Anima ex Machina

Anima ex Machina is a 2020 German-language science fiction and fantasy novel by German author and illustrator Michael Marrak. It was first published in Vienna by edition mono/monochrom and continues Marrak's Kanon cycle as a sequel to his 2017 novel Der Kanon mechanischer Seelen, which won the 2018 Kurd Laßwitz Award and the 2018 SERAPH award for best novel.^[1][2]

The title was glossed by Marrak as Seelen aus der Maschine ("souls from the machine").^[3] The novel was completed during Marrak's September–October 2020 Q21 Artist-in-Residence stay at the MuseumsQuartier in Vienna.^[4] It incorporates and expands Marrak's 2018 novella Die Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Zeit, which forms the first third of the book.^[3] The book was edited by Johannes Grenzfurthner and Günther Friesinger.^[3]

Eight months after the events of Der Kanon mechanischer Seelen, Ninive returns from the world beyond the barrier wall, while Aris has sacrificed his ability to animate dead matter for her. Meanwhile, the Crown City is thrown into turmoil by disturbing reports from the Pränumerische Öde. Wild mechanoids begin behaving irrationally: steam beetles rise into the clouds and fall dead by the thousands, machines seek shelter in caves, and formerly peaceful mechanical animals become aggressive and self-destructive.^[1]

The disturbances suggest that a plague is spreading through the land, causing its mechanical inhabitants to become violent, unpredictable and unrestrained. Above these events looms a threat older than the Kataklysmos, the catastrophe that ended humanity's Golden Age millennia earlier.^[1]

The novel combines several interconnected narrative strands. One follows Ninive and Aris on a journey connected to the lost moon and the mythical island of Tamuria. Another concerns the rescue of President Velocipedior III after he is attacked by monsters during a hunting trip. A further strand involves Leon and Zenobia, who receive a visit from an Atlant asking them to retrieve a soul vessel.^[3]

Anima ex Machina was first published in October 2020 by edition mono/monochrom in Vienna. The first edition appeared as a paperback with ISBN ISBN 978-3-902796-73-8 and was limited to 333 copies, including 111 signed copies.^[3] Bibliographic sources list the book with 279 or 280 pages.^[5][6]

Marrak designed the cover, the interior illustrations and the typesetting himself.^[4] The novel was written and completed during the COVID-19 pandemic, while Marrak was staying in Vienna as an artist-in-residence at the MuseumsQuartier.^[4]

A new edition was published by Amrûn Verlag in 2023 as a paperback with ISBN ISBN 978-3-95869-524-5.^[1]

Stefan Cernohuby, reviewing the novel for Janetts Meinung, described Anima ex Machina as a continuation of Marrak's Kanon universe and noted that it incorporates the earlier novella Die Reise zum Mittelpunkt der Zeit. He emphasized the book's visual and linguistic design, describing it as a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk with its own melodic language and a strong unity between text, illustration and layout.^[7]

The review also highlighted Marrak's elaborate language, neologisms and hybrid mixture of fantasy and science fiction elements.^[7]

• Official website at Amrûn Verlag