Robot Fiction

[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 ...

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.

This box set collection contains all four cozy mysteries in the Dream Droids series. Dream Droids is the premier robotics company specializing in sentient humanoids. Not only can they create the perfect human companion, but they can also create the perfect disaster. From undercover agents to sabotage, there's always a mystery and romance brewing when Dream Droids is involved. Set contains the complete paranormal cozy mystery / sweet sci fi romance series...many of them with a holiday twist that can be enjoyed any time of the year! The four books included in this boxed set are: Built for a ...

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.

Meet Charles™, the latest in robot servant technology. Programmed to undertake the most menial household chores, Charles is loyal, efficient and logical to a fault. That is, until a rather large fault causes him to murder his owner. Understandably perplexed, Charles finds himself without a master – therefore worthless in a society utterly reliant on artificial labour and services.

Everyone wants something. Snark wants Seasprite, owned by Anna, who seeks the Destiny Stone. Jamie wants Anna, but she’s obsessed with the Stone, so he wants the Stone to give to her. Warspite wants to end the secrecy of his presence on Seasprite. The enigmatic and evil Brotherhood want the Stone, and don’t care how many die in the process. Jane cares how many die, but is busy building her Kingdom, making alliances across four sectors, ensuring Duke Fred sorts out Cat World issues, and enlisting her AI brethren to stave off boredom, and join in the quest for the Stone. The big news ...

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

Monty is an inventor and aspiring astronaut, but at twelve years old, he hasn’t even left his hometown. This all changes when Monty, his sister Ivory, and their robot sidekick, Echo, stumble upon an abandoned spaceship deep in the woods after school one day… Soon, they find themselves in a countdown to liftoff…and they can’t stop it! Join Monty and his crew as they blast off into space, explore Mars, and discover a hidden secret in The Iron Heart of Mars.

Vengeance is a cold dish, and space is the best place to serve it.Betrayed by fellow pirates, the Nepenthe is heavily damaged and trapped in hostile territory. The practical thing to do is attempt an escape back to the neutral zones, where her crew can lick their wounds and count themselves lucky to fight another day. But their stalwart captain has other plans. He knows that if they let the renegades go, they stand to lose their reputation as the most fearsome raider outfit in known space. As the crew plans an elaborate revenge, they soon realize the true stakes revolve around a fabled lost...

Clunk, a clapped-out robot, is convinced he's about to be junked. Instead, his penny-pinching boss is sending him off to be refurbished. Being old and wise, Clunk knows there's a catch, but at first it doesn't seem too bad. He just has to help a freelancer pick up some cargo. Unfortunately, Hal Spacejock - the freelancer - is obstinate, over-confident, and woefully under-skilled, and he's never going to let a lowly robot fly his precious ship.

After achieving a decisive victory over the ruthless Ipis who rule the galaxy, Dante Carloman negotiated a treaty that saved all humans from extinction. The treaty allowed the humans and their allied species to become a semi-autonomous sector on the fringe of the Ipis empire—as long as the current Ipis empress, Fravashi, remains alive. This arrangement does not sit well with the Ipis nobility. Humanity, and especially its usurper leader, Dante, must be destroyed, and they will not allow anything to impede that endeavor. Over the next ten years, ethnocentric Ipis aristocrats put in place a...

A cowardly retired athlete is asked to go above and beyond the call of duty when an alien animal finds its way into the country. Will he regret his decision to pretend to be brave or finally get his mission to space like he's dreamed of?

Wormhole technology has revealed that our sun will die in 5,000,000 years. A race of superbeings, the fabulous Xeelee, owners of the universe, are thought to be responsible. The bizarre and wealthy cult, the Superet, funds two projects aimed at combatting the force that will murder the sun.

Together with her friends, Nikki, the Space Mowgli, builds Greenwich College on the Moon and Greenwich City around it. The main personality in the new world is the artificial intellect, the Great Inca, who tries to help each and every one. Yet the outlawed King Ditbit turns his huge space cruiser on the domes of the city, to destroy it together with all the inhabitants… over and over again, the book’s protagonists survive against all odds, on Earth and on the Moon, amid the pools of melted serum on Io, and on the coast of the methane sea on Titan. “Here’s the new dawn, Nick ...

This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce’s tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are—and who creates them—can be drastically different.

Frank is working on a revamped version of one of Nikola Tesla's inventions, the "Electro-Finger", a device that can tap into energy anywhere and allow all of Midville to live off the grid, with free wireless and solar energy. But this puts Frank in direct conflict with Edison's quest to control all the power and light in Midville, monopolize its energy resources, and get "rich rich rich".

Built to terraform the giant world, Boea, the Preform Augustine finished her work and put herself into hibernation. Now awake, she discovers that the vertebrates have arrived to finish the final phase: Colonization. The new colonists discover these strange beings, and they find great value in them, enough to kidnap Augustine’s bonded one, Leon. Desperate, she searches the Five Systems for him, and even turns to divine intervention from an elusive and sinister deity for help. With the tether of their minds drifting further apart, she will do anything to get him back. Even if it means ...

"My name's Markowski. I carry a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets". A new supernatural gang is intent on invading Scranton - as if I didn't have enough to contend with! Supernatural gang warfare? Not on my watch! Justin Gustainis was born in Northeast Pennsylvania in 1951. He attended college at the University of Scranton, a Jesuit university that figures prominently in several of his writings.

SFS1-2 is a collection of riveting science fiction short stories. What role does science play? From contacting celebrities from beyond the grave to teleportation to recording dreams, SFS1 & SFS2 tells the stories of the lucky and sometimes unlucky individuals who invent or come across these technologies. Filled with twists and turns, this is a collection you simply cannot pass up. SFS1 SUMMARY Rejected Patent: a scientist develops a way to look into your past lives, but some groups decide use this beyond simple research. Will his legacy be one of scientific achievement, or only destruction?...

The quest to find the Destiny Stone, is now a race to discover the Amulet of Truth. Snark might have bitten off more than he can chew, but Jane and her team of AIs step up to provide even more military protection, while Duke Fred and his team provide some unusual diplomacy, taking the once private quest to a whole new level. The Brotherhood’s web of corruption, deceit, and deception, spreads wider than anyone suspects, and the mysterious Brother Prime lies at the heart of the growing unrest and attacks across four sectors. While Jamie seeks to re-join his friends from a backward planet ...