Robots Through the Ages bookcover

Robots Through the Ages

A Science Fiction Anthology

Paul Levinson 

(Contribution by)

et al.

Roger Zelazny 

(Contribution by)

Connie Willis 

(Contribution by)

Karen Haber 

(Contribution by)

Ken Scholes 

(Contribution by)

Ambrose Bierce 

(Contribution by)

Clifford D. Simak 

(Contribution by)

Philip K. Dick 

(Contribution by)

Brenda Cooper 

(Contribution by)

Seanan McGuire 

(Contribution by)

Lester Del Rey 

(Contribution by)

Fritz Leiber 

(Contribution by)

Jack Williamson 

(Contribution by)

Suzanne Palmer 

(Contribution by)

Martin L. Shoemaker 

(Contribution by)

Avram Davidson 

(Contribution by)

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Description

A remarkable collection, Robots through the Ages includes stories from some of the best writers of science fiction, both old and new.

This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad--in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus "with minds and wisdoms"--humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce's tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are--and who creates them--can be drastically different.

This book collects a broad selection of short stories from celebrated authors such as Philip K. Dick, Seanan McGuire, Roger Zelazny, Connie Willis, and many more. Robots through the Ages not only celebrates the history of robots and the genre of science fiction, but the dauntless nature of human ingenuity.

Product Details

PublisherBlackstone Publishing
Publish DateJuly 25, 2023
Pages516
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconHardback
EAN/UPC9781665109659
Dimensions9.3 X 6.4 X 1.6 inches | 2.1 pounds

About the Author

Robert Silverberg's career stretches back to the pulps and his output is amazing by any standard. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and was named a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 2004 by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. He has attended every Hugo Awards ceremony since the inaugural event in 1953. He's authored numerous novels, short stories, and nonfiction books in various genres and categories. He's also a frequent guest at conventions and a regular columnist for Asimov's Science Fiction. His major works include Dying Inside, The Book of Skulls, The Alien Years, The World Inside, Nightfall and The Positronic Man with Isaac Asimov, Nightwings, and the seven Majipoor Cycle books. Anthologies he's edited include The Science Fiction Hall of Fame (two volumes), the Alpha and New Dimensions series (both multiple volumes), Universe 1-3 with Karen Haber, Legends I and Legends II, two Nebula Awards anthologies, The Fantasy Hall of Fame (two volumes, the first with Martin H. Greenberg, the second solo), Tales From Super-Science Fiction, Far Horizons, Earthmen and Strangers, and Mutants. The present volume is his forty-eighth anthology as editor.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the Hugo-nominated and #1 bestselling editor of twenty-two anthologies and numerous novels, including the worldwide bestseller The Martian by Andy Weir, and books by Frank Herbert, Alan Dean Foster, and Angie Fox, among others. His books have been published by St. Martin's Press, Baen Books, Titan Books, IDW, Blackstone Publishing, and many more. His novel series include the Saga of Davi Rhii and the John Simon Thrillers. His debut novel, The Worker Prince, received Honorable Mention on Barnes and Noble's Year's Best Science Fiction of 2011. His latest novel, Shortcut, a hard science fiction thriller, should be released in 2023 and a movie is in development. He has written numerous short stories, including official entries for the Joe Ledger, Monster Hunter International, Predator, Aliens vs. Predators, and The X-Files series, as well as originals. As editor, his anthologies include the bestselling Monster Hunter Files with Larry Correia, two Joe Ledger anthologies with Jonathan Maberry, two anthologies in the Predator movie tie-in series, Aliens vs. Predators: Ultimate Prey with Jonathan Maberry, two Infinite Stars volumes, and many more. He lives in Ottawa, Kansas, with his two dogs and three very naughty cats. He can be found online at BryanThomasSchmidt.net and as @BryanThomasS on Twitter and Facebook.

Mira Grant--pseudonym of Seanan McGuire--is the winner of a 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. She is the author of Deadline, Blackout, Feed, and Countdown, all part of the Newsflesh series.

Ambrose Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist.

Jack Williamson (1908-2006) published his first short story in 1928. The second person named Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, he was always in the forefront of the field, being the first to write fiction about genetic engineering (he invented the term), antimatter, and other cutting-edge science.

Fritz Leiber (1910-1992) was equally adept at writing science fiction, fantasy and horror. His works were honored with the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy awards. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and received the Gandalf Grand Master Award for fantasy writing. The Big Time is his most famous SF novel.

Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) was a writer of extraordinary vision and imagination whose works reflected a strong interest in metaphysics, theology, and speculative politics. In addition to his dozens of published novels, he wrote over 120 short stories, many of which appeared in science fiction magazines. At least eight of his stories have been adapted for film.

Avram Davidson (1923-1993) was author of nineteen published novels and more than two hundred short stories and essays collected in more than a dozen books. Davidson won the Hugo Award in science fiction, the Queen's Award and Edgar Award in the mystery genre, and the World Fantasy Award (three times).

Roger Zelazny (1937-1995) studied Elizabethan and Jacobean drama at Columbia University before bursting on to the science fiction scene while still in his mid-twenties. Among his many books are Four for Tomorrow, The Dream Master, A Rose for Ecclesiastes and the many titles in the Chronicle of Amber.
Connie Willis is the award-winning author of Doomsday Book, Passage, To Say Nothing of the Dog and Bellwether. Connie has been awarded 10 Hugo Awards, 11 Locus Poll Awards and 6 Nebula Awards.

Brenda Cooper is the author of the Silver Ship series and has also published many short stories, including a collaboration with Larry Niven.

Suzanne Palmer has been nominated for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and the Eugie M. Foster Award. Her short fiction has won reader's awards for Asimov's, Analog, and Interzone magazines.

Ken Scholes is the award-winning, critically-acclaimed author of multiple novels and short stories. His work has appeared in print since 2000 and includes the Psalms of Isaak series (Lamentation, Canticle, Antiphon) and the Tor.com short story "If Dragon's Mass Eve Be Cold and Clear."

Ken's eclectic background includes time spent as a label gun repairman, a sailor who never sailed, a soldier who commanded a desk, a fundamentalist preacher (he got better), a nonprofit executive, a musician and a government procurement analyst. He has a degree in History from Western Washington University.

Ken is a native of the Pacific Northwest and makes his home in Hillsboro, Oregon, where he lives with his twin daughters.

Martin L. Shoemaker is a programmer who writes on the side... or maybe it's the other way around. Programming pays the bills, but his second-place story in the Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest earned him lunch with Buzz Aldrin. Programming never did that! His Clarkesworld story "Today I Am Paul" received the Washington Science Fiction Society's Small Press Award, and was also nominated for a Nebula. It has been reprinted in Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-third Annual Edition (edited by Gardner Dozois), The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume One (edited by Neil Clarke), The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 (edited by Rich Horton), and The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 8 (edited by Allan Kaster). It has been translated into French, Hebrew, Czech, Polish, German, Chinese, Italian, and Croatian. It is also the opening to Today I Am Carey. Others of Martin's stories have appeared in Analog, Galaxy's Edge, Digital Science Fiction, Forever Magazine, Writers of the Future Volume 31, The Jim Baen Memorial Award: The First Decade, and Year's Best Military and Adventure SF 4. His novella "Murder on the Aldrin Express" was reprinted in Year's Best Science Fiction Thirty-First Annual Collection and in Year's Top Short SF Novels 4. His novelette "Racing to Mars" received the Analog Analytical Laboratory Award. You can learn more about Martin's fiction at http: //Shoemaker.Space.

Reviews

"Robots through the Ages ponders questions that arise in the face of evolving innovation, including how technology has changed over time."

-- "NPR's Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson"

"You might know the reveal, but how it all comes together is fascinating."

-- "The RetroRockets Podcast"

"Robert Silverberg and Bryan Thomas Schmidt's anthology is an indispensable collection of stories about Robots through the Ages. The reader receives a terrific overview of the history of robot tales from such stories as Jack Williamson's 'With Folded Hands, ' which grows more chilling and prophetic by the day; Robert Silverberg's masterful Nebula-Award winning tale of robots and 'Good News from the Vatican'; and Connie Willis's amusing mystery that presents an intriguing 'Dilemma' to Isaac Asimov and a coterie of robots. At the same time, this book offers the joy of discovering never-before-published gems by writers like Seanan McGuire and Ken Scholes. This is a delightful and informative book for anyone interested in robotics, AI, or science fiction."

-- "Sheila Williams, Hugo-winning editor of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine"

"Robots through the Ages is pure science fiction gold. Classic and new stories filled with weird science, adventure, wild twists, and awesome fun! Silverberg and Schmidt have a winner here!"

-- "Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author "

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