Robot Fiction

Far, far away in the Snickers Galaxy there is the planet Ironica, where all the people are robots. When one little robot was born, his parents couldn't decide what to name him, so his birth certificate just said, "Baby Robotics." But as he grew up, everyone called him "Tic-Tic." One day Tic-Tic came across a rocketship that was being built, hidden behind a mountain. Tic-Tic snuck aboard the rocketship and flew to Earth. That was the start of his amazing adventure!

Dr. James Vandenberg finally receives approval to pursue his lifelong dream of creating advanced AI robots. Despite initial skepticism, he convinces the board of FORTRAN 5 to support his project, leading to the development of the SUDO AI program, which aims to create hyper-intelligent robots.

Amy Peterson is a von Neumann machine – a self-replicating humanoid robot. But Amy is a robot unlike any other - her failsafe has broken, meaning she is no longer sworn to protect humans. She and her equally synthetic partner Javier are holed up in their own robot paradise. But the world that wanted so much to get hold of Amy - to imprison her, melt her down, or use her as a weapon - will not stay away much longer. Javier must run, to Mecha, the robot kingdom, in search of salvation…or death.

Robots help us understand our weather and climate. Some fly into storms to measure wind. Others dive into the ocean to learn about weather patterns. And some drive across frigid polar regions to gather climate data. How are robots helping us plan for the weather of the future? Listen to this audiobook to find out!

They sought the box for many years, because held inside that arcane magical artefact was, miraculously, a house. But now its real purpose has become clear - it was a prison, and the infinitely evil being it was built to imprison has been let loose. Now the real quest begins in earnest. This direct sequel to the critically acclaimed The World House is an extraordinary modern fantasy, like an episode of Doctor Who imagined by the twisted mind of Clive Barker.

"Io, Robot" is a short story from the collection Tides from the New Worlds. Caribbean-born novelist Tobias Buckell established himself as a gifted new voice in science fiction with his stunning first novel, Crystal Rain. Now, in his first collection, Buckell demonstrates his strengths in the short form, offering readers a collection of stories that are compelling, smart, wonderfully imagined, and entertaining.

Ted Hall is worried. He's been sleepwalking, and his somnambulant travels appear to coincide with murders by the notorious Hang Wire Killer. Meanwhile, the circus has come to town, but the Celtic dancers are taking their pagan act a little too seriously, the manager of the Olde Worlde Funfair has started talking to his vintage machines, and the new acrobat's frequent absences are causing tension among the performers. Out in the city there are other new arrivals - immortals searching for an ancient power - a primal evil which, if unopposed, could destroy the world!

When the lucky survivors of the world’s most infamous maritime disaster were plucked out of the freezing ocean by the passenger steamship Carpathia, they thought their problems were over. But something is sleeping in the darkest recesses of their rescue ship. Something old. Something hungry.

Marius dos Hellespont and his apprentice, Gerd, are professional looters of battlefields. When they stumble upon the corpse of the King of Scorby and Gerd is killed, Marius is mistaken for the monarch by one of the dead soldiers and is transported down to the Kingdom of the Dead. Just like the living citizens, the dead need a king - after all, the king is God’s representative, and someone needs to remind God where they are. And so it comes to pass that Marius is banished to the surface with one message: If he wants to recover his life he must find the dead king.

It is the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, the earth wracked and dying. It is the Bright Day, a time long generations hence, when a peace has descended across the world. In each era, a child shall be chosen. Their task is to find a dark messiah known only as the Crowman. But is he our savior - or the final incarnation of evil?

Elizabethan spy Mal Catlyn has everything he ever wanted - his twin brother Sandy restored to health, his family estate reclaimed and a son to inherit it - and while his work is far from over, Mal still has a slim chance of eliminating his enemies whilst they are at their weakest. With Sandy's help, Mal learns to harness his own magic in the fight against the guisers, but it may be too late to save England. Schemes set in motion decades ago are at last coming to fruition, and the barrier between the dreamlands and the waking world is wearing thin…

I’m the plus-size witch who just wants to putter around my magical-plant nursery in peace, but nooo. The universe is conspiring against me, I swear.The newbie witch down the street just went missing—five minutes before she was gonna give me a ride to our book club. Something magical is stalking through my mundane neighborhood, attacking my neighbors, and I’ve got everybody and their ghost dogs trying to “help” me out.

Just as Monty is preparing to spend some time with one of his best friends, an urgent message come in from Ryker Jackson! If they want to help Jackson create his super fuel anytime soon, they'll have to leave for Venus now, which means missing his planned sleepover. A hostile planet, robots going haywire, and The Haze of Venus make this journey on of Monty's and Ivory's most difficult missions yet!

Far into the future, many of humankind’s everyday problems have been solved. We no longer suffer from overpopulation or a lack of natural resources. Our colonization of the solar system and our utilization of robotic workers has solved all that. And yet, embedded in the human psyche is a disorderly constant fact: emotion. The everyday rational decisions we make are so often askew with emotion and, as this tale unfolds, we come up against a heart-breaking decision, one which we had thought to hand over to a robot like Chen. But does that make handling emotion any easier?

What could be better than a party with your friends in New York City? In the year 2035? The future is bright. In fact the future is already here! But this future, unfortunately, is filled with kidnappings and killings, described herein with dark humor and satire. Demon humor. Demon satire.

Six years ago, an alien spacecraft crashed into the remote Nevada desert, releasing a virus that killed one-fifth of the Earth's population. Molly McManus, whose parents died in the plague, can't forgive the aliens just because they give humanity a few new toys. For Wells Marsden, a computer hacker desperate to atone for his past, the aliens might offer the fresh start he needs.

She had been nervous about starting fifth grade after spending all summer with her little brother and baby cousins. So when her fifth-grade teacher announces a district-wide robotics competition, she jumps at the opportunity to be the class’s leader. Being in charge is better and cooler than playing make-believe, right? Many people doubt her, especially the boys in her class, but with the support of her friends and Girl Scout troop, Maven is determined to prove them wrong.

Meet Easie Damasco: rogue, thieving swine and total charmer. Even the wicked can’t rest when a vicious warlord and the force of enslaved giants he commands invade their homeland. Damasco might get away in one piece, but he’s going to need help. Big time.

The Fissure connecting the alternate New York to its counterpart has vanished, plunging the city into a deep freeze. The people are demanding a return to Prohibition and rationing as energy supplies dwindle.

Meanwhile, in the real 1954 New York, the political dynamic has changed. Nimrod finds his department subsumed by a radical new group, Atoms For Peace, led by the mysterious Evelyn McHale. Their goal is simple: total conquest - or destruction - of the Empire State.

The Steampunk Pirates jump at the chance to earn a handsome reward in return for doing some snooping. But when they find themselves sandwiched between the Dread Captain Inky beard and a spider on the attack, it's time to beat a retreat. Can they escape without a scrape, or have the robotic rebels ticked their last?