Robot Fiction

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.

The planet had fallen off the map. Lost on an unknown and forgotten planet, scientist Karl Allman discovers himself hunted by an ancient race. The descendants of earlier colonists have reverted to a savage tribal culture of sacrifice, pillage and violence. When Karl falls in love with an outcast girl, he has only one goal: Escape. But escape is a distant dream on this nightmare planet.

Botanica is an island, but almost all of the island is taken up by the Tree. Lillah has come of age and is now ready to leave her community and walk the tree for five years, learning all Botanica has to teach her. Can Lillah keep the huge secret she has been entrusted with, or will she have to resort to breaking the oldest taboo on Botanica?

A serial killer stalks Chicago. A gorgeous cop is on his trail. And someone else is watching, someone who will decide who lives...and who dies. The Angel of Death for Chicago makes sure all his souls meet a fitting end. But when a gruesome serial killer strikes, the Angel must make a startling choice. He falls in love with the cop on the killer's trail, and has to choose between divinity and humanity. But to do that he must face the biggest terror of all - who he really is.

It will take more than angels and demons to stop him. Reporter Spencer Finch is embroiled in the hunt for a missing book, encountering along the way cat burglars and mobsters, hackers and mysterious monks. At the same time, he's trying to make sense of the legacy left to him by his late grandfather, a chest of what appear to be pulp magazines from the golden age of fantasy fiction.

Eliot Lazar lavora per una compagnia che produce e vende spinner, gli androidi, simulacri di esseri umani creati a servizio degli heartbeat, gli uomini. La sua fortuna - o sfortuna - è quella di innamorarsi di una spinner modello C-900, Iris Matsuo: nella Los Angeles di fine XXI secolo le relazioni tra heartbeat e spinner, lasciate spesso impunite dalla legge, rappresentano un'offesa sociale, un crimine morale da perseguire. Eliot e Iris decidono allora di trasferirsi nell'isola artificiale di Avernus, una sorta di Stato pirata dove tali pregiudizi non esistono.

Hier kommt Dotty! Superschlau, superlustig, supermenschlich. Dotty ist Teil eines supergeheimen Geheimprojekts. Ein Jahr lang soll das Robotermädchen eine normale Schule besuchen. Natürlich darf niemand merken, dass sie gar kein echter Mensch ist. Doch die charmante Androide stolpert von einem Fettnäpfchen zum nächsten. Aber woher soll man als Roboter auch wissen, dass man Lehrer besser nicht ständig verbessert? Oder wozu es Regeln gibt, die nur dazu da sind, gebrochen zu werden? Da brennen einem ja glatt die Schaltkreise durch!

A lovecraftian tale of a man lost in a jungle and suffering amnesia. That Miami cityscape is mankind’s primal script, and beneath the meaning we ascribe to the city is something more complex—possibly an alien in our brain, a schizophrenic’s idea of an unknown face in a crowded room—as the unknown is always salted with malevolence.

Tyrus Murphy is a bumbling EMT from Nebraska with big dreams. When he gets a call from an unknown number informing him he’s just inherited his uncle’s island of killer robots, he has one thought: world domination. International conquest ends up being more challenging than it seems, as the young ruler faces hard partying politicians, mysterious old aristocrats, and even his own unexpected aversion to violence. Powered by optimism and greed, Tyrus falls face-first through a globe-trotting adventure that rarely goes according to plan.

The Emperor of Aria has been murdered, the Empire is in crisis, and Dead Men walk the streets...But Myla, Fings, and Seth couldn't care less. They're too busy just trying to survive in the Sulk-struck city of Varr, committing petty violence and pettier crimes to earn their keep in the Unrulys, a motley gang led by Blackhand. When the Unrulys are commissioned to steal a mysterious item to order, by an equally mysterious patron, the trio are thrust right into the bitter heart of a struggle for the Crown, where every faction is after what they have.

How close would you hold those you love, when the end comes? In a society where self-preservation is as much an art as a science, Norah and Arthur are learning how to co-exist in their new little world. Though they hardly know each other, everything seems to be going perfectly - from the home they're building together to the ring on Norah's finger. But when the couple bring home a mysterious creature to seal in their loft space, they both must face a devastating truth which tests their bonds to family, memory, and each other forever.

In an isolated mountain community, sometimes a child is born with two hearts. This child is called a striga and is considered a demon who must be abandoned on the edge of the forest. The child s mother must then decide to leave with her infant, or stay and try to forget. Nineteen year-old striga, Salka, and her mother, Miriat, made the choice to leave and live a life of deprivation and squalor in an isolated village. The striga tribe share the human belief that to follow the impulses of their other hearts is dangerous, inviting unspoken horrors and bringing ruin onto them all.

Fifth grader Ellicott Skullworth has always felt out of place at public school and now he's tested into the Archimedes Program at Latimer University. While in Latimer City, he'll be living with his world famous and insanely brilliant cousin, Banneker Bones, the 11-year-old inventor of robots. The only problem: Banneker doesn't want to share his room. He's got an army of robots to make Ellicott miserable until he goes home.

Robots are forbidden! But Jerry is not a robot. Robots were outlawed before Joel was even born, but he has been obsessed with them his whole life. That was before he saw Jerry, the giant metal man in Levi's barn. So if Jerry is not a robot, what is he? Is Jerry a robot? Get the novelette now and decide for yourself.

The Steampunk Pirates are lured back to England by the promise of gold. But the appearance of their inventor, Mr. Richmond Swift, signals big trouble. He has a new army of robots, and it's not long before sparks begin to fly. Have the pirates finally met their match?

The unending war with the anarchist rebellion has spread to the planet of Thrada III. A planet the Union cannot let fall into the hands of the enemy. Takashi Hiraku is part of conscripted civilian militia tasked with reinforcing the besieged city of Harmine. But when they arrive, they find the enemy is already in control and waiting for them. It is a deadly trap, and one that will change Takashi’s life forever. It will take all his wits and fighting ability if he is to survive the terrifying battle.

Part two of Robot Commandos, a thrilling new series of short-listen adventures that follow Takashi Hiraku and the Robot Commandos. An elite unit of augmented warriors that charge into battle supported by an army of robotic drones. Takashi Hiraku may have survived the battle of Harmine, but he did not escape unscathed. Badly wounded he is offered the chance to join the elite unit of Robot Commandos. This special force makes use of high-tech combat armor known as Dragoon MK II Battle Armour.

Amelia's lost in space. Trapped on the other side of a quantum gate she can't access. When she wakes up on an alien starship, her first order of business is going home. But that isn't as easy as it sounds. Between pirates and giant metal robots, Amelia has her work cut out for her.

Abbey Mei Otis's short stories are contemporary fiction at its strongest: taking apart the supposed equality that is clearly just not there, putting humans under an alien microscope, putting humans under government control, and more. Otis has long been fascinated in using strange situations to explore dynamics of power, oppression, and grief, and the 12 stories collected here are at once a striking indictment of the present and a powerful warning about the future.

There is a secret war growing beneath the streets of London. The immense Sixty-One Nails follows Niall Petersen, from a suspected heart attack on the London Underground, into the hidden world of the Feyre, an uncanny place of legend that lurks just beyond the surface of everyday life. The ancient peoples are at war - but is Niall really the one who can wield the dark magic of the Untainted, and save them all?