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The Androids are Coming
Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester and More
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
38 people want to read
About the author
Robert Silverberg
2,344 books1,603 followersThere are many authors in the database with this name.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 19, 2021
I was excited for this because of my personal obession with androids but was thrown off by the introduction, which provided me with a totally different use of the word than what I'm accustomed to. To me, an android is a robot that looks (and often thinks or feels) like a human. The word "robot" has a confusing mixture of meanings as well. Nowadays, a robot is a machine, usually one that preforms simple tasks. The word "robot," coined by writer Karel Capek in 1920, is based on the Czech word for forced labor. Capek's robots were beings of flesh and blood made through artifical means. In this book, that's what an android is: an artificially made human; sometimes entirely human, sometimes part mechanical, sometimes altered in some way.
This collection is...okay. The best stories were by people I already know—Asimov, Simak, and Dick. Amazingly, the Dick story is not the weirdest one in here. That honor goes to Alfred Bester and his story of a man who inadvertently projects his psychotic thoughts onto his android, who acts them out for him. The rest of the stories were meh. The J. T. McIntosh story, about a man who finds out his wife was artificially made and thus sterile—and then takes her to court over it—is well presented, but the placing of value on someone based on their ability to reproduce was offensive and dated.
This collection is...okay. The best stories were by people I already know—Asimov, Simak, and Dick. Amazingly, the Dick story is not the weirdest one in here. That honor goes to Alfred Bester and his story of a man who inadvertently projects his psychotic thoughts onto his android, who acts them out for him. The rest of the stories were meh. The J. T. McIntosh story, about a man who finds out his wife was artificially made and thus sterile—and then takes her to court over it—is well presented, but the placing of value on someone based on their ability to reproduce was offensive and dated.
August 3, 2022
This set of short stories is curated quite nicely. It would be nice to have a bit more narration about selection, but it follows the time in which it was produced. The explanations are great and the stories even greater. The reason that I was turned on to this is that I have had issues finding J.T. McIntosh books. This popped up on a search of the library and that's about it. That being said, this is a great collection of stories.
The foreword lays it out nicely; there are variations on robots and androids. Most of the stories here rely on the old school definition of androids which is just like human, but not born. So, in some form or another, a clone. A story or two deals with the Star Trek version of android as in Data, a mechanical apparatus with 'human' stuff grown around it.
No matter which, the stories are compelling and sometimes not what they seem (at any time). This is totally an overlooked anthology of 'android' stories guaranteed to intrigue the mind of a science fiction fan.
The foreword lays it out nicely; there are variations on robots and androids. Most of the stories here rely on the old school definition of androids which is just like human, but not born. So, in some form or another, a clone. A story or two deals with the Star Trek version of android as in Data, a mechanical apparatus with 'human' stuff grown around it.
No matter which, the stories are compelling and sometimes not what they seem (at any time). This is totally an overlooked anthology of 'android' stories guaranteed to intrigue the mind of a science fiction fan.
August 25, 2019
An anthology of some science-fiction greats, including Alfred Bester, Asimov, and Philip K. Dick. I know I read this summer of 1986 because I mentioned it in my journal from that time.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews