On The Trail Of The Killers Of My Father, Archived version by nenya_kanadka -- a side adventure of Murderbot taking place after All Systems Red.
- closing distance (NT-6478513), Archived version by torpidgilliver -- a story about an OC SecUnit and its Clients in the Corporate Rim.
- Sanctuaryfest, Archived version by Yoon Ha Lee -- "Murderbot finds itself writing for a fic exchange."
- my enemy, bright star dancing by lunaTactics -- CombatSecUnit POV on the end of Exit Strategy.
Fanart
- Feed Night, Archived version by nightmarefluff, 2021. Murderbot, the PresAux Team, Perihelion and its crew having a movie night.
- fanart for All Systems Red, Archived version by marowowe, 2018
- Ratthi, from the Murderbot Diaries, Archived version by cmdrburton
- Everyone Go Read The Murderbot Diaries Right Now, Archived version, by mayasynth, fan comic about Murderbot and the PresAux crew.
Fan vids
- Ganaka Pit // Relax (Take It Easy) (A Murderbot Diaries video), by Kes Beacon, animatic depicting events from Artificial Condition.
- I'm Not Your Hero - The Murderbot Diaries Animatic, by mar, animatic covering the whole series (minus Fugitive Telemetry).
- They Don't Care About Us, Archived version, animatic for Fugitive Telemetry by Thymia
Other
- Meta post about SecUnit's gender (and performance of gender), Archived version by whetstonefires, with additions by Verso
- Murderbot Fandom Statistics May 2021, Archived version, by roundedloaf
- The-Perihelion, Archived version A Tumblr blog for the Murderbot Diaries, archiving author interviews, meta/essays, and worldbuilding speculation.
Resources
- MBD Wiki on Fandom.com
- Martha Wells - official website
- The Murderbot Diaries Wikipedia entry
- The Murderbot Diaries on Goodreads
- The Murderbot Diaries on Tumblr
- The Murderbot Diaries tag on AO3.
- r/murderbot the Murderbot subreddit