Machines That Kill

by FRED SABERHAGEN | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 0812520599 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 9/11/2018
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Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Tuesday, September 11, 2018
I got this paperback from a local Savers thrift shop. It's a SF anthology themed on (surprise!) machines that kill... It includes the Theodore Sturgeon short story "Killdozer", which inspired a 1974 film, and Richard Matheson's "Steel", which was adapted as a classic "Twilight Zone" episode and also inspired the 2011 film Real Steel.

While all of the stories feature dangerous machines, some of them present the machines as protagonists, some as tools of mankind, and some as diabolical forces. Among my favorites:

Philip K. Dick's "Second Variety," about a ghastly war of attrition in which the development of nasty self-reproducing cutter-orb robots has effectively shredded the enemy. But now the robots are evolving...

"Lost Memory" by Peter Phillips is a chilling little story that I'd read long ago and never forgot - well-meaning mechanized beings have found a spacecraft, and in their attempts to communicate with it they overlook the possibility that the ship is not actually the sentient being here. It... doesn't end well {shudder}.

Robert Silverbug's "The Iron Chancellor" is a darkly-humorous story in which a family acquires a robot that will monitor their diets and help them lose weight - but the robot's tactics are increasingly draconian, and the family soon feels trapped.

"Goodlife" by Fred Saberhagen is from his "Berserker" universe, and describes how humans cope with those who collaborate with the enemy - and it isn't pretty.

[There's a TV Tropes page on "Killdozer", with some entertaining tidbits.]

Released 5 yrs ago (10/11/2018 UTC) at LFL - Park Social, Ledge St. and Pine St. in Nashua, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book in the Little Free Library on this rainy day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2018 Spook-Tacular October release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2018 Movie release challenge. ***

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