Ian R. MacLeod

"All one-time actor and unlicensed matrimonial private eye Clark Gable has to do is impersonate a wealthy scriptwriter for a few hours, and sign the contract for the biopic of the inventor of a device which has changed the world of entertainment forever. What could go wrong? Already, he's seeing ghosts--but that's nothing unusual. Europe is devastated by war and America is sleep-walking into Fascism--but what's that got to do with him?"--Publisher's description.

Words and music / William Sanders Beluthahatchie / Andy Duncan Renaissance / Nancy Kress Dikduk / Eliot Fintushel Pickman's modem / Lawrence Watt-Evans Thorri the poet's saga / S.N. Dyer and Lucy Kemnitzer He-we-await / Howard Waldrop The shunned trailer / Esther M. Friesner The country doctor / Steven Utley The golden keeper / Ian R. MacLeod

Darkness encroaches upon the Age of Light as Ian R. MacLeod's "electrifying" (Interzone) epic continues.

A cutting-edge anthology, published on the 100th anniversary of the word “Robot”, exploring the possibilities and place of robots in society going forwards. 100 years after Karel Capek coined the word, “robots” are an everyday idea, and the inspiration for countless stories in books, film, TV and games. They are often among the least privileged, most unfairly used of us, and the more robots are like humans, the more interesting they become. This collection of stories is where robots stand in for us, where both we and they are disadvantaged, and where hope and optimism shines through. Including stories by: Brooke Bolander · John Chu · Daryl Gregory · Peter F. Hamilton · Saad Z. Hossain · Rich Larson · Ken Liu · Ian R. Macleod · Annalee Newitz · Tochi Onyebuchi · Suzanne Palmer · Sarah Pinsker · Vina Jie-Min Prasad · Alastair Reynolds · Sofia Samatar · Peter Watts

A collection of fourteen fantasy stories by well-known authors, set in the age of steam engines and featuring automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never existed.