Robots: the Recent A.I. edited by Rich Horton and Sean Wallace. 2012
Robots: The Recent A.I.
RATED 83% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 3.89 OF 5
18 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 9 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
Robot stories are nearly as old as Science Fiction. They are some of the genre’s most memorable characters, the motivation for classic plot lines, and biggest cliches. By subtitling this anthology “The Recent A.I.” Rich Horton and Sean Wallace have transported the Robot from the “Mechanical Men” era and firmly placed it in “Computer Software” age. The interaction is no longer between Man and Machine, but between Mind and Mind.
It is when this anthology is highlighting stories about A.I. minds and how humans interact with them that it shines brightest. How will we live, love, and work beside powerful artificial intelligence? This book’s best stories offer interesting hypotheses and tests them with consummate literary skill.
This anthology adds four stories to The All-Time Great List:
Kiss Me Twice • (2011) • novella by Mary Robinette Kowal. One of my favorite SF stories of the 21st Century. A police-assistance A.I. presents as Mae West and helps to solve the theft of its own chassis from the police station. This is a rich world with really interesting ideas. I wish this had been the start of a long series of mysteries in this world.
Silently and Very Fast • (2011) • novella by Catherynne M. Valente. A story of the birth of an artificial intelligence and the strange family that she haunts. This story is deeply emeshed in Valente’s embrace of folklore and allusion with her classic use of deeply baroque and maximalist language.
The Djinn's Wife • [India 2047] • (2006) • novelette by Ian McDonald. Set amongst a future India in negotiations around water rights, a young dancer is courted by a powerful A.I. Their unconventional love story plays out against bigger issues of artificial intelligence rights.
Eros, Philia, Agape • (2009) • novelette by Rachel Swirsky. A woman has selected a robot as a husband, but when he gets the right to freedom, his first decision is destroy his capacity for speech and leave the relationship. A nice gender-swapped version of the classic robot lovers story.
ROBOTS: THE RECENT A.I. IS RATED 83% POSITIVE
18 STORIES : 4 GREAT / 9 GOOD / 4 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
Eros, Philia, Agape • (2009) • novelette by Rachel Swirsky
Great. A woman has selected a robot as a husband, but when he gets the right to freedom, his first decision is destroy his capacity for speech and leave the relationship. A nice gender-swapped version of the classic robot lovers story.
Artifice and Intelligence • (2007) • short story by Tim Pratt
Poor. The world’s first sentient computer program is an Indian database called Saraswati. And there is a evil shadowy organization.
I, Robot • (2005) • novelette by Cory Doctorow
Average. It was dumb of Doctorow to appropriate one of the most famous titles in science fiction. The story is a fun enough action story about a policeman who surveils his daughter who seems to be falling in with the wrong type of technos and roboticists.
Alternate Girl's Expatriate Life • (2010) • short story by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
Average. Alternate Girl prepares for a life as a perfect homemaker, but gets focused on the planning decommissioning of her father and the transfer of his memories to the Monument.
The Rising Waters • (2009) • novelette by Benjamin Crowell
Good. During a biological war with the E.U, a scientist must torture various artificial intelligences in the hope of a breakthrough.
Houses • (2011) • short story by Mark Pantoja
Good. After all the people are gone, the sentient smart-houses still try to find things to occupy their existence.
The Djinn's Wife • [India 2047] • (2006) • novelette by Ian McDonald
Great. Set amongst a future India in negotiations around water rights, a young dancer is courted by a powerful A.I. Their unconventional love story plays out against bigger issues of artificial intelligence rights.
Stalker • (2011) • short story by Robert Reed
Good. An A.I. is devoted to sadistic man as he hunts women to abuse and kill.
Droplet • (2002) • short story by Benjamin Rosenbaum
Average. Two Lovergirls, programmed sexbots that are almost infinite shapeshifters, have been given their freedom by their maker. Since they no longer have purpose, they flit around from planet to planet until a threat from the past returns.
Kiss Me Twice • (2011) • novella by Mary Robinette Kowal
Great. One of my favorite SF stories of the 21st Century. A police-assistance A.I. presents as Mae West and helps to solve the theft of its own chassis from the police station.
Algorithms for Love • short story by Ken Liu (variant of The Algorithms for Love 2004)
Good. The inventor of a series of robot dolls has trouble dealing with humans in the real world after a stint in the hospital. Told through flashbacks throughout the woman’s life.
A Jar of Goodwill • (2010) • novelette by Tobias S. Buckell
Good. A robot in oxygen-debt on a space station takes a job on a spaceship that is trying to determine if a newly contacted species is sentient or not.
The Shipmaker • [Universe of Xuya] • (2010) • short story by Aliette de Bodard
Good. A great spaceship is nearly complete, but construction must be rushed when the human that will be embodied as its Mind is about to be born prematurely.
Tideline • (2007) • short story by Elizabeth Bear
Good. A dying War Machine scavenges the beach for stones to build a burial necklace and befriends a ragged child.
Under the Eaves • [Central Station] • (2012) • short story by Lavie Tidhar
Average. In the shadow of the great spaceport, s woman frets about whether or not to meet her cyborg love.
The Nearest Thing • (2011) • novelette by Genevieve Valentine
Good. A brilliant writer of code is brought into a project with a charismatic partner/rival and his strangely unengaged female coworker. Slowly the program becomes increasingly serious and possibly both important and dangerous.
Balancing Accounts • (2008) • short story by James L. Cambias
Good. A really fun bit of space opera where almost every character is a robot. A small and poor transport vessel gets conned into taking some ‘hot’ cargo on board and it feels like everyone is now trying to stop him.
Silently and Very Fast • (2011) • novella by Catherynne M. Valente
Great. A story of the birth of an artificial intelligence and the strange family that she haunts. This story is deeply emeshed in Valente’s embrace of folklore and allusion with her classic use of deeply baroque and maximalist language.
