Automatic Noodle
Automatic Noodle is a 2025 science fiction novella by Annalee Newitz. It was first published by Tordotcom.
Synopsis
In a future San Francisco, a group of independent robots — Cayenne, Hands, Sweetie, and Staybehind — open a restaurant, but are faced with review bombing.
Reception
Automatic Noodle is a finalist for the Nebula Award for Best Novella of 2025,[1] and for the 2026 Hugo Award for Best Novella.[2]
Kirkus Reviews noted superficial similarities to Travis Baldree's Legends & Lattes, about an orc who opens a coffee shop, but emphasized that Newitz included "social commentary about climate change, PTSD, and [the gatekeeping roles of platforms such as] Yelp and DoorDash", and called the overall work "both heartwarming and pointed".[3]
Strange Horizons, conversely, found that this social commentary "felt (...) somewhat clumsy" (despite the novella as a whole being a "fun and relevant look at modern online culture"), and noted that although the robots have "interesting backstories", they also "came across as too human".[4]
References
- ↑ 2025 Nebula Award Winners, at Locus; published June 6, 2026; retrieved August 7, 2026
- ↑ 2026 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved August 7, 2026
- ↑ Automatic Noodle, reviewed at Kirkus Reviews; published August 5, 2025; retrieved August 7, 2026
- ↑ Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, reviewed by Nileena Sunil; at Strange Horizons; published December 1, 2025; retrieved August 7, 2026
External links
- Newitz interviewed about Automatic Noodle, at the Chicago Review of Books
- Automatic Noodle title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database