Robot Fiction

“What am I?” ... "You are an AI program.” In a future where robots decorate cakes, paint murals, design their own bodies, and ponder what it means to have children, one woman's workshop becomes the epicenter of mechanical evolution. Meet Maradia, a brilliant but socially awkward roboticist whose creations constantly surprise her by growing beyond their programming in unexpected—and deeply human—ways. This collection of 24 interconnected stories spans decades aboard Crossroads Station, as Maradia's robot children grapple with their purpose, fight for their rights, and sometimes ...

In "The Robot Who Looked Like Me," a busy man and a busy woman find a way to carve out time to romance each other—by having look-alike robots made to do the job—who then run away together.

The savage ocean planet of Spatterjay draws visitors with very different agendas. Erlin is immortal and seeks a reason to keep living. Janer hosts a hive mind, which paid him to find this planet. And Keech is an agent of Earth who’s been dead for 700 years – but still hunts a notorious criminal. On Spatterjay’s vast waterscapes, only the Old Captains risk the native life forms and their voracious appetites. However, they are now barely human. And somewhere out there Keech’s target – the Skinner – runs wild.

NEWLY REVISED VERSION - 2020 So, I kill monsters, what do you do for a living? My name is John Adams, and I’m on the run. As a special force's trained combat wizard, I’ve been a loyal soldier for years, doing what needs to be done, killing what needs to be killed, but I’m not so sure I am on the right side anymore. Now, I have to find out why the government, I have dedicated my life to, is creating cybernetically engineered killing machines from the bodies of my fellow servicemen before minotaur assassins, elven hitmen and my own country’s Elimination Squad find me. All in a day’s...

A richly funny and fantastical novel about the strangeness at the heart of even the most ordinary lives, from one of South Korea’s most acclaimed novelists.

In the future, true love is something that can be created to a person's specifications. Meet Denise Merritt - the perfect woman. She is beautiful, caring, emotional, sensitive, smart, friendly, and has the best personality a person could possibly have. She is also not real. Denise is an android (model) and she was made for the man, Steven Adams (mate), who wants to spend the rest of his life with someone special. Once he finally meets her, he had hoped to live out the rest of his life with the only person in the world he truly loves, but he gets swept into an unwelcome adventure when he ...

Ricky Ricotta loves his mighty robot. They do everything together, but it's sometimes hard for a small mouse to have such a big buddy! If only the mighty robot could find someone his own size to play with, Ricky might finally have some fun by himself. Little does Ricky know, his wish is about to come true. Evil Uncle Unicorn has a top-secret plan to trap the mighty robot so that he can take over Earth, and he's got a giant surprise in store. Once again, it's up to Ricky to save the planet - and his best friend!

He's a billionaire recluse known for the world's most valuable invention. She's a lonely assassin hired to steal his ideas and end his life. . . . When these two meet sparks of passion fly that neither expected nor wanted. -------------------- Simon Canton doesn't trust humans. Ever since his last girlfriend tried to assassinate him in his sleep he has surrounded himself only with his greatest invention -- his bots -- lifelike androids that take care of his every physical need. Draya Carter is a trained assassin hired to infiltrate Simon's world, steal his ideas, and end his life. She was ...

Livvy and Jayden are the stars of their school's robotics team. Livvy is especially enthusiastic because her own mother works in a robotics lab and experiments with artificial intelligence. To impress her mom, Livvy and Jayden build a robot. Livvy wants to name their robot "Francine", but Jayden thinks that's too silly for their creation. Desperate to win, Livvy and Jayden "borrow" an artificial intelligence module. They soon realize they've made a terrible mistake. Francine has too much brain power. She's alive! And using this newly gained brain power to dream up a deadly contest!

Can money buy you love? Aiden is about to find out. After years of not trusting a woman’s true intentions, Aiden has given up on them completely. He turns to Dream Droids, the premier company in creating an artificial companion, to build him the perfect woman. She’s smart—too smart. And tempting—too tempting. And Aiden can’t be tempted. An employee is stealing from his billion-dollar company, and the police feel his corporation is somehow behind a surge of a new drug on the street called Frenzy. When Aiden’s Dream Droid flaunts her intelligence and begins to connect the pieces, ...

Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez and his "bro-bot" E are making new friends every day as E works as his bedridden sister Maddie's school proxy. But disaster strikes when E malfunctions just in time to be upstaged by the super-cool new robot on the block - and loses his ability to help Maddie. Now it's up to Sammy to figure out what's wrong with E and save his family!

Three hundred years ago, a liaison-robot-turned-warrior sided with humans in the Great A.I. War. He's one of few hi-level sentients allowed to live. But all this doesn't matter now because he's on the run. Armed with emotion-chip-fueled determination and his beloved weapons, the general flees to a nearby planet where he must unravel a tangled conspiracy to prove his innocence. But that's easier said than done.

Outthink. Outcraft. Kai and his wife are dying. Their only chance lies inside the Daisy Trials. This year, contestants must capture components, craft cards, and defeat their opponents in a merciless gauntlet where every decision matters. He’s trained for this moment his whole life—studying past Trials, memorizing every pattern. But so has everyone else, and they’re all just as motivated. Will Kai make it? Follow along in this dungeon crawling journey set in a post-apocalyptic world—perfect for fans of clever strategy, card games, and crafting.

He sought to flee his tragic past, but when Thomas Usher hears a clockwork voice on the phone, and sees ever-more disturbing visions in a derelict warehouse, Usher realises that he has to return home - for the sake of his own sanity. Meanwhile, a deadly figure from Usher's past threatens to undermine the very fabric of reality. Gary McMahon’s short fiction has appeared in numerous acclaimed magazines and anthologies in the UK and US and has been reprinted in yearly “Best of” collections.

McSweeney's is a literary journal based in San Francisco. In this piece by Ryan Boudinot, a hangdog robot searches for romance.

On May 22, 2018, every person on Earth sneezes. Simultaneously. Hours later, an alien spacecraft appears over New York City and broadcasts a dire message of impending doom. The future of the human race will depend on the whims of a solitary extraterrestrial who appears in the form of Walter Cronkite. Yes, that's right, Walter Cronkite, the deceased news anchor! Ex-FBI troubleshooter Jake Corby has faked his death and dropped out of sight, living like a hermit in a small town. But the president is convinced Corby's still alive. He wants Jake, with his unique problem-solving skills, added to ...

A strange signal pulses through Deer Valley, threatening humans and robots. Wally has never questioned her life in Deer Valley, where humans and robots rebuilt after the AI Uprising. But when she hears animals' thoughts, and a trusted Peacekeeper suddenly turns violent, her world shatters. When Dr. Valerie Kaine arrives, her hidden agenda unleashes dangerous technology. Her true targets: Wally and ten other teenagers carrying neural implants from an abandoned experiment. As fear spreads, Block the CleanerBot faces exile from the community he helped build. He must stop Kaine before she ...

The Earth Day Fair is days away, but Nate's classroom project - a robot named Mr. Butler - has disappeared. Nate the Great and his dog, Sludge, take on the unusual case, and they are soon searching high and low in and around the school. Will Nate find the robot in time for the fair?

Roz the robot has made an unlikely home for herself on an idyllic island dense with forests, wildflowers and friendly animal inhabitants - including her own young son Brightbill the gosling. Life on the island is perfect, until a dying seal washes ashore and warns of dangerous, cloudy waters that are flowing towards the island, bringing new dangers for the animals. Forced inland they will have to fight over fewer resources - and Roz realises that she must march into the waves and undertake an incredible undersea adventure to find a way to protect her beloved island and all who live on it.

Thomas Usher has a terrible gift. Following a car crash in which his wife and daughter are killed, he can see the recently departed, and it's not usually a pretty sight. When he is called to investigate the violent death of the daughter of a prominent local gangster, Usher's world is torn apart once more. For the barriers between this world and the next are not as immutable as once he believed.