THE BOOK OF BOTS
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JPK 26-1
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JAMES PATRICK KELLY
Hugo and Nebula award winning writer James Patrick Kelly has spent the last thirty years thinking about robots. In the twelve stories of The Book of Bots they take many forms. Some look like humans or are embodied in spaceships. One is a house and another is a car. Several exist only in cyberspace. Two are visitors from the future. They are caretakers and lovers, explorers and financial advisors. All have been created to serve, but also have personal agendas that arise from a fierce sense of identity.
Fans of Kelly’s long running column in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine will also want to read two new articles included here. “The Comedy of Science” is a wry tour of the history of robots in science fiction and “Robots on Parade 2026” is frank assessment of the current state of robotics and AI.
- August, 2026 978-1-958880-41-8
- trade paperback, 5.5 x 8.5
- Pre-order copies below; or buy print or ebooks of this title from these dealers (more to come)
- Cover art by Devrim Erdogan
Hugo and Nebula award winning writer James Patrick Kelly has spent the last thirty years thinking about robots. In the twelve stories of The Book of Bots they take many forms. Some look like humans or are embodied in spaceships. One is a house and another is a car. Several exist only in cyberspace. Two are visitors from the future. They are caretakers and lovers, explorers and financial advisors. All have been created to serve, but also have personal agendas that arise from a fierce sense of identity.
Fans of Kelly’s long running column in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine will also want to read two new articles included here. “The Comedy of Science” is a wry tour of the history of robots in science fiction and “Robots on Parade 2026” is frank assessment of the current state of robotics and AI.
"For over fifty years, James Patrick Kelly has explored the crossroads of cyberpunk edge and humanist depth. In The Book of Bots, he brings that perspective to a world where machines don't just think — they care. About us and themselves, and futures we may not survive to see. He's observed the rising ocean of A.I. and robots. Start with 'Robots on Parade: 2026,' then read from there. Kelly writes with wit and perception. A new collection from him is a celebration."
— James Van Pelt, author of Summer of the Apocalypse
“Kelly’s many years of thinking about the possibilities and perils of robots, cyborgs, androids and AI have resulted in this marvelous collection of stories. Together they make a great aid to understanding our current techno-situation, while also being startling, ingenious, funny, heartfelt—a delight to read!”
— Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future
"A new collection by James Patrick Kelly, one of the best practitioners of short fiction in our field, is always cause for celebration. The Book of Bots, however, is something special, a collection of 12 stories featuring robots and other artificial intelligences. But it’s more than that. The stories, presented in order of publication, chronicle science fiction’s response to artificial intelligence as it has played out in our time. I urge you to read them from front to back, as I did, to get the most out of the experience. There are also two essays, both original to this book.
One is a history of robots in fiction from R.U.R. to the present day, and the other is an examination of the bewildering zoo of bots, robots, and AIs currently in existence. Together, they provide useful context for the fiction. Kelly's stories depend on future technologies based on physics, information theory, genetics, and other au courant disciplines, but they're about love, friendship, and loyalty . . . It will be fascinating to watch JPK’s future
writings to see if he continues in this examination of artificial life or if, the itch satisfied, he moves on to new questions. In either case, my review of this book is this: Buy, read, admire."
— Michael Swanwick, Locus Magazine
"James Patrick Kelly is one of the masters of science fiction. He imagines futures both high-tech and human, both dizzyingly complicated and determinedly simple . . . James Patrick Kelly at his best, and there’s nothing better.”
— Connie Willis
— James Van Pelt, author of Summer of the Apocalypse
“Kelly’s many years of thinking about the possibilities and perils of robots, cyborgs, androids and AI have resulted in this marvelous collection of stories. Together they make a great aid to understanding our current techno-situation, while also being startling, ingenious, funny, heartfelt—a delight to read!”
— Kim Stanley Robinson, author of The Ministry for the Future
"A new collection by James Patrick Kelly, one of the best practitioners of short fiction in our field, is always cause for celebration. The Book of Bots, however, is something special, a collection of 12 stories featuring robots and other artificial intelligences. But it’s more than that. The stories, presented in order of publication, chronicle science fiction’s response to artificial intelligence as it has played out in our time. I urge you to read them from front to back, as I did, to get the most out of the experience. There are also two essays, both original to this book.
One is a history of robots in fiction from R.U.R. to the present day, and the other is an examination of the bewildering zoo of bots, robots, and AIs currently in existence. Together, they provide useful context for the fiction. Kelly's stories depend on future technologies based on physics, information theory, genetics, and other au courant disciplines, but they're about love, friendship, and loyalty . . . It will be fascinating to watch JPK’s future
writings to see if he continues in this examination of artificial life or if, the itch satisfied, he moves on to new questions. In either case, my review of this book is this: Buy, read, admire."
— Michael Swanwick, Locus Magazine
"James Patrick Kelly is one of the masters of science fiction. He imagines futures both high-tech and human, both dizzyingly complicated and determinedly simple . . . James Patrick Kelly at his best, and there’s nothing better.”
— Connie Willis
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR