Thoughts and opinions on "Lobsters" by Charles Stross

CW: Rape, animal abuse

This story is featured in the big book of cyberpunk (literally). It's... well it's quite the journey.

The protagonist is a hyper independent... well I guess anarchist? He fulfills thousands of patents constantly and simply just gives them away to non profit organizations, mostly to secure them before capitalists or corporations can snag and monopolize them. If anything at the very least I'd say he's anti capitalist. The more I read the more I grew to like him and his actions and reasons.

Then there's the antagonist and love interest. The story takes place in an EU that's a global superpower with a booming economy; our protagonist was originally from America, which is dying out, hyper-capitalist, and probably fascist (neither region is explicitly described, this is just what I've inferred). The antagonist is some sort of agent from America, come to the EU on business but running into the protag. They were engaged at one point, but presumably he left to take some space or out of ideological differences.

The story addresses a lot of themes and subject matter, most of which I probably could not explain accurately. Themes of machine consciousness, duty to home and love, animal personage, economics, patent filing, etc. There's a lot of moving parts, and it's quite an excellent read.

What I really wanted to talk about was how much I like the protagonist and how much I despise the antagonist. One thing that's been reoccurring through the story is the protag recieving dead kittens with missing brains in a box. At the end of the story, after the antagonist rapes the main character and impregnates herself from him, it's revealed she's the one leaving the kittens. Kittens, by the way, that the US government are putting into machines and using their brains to guide missiles. What the fuck? She's out here supporting turning kittens into missiles and he's out here trying to win lobsters the right to exist and be treated fairly. She's a horrible person! What the hell?? Why would the protag even fall in love with this crazy psycho???