Robot Fiction

Oichi Angelis, former Worm, along with her fellow insurgents on the generation starship Olympia, head deeper into the Charon System for the planet called Graveyard. Ancient, sentient, alien starships wait for them - three colossi so powerful they remain aware even in self-imposed sleep. The race that made the Three are dead, but Oichi's people were engineered with this ancient DNA. A delegation from Olympia must journey to the heart of Graveyard and be judged by the Three. Before they're done, they will discover that weapons are the least of what the ships have to offer.

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.

She thought she was dead. When she woke up in hospital, she could barely remember getting on the flight, let alone the terrorist bomb from which she was the only survivor. But she can hear the voices in her head, for they are the spirits of the dead passengers. They cannot rest until they have delivered their terrifying message: The terrorists know she survived, and are coming for her.

Chonrad, Lord of Barle, comes to the fortified temple of Heartwood for the Congressus peace talks, which Heartwood’s holy knights have called in an attempt to stave off war in Anguis. But the Arbor, Heartwood’s holy tree, is failing, and because the land and its people are one, it is imperative the nations try to make peace.

The very best person to catch your killer...is you. In the near future, scientists solve the problem of mortality by learning how to back up and restore a person's memories into a vat-bred clone. When Secret Service agent Ronan Doonan is brutally murdered, he's brought back from the dead one more time to hunt his killer, but this time those who wanted him dead are much closer to home. Matt Forbeck has worked full-time on fiction and games since 1989. His work has been published in at least a dozen different languages.

Stevie is a kiler. But she brings her victims back to life again, to demand, "What Do You See?" Now she's about to find out for herself. After an accident in which her mother dies, Stevie has a near-death experience, and finds herself in a room full of people - everyone she's ever annoyed. They clutch at her, scratch and tear at her. But she finds herself drawn back to this place, again and again, determined to unlock its secrets. Which means she has to die, again and again. And Stevie starts to wonder whether other people see the same room...when they die.

He sought to flee his tragic past, but when Thomas Usher hears a clockwork voice on the phone, and sees ever-more disturbing visions in a derelict warehouse, Usher realises that he has to return home - for the sake of his own sanity. Meanwhile, a deadly figure from Usher's past threatens to undermine the very fabric of reality. Gary McMahon’s short fiction has appeared in numerous acclaimed magazines and anthologies in the UK and US and has been reprinted in yearly “Best of” collections.

It is 2050. The USA has just been sold to the highest bidders. Detective Pete Shah is a Memory Association Specialist with the NYPD - he reads the last thoughts of murder victims. When he himself is arrested for murder, though, the secrets he brings to light threaten to bring the city to its knees. No one here gets out alive.

The two magicians came to take Vegas. Now it’s taking them back. When two college freshmen decide to use Spring Break making magic on the gambling tables of Las Vegas, little do they imagine that Vegas harbours a dark magical secret of its own…the whole place is run by magic, and an undead Harry Houdini is in charge. Matt Forbeck has worked full-time on fiction and games since 1989. His work has been published in at least a dozen different languages.

Marvo is a stage magician. His magic is real. Marvo grows up without knowing his parents, without knowing his heritage, without knowing much about life. The magicians have always been with us, since the beginning of civilisation. They fill our heads with the mist, keeping us from witnessing the stark reality of existence. But are things so bad that Marvo will bring it down on all of us, forever? Marvo begins to understand those around him, and his place in the world; he discovers that his remarkable powers can be put to good, or to evil.

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.

Ten-year-old Mark was an unusual child. He worked all day long to create a combat robot to take part in the state championship. When, after many months of hard work, the robot was finally finished, the whole family breathed a sigh of relief. However, the next day, the robot disappeared without a trace, only to return to the same place after a long five years...but it was a completely "different" robot....

Child genius and budding inventor Frances is in trouble. Her dreams of scientific glory were dashed when her first big experiment nearly destroyed her whole town. So when a prestigious society invites her to their symposium, Frances sees it as a chance to redeem herself. On the way there, her train is hijacked, and she and her friend Luca flee into the Black Forest. Seeking shelter with a group of orphans, Frances learns the rules of the woods: Never travel alone. Never make a sound. Because something hunts in the shadows, something with glowing eyes and sharp teeth.

Having achived so much, Marius don Hellespont was finding life just a little boring. But now something, or maybe someone, has stopped the dead from, well, dying. So wouldn’t you know it, it’s up to Marius, incorrigible sidekick Gerd, and Gerd’s not-dead-enough Granny, to journey across the continent and put the marching dead back in the afterlife, where they belong.

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!