How About This…? by Michael Mirolla

Reviewed by Ian Thomas Shaw

Michael Mirolla’s twentieth published work demonstrates the sharp edge of storytelling shaped by many of the defining themes of our century. Artificial intelligence, gender fluidity, and the tension between individual identity and the collective self all find their place in this new novella. How About This…? is presented as a text produced by an AI collective that has taken upon itself the human endeavour of storytelling at a point when humans themselves have become incapable of sustaining it.

At the centre of the narrative are Elspeth (El) and Marybeth (Mar), a couple who assume responsibility for raising identical twins left mysteriously on their doorstep. A recorded message warns them that if they inform the authorities of the children’s discovery, they will be denounced as kidnappers. Forced into silence, El and Mar fabricate a past for the twins. Long desirous of children but thwarted by both biological and bureaucratic barriers, the couple embrace their unexpected role with joy.

The twins—identical in every respect, including a shared genetic abnormality that may explain their abandonment—are named Ariel and Malak. It soon becomes clear that they are not merely identical but communicate telepathically with one another. Their physical difference, combined with this uncanny bond, leads El and Mar to shelter them from the outside world until school age. Once enrolled, the children delight in unsettling their teachers by switching clothes mid-day and alternating between boys’ and girls’ attire, rendering identification impossible. Largely inseparable and insulated within their family unit, they remain so until adolescence, when hormonal change begins to draw them onto divergent paths—towards self-definition, gender orientation, and eventually, love.

Like many adolescents, Ariel and Malak attempt to uncover the identity of their biological parents, but without success. Only later does the first suggestion emerge that their origins may not be entirely human—an idea introduced subtly, perhaps too subtly, into the narrative.

The originality of How About This…? lies as much in its method of storytelling as in its plot. The narrative is marked by false starts, revisions, and reworkings, mimicking what one might imagine a collective AI intelligence producing as it attempts to generate a story. An unending stream of footnotes—some informative, others resolutely banal—accompanies the protagonists as they grow up. At times, the reader senses that the story itself begins to take on the experimental, occasionally clumsy features one might expect from an AI collective writing not for humans, but for other AI readers, which is, after all, the stated premise.

Blessed with several twists and turns, the novella remains an easy and pleasurable read—provided one is willing to largely ignore the footnotes. Its Cartesian ending delivers a satisfying final turn and gestures toward continuation; a sequel, indeed, is already forthcoming.

While How About This…? does not reach the mastery of some of Mirolla’s earlier work, such as Berlin (2003), nor does it challenge the reader as rigorously as The Last News Vendor (2019), it nonetheless replicates the originality that has long defined his writing. Without being overly “out there,” it offers a light, intelligent, and engaging reading experience, one that reflects the assured hand of a veteran storyteller.

How About This…? is published by At Bay Press.