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So You Want To Be A Robot: 22 Stories of Science Fiction and Fantasy
“Divergent characters find themselves in startling situations in this debut collection of unconventional sci-fi and fantasy stories... A sparkling sequence of tales that bends and flips familiar ideas and fantastic visions.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS ⭐ review [1st Edition]
SSet aside traditional norms and the gender binary in this updated collection of twenty-two stories by Nebula Award finalist Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.
Here you'll find robots and cyborgs exploring their own forms of personhood; lose yourself in wildly imaginative landscapes and dystopian worlds; follow assassins, sentient shadows, sorrowful ghosts, and all forms of monsters. Dare to feel everything—from the brightest joy to sorrow and the rainbow of emotion in between.
Yet even in the darkest moments, there will always be hope.
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SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROBOT (2nd Edition) includes the following
This Is Not A Wardrobe Door
Tomorrow When We See The Sun
The Sorcerer's Unattainable Gardens
The Android's Prehistoric Menagerie
For Want of a Heart
Once I, Rose
Where Monsters Dance
A Survival Guide For When You're Trapped In A Black Hole
Thread
Under Wine-Bright Seas
Of Blessed Servitude
To The Knife-Cold Stars
Finding Home
Winter Bride
To The Monsters, With Love
Batteries For Your Doombot5000 Are Not Included
...Or Be Forever Fallen
Iron Aria
What Becomes Of The Third-Hearted
The Gentleman Of Chaos
Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts
How To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps
---
“The stories are all crafted with the deft and loving touch of an author who knows firsthand what it is to live in their characters’ skins. Each piece in this unmissable collection shimmers with bright explorations of love, loss, and the quest for hope.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ⭐ review [1st Edition]
—KIRKUS REVIEWS ⭐ review [1st Edition]
SSet aside traditional norms and the gender binary in this updated collection of twenty-two stories by Nebula Award finalist Merc Fenn Wolfmoor.
Here you'll find robots and cyborgs exploring their own forms of personhood; lose yourself in wildly imaginative landscapes and dystopian worlds; follow assassins, sentient shadows, sorrowful ghosts, and all forms of monsters. Dare to feel everything—from the brightest joy to sorrow and the rainbow of emotion in between.
Yet even in the darkest moments, there will always be hope.
---
SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROBOT (2nd Edition) includes the following
This Is Not A Wardrobe Door
Tomorrow When We See The Sun
The Sorcerer's Unattainable Gardens
The Android's Prehistoric Menagerie
For Want of a Heart
Once I, Rose
Where Monsters Dance
A Survival Guide For When You're Trapped In A Black Hole
Thread
Under Wine-Bright Seas
Of Blessed Servitude
To The Knife-Cold Stars
Finding Home
Winter Bride
To The Monsters, With Love
Batteries For Your Doombot5000 Are Not Included
...Or Be Forever Fallen
Iron Aria
What Becomes Of The Third-Hearted
The Gentleman Of Chaos
Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts
How To Become A Robot In 12 Easy Steps
---
“The stories are all crafted with the deft and loving touch of an author who knows firsthand what it is to live in their characters’ skins. Each piece in this unmissable collection shimmers with bright explorations of love, loss, and the quest for hope.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ⭐ review [1st Edition]
- GenresLGBT
376 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 1, 2024
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Merc Fenn Wolfmoor
28 books22 followersMerc Fenn Wolfmoor is an ace/aro ADHD/autistic non-binary author from Minnesota.
Merc is the author of several short story collections and the novella The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt. They have had short stories published in such fine venues as Lightspeed, Fireside, Nightmare, Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Escape Pod, Uncanny, and more.
They have been a Nebula Awards Finalist and have had short stories reprinted in several Year's Best anthologies.
They are part of the Chipped Cup Collective, of which Robot Dinosaur Press is an imprint division.
Merc also enjoys creating book covers.
Pronouns: they/them/theirs.
Honorifics: preferably none, but Mx. or Mr. are acceptable if necessary.
Merc is the author of several short story collections and the novella The Wolf Among the Wild Hunt. They have had short stories published in such fine venues as Lightspeed, Fireside, Nightmare, Apex, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Escape Pod, Uncanny, and more.
They have been a Nebula Awards Finalist and have had short stories reprinted in several Year's Best anthologies.
They are part of the Chipped Cup Collective, of which Robot Dinosaur Press is an imprint division.
Merc also enjoys creating book covers.
Pronouns: they/them/theirs.
Honorifics: preferably none, but Mx. or Mr. are acceptable if necessary.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 4, 2025
Forget 'best short story collection'; So You Want To Be A Robot is one of the best BOOKS, full stop, I have ever read. Incredible imagination, exquisite prose, endlessly enchanting - and now in the 2nd edition, there's also brief thoughts from Wolfmoor on the writing of each story!
Please don't ask one me to pick a favourite out of the tales here. How am I supposed to choose between saving the world of the monsters who live under the bed, or an android raising dinos after the apocalypse, or ex-supervillains rescuing defunct robots? Trans assassins, terrifying winter lords, a sorcerer and their shadow (but not their shadow) being reunited? Am I supposed to give more weight to how 'A Survival Guide For When You're Trapped In A Black Hole' had me flat-out sobbing, or to how 'Under Wine-Bright Seas' got into my dreams? Or maybe I'm meant to declare 'Tomorrow When We See the Sun' the best, for how many times I've come back to it since I first read it?
IMPOSSIBLE. CAN'T DO IT. THEY'RE ALL MY FAVES.
There is so much wonder here - and featuring the kind of characters who rarely get the spotlight, even in 2025: queer and neurodivergent folk of all kinds travelling the multiverse, being reborn as roses, giving up their hearts; seeking souls or solace or survival. Ghosts, dreaming mountains, magic wardrobes. You'll find everything and anything in these pages, and never want to come out.
Rarely is a book perfect.
This one is.
Please don't ask one me to pick a favourite out of the tales here. How am I supposed to choose between saving the world of the monsters who live under the bed, or an android raising dinos after the apocalypse, or ex-supervillains rescuing defunct robots? Trans assassins, terrifying winter lords, a sorcerer and their shadow (but not their shadow) being reunited? Am I supposed to give more weight to how 'A Survival Guide For When You're Trapped In A Black Hole' had me flat-out sobbing, or to how 'Under Wine-Bright Seas' got into my dreams? Or maybe I'm meant to declare 'Tomorrow When We See the Sun' the best, for how many times I've come back to it since I first read it?
IMPOSSIBLE. CAN'T DO IT. THEY'RE ALL MY FAVES.
There is so much wonder here - and featuring the kind of characters who rarely get the spotlight, even in 2025: queer and neurodivergent folk of all kinds travelling the multiverse, being reborn as roses, giving up their hearts; seeking souls or solace or survival. Ghosts, dreaming mountains, magic wardrobes. You'll find everything and anything in these pages, and never want to come out.
Rarely is a book perfect.
This one is.
Displaying 1 of 1 review