From the New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse comes a fascinating and fantastic collection that explores complex emotional and intellectual landscapes at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human life. A VINTAGE BOOKS ORIGINAL. In "All Kinds of Proof," a down-and-out drunk makes the unlikeliest of friends when he is hired to train a mail-carrying robot; in "Blood Memory," a mother confronts the dangerous reality that her daughter will never assimilate in this world after she was the first child born through a teleportation device; in "The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever," a physicist rushes home to be with his daughter after he hears reports of an atmospheric anomaly which he knows to be a sign of the end of the earth; in "Miss Gloria," a robot comes back to life in many different forms in a quest to save a young girl. Guardian Angels and Other Monsters displays the depth and breadth of Daniel H. Wilson's vision and examines how artificial intelligence both saves and destroys humanity.

Praise for Daniel H. Wilson's *Guardian Angels & Other Monsters

• “Daniel H. Wilson's first short story collection delivers on all counts. . . . Wilson's work is masterfully rendered, and his fans will find Robopocalypse and The Clockwork Dynasty tie-in entries. For newcomers, there are plenty of other sometimes dark, always engaging worlds to love.”
  —Shelf Awareness

  “Spectacular. . . . Wilson displays an aching humanity and literary sensibility that will satisfy his fans and win him plenty of new ones. This thoughtful, affecting collection will linger in the thoughts of readers long after the last page is turned.”
  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “By page 9, I was grinning like a kid on his first carnival ride. I love everything out of Daniel Wilson’s mind—it’s fun and it’s fast—and the short story format takes it into overdrive. Thrilling, touching, funny, heartbreaking and scary as hell, there’s nowhere this rollercoaster won’t take you. Grab on to those pages and hold tight. You’re in for one hell of a ride.”
  —Sylvain Neuvel, author of *Sleeping Giants

  “Smart writing and intriguing characters lend themselves to these well-crafted tales about future technology. . . . This is a boon to both Wilson’s fans and sf readers seeking high-quality short fiction.”
  —Library Journal

• “Wilson's abundant talents are on display—the detail that hooks you, the efficient worldbuilding, the ideas and concepts deftly embedded throughout that light up the imagination, yet never slow down these propulsive narratives. Dark, chilling, even moving at times and consistently entertaining. This is brainy action, hard sci-fi with heart.”
  —Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

  Autorentext

  Daniel H. Wilson

  Klappentext

  From the New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse comes a fascinating and fantastic collection that explores complex emotional and intellectual landscapes at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human life. A VINTAGE BOOKS ORIGINAL.

  In "All Kinds of Proof," a down-and-out drunk makes the unlikeliest of friends when he is hired to train a mail-carrying robot; in "Blood Memory," a mother confronts the dangerous reality that her daughter will never assimilate in this world after she was the first child born through a teleportation device; in "The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever," a physicist rushes home to be with his daughter after he hears reports of an atmospheric anomaly which he knows to be a sign of the end of the earth; in "Miss Gloria," a robot comes back to life in many different forms in a quest to save a young girl. Guardian Angels and Other Monsters displays the depth and breadth of Daniel H. Wilson's vision and examines how artificial intelligence both saves and destroys humanity.

  Zusammenfassung
  From the New York Times bestselling author of Robopocalypse comes a fascinating and fantastic collection that explores complex emotional and intellectual landscapes at the intersection of artificial intelligence and human life. A VINTAGE BOOKS ORIGINAL.

  In "All Kinds of Proof," a down-and-out drunk makes the unlikeliest of friends when he is hired to train a mail-carrying robot; in "Blood Memory," a mother confronts the dangerous reality that her daughter will never assimilate in this world after she was the first child born through a teleportation device; in "The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever," a physicist rushes home to be with his daughter after he hears reports of an atmospheric anomaly which he knows to be a sign of the end of the earth; in "Miss Gloria," a robot comes back to life in many different forms in a quest to save a young girl. Guardian Angels and Other Monsters displays the depth and breadth of Daniel H. Wilson's vision and examines how artificial intelligence both saves and destroys humanity.

  Leseprobe

MISS GLORIA

He taught me to go with him through pathless deserts, dragging me on with mighty stride, and to laugh at sight of the wild beasts, nor tremble at the shattering of rocks by rushing torrents or at the silence of the lonely forest.
—The Achilleid (94 ce)

The fairy house sprouts from a moss-covered tree trunk, small but perfectly formed, sheltered by the spotted cupola of a fey toadstool.

Nestled in dewy curls of turf, the miniature house has been carefully pieced together from a stockpile of twigs orga­nized by diameter and broken to the same length. Tiny flat stones form a path leading to its door.

On his knees in the dirt, Chiron, named for the mythi­cal Greek centaur, tutor to Achilles, leans over the mossy landscape.

The robot moves gracefully, limbs and torso plated in contoured pads over an economy of smooth silver strut­work. Sculpted into lines of classic musculature, each pale plate is comfortable to touch, devoid of pinch points, and easy to clean. Chiron is often smeared with spaghetti sauce or flecked with waxy streaks of crayon by the end of the day, though his infinite patience and love never waver.

The girl beside him, her knees dirty under a maroon sun­dress, is called Miss Gloria. She is six years old, weighs thirty-nine pounds, and is forty-six inches tall. As a specimen of little girl, she is largely unremarkable. Instead, the incred­ible aspects of her life come from the intersection of power and politics that finds its locus in her family. As a power­ful man surrounded by enemies, Gloria’s father entrusts his daughter only to an ally he has built himself.

To that end, he has spared no expense.

Chiron’s most amazing attributes are not manifest in his elegantly sculpted form, but in the curious patterns of the mind. His thinking and memory are infinitely adapt­able, self-preserving, and capable of extracting meaning and wisdom from whichever hardware happens to be available.
Of primary concern to Chiron is, of course, Miss Glo­ria’s physical safety. After that comes her emotional devel­opment, confidence, and self-esteem. He intends to ensure that Miss Gloria someday realize her full potential as a grown woman.

Chiron is well aware that he will be discarded long before reaching this goal, and he is content. He knows that before a sculpture is completed, the scaffolding must fall away.

Crouched at his side, shoulder to shoulder, Miss Glo­ria knows only that Chiron is an excellent playmate. Not a friend—not exactly—but a presence whose measured voice is steady and constant, if a bit stern. Gloria loves her mentor purely—he is as much a fixture in h…