The robots have risen and are taking over the world. This collection of short stories presents a very modern take on the robots-gone-wrong theme, proving that even though our definition of robotics is constantly changing to include things like distributed artificial intelligence systems (which power our smartphones, our televisions and even our refrigerators), we still worry about the potential dangers to humanity.
Nearly everything in our modern age is touched by automated robotic or computer technology in some way, and most people don't even blink at the amount of hardware and software that surrounds us. Each of these stories--by heavyweights including Cory Doctorow, Hugh Howey, Alastair Reynolds and Daniel H. Wilson himself--takes on a different viewpoint of how and when the robots will gain sentience, take humanity hostage, or just flat out kill us all.
We may not know it's happening until it's too late, as in Seanan McGuire's brilliant story of love and loss, "We Are All Misfit Toys in the Aftermath of the Velveteen War," in which a young doctor must decide where her loyalty lies. In Alastair Reynolds's "Sleepover," a rich man awakens from suspended animation (sadly, no younger or less mortal than he was when he went in) to find a world gone horribly and dangerously wrong.
These stories, including a Dr. Moreau-like foray into nanotechnology by Wilson, all wrench the heart before they can warm it. Robot Uprisings is full of utterly human stories of loss, fear, bravery and revenge, set against an artificial and shiny future. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor