We, Robots

This is a collection of seven contemporary robot tales written by some of today s most acclaimed science fiction authors. A sentient war machine combs a beach for trinkets to create memorials for its fallen comrades in the Hugo Award winning story, Tideline, by Elizabeth Bear. In Balancing Accounts, by James Cambias, a small-time independent robotic space tug is hired by a mysterious client for a voyage between two of Saturn s moons. The Seventh Expression of the Robot General, by Jeffrey Ford, involves a robot general coming to grips with his position in a world that no longer requires, or even understands, his role. A city awakens its ancient guardian as it is about to be invaded by a mining company in Shining Armour by Dominic Green. In The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm, by Daryl Gregory, a country ruled by a super villain comes under attack by American super heroes. In Sanjeev and Robotwallah, by Ian McDonald, a young boy becomes enamored with the armed robots that do the fighting in a Civil War and the celebrity boy-soldiers who pilot them. A robot acting as a scarecrow could be a desperate young boy s one chance of staying alive in The Scarecrow s Boy by Michael Swanwick. These are unabridged readings by Amy Bruce and J. P. Linton.