by Simon Ings
Robert Bloch: “Comfort Me, My Robot” published in Imagination, 1955. Reproduced by permission of Richard Henshaw Group LLC.
Bruce Boston: “Old Robots are the Worst,” published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, October 1989. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Ray Bradbury: “The Veldt” originally appearing as “The World the Children Made” in The Saturday Evening Post, September 1950. Republished in The Illustrated Man, 1951. Reproduced by permission of Abner Stein.
Tobias S. Buckell: “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance” published in Cosmic Powers, 2017. Reproduced by permission of Liza Dawson Associates LLC.
Algis Budrys: “First to Serve” published in Astounding Science Fiction, May 1954. Reproduced by permission of The Zeno Agency.
Avram Davidson: “The Golem” published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1955. Reproduced by permission of Darrell Schweitzer/Owlswick Literary Agency.
Lester Del Rey: “Helen O’Loy,” copyright © 1938, 1966 by Lester del Rey; first appeared in Astounding. Reprinted by permission of Wildside Press and the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.
Cory Doctorow: “I, Row-Boat” originally published in Flurb #1, copyright © 2006 by Cory Doctorow. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Terry Edge: “Big Dave’s in Love” published in Arc 1.2 / Post Human Conditions, 2012. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Greg Egan: “Learning to Be Me” first published in Interzone #37, July 1990, copyright © 1990 by Greg Egan. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Harlan Ellison: “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman” originally published in Galaxy Magazine, December 1965, copyright © 1965 by Galaxy Publishing Corporation. Copyright reassigned to Author 16 April 1968. Renewed, 1992 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. Reprinted with permission of, and by arrangement with, The Kilimanjaro Corporation. All rights reserved. Harlan Ellison is a registered trademarks of The Kilimanjaro Corporation.
Guy Endore: “Men of Iron” first published in The Magazine of Fantasy, Fall 1949. Reproduced by permission of the Estate of the author.
E. M. Forster: “The Machine Stops” 1909. Reproduced by permission of The Provost and Scholars of King’s College, Cambridge and The Society of Authors as the E. M. Forster Estate.
Karen Joy Fowler: “Praxis” first published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1985. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Lauren Grace Fox: “Rosie Cleans House” published in All Hail Our Robot Conquerors! 2017. Reproduced with permission of the author.
William Gibson: “The Winter Market” published in Vancouver Magazine, November 1985. Reproduced by permission of The Orion Publishing Group, London.
Herbert Goldstone: “Virtuoso” published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 1953. Reproduced by permission of the Estate of the author.
Emile Goudeau: “The Revolt of the Machines,” translated by Brian Stableford in The Revolt of the Machines, 2014. Reproduced by permission of Brian Stableford.
Dan Grace: “Fully Automated Nostalgia Capitalism” published in Interzone, #273, November–December 2017. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Becky Hagenston: “Hi Ho Cherry-O” first published in Witness, XXXI Vol 1, Spring 2018. Reproduced with permission of the author.
John Cooper Hamilton: “The Next Move” published in Daily Science Fiction, April 2018. Reproduced by permission of the author.
M. John Harrison: “Suicide Coast” published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, ed van Gelder, 1999. Reproduced by permission of Mic Cheetham Literary Agency.
Ted Hayden: “These 5 Books Go 6 Feet Deep” published in Nature, February, 2018. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Arundhati Hazra: “The Toymaker’s Daughter” originally published in the March/April 2017 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Tania Hershman: “The Perfect Egg” published in Nature, January 2011. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Nathan Hillstrom: “Like You, I Am A System” published in Interzone, #270, May–June 2017. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Nalo Hopkinson: “Ganger (Ball Lightning)” published in Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, Aspect, 2000. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Shinichi Hoshi: “Bokko-Chan”, copyright © 1958 The Hoshi Library English translation by Marina Hoshi Whyte. Reproduced by permission of Japan Foreign-Rights Centre.
T. L. Huchu: “HostBods” published in Omenana, #1, 2014. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Liz Jensen: “Good to Go” published in Arc 1.4: Forever alone drone, 2012. Reproduced by permission of Aitken Alexander Associates Ltd.
Xia Jia: “Tongtong’s Summer,” translated by Ken Liu. First published in Upgraded 2014, copyright © 2014 by Xia Jia. Reproduced by permission of the author and translator.
Rachael K. Jones: “The Greatest One-Star Restaurant in the Whole Quadrant” published in Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 91, December 2017. Reproduced by permission of the author.
John Kaiine: “Dolly Sodom” published in Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex, 1996. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Joanna Kavenna: “Flight”, published in Arc 2.3. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Damon Knight: “Masks” first published in Playboy, July 1968, copyright © 2019, InfinityBox Press LLC. Published by arrangement with InfinityBox Press LLC.
Ted Kosmatka: “The One Who Isn’t” from Lightspeed, July 2016. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Rich Larson: “Masked” published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Issue 07, 2016. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Murray Leinster: “A Logic Named Joe” published in Astounding Science Fiction, 1946. Reproduced by permission of MBA Literary Agents.
Marissa K. Lingen (Gritter): “My Favourite Sentience” published in Nature, April 2018. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Ken Liu: “The Caretaker” originally published in First Contact: Digital Science Fiction Anthology 1, copyright © 2011 by Ken Liu. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Stanisław Lem: “Non Serviam” published in Perfect Vacuum, copyright © 1971 by Stanisław Lem, English translation © 1978, 1979 by Stanisław Lem. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Barry N. Malzberg: “Making the Connections” originally published in Continuum 4, ed Roger Elwood, copyright © 1975 by Roger Elwood. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Adam Marek: “Tamagotchi” published in The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease, 2008. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Paul McAuley: “The Man” originally published in Arc 1.2 / Post Human Conditions, copyright © 2012 by Paul McAuley. Reproduced by permission of Mic Cheetham Literary Agency.
Ian McDonald: “Nanonauts! In Battle With Tiny Death-Subs!” published in Robot Uprisings, 2014. Reproduced by permission of The Zeno Agency.
Sandra McDonald: “Sexy Robot Mom” published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April–May 2012. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Walter M. Miller, Jr.: “I Made You” published in Astounding Science Fiction, March 1954, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr., Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Abner Stein.
C. L. Moore: “No Woman Born” first published in Astounding Science Fiction, December 1944, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr., Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Abner Stein.
Patrick O’Leary: “That Laugh” published in We Think, Therefore We Are, 2009. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Peter Phillips: “Lost Memory”, copyright © 1952 by Quinn Publishing Corp, © 1980 by Peter Phillips. Reproduced by permission of the author’s agent, Barry N. Malzberg.
Steven Popkes: “The Birds of Isla Mujeres” published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fict
ion, January 2003. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Vina Jie-Min Prasad: “Fandom for Robots” published in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 18, September–October 2017. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Mari Ness: “Memories and Wire” published in Upgraded, 2014. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Robert Reed: “The Next Scene” published in Clarkesworld Magazine, #121, October 2016, copyright © Robert Reed. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Mike Resnick: “Beachcomber,” first published in Chrysalis 8, ed. Roy Torgeson, Doubleday, 1980. Reproduced by permission of Spectrum Literary Agency.
Adam Roberts: “Adam Roberts” published in We Think, Therefore We Are, 2009. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Carl Sandburg: “The Hammer” from The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg, copyright © 1969, 1970 by Lillian Steichen Sandburg. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Robert Sheckley: “The Robot Who Looked Like Me” published in Cosmopolitan, August 1973, copyright © 1973 by Robert Sheckley. Reproduced by permission of Donald Maass Literary Agency. All rights reserved.
Nicholas Paul Sheppard: ‘Satisfaction” first published in AntipodeanSF, Issue 236, March 2018. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Clifford D. Simak: “I Am Crying All Inside” published in Galaxy Magazine, August 1969. Reprinted by permission of Pollinger Limited (www.pollingerlimited.com) on behalf of the Estate of Clifford D Simak.
John Sladek: “The Steam-Driven Boy” published in Nova 2, 1972. Reproduced by permission of the Estate of the author.
Cordwainer Smith: “Scanners Live in Vain” first published in Fantasy Book, Vol. 1, No. 6, ed. Garret Ford, Fantasy Publishing Company, Inc., 1950. Reproduced by permission of Spectrum Literary Agency.
Bruce Sterling: “Maneki Neko” published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 1998. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Romie Stott: “A Robot Walks into a Bar” published in Arc 1.4 / Forever Alone Drone, 2012. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Theodore Sturgeon: “Microcosmic God” published in Astounding Science-Fiction 1941. Published by permission of The Theodore Sturgeon Literary Trust c/o The Lotts Agency, Ltd.
Michael Swanwick: “Ancient Engines” published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, February 1999, copyright © 1998. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Rachel Swirsky: “Tender” published in Upgraded, 2014. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Brian Trent: “Director X and the Thrilling Wonders of Outer Space” published in All Hail Our Robot Conquerors! 2017. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Miguel De Unamuno: “Mechanopolis,” 1913, translated by Patricia Hart from Cosmos Latinos: An Anthology of Science Fiction from Latin America and Spain, edited by Andrea L. Bell and Yolanda Molina-Gavilán, copyright © 2003 Wesleyan University Press. Published by Wesleyan University Press. Used with permission.
A. E. van Vogt: “Fulfillment” first published in New Tales of Space and Time, 1951. Reproduced by permission of the Estate of the author and Ashley Grayson Agency.
Howard Waldrop: “London, Paris, Banana” published in Amazing Stories, Winter 2000. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Peter Watts: “Malak” published in Engineering Infinity, 2010, ed. Jonathan Strahan Solaris. Reproduced by permission of the author.
Alexander Weinstein: “Saying Goodbye to Yang” published in Children of the New World, copyright © 2016 by Alexander Weinstein. Reproduced by permission of Text Publishing and Picador.
Tad Williams: “The Narrow Road,” translated by Sam Hamill, published in Arc 2.1 Exit strategies, Reed Business Information Ltd, 2014. Reproduced by permission of Deborah Beale.
Jack Williamson: “With Folded Hands” first published in Astounding Science Fiction, July 1947, ed. John W. Campbell, Jr., Street & Smith Publications, Inc. Reproduced by permission of Spectrum Literary Agency.
Bernard Wolfe: “Self Portrait,” copyright © 1951. Used by permission of Catalyst Literary Management LLC, on behalf of Miranda Wolfe and Jordan M. Wolfe. All rights reserved.
Nick Wolven: “Caspar D. Luckinbill, What Are You Going to Do?” first published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan–Feb 2016, ed. C. C. Finlay, Spilogale, Inc. Reproduced with permission of the author.
E. Lily Yu: “Musée de l’me Seule” first published in Upgraded, ed. Neil Clarke, Wyrm Publishing, 2014, copyright © 2014 by E. Lily Yu.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.
About the Author
SIMON INGS is the author of nine previous novels (some science-fiction, some not) and two works of non-fiction, including the Baillie Gifford longlisted Stalin and the Scientists. He edits the books and culture pages of New Scientist magazine and writes for the arts pages of several newspapers, in an attempt to heat what may be London’s coldest flat.
simonings.com @simonings
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