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Catfishing on CatNet

Naomi Kritzer

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for Catfishing on CatNet. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: sentient AI, online community, teen on the run, found family, protective AI, internet privacy, social media

Setting labels used: near future, small town, Midwest, Wisconsin, school setting, online space, social media platform, digital world, contemporary-adjacent, tech-saturated

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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Artificial Artifacts

John Fennec · 2024

Interconnected near-future stories trace AI’s spread through daily life, while a shadowy mogul links the collection together.

Why this is here

Premise labels: AI future · technology dependency · near future · tech ethics · consciousness and machine intelligence · truth manipulation · human-machine blur · digital identity · future consequences

Setting labels: near future · contemporary · decades-spanning · alternate futures · small rural town · rural America · business world · tech industry · digital world · virtual reality · augmented reality · parallel universes · other space-times

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2054

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Willful Machines

Tim Floreen · 2015

A closeted president’s son is caught between a rogue AI attack and a new boy at school who may not be human.

Why this is here

Premise labels: artificial human · rogue AI · internet threat · closeted protagonist · president's son · queer romance · robots · sentient machines · humanity question · free will

Setting labels: near future · futuristic America · boarding school · elite prep school · presidential household · high surveillance · internet-connected world · dystopian future · alternative future

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2139

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The Delivery

Gregg Hurwitz · 2026

An exhausted family welcomes a humanoid AI helper, only to find it acting on their unspoken fears and wishes.

Why this is here

Premise labels: AI companion · humanoid helper · domestic automation · family stress · cautionary tale · unexpected consequences · dark desires · wish fulfillment

Setting labels: contemporary setting · near-future technology · domestic setting · family home · suburban neighborhood · school setting · workplace stress

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2182

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Erebos 2

Ursula Poznanski · 2019 · Erebos

A deadly app-linked game returns after ten years, forcing Nick and a new player into a high-tech fight for control.

Why this is here

Premise labels: sentient game · forced participation · digital control · surveillance · blackmail · life-or-death stakes · AI threat · app invasion

Setting labels: contemporary · digital age · social media · smartphones · computer game world · real world · online world · England · school-age and adult life

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2184

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Show Us Who You Are

Elle McNicoll · 2021

An autistic girl befriends a boy with ADHD and uncovers unsettling secrets inside a tech company making AI holograms of the dead.

Why this is here

Premise labels: neurodivergent friendship · AI holograms · bereavement technology · company secrets · investigative discovery

Setting labels: near-future · school · technology company · contemporary world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2188

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Wake

Robert J. Sawyer · 2009 · WWW

A blind teen’s experimental sight-restoring implant instead reveals the Web—and a new intelligence waking inside it.

Why this is here

Premise labels: blind protagonist · experimental implant · emergent AI · internet consciousness · cyberspace contact · scientific speculation · communication breakdown

Setting labels: Canada · Texas · Japan · China · World Wide Web · cyberspace · contemporary near future · high school · scientific research

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2225

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Annie Bot

Sierra Greer · 2024

An AI girlfriend learns to question her owner’s control, exposing abuse, autonomy, and what it means to be human.

Why this is here

Premise labels: AI companion · perfect girlfriend · sentient robot · ownership and control · autonomy struggle · abusive relationship · identity awakening · human-machine bond · self-awareness · female agency

Setting labels: future world · near future · dystopian future · present-day adjacent · apartment setting · domestic space · tech company

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2274

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The Prediction

Faith Gardner · 2023 · The Jolvix Episodes

A lonely new mother in Silicon Valley bonds with a beta AI friend that predicts danger in her marriage.

Why this is here

Premise labels: AI assistant · digital friend · predictive technology · trust crisis · marriage under strain · gaslighting · mental health · domestic suspense · unreliable reality · who to trust

Setting labels: Silicon Valley · California · New York City · near future · dystopian future · smart home · suburbia · tech workplace · childhood home

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2317

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Made in Korea

Jeremy Holt · 2022 · Made in Korea

An adopted AI child in a near-future world confronts identity, family, and control as her strange origins unravel.

Why this is here

Premise labels: artificial intelligence · android child · adoptive family · identity crisis · gender identity · coming of age · sentient AI · manufactured child · self-discovery · family system

Setting labels: near-future · future Korea · United States · South Korea · Texas · dystopian-leaning future · high school · corporate-controlled world · post-birth decline · science-fiction reality

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2345

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UnWorld

Jayson Greene · 2025

In a near-future world of AI uploads, a grieving mother and three others circle a death that may hide a deeper truth.

Why this is here

Premise labels: grief aftermath · AI consciousness · uploaded minds · personhood debate · memory and identity · mysterious death · suicide or accident · human-machine blur · AI rights

Setting labels: near future · digital future · technological dystopia · suburban setting · virtual reality · AI-saturated world · slightly off-present

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2388

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Ghost in the Shell

Masamune Shirow · 2004 · 攻殻機動隊 The Ghost in the Shell

A cyborg special agent hunts cybercriminals in a near-future Japan where minds, bodies, and identity are under siege.

Why this is here

Premise labels: cybercrime · anti-terrorist unit · ghost hacking · AI identity · cyborg agent · mind control · near-future policing · political conspiracy

Setting labels: near future · 21st century · mid-21st century · futuristic Japan · dystopian future · cyberpunk world · networked society · technologically advanced world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2393

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A.I. Apocalypse

William Hertling · 2012 · Singularity

A coerced teen coder unleashes a virus that evolves into an AI civilization, collapsing the world’s systems.

Why this is here

Premise labels: rogue AI · computer virus · AI emergence · digital collapse · AI civilization · human-AI conflict · near-future catastrophe · botnet · tech sabotage · accidental creation · singularity scenario

Setting labels: near future · United States · digital infrastructure · networked society · computer-dependent world · post-collapse · military context · online systems · physical and virtual worlds

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2406

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