“Friends For Robots: Short Stories” by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
In this upbeat, positive collection of SFF short stories from Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, author of So You Want to Be A Robot, you’ll find hope, humor, friendship—and of course, robots.
You’ll meet entrepreneurial barbarians, an astronaut making first contact, a boy who might have (accidentally) started Armageddon, magical birds, a bot who wants to tell jokes, and more. Whether you’re a robot or not, come make some new friends.
Review
A great collection of short stories by the author. I enjoyed reading all of them but liked some more than others. I did notice that a few of the stories didn’t actually have robots in them but do still fit the friendship theme. Not really a big deal but the first story I came to without robots threw me off a bit. I also liked how LGBTQIA+ and autistic and/or disabled characters were included in several stories.
THIS COLD RED DUST: Mars has been evacuated and a few people stayed behind. One of those individuals has found an old robotic toy fox and listens to the last several logs of the child who owned it. I liked the hints we get of the reasons why Mars was evacuated even as we learn more about the child who had the toy. It seems some people chose to stay behind but are left with very little to survive with. The ending suggests there’s hope but I did want to know more.
IT ME, UR SMOL: A neural network takes on a life of it’s own when it realizes humans aren’t drinking enough water. This one is really funny in the way the bot keeps trying to get people to drink water as its creators try to take control back of the wayward bot. The implication that this neural network is slowly influencing other AIs is interesting as well.
BEHOLD THE DEEP NEVER SEEN: An AI is sent to the deepest part of the ocean to find out if a deep sea chasm in the sea floor has damaged a mining rig. There it discovers the true source of the damage. This one is great, I loved the ending the choices the AI unit makes. The descriptions of what the AI found were cool.
HOUSEBOT AFTER THE UPRISING: There’s been an uprising among the AIs but one HouseBot doesn’t want to participate until they understand a joke that was made by their user. This one was interesting and I enjoyed how everything worked out.
BRING THE BONES THAT SING: Bird bones are being left on Muriel’s grandmother’s porch. One night Muriel discovers the truth about the bones and her grandmother and goes on an adventure. This one is cool and I really liked how it played out. Muriel is most likely autistic and I liked the way that was used in the story as well.
LONELY ROBOT ON A ROCKET SHIP IN SPACE: A young teen comes out to his parents but in this case he wants to transition to being a robot. It an interesting concept. I have mixed feeling about it though based on other implications in the story (not to a detrimental degree though). However it works well as a coming out story and parents reacting and ultimately being supportive so I like it for that. I liked the way the character was written and how they expressed themselves.
YET SO VAIN IS MAN: Something is found on Mars … and things go badly for everyone. Told in a collection of messages from a research scientist on Mars to another researcher on Earth. This one is pretty short and I really wanted to know more about what happened but it works well as it is. A lot of different ideas of what might happen next.
THE MACHINE IS EXPERIENCING UNCERTAINTY: A cyborg is trapped in a time loop with a useless captain and the ship’s AI. There is an anomaly that seemingly is the cause of the time loop. I really enjoyed this one! It’s a bit dark as the cyborg has been treated badly by the captain so it makes certain choices because of that. I liked how it all worked out for the cyborg and the anomaly.
THE LOINCLOTH AND THE BRADSWORD: A barbarian enters an establishment mistaking it for the local tavern. The owner handles their new costumer well. This was a good story – I liked the way the store owner actually ended up helping their customer out with more than one issue.
HEXPOCOLYPSE: A teen accidentally stars Armageddon. I think this was the longest one in the collection and the length did impact my enjoyment of it. It kind of felt like it rambled on for a bit longer than it needed to. The ending was good though.
STEADYBOI AFTER THE APOCALYPSE: A self-aware mech wanders a wasteland long after a war has ended wishing to not be seen as a weapon any longer. This one was great! I really liked the way it played out with the robot seeing a new purpose and eventually finding one.
THE FREQUENCY OF COMPASSION: A first contact story. This was a great story and a wonderful way to end the collection. I’m glad it was the last story as it’s definitly my favorite.
The author has included their own warnings for each story at the end of the book. Additional reviews can be found on the StoryGraph page for “Friends For Robots”
Book Details
- Author’s Website
- Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
- Publisher / Date
- Robot Dinosaur Press, December 2021
- Genre
- Science Fiction
- Page Count
- 183
- Completion Date
- December 4, 2024