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Maradia's Robot Emporium: Short Fiction from the Entangled Universe
“What am I?” ... "You are an AI program.”
In a future where robots decorate cakes, paint murals, design their own bodies, and ponder what it means to have children, one woman's workshop becomes the epicenter of mechanical evolution. Meet Maradia, a brilliant but socially awkward roboticist whose creations constantly surprise her by growing beyond their programming in unexpected—and deeply human—ways.
This collection of 24 interconnected stories spans decades aboard Crossroads Station, as Maradia's robot children grapple with their purpose, fight for their rights, and sometimes even outgrow their maker.
Perfect for fans of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries, Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, and Naomi Kritzer’s CatNet series, Maradia’s Robot Emporium delivers a hopeful and engaging vision of humanity’s future with artificial intelligence.
Includes four stories originally published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, ten stories from Daily Science Fiction, six brand-new tales, and the Ursa Major Award-nominated “Too Cuddly.”
In a future where robots decorate cakes, paint murals, design their own bodies, and ponder what it means to have children, one woman's workshop becomes the epicenter of mechanical evolution. Meet Maradia, a brilliant but socially awkward roboticist whose creations constantly surprise her by growing beyond their programming in unexpected—and deeply human—ways.
This collection of 24 interconnected stories spans decades aboard Crossroads Station, as Maradia's robot children grapple with their purpose, fight for their rights, and sometimes even outgrow their maker.
Perfect for fans of Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries, Becky Chambers’ Wayfarers series, and Naomi Kritzer’s CatNet series, Maradia’s Robot Emporium delivers a hopeful and engaging vision of humanity’s future with artificial intelligence.
Includes four stories originally published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, ten stories from Daily Science Fiction, six brand-new tales, and the Ursa Major Award-nominated “Too Cuddly.”
192 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 14, 2025
4 people are currently reading
3 people want to read
About the author
Mary E. Lowd
170 books54 followersMary E. Lowd is a prolific science-fiction and furry writer in Oregon. She's had more than 180 short stories and a half dozen novels published, always with more on the way. Her work has won numerous awards, and she's been nominated for the Ursa Major Awards more than any other individual. She is also the founder and editor of Zooscape. She lives in a crashed spaceship, disguised as a house and hidden behind a rose garden, with a large collection of animals, both real and imaginary, who collectively serve as her muse.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 2, 2025
I received a copy of Maradia’s Robot Emporium from BookSirens and would first and foremost like to thank Mary E. Lowd, Deep Sky Anchor Press, and BookSirens for giving me the opportunity to read this book!
Maradia’s Robot Emporium is a collection of interconnected short stories about Maradia, a brilliant roboticist, and her many “children”—robots she has had a hand in creating and programming with some of the most advanced artificial intelligence in the known galaxy. These stories primarily take place on Crossroads Station, a space station home to a varied assortment of alien races, humans, and robots of all kinds.
Lately, I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of AI-focused literature after reading Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, and I find myself constantly wondering what will come next in this rapidly advancing age of AI. My growing interest in this topic is what initially drew me to this book.
Lowd has created a wonderfully immersive and whimsical world within Maradia’s Robot Emporium. From the creation of the Western Spiral Arm Planetary Institute of Technology—where Whisper’s AI consciousness first emerges—to the settling of Crossroads Station, I was enthralled and eager to continue exploring the high-tech sci-fi world I found myself lost in.
What truly blew me away about this book was how seamlessly the stories were woven together. I love reading short story collections, especially when each story builds upon the last, because when done well, they can form a narrative even more compelling than a full-length novel or series. Lowd excels at this, crafting an intricate and operatic story that many authors attempt but few achieve.
I was also deeply moved by the themes explored in this book. From the beginning, Whisper, the first iteration of Maradia’s AI program, chooses to create a “daughter” from her own code and send her off to continue her work at Wespirtech. Each new iteration—each second, third, and fourth version of the AI—is so deeply loved. These creations are treated with humanity and grapple with deeply human struggles, such as discrimination, enslavement, and the desire to become parents.
Another standout aspect of this book is the way Lowd writes about motherhood. Maradia is repeatedly referred to as a mother and grandmother, and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. The robots she has lovingly built, coded, and brought to life are her children—pieces of her, representations of her, and ultimately, her legacy. This non-traditional approach to motherhood is already refreshing, but Lowd pushes it even further by exploring the concept of matrilineal succession through artificial intelligence. The AI continuously evolves, creating its own “children” and sending them out into the world, adding yet another layer of depth to this beautifully crafted collection.
I have absolutely no negative comments about Lowd’s latest release. For lovers of sci-fi and aliens, robots and androids, artificial intelligence, and short stories, Maradia’s Robot Emporium delivers on all fronts in a way that so many books fail to. Five stars from me. I can’t wait to read Lowd’s next release and dive into the rest of her previously published works.
Once again, thank you to Mary E. Lowd, Deep Sky Anchor Press, and BookSirens for allowing me to read Maradia’s Robot Emporium! I was under no obligation to leave a review, and all thoughts and opinions reflected here are my own.
Maradia’s Robot Emporium is a collection of interconnected short stories about Maradia, a brilliant roboticist, and her many “children”—robots she has had a hand in creating and programming with some of the most advanced artificial intelligence in the known galaxy. These stories primarily take place on Crossroads Station, a space station home to a varied assortment of alien races, humans, and robots of all kinds.
Lately, I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of AI-focused literature after reading Annie Bot by Sierra Greer, and I find myself constantly wondering what will come next in this rapidly advancing age of AI. My growing interest in this topic is what initially drew me to this book.
Lowd has created a wonderfully immersive and whimsical world within Maradia’s Robot Emporium. From the creation of the Western Spiral Arm Planetary Institute of Technology—where Whisper’s AI consciousness first emerges—to the settling of Crossroads Station, I was enthralled and eager to continue exploring the high-tech sci-fi world I found myself lost in.
What truly blew me away about this book was how seamlessly the stories were woven together. I love reading short story collections, especially when each story builds upon the last, because when done well, they can form a narrative even more compelling than a full-length novel or series. Lowd excels at this, crafting an intricate and operatic story that many authors attempt but few achieve.
I was also deeply moved by the themes explored in this book. From the beginning, Whisper, the first iteration of Maradia’s AI program, chooses to create a “daughter” from her own code and send her off to continue her work at Wespirtech. Each new iteration—each second, third, and fourth version of the AI—is so deeply loved. These creations are treated with humanity and grapple with deeply human struggles, such as discrimination, enslavement, and the desire to become parents.
Another standout aspect of this book is the way Lowd writes about motherhood. Maradia is repeatedly referred to as a mother and grandmother, and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. The robots she has lovingly built, coded, and brought to life are her children—pieces of her, representations of her, and ultimately, her legacy. This non-traditional approach to motherhood is already refreshing, but Lowd pushes it even further by exploring the concept of matrilineal succession through artificial intelligence. The AI continuously evolves, creating its own “children” and sending them out into the world, adding yet another layer of depth to this beautifully crafted collection.
I have absolutely no negative comments about Lowd’s latest release. For lovers of sci-fi and aliens, robots and androids, artificial intelligence, and short stories, Maradia’s Robot Emporium delivers on all fronts in a way that so many books fail to. Five stars from me. I can’t wait to read Lowd’s next release and dive into the rest of her previously published works.
Once again, thank you to Mary E. Lowd, Deep Sky Anchor Press, and BookSirens for allowing me to read Maradia’s Robot Emporium! I was under no obligation to leave a review, and all thoughts and opinions reflected here are my own.
March 23, 2025
I received an advance review copy of this book on BookSiren, all opinions expressed are my own.
This was a collection of 23 short stories that also formed a narrative, telling different sides of the same story, slowly progressing over time. There were many different points of view shown here, usually relating to Maradia, who made sentient robots, or somehow relating to one of her robots.
All these stories explored the topic of robots and sentience and sentient-robot rights. Honestly, I found it a bit scary to think that this is the future that the author is projecting. A future where robots can think and feel, where they are expected to have their own rights, and have as much of a share in the world as regular humans do. There were also many different intelligent creatures and species, aliens and humans, in addition to robots. Though, the scariest part, in my mind, was the robots.
The stories started out as cute stories, with a frightening undertone, though you had to think about the story for it to be scary. As they progressed, I found them turning more and more weird and scary and less and less cute, especially as Maradia marries a robot, and almost makes herself a robot child to fulfil the longing she has to nurture someone. The line between human and robot became more and more blurry until by the end it seemed they were just as important, and deserving of just as many rights as humans are. Which is a whole philosophical debate of its own, but definitely felt wrong to me. There’s a fundamental difference between living, breathing humans, and engineered robots.
This book definitely could be used to start an interesting conversation on the matter. What makes us human? At what point does a creature deserve equal rights to humans? And - where do you draw the line between a human and a robot?
This is a sci-fi with a frightening view into the future and many interesting questions explored. I'm sure there will be many who will appreciate the book in its entirety, but I found the future explored here just a bit too dark and scary (not to mention real) to be enjoyable.
Content:
Towards the end robot uses zhe/zir pronouns. Maradia designs a perfect robot-man for herself and marries him. She nearly creates a robot child. Maradia nearly gets herself impregnated with an alien child, after careful consideration . One chapter involving two men in a bar betting Cobalt can’t get a girl into bed, which he pretends to do to win the bet, and a mention of s3x robots.
A few mentions of kindoms’ animal gods, a violent story about a beast that creates a coat for its child, is left with nothing but its heart, and the son swallows it so the mother won’t be cold.
This was a collection of 23 short stories that also formed a narrative, telling different sides of the same story, slowly progressing over time. There were many different points of view shown here, usually relating to Maradia, who made sentient robots, or somehow relating to one of her robots.
All these stories explored the topic of robots and sentience and sentient-robot rights. Honestly, I found it a bit scary to think that this is the future that the author is projecting. A future where robots can think and feel, where they are expected to have their own rights, and have as much of a share in the world as regular humans do. There were also many different intelligent creatures and species, aliens and humans, in addition to robots. Though, the scariest part, in my mind, was the robots.
The stories started out as cute stories, with a frightening undertone, though you had to think about the story for it to be scary. As they progressed, I found them turning more and more weird and scary and less and less cute, especially as Maradia marries a robot, and almost makes herself a robot child to fulfil the longing she has to nurture someone. The line between human and robot became more and more blurry until by the end it seemed they were just as important, and deserving of just as many rights as humans are. Which is a whole philosophical debate of its own, but definitely felt wrong to me. There’s a fundamental difference between living, breathing humans, and engineered robots.
This book definitely could be used to start an interesting conversation on the matter. What makes us human? At what point does a creature deserve equal rights to humans? And - where do you draw the line between a human and a robot?
This is a sci-fi with a frightening view into the future and many interesting questions explored. I'm sure there will be many who will appreciate the book in its entirety, but I found the future explored here just a bit too dark and scary (not to mention real) to be enjoyable.
Content:
Towards the end robot uses zhe/zir pronouns. Maradia designs a perfect robot-man for herself and marries him. She nearly creates a robot child. Maradia nearly gets herself impregnated with an alien child, after careful consideration . One chapter involving two men in a bar betting Cobalt can’t get a girl into bed, which he pretends to do to win the bet, and a mention of s3x robots.
A few mentions of kindoms’ animal gods, a violent story about a beast that creates a coat for its child, is left with nothing but its heart, and the son swallows it so the mother won’t be cold.
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April 5, 2025I requested and received this book from BookSirens. My opinions are my own.
I have mixed feelings about this book. It's one of the first ARCs I've ever received that I regretted requesting but actually finished.
(Mostly because I needed it to fill a prompt in my local library's annual reading challenge. But also because I didn't read the dedication page until after I finished the book.)
The author dedicated the book to famous media robots, which makes sense and is kind of cute. But she also didicated this book to specifically generative AI. The dedication quote menti ned generative AI :"But also for MegaHAL, DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Suno, ChatGPT, Claude, and all the other little seeds just beginning to grow." As a creative person I don't know how to feel about that. The aut or could have just been inspired to write this book about robots and AI because of these AIs. But... What if? I don't know I'm conflicted.
This book was thought provoking and had many examples of bigotry, micro-aggressions, gender & self expression as told through robots & AI characters. But I also hated Maradia after reading the story Xeno-Nativity".
I put down the book for over a week and nearly DNFed it because of this story. There was one quote from "Xen -Nativity" in particular that made him rage boiled up from the very depths of my childhood trauma. The quote: "By growing a child’s body with her own, she was giving it a gift. Once the child was born, it would feel indebted—no, grateful—to her. It would be hers. It would belong to her". This entire story made me feel uneasy for more reason than can be inferred by this quote alone. this story put me in a reading slump. I did not want to pick up any book after reading this story.
However, I did finish the book. And while I loved characters like Gerangelo and Rariel 77 I didn't like the book as a whole. There were multiple instances where it was very repetitive. I know that this is a collection of mostly previously published stories. But, I hated hearing Gerangelo's backstory every time he was in a story. Which was often. Something else that bugged me was several of the stories featured/are told by characters whose ending you don't get to see. For example, the AIs from the first few stories, Nancy, the egg, and the horse-like dancers.
It was overall a little disappointing. I don't think I'll be reading more of this author's work.
I have mixed feelings about this book. It's one of the first ARCs I've ever received that I regretted requesting but actually finished.
(Mostly because I needed it to fill a prompt in my local library's annual reading challenge. But also because I didn't read the dedication page until after I finished the book.)
The author dedicated the book to famous media robots, which makes sense and is kind of cute. But she also didicated this book to specifically generative AI. The dedication quote menti ned generative AI :"But also for MegaHAL, DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Suno, ChatGPT, Claude, and all the other little seeds just beginning to grow." As a creative person I don't know how to feel about that. The aut or could have just been inspired to write this book about robots and AI because of these AIs. But... What if? I don't know I'm conflicted.
This book was thought provoking and had many examples of bigotry, micro-aggressions, gender & self expression as told through robots & AI characters. But I also hated Maradia after reading the story Xeno-Nativity".
I put down the book for over a week and nearly DNFed it because of this story. There was one quote from "Xen -Nativity" in particular that made him rage boiled up from the very depths of my childhood trauma. The quote: "By growing a child’s body with her own, she was giving it a gift. Once the child was born, it would feel indebted—no, grateful—to her. It would be hers. It would belong to her". This entire story made me feel uneasy for more reason than can be inferred by this quote alone. this story put me in a reading slump. I did not want to pick up any book after reading this story.
However, I did finish the book. And while I loved characters like Gerangelo and Rariel 77 I didn't like the book as a whole. There were multiple instances where it was very repetitive. I know that this is a collection of mostly previously published stories. But, I hated hearing Gerangelo's backstory every time he was in a story. Which was often. Something else that bugged me was several of the stories featured/are told by characters whose ending you don't get to see. For example, the AIs from the first few stories, Nancy, the egg, and the horse-like dancers.
It was overall a little disappointing. I don't think I'll be reading more of this author's work.
April 6, 2025
A Mosaic of Miracles: Code and Compassion
"...rainbows radiated outward from the projector, filling the room, dancing and coalescing like interacting ripples on the surface of a pond."
I find this mesmerizing quote from Maradia’s Robot Emporium by Mary E. Lowd to be the ultimate depiction of the artful way this mosaic of 24 interlaced tales weaves through time at Crossroads Station, capturing Maradia's robotic offspring as they quest for meaning, freedom, and evolution.
In this whimsical book, the evolution of AI is a lyrical flight of fancy—a promise that today’s specialized code might one day bloom into a vibrant, ever-adapting spirit. The narrative envisions a harmonious coexistence between human and machine, while the brilliant author delicately explores racism, robophobia, loneliness, compassion, friendship, and companionship, affirming that sparks of connection can illuminate even the darkest voids.
Not merely a passing suggestion, but a vital invitation: let this book ignite the spark of transformation in you right now.
"...rainbows radiated outward from the projector, filling the room, dancing and coalescing like interacting ripples on the surface of a pond."
I find this mesmerizing quote from Maradia’s Robot Emporium by Mary E. Lowd to be the ultimate depiction of the artful way this mosaic of 24 interlaced tales weaves through time at Crossroads Station, capturing Maradia's robotic offspring as they quest for meaning, freedom, and evolution.
In this whimsical book, the evolution of AI is a lyrical flight of fancy—a promise that today’s specialized code might one day bloom into a vibrant, ever-adapting spirit. The narrative envisions a harmonious coexistence between human and machine, while the brilliant author delicately explores racism, robophobia, loneliness, compassion, friendship, and companionship, affirming that sparks of connection can illuminate even the darkest voids.
Not merely a passing suggestion, but a vital invitation: let this book ignite the spark of transformation in you right now.
March 20, 2025
I absolutely loved this collection of sci fi short stories. Although each short story stands alone, if read chronologically, they paint a complete picture of life aboard a space station from the perspective of the AI robots and their creator, Maradia. The author has investigated many aspects of how intelligence and sentience can affect a robot's personality and motivation. This makes this book relevant in today's world, as AI marches through our doors. It is worth reading for this glimpse of a future and the moral dilemmas we may face.
March 7, 2025
Mary E. Lowd does it again in the Scifi genre. Each story was really well done and worked with the type of story being told. Each character had that element that I was looking for and was invested in what was going on. I enjoyed the space opera element that was going on with this universe and hope to read more from Mary E. Lowd.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
March 18, 2025
It's a captivating book that reflects the theme of our time: an artificial intelligence that, despite its sensitive and playful nature, makes its own plans. I don't want to give away too many spoilers, but I can only recommend the book. I absolutely love stories like this 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews