These Hollow Vessels

My novel-in-progress (creative thesis for PhD) has been shortlisted with notable mention for the New2theScene Novel Prize 2026! I realised I've never posted about my novel before, so read about my journey, current synopsis, and competition feedback below.

These Hollow Vessels entered my imagination back in my undergraduate degree, in which I read Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles (1950) and realised that science fiction didn’t have to be tech-heavy. Bradbury does something exquisite with the fantastical elements of his Martian world, and though I had enjoyed science fiction media as a child, I had never read such. I immediately fell into reading the so called ‘soft sci-fi’, such as Becky Chambers’ A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (2014), and through Chambers – and my childhood watching WALL-E (2008) and Iron Giant (1999) – I realised I wanted to write a science fiction about androids.

My undergraduate novel was a dystopia, set in the slums at the base of a space elevator. The human character, Analia, was the focus, working for the large conglomerate company, World Robotics Dynamics Inc (WRD Inc), fixing robots; before being shipped to the new colony on Mars. There, she meets Sena, a sex-worker android who wishes to be free as she has ‘AI’ (here meaning she has more capacity for intelligence than other androids). Though Sena was not the main character, the story never told through her point-of-view; inexplicably, I called the novel Sena. I knew she was the most interesting character in the novel – and because of this, my Masters’ dissertation was a new science fiction novel, which also included Sena as a character.

For my Masters, the novel was called Rising Smog and was set in a far-future megacity in Europe, built in layers and rings (and with a class structure tied to this level-system). The protagonist, Nephele, was akin to a runaway princess – daughter to both the Fenn Empire, and the CEO of Hokoda Industries – along with her childhood nanny bot, Sena. The plot and setting feeds more into the cyberpunk sub-genre, and the feedback from the novel reflected this fast-paced, politics-heavy storylines. However, the interconnection between Nephele and Sena, and Sena’s backstory as essentially Nephele’s mother through raising her from a baby, captured more interest than Rising Smog’s plot itself. Along with the technician character of Red, my focus shifted more firmly into the portrayal of the character, Sena.

My initial proposal for the PhD thesis was simply the idea of a science fiction story revolving around Sena, and shown through her point-of-view. The setting, initially, stayed within the European megacity, being run by Hokoda Industries, and Nephele was still part of Sena’s backstory, though now not a character within the novel. Through exploring Sena as an older, intelligent model, I soon realised that there needed to be a contrasting character. Firstly, Red – a human technician, a ‘bad guy’ who is interested in Sena’s intelligence and wants to learn about her software, which is a prototype ‘learning software’ made for Sena by the Creator, Hokoda, in order for Sena to effectively care for his child, Nephele. Red’s interest in Sena fluctuate between his professional curiosity for her programming, and his lust for her supermodel-like android body.

However, upon writing Red’s chapters, I found I had little interest in writing from his point-of-view, and instead needed another contrasting character to be offset against Sena’s almost human-like intelligence. I imagined Sienna, a naïve and newly made android, who also has the capacity for intelligence and empathy, though still learning. She became a critical lens to analyse what I then deemed as ‘the AI Voice’; how to portray the interior thoughts of a non-human being (which is the first chapter of this critical thesis). And through her progression, I have found that she is just as important a character (if not the main character?) within my novel. Through her - and the surprising research tangent which led me into thinking about nanny bots, motherhood theory, and artificial wombs - I found my current creative thesis These Hollow Vessels, and my current critical analysis of 'Artificial Mothers in science fiction media'.

The current synopsis of my novel is as follows:

‘These Hollow Vessels’ is a near-future speculative fiction novel (65,000 words) set in a northern model-town controlled by a global tech company, where the company has started to promote “model mothers” (artificial wombs being carried by androids). Exploring themes of care and control, technology and its impact on reproductive rights, and the future of capitalism and corporate control; humanity is reflected through the use of the ‘other’, two female-coded android protagonists.

S13N4 is the happy domestic companion to her single, male owner, Red. That is, until she sees a scar on her abdomen that she can’t see when she looks down at herself. Asking Mother, the bodiless AI that runs the town, Sienna finds out that Red has been not only censoring her visual inputs, but also changing her memories. Exploring the outside world for the first time alone, Sienna meets a kindly old woman and her model carer, who is also a model mother; both of whom make her question if the real world is different from what Red has always taught her. Sienna wants to know what is real – struggling against Red’s ever tightening control of her whereabouts, and her internal thoughts – and what her true purpose is.

S3N4 was the prototype for the concept of ‘model mother’, and now she has been re-assigned to be a model mother for the company COO, Dax. But when Dax returns to town, due to an inefficiency on the factory lines, Sena starts to investigate the brewing resentment within the town. Finding the workers involved in unionising, Sena wants to protect her human friends, especially the alluring and similarly pregnant Lily. Sena struggles to keep secrets from Dax within their domestic setting, and from the town’s surveillance AI, Zuri. But as Sena realises Zuri is also involved, hiding the workers’ sabotage from Dax and the company, Sena wonders what Zuri’s motivations are, and what does the surveillance AI gain from the change in control. As the town teeters towards protests and riots, Sena would do anything to help Lily be free – and in doing so, questions her own bodily autonomy and the future for this new baby.

Told in alternating chapters, Sienna and Sena’s stories are interwoven, told within the confines of the claustrophobic model-town, as their lives draw closer together and their connection is revealed. 

I was honoured to be commended by the New2theScene judges, who only read the first chapter of my novel (Sienna POV) and found it worth the shortlist and notable mention. Their feedback feels like an endorsement itself!

Feedback from the New2theScene Judges and Editors as follows:

These Hollow Vessels is strikingly original, unsettling and sharply contemporary, using speculative fiction to explore themes such as autonomy, gender, and emotional control in a way that is highly relevant.

The clinical narrative voice is effective in establishing the oppressive atmosphere, and the gradual emergence of S13N4’s unease creates genuine intrigue. The worldbuilding is confident and layered, with details such as “penaltyCodes” and filtered emotional language subtly revealing the power imbalance at the heart of the story. The dual timeline structure in the synopsis also promises compelling thematic resonance.

Overall, this is intelligent, inventive and memorable speculative fiction with strong literary-commercial crossover appeal.

Obviously I have cut the construction feedback from the above, which I am just as honoured to receive, to make my submission stronger. I'm so excited to start working on my novel again, and to get it sent out there for more people to see!