From Wikipedia's [Bicycle Repairman][1]: >"Bicycle Repairman" is a postcyberpunk short story by American science fiction writer Bruce Sterling. It deals with the eponymous character, who lives in a functioning anarchist community in the near future and has an encounter with the misguided authorities. As is common in Sterling's stories, it deals with issues of markets, governance and the tensions between the two. >"Bicycle Repairman" was first published in Intersections in 1996. It won a Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1997. It was reprinted in a 1999 collection of Sterling's work, A Good Old-Fashioned Future,[1] and again in 2007 in Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology. My question is about the mook. From @starpilotsix's recent [answer][5]: >People communicate with proxies called mooks: >>"He flicked on Eddy’s mediator, to boot the wallscreen. Before he could try anything with the cablebox, his mother’s mook pounced upon the screen. On Eddy’s giant wallscreen, the mook’s waxy, computer-generated face looked like a plump satin pillowcase. Its bowtie was as big as a racing shoe." **Question:** Is this mook a one-off idea by the author for this story only, or has the mook been used in other stories by the same author? ---- I was reminded of this story after reading about and hearing audio about Google Duplex: - C|NET video: [Google Duplex worries me][3] - ibid. in YouTube [We need to talk about the ethics of Google Duplex][2] - C|NET: [Exclusive: Google's Duplex could make Assistant the most lifelike AI yet][4] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_Repairman [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0otgRmscUk [3]: https://www.cnet.com/videos/google-duplex-worries-me/ [4]: https://www.cnet.com/features/google-assistant-duplex-at-io-could-become-the-most-lifelike-ai-voice-assistant-yet/ [5]: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/187404/51174