Robot Fiction

"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.

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…

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.

When the marshal of Leadville, Colorado, comes across a pair of mysterious, bloody deaths out in the badlands, he turns to Cora to find the creature responsible. But if she is to overcome the unnatural tide threatening to consume the small town, Cora must first confront her own tragic past.

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.

When feared Yankees slugger Cliff Bullard goes barnstorming around the northeast, offering $10,000 to any local pitcher who can strike him out, Professor Childermass and Johnny Dixon get a sneaky idea. There’s a local legend about a crackpot inventor who once built a robot capable of throwing a baseball 110 MPH, and the professor thinks that if they find the machine, they can win Bullard’s prize. They discover the rusted old monstrosity in an abandoned workshop and put it back together, piece by piece.

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.

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.

Mina’s dream has come true. Mina and her best friend, Vanessa, set out for the ultimate summer adventure, but Count Dracula is worried that the evil robot SILVIA is still on the loose and looking for revenge! At camp, Mina and Vanessa discover that something is horribly wrong with the animals at the zoo. Will Mina’s dream vacation become a nightmare?

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?

The Steampunk Pirates get a taste of their own medicine when their ship is raided by a sea monster that’s greedy for gold. But when the rusty robots race to get their treasure back, they sail straight into a trap. Can they dodge the creature's twisting tentacles or will they be next on the monster’s menu?

Professor Pip drømmer om at vinde sangkonkurrencen Flomborg synger. Men hvordan kan hun det, når hun har en sangstemme, der lyder som en bilalarm? Det har professor Pip selvfølgelig alle tiders løsning på. Og Arnold skal hjælpe hende. Problemet er, at der også er et par robotter med i planen. Og de viser sig at være lidt svære at styre. Arnold og professor Pip må ud på en vild robotjagt! Professor Pip er en serie af sjove bøger om en genial opfinder, en ualmindelig gorilla og den ret almindelige dreng Arnold.