The Robot's Twilight Companion

by Tony Daniel

A hero returns home from the end of time, and must ignore a savage band of outlaws or risk everything for which he's struggled. A derelict man-god holds the only hope against a tyrant whose influence reaches the molecular level of the solar system. And at the twilight of the millennium, the pressurized geology and politics of Washington state build toward eruption as a mining robot gains human understanding. These are just a few of the excellent, idiosyncratic stories presented here by one of the very best new professionals in science fiction.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Robots, Ebooks

325 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Tony Daniel is an author of science fiction novels, short stories, and radio dramas.

For the comic book author, see Tony S. Daniel.

Reviews

[Kalin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich, versatile, imaginative. The melancholy tenor of most stories is saved by a fierce undercurrent of romanticism, trust in our inherent goodness, and genuine sympathy for the characters' turmoils of the heart (even when there is no heart to speak of).

Some memorable moments:

~ "Life on the Moon" demonstrates the imaginative imagery of Daniel's writing:

And so they lived and grew together during the making of the Lakebridge Edifice. Or perhaps I grew around Nell, Henry later considered, like wisteria around wrought iron. Nell didn’t change, but she was good support and did not mind being covered over in spots.

It also shows love in a way surprisingly similar to how mine grows:

Their love had not been born in flames, but it had grown warmer and warmer, like coals finding new wood and slowly bringing it to the flash point.

~ A sample of Daniel's way with words (from "Death of Reason"):

I blinked twice and popped up my custom V-trace menu. It had cost me six thousand, a chip of my skull’s parietal plate, and a year of bureaupain to get a license for the junk. It was not my most expensive piece of exotic junk, but it was damned near. My brain is probably as much vat-formed gray matter as it is natural—and that’s not counting the hardware interfaces.

And the humor:

“With licensed enhancements (1)—”
“Fuck the enhancements,” said Bernam. The [AI] junk was smart enough not to try and interpret Bernam’s orders literally. It skipped to the next section.
“F.A. license HARCO234319599 for genre constructions, science fiction.”
“Huh?” said Bernam in his inimitable way.
“I write science-fiction stories on the side,” I replied. “Got a problem with that?”
“You’re full of shit.”
“Maybe,” I said.

~ "Mystery Box" seems to be set in the universe of Metaplanetary, or a darker version of it. It's a hell of a future, especially for New York City:

Jersey gone back to swamp and mosquitoes. Somewhere out there in the mud they had buried the Chrysler Building after it went on its rampage and had to be taken down with a missile.

~ "Grist" made me want to reread Metaplanetary and find out if it's a companion piece to the main storyline or an earlier, shorter version. At any rate, it's as beautiful and brutal as the big thing.

~ A particularly brilliant passage from "The Robot's Twilight Companion":

What do you think about?
Pardon?
What do you think about, robot?
I’m not HAL, Laramie.
What?
You know what I mean. You saw that movie many times. Your question sounds snide to me, as if it were a foregone conclusion that I don’t really think. You don’t just throw a question like that at me. It would be better to lead up to it. I don’t have to justify my existence to anyone, and I don’t particularly like to fawn on human beings. I feel that it is degrading to them.

However, the ending of the novella abruptly goes downhill. It fizzles out. Or--if you prefer--falls silent.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

5.0 stars. I have only read one story from this collection so the rating is really for that one story which was A Dry, Quiet War. As a read additional selections from this collection, I will update my review.

A Dry, Quiet War (5.0 stars):

WOW, this is a terrific science fiction short story that I had never heard of until I stumbled across the audiobook on audible.com. It concerns a soldier returning to his home planet after fighting in a mysterious galaxy spanning war during which he was given significant genetic modifications in order to become a superior fighter. The story explores themes reminiscent of Fritz Leiber's The Big Time and Joe Haldeman's The Forever War with a little Cordwainer Smith and Clifford Simak thrown in for good measure. A terrific piece of science fiction that will leave you thinking at the end. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

All kinds of good stuff in here...
Future sorts of hardboiled detective
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Weird/Lost World
Space Opera
New old wave. And terribly hard to find, but you should try!

[Sara]

Life on the moon
hold a dream with our eyes
green leaf think about home
about breaking feeling
hold a dream far to moon
to beald home there
to make our love lamp to that road
to moon
my heart
mustnt live y minut
how must feel without gathring with y
i love ya more than my soul
make a stars jeoulus from our love
from our dream
from tircoas home
from hope rainbow
how cant we bild home at moon
yr be was my life
that my breath
hold tight ma dream
my free bird
my beuty lover
hold tight our home at moon

[Lord Humungus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of some superb short stories, some of which I'd already read in Year's Best SF. Really loved some of the stories in here. I was quite disheartened when I read Daniel's novels; they were missing some of the magic and momentum I found in his stories...maybe he should have stuck to stories and novellas???

[Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories. It's alright for what it is, but I prefer novels. There are quite a few good ideas in here though that get you thinking of what a novel could be like based on some of these.