Manchester City Library

A list dedicated to Robots!

Cinder, by Marisa Meyer. As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story.

The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits? And what happens when this forces humanity to the cusp of post-human evolution? This is a tale of Bangkok struggling for survival in a post-oil era of rising sea levels and out-of-control mutation.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, by Douglas Adams. Further adventures of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and the all new voidoid gang upon returning to Earth after eight years of crazed wanderings around the galaxy in this science fiction spoof which continues the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe.”

Saturn’s Children: A Space Opera, by Charles Stross. Sometime in the twenty-third century, humanity went extinct leaving only androids behind. Freya Nakamichi 47 is a femmebot, one of the last of her kind still functioning. With no humans left to pay for the pleasures she provides, she agrees to transport a mysterious package from Mercury to Mars. Unfortunately for Freya, she has just made herself a moving target for some very powerful, very determined humanoids who will stop at nothing to possess the contents of the package.

More Human than Human: Stories of Androids, Robots, and Manufactured Humanity, edited by Neil Clarke. The short stories in More human than human demonstrate the depth and breadth of artificial humanity in contemporary science fiction. Issues of passing, of what it is to be human, of autonomy and slavery and oppression, and yes, the hubris of creation; these ideas have fascinated us for at least two hundred years, and this selection of stories demonstrates why it is such an alluring and recurring conceit.

Sea of Rust: A Novel, by Robet C. Cargill. “In this post-apocalyptic “robot western,” critically acclaimed author, screenwriter, and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill brilliantly chronicles the tale of a scavenger robot wandering in the wasteland left after the war that destroyed humanity.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick. By 2021, the World War has killed millions, driving entire species into extinction and sending mankind off-planet. Those who remain covet any living creature, and for people who can’t afford one, companies built incredibly realistic simulacra: horses, birds, cats, sheep. They’ve even built humans. Immigrants to Mars receive androids so sophisticated they are indistinguishable from true men or women. Fearful of the havoc these artificial humans can wreak, the government bans them from Earth. Driven into hiding, unauthorized androids live among human beings, undetected. Rick Deckard, an officially sanctioned bounty hunter, is commissioned to find rogue androids and “retire” them. But when cornered, androids fight back—with lethal force.