ROBOT ARTISTS AND BLACK SWANS - Bruce Sterling

I have been a fan of Bruce Sterling's work since his first novel, Involution Ocean, was part of The Harlan Ellison Discovery Series (#4) and I've read nearly all his published fiction (and much of his published non-fiction) since then.  This collection of short stories is possibly my least favorite of his works.

As the book's subtitle indicates, these stories are connected by location and culture. These are "The Italian Fantascienza Stories." But what is confusing here is that author Bruce Sterling takes on a different (Italian) persona and writes as Bruno Argento - who is also a character.

My biggest disappointment is that the stories are so deeply intertwined with Italy that I feel like an absolute outsider. This is not my background or heritage, and that should be okay - I like learning about other cultures - but this is really Sterling's (or Argento's) love affair and I'm invited only to be an observer, not a participant.

The one story that I enjoyed was the final story, "Robot in Roses," in which a robotic wheelchair making art offers up a lot of philosophical contemplation.

Overall, though, for me as a Bruce Sterling fan, I was highly disappointed.

This book contains the following:

Introduction by Neal Stephenson
"Storia, Futurità, Fantasia, Scienza, Torino" by Bruno Argento
"Kill the Moon"
"Black Swan"
"Elephant on Table"
"Pilgrims of the Round World"
"The Parthenopean Scalpel"
"Esoteric City"
"Robot in Roses"
Afterword: "Bruce Sterling, Erudite Dreamer and Pirate" by Dario Tonani

Looking for a good book? Bruce Sterling's collection, Robot Artists and Black Swans, is a series of Italian themed fantasy/science fiction stories that are mostly forgettable.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2 stars

* * * * * *

Robot Artists and Black Swans

author: Bruce Sterling

publisher: Tachyon

ISBN: 9781616963293

hardcover, 256 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in...
Read more

THE WALLED CITY - Ryan Graudin

Image
  Jin and her sister, Mei Yee, were taken and sold and then sent to the lawless Walled City to serve as prostitutes or slaves to anyone willing to pay. Jin managed to escape her captivity, but not the Walled City and she now lurks about, disguised as a boy and is trying to track down the brothel where her sister is still captive. Jin will work odd delivery jobs to earn a small bit of money and hopefully have a legitimate means of coming in contact with her sister's captors.  This is how she meets up with Dai, a mysterious boy who has somehow managed to avoid running with any of the gangs in the city but he seems to have his own unusual connections, which Jon could desperately use if she has any hope of finding Mei Yee. But Dai has his own desperate needs.  The story is told from the different perspectives of each character and we do bounce around quite a bit as the chapters are generally short. This never bothered me, which is slightly unusual as often I find this techni...
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - ...
Read more