Robot Fiction

The colony planet of Eighty-Six looks as dull as all its fellow new worlds to veteran journalist Lex Falk. But when a local squabble starts to turn violent, and the media start getting the runaround from the military high command, his interest is seriously piqued. Forbidden from approaching the battlezone, he gets himself chipped inside the head of a combat veteran - and uncovers the story of a lifetime. When the soldier is killed, however, Falk must use all his resourcefulness to get safely back home again…and blow the lid off the whole damn thing.

Need the perfect man? No problem—simply create him! Ivy wanted nothing more for Christmas than to have someone to come home to, a companion to chat about her day with, and someone to show off at her family holiday celebrations. Instead of wishing on a star, she takes matters into her own hands. Ivy creates her perfect companion at Dream Droids, the premier robotics company specializing in sentient humanoids. She spends weeks with Dr. Pierce, creating her dream man. Every detail is worked out, from his appearance, personality, and even his knowledge of her life. This will be the best ...

The year is 2083. Medical technology has been advancing at an ever accelerating rate. Nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, microelectronics, photonics, and robotics have converged. Sentient robotic life forms are no longer the subject of science fiction novels. They’ve become a reality. The contents of human minds can be uploaded into electronic brains of lifelike robot bodies. For Astronaut, Rho Howard, this means that she’ll be able to fulfill a lifelong dream of traveling as an astronaut to the Jovian moons free from the ravages of cosmic radiation. For Maria Gambora, this is a ...

Born into the aristocracy in the 1700s, the young Elijah Summerton had felt different ever since he was a child, ... out of place, He’d always felt as if some vital part of himself was forever missing, like a clock without numbers. Perhaps that is why when the village clock-smith would come to attend to caring for the many clocks in the castle he would follow him around fascinated and ask many questions. He found the sound of the clocks ticking moments soothed him, and peeking at the inner workings mesmerized him. Eventually the clockmaker offered to have him as an apprentice. Which was ...

Star humans were engineered to exist within the mantle of a star, mere tools of their Earth-evolved makers in a war against the Xeelee, owners of the universe. Stephen Baxter's third novel in his magnificent Xeelee Sequence is an exotic and endearing story of an abandoned people. Abandoned to their fate, their history lost along with contact with their makers, Star people survive in an environment that is possibly the strangest in science fiction.

Season after season, the clans of the Brilliant Valley rely upon nature's dependable bounty. From their river's ceaseless flow, to the berry patch's delectable fruit, none among the valley's inhabitants could ever conceive of drought, or deprivation of any kind—until the night a colossal entity fell from the stars… The Shepherd of the Brilliant Valley - a new sci-fi short story from the bestselling author of The Dig and Exigency.

The society was dangerously polarized. Violent mobs hit the streets. Some whispered a civil war was coming. Then the nukes went off. Survivors recruited freedom-loving citizens to armed resistance in Manhattan, Boston, and Philadelphia. The globalist enemy knows who to target… the hunt is on, but the resistance is wily, supplied with technology from a billionaire industrialist. In Manhattan, Mayor Fine is gone. A new acting mayor has taken his place. Will he be up to the task? Key members of the enemy leadership are back in New York City. They’ve brought in more operatives to attack the...

On the verge of a bloody and catastrophic defeat, a lone surviving robot tech risks life and limb to maneuver to the frontlines and activate an army of machines. Though these metallic monsters have failed in the past, this time their success would be utter and complete. Too complete. These machines are harbingers of global apocalypse and genocide. Be careful what you wish for, because not all is fair in love and war.

Sam, a stranger to the world of the Fae, finds an unexpected offer from one of the Elemental Court’s most enigmatic Lords turns out to be far more than he bargained for. Meanwhile, Max, an Arbiter of the Split Worlds Treaty, is getting closer to uncovering who is behind the murder of the Bath Chapter. Can he stay true to his sworn duty without being destroyed by his own master, whose insanity threatens to unravel them all?

In a narrative that spans geography and time, from the Atlantic Ocean in the 17th century to a correctional institute in Texas in the near future, and told from the perspectives of five very different characters, Speak considers what it means to be human and what it means to be less than fully alive.

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.

When Max's friend Emmie thinks mobsters calling themselves the Stiralshiki might be after her, Tiffany and Rosie find themselves investigating Emmie's new workplace, a startup designing a robot chef. But when Emmie's former boss shows up murdered, apparently at the hands of the robot, Tiffany and Rosie are hired to investigate... Could they have stumbled upon a Stiralshiki secret, or are the Stiralshiki watching them from a distance? Could the robot actually be the killer? Tiffany and Rosie must uncover the truth before it's too late... Praise for A.R. Winters: "The perfect balance of being...

For years, the king and queen have longed for a child. Their wish is miraculously twice granted in the form of a little wooden robot and an enchanted princess, both of whom they raise lovingly. There’s just one catch: every night when the princess falls asleep, she transforms into a log. She can only be woken with the magic words “Awake, little log, awake.” The two siblings are inseparable, until the day when the sleeping princess is mistaken for an ordinary log and carted off to the frozen North.

Zinzi December has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job: missing persons.

On the planet of Solaria, Spacers live in almost complete isolation, tended by robot servants and disgusted by the thought of human contact. And yet, one of their number has been beaten to death. Incapable of solving the crime, the authorities of the Outer Worlds seek help from Earth – from renowned detective Elijah Baley. Partnered once again with the robot Daneel Olivaw, Baley travels to this strange new world and uncovers a plot that could change the relationship between humans and robots for ever.

The Owl war is over, but for Snark, normal isn’t what it used to be. He's on his way home from seeing Jane crowned Queen, and the Kingdom of Hunter's Run come into being. The war might be over, and the trade deal he made at the end of it might finally be enough for this wayward cat to be allowed back into cat society. The only thing faster than human ships, is the stories about their entry into sector ten, which ripple into the adjacent sectors. On the Cat Homeworld in sector eight, this triggers long awaited, and long stifled change. For a Warlord in sector nine, human tech would allow ...

[Start Recording] I started out on this journey with a solid plan. All missions need a well-thought-out action plan, don't they? Well, mine had been good, and I'd taken steps to make it succeed. And then the worst thing happened. I failed part one of my mission plan and suddenly I was spinning in circles and lost amongst the stars, deep in the unforgiving Black. Lonely. But every deep space operative has a backup plan, right? Mine just happens to include busting out a group of black-ops agents from a maximum-security prison and beating the enemy at a high-stakes game of cat and mouse. I've ...

When Magpie discovers her own dead body one misty morning in Bristol, it prompts her to uncover the truth of her untimely demise. Her investigations take her on a terrifying journey through multiple realities, experimental treatments, technological innovations, and half-memories in a race against time and sanity. Accompanied by a new friend who is both familiar and strange, and constantly on the run from the terrifying relentless presence of the mysterious predator known only as Silhouette, Magpie must piece together the parts of her life previously hidden.

Finn looks and acts human, though he has no desire to be. He was programmed to assist his owners, and performs his duties to perfection. A billion-dollar construct, his primary task now is to tutor Cat. As she grows into a beautiful young woman, Finn is her guardian, her constant companion…and more. But when the government grants rights to the ever-increasing robot population, however, Finn struggles to find his place in the world, and in Cat’s heart.

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!