So You Want to be a Robot and Other Stories

by A. Merc Rustad

Overview

Step one: forget the convention and disregard the binary. Gender? Sexuality? Old words unsuited for new consciousness. The twenty-one stories in this book challenge the imagination as only acclaimed author A. Merc Rustad can. Pages of robots and AIs constructing lives and exploring "humanity"; wasted worlds with monstrous cityhearts; assassins and the perils of enchanted labyrinths; and always the raw truths of love, loss, and devotion. Step two: read these science-fiction and fantasy tales as if they are the only stories you will discover on your bookshelf this day. Step three: dare to feel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590216415
Publisher:	Lethe Press
Publication date:	04/22/2017
Pages:	246
Sales rank:	805,572
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

A. Merc Rustad is a queer transmasculine non-binary writer and filmmaker who likes dinosaurs, robots, monsters, and cookies. Their fiction has appeared in nifty places like Lightspeed, Cicada, Escape Pod, Fireside, IGMS, Daily Science Fiction, Flash Fiction Online, Apex, Shimmer, and others. "How To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps" was included in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 (ed. by Joe Hill and John Joseph Adams).

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/10/2017
Swaying freely between science fiction and fantasy, diverse in setting and tone, this debut collection by prolific short story author Rustad is creative, often whimsical, and deliciously inclusive. An element of queerness enhances many of the stories, always delivered as unobtrusively and naturally as hair color; characters’ genders and orientations sometimes guide the plot but are rarely the central focus. In the touching and layered “Iron Aria,” a young autistic trans man uses his magical ability to manipulate metal to save his small town from a weak dam. “Batteries for Your Doombot5000 Are Not Included” is, on the surface, a humorous tale of the postretirement life of a supervillain, but is touched with seriousness when she seeks compassionate aid from a former nemesis, hoping to revive the woman who was once her lover. The stories are all crafted with the deft and loving touch of an author who knows firsthand what it is to live in their characters’ skins. Each piece in this unmissable collection shimmers with bright explorations of love, loss, and the quest for hope. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"The stories are all crafted with the deft and loving touch of an author who knows firsthand what it is to live in their characters’ skins. Each piece in this unmissable collection shimmers with bright explorations of love, loss, and the quest for hope." - Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A sparkling sequence of tales that bends and flips familiar ideas and fantastic visions." - Kirkus Reviews, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 2017-03-07
Divergent characters find themselves in startling situations in this debut collection of unconventional sci-fi and fantasy stories.There is no guiding principle running through these tales save that they all look beyond the world as readers discern it, challenging—as the best speculative fiction does—a number of preconceived notions. Some might think that the relatable would be difficult to discover in a story about a lonely robot raising orphaned dinosaurs or two friends becoming cut off from each other by the untimely, unexpected closing of doors between worlds, but that dismissal would be premature. While each tale asks readers to forget what they know of the cosmos, identity, gender, or the ordinary, that request comes not in order to fill their minds with convoluted new concepts but rather to twist basic facts into inventive shapes. Someone accidentally cursed to be reborn as a rose sheds light on the symbols readers choose for their affections and how they value them. A non-fairy tale about a girl and a monster she once knew gives readers the ability to overturn the scripts of their own lives and realize who they—and their friends—truly are, however they might be judged. A shadow cast from inside a black hole peels away layers of loss and grief. And "How to Become a Robot in 12 Easy Steps," centered on longing, tells a surprising, touching tale about those who fail to fit in and how they can carve out spaces of their own. There's a tremendous variety in these stories: long and short, happy and sad, taking twists and turns or running in blazing straight lines. But what they all have in common is a sense of wonder ("The moment I knew I could love this robot was when the robot asked what I would like to be called. ‘Tesla,' I said, and the blue LED smiley face in the upper corner of the robot's screen flickered in a shy smile"). There is a strange power in the realms beyond this universe or hidden in plain sight, and Rustad captures it from myriad angles. The circumstances may be bizarre, but the characters are blindingly real, and it's only through that combination that these pieces can cut so unflinchingly to the heart. A sparkling sequence of tales that bends and flips familiar ideas and fantastic visions.

Kirkus Reviews

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