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Lois Clary是一家舊金山機器人公司的軟體工程師，每天，她將全副心神投入撰寫程式的工作，靠著營養食品維生，日復一日重複著索然無味的生活，直到她發現一家由一對移民兄弟經營的外送餐廳，販售美味的療癒食物。他們的餐點棒透了！尤其是手作酸種麵包，Lois因而成為這間餐廳的頭號忠實顧客。然而移民簽證問題迫使這對兄弟必須倉促關閉餐廳、離開美國，臨走前，兩兄弟交給Lois一罐酸麵種，和一張音樂CD，他們告訴Lois，她必須讓酵母活下去，每天餵食它，放音樂給它聽，並且學會如何用它烘培麵包。

Lois就這樣開始了她的烘焙之路。雖然初時遭遇種種挫折，她毫無經驗，而且那罐酸麵種非常不配合──它們好像有自己的情緒，不順心時烤出來的麵包表皮裂痕像人臉。但隨著她漸漸上手，烘焙出的酸種麵包廣受好評，甚至為自己贏得了一個在Marrow Fair的攤位──一個必須受邀才能進入的農夫市集。只是，Marrow Fair的管理者還提出了一個條件：他們想要「機器人麵包」。Lois必須設法想出如何為機器手臂設計一個程式，使它能進行一般廚房工作的精細操作(譬如用機器手臂打蛋)。……經營這個結合食物與科技的神祕市集的，到底又是些什麼人？

舊金山的科技和飲食文化在這部小說中有了精采的結合，史隆不但寫出了主角追尋自我的過程，更大幅度加入了對當代社會的現實及未來趨勢的描寫，令人耳目一新。(文/博客來編譯)

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In his much-anticipated new novel, Robin Sloan does for the world of food what he did for the world of books in Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore Lois Clary is a software engineer at General Dexterity, a San Francisco robotics company with world-changing ambitions. She codes all day and collapses at night, her human contact limited to the two brothers who run the neighborhood hole-in-the-wall from which she orders dinner every evening. Then, disaster! Visa issues. The brothers close up shop, and fast. But they have one last delivery for Lois: their culture, the sourdough starter used to bake their bread. She must keep it alive, they tell her—feed it daily, play it music, and learn to bake with it.

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Lois is no baker, but she could use a roommate, even if it is a needy colony of microorganisms. Soon, not only is she eating her own homemade bread, she’s providing loaves daily to the General Dexterity cafeteria. The company chef urges her to take her product to the farmer’s market, and a whole new world opens up.

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When Lois comes before the jury that decides who sells what at Bay Area markets, she encounters a close-knit club with no appetite for new members. But then, an alternative emerges: a secret market that aims to fuse food and technology. But who are these people, exactly?

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Leavened by the same infectious intelligence that made Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore such a sensation, while taking on even more satisfying challenges, Sourdough marks the triumphant return of a unique and beloved young writer.

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