Robot Artists and Black Swans : The Italian Fantascienza Stories

by Bruce Sterling, Dario Tonani (Afterword), Neal Stephenson (Introduction)

The Godfather of Cyberpunk has emerged in this new collection of Italian-themed fantasy and science-fiction stories. Bruce Sterling now introduces us to his alter ego: Bruno Argento, the preeminent author of fantascienza. Sterling, writing as Argento, skillfully combines cutting-edge technology with art, mythology, and history.

“It's all here, this time with an Italian flavor: the inventive tech, the meticulously detailed futures, the stylish and sardonic prose, the creative adjectival combinations.”
—Nancy Kress, author of Beggars in Spain

In the Esoteric City, a Turinese businessman’s act of necromancy is catching up with him. The Black Swan, a rogue hacker, programs his way into alternate versions of Italy. A Parthenonpean assassin awaits his destiny in the arms of a two-headed noblewoman. Infuriating to both artists and scientists, a robot wheelchair makes uncategorizable creations.

Bruno Argento is the acknowledged master of Italian science fiction. Yet that same popular fantascienza author also is known in America—as Bruce Sterling. In Robot Artists and Black Swans, we present the first collection of their uniquely visionary Italian-themed fiction, including tales never before published in English.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Cyberpunk

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 27, 2021

About the author

Bruce Sterling is an author, journalist, critic and a contributing editor of Wired magazine. Best known for his ten science fiction novels, he also writes short stories, book reviews, design criticism, opinion columns and introductions to books by authors ranging from Ernst Jünger to Jules Verne. His non-fiction works include The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier (1992), Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years (2003) and Shaping Things (2005).

Reviews

[Andreas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summary: Bruce Sterling is one of my favorite authors, he never let me down since the heights of cyberpunk in the 1980s. He simply delivered time after time, reliably hitting my taste. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I found that this collection is average at best.

The author lived for several years in Turin and published a couple of short stories in Italian language under the name Bruno Argento. Those stories are collected here, some of them for the first time available for non Italian speaking fans.

They all have one element in common: situated in Northern Italy, mostly in Turin, glorifying the Italian way of living, Italian style and grandessa. Most of the stories are SF, but there is also the odd Historical fiction or weird story in it.

Some of the stories were bummers, getting generous two or three stars. The quality went down continuously reaching a low just before the last two stories. Those are the ones I’d like to recommend: Esoteric City, a satirical tale about everything esoteric in Turin (the Gates of Hell, white and black triangles, the Shroud), and Robot in Roses about a artistic robot wandering the Alps to Italy.

Most of the stories are comical, exposing preconceptions of Italians in a friendly way. This is interesting to read, but does one really need those stories? I’d argue that the collection is mostly targeted to the author’s fans. Other fans of SF might want to read novels or different collections by Sterling first – e.g. “Gothic High-Tech” also contains the best story Esoteric City, or the Best Of collection “Ascendancies” from 2007 which has more of his cyberpunk days.


Contents:


Introduction by Neal Stephenson
"Storia, Futurità, Fantasia, Scienza, Torino" by Bruno Argento
★★★☆☆ • Kill the Moon • 2009 • “Yes, the Gabrielle D’Annunzio is a very beautiful rocket ship. With such superb Italian industrial design, obviously it is the prettiest manned lunar rocket ever built.”
★★★☆☆ • Black Swan • 2009 • Alternate Universe SF novelette by Bruce Sterling • review
★★★☆☆ • Elephant on Table • 2017 • Comical Near Future SF short story by Bruce Sterling • review
★★☆☆☆ • Pilgrims of the Round World • 2014 • Historical fiction novella by Bruce Sterling • review

★+☆☆☆☆ • The Parthenopean Scalpel • 2010 • no review
★★★★★ • Esoteric City • 2009 • Weird novelette by Bruce Sterling • review
★★★★☆ • Robot in Roses • 2017 • SF novelette by Bruce Sterling • review
Afterword: "Bruce Sterling, Erudite Dreamer and Pirate" by Dario Tonani

[Alex Sarll]

In which cyberpunk godfather Bruce Sterling purports to be Italian and specifically Turinese fantascienza author Bruno Argento, who invented the transparent pseudonym of Sterling for the Anglophone market. All of which is demonstrably untrue, but I welcome the Pessoa-esque* puckishness of the conceit, if not the tedious rows about cultural appropriation I can all too easily see it kicking off. In terms of how much of the rest is true, such as whether these stories were indeed published in Italian first...well, from the indicia the answer looks to be 'some of them', which is faintly disappointing.

Neal Stephenson's intro talks about what a boon it is nowadays for an SF writer to be good at short fiction, rather than writing big novels and finding they're outdated every time you check Twitter, but there's little here that catches that spooky prescience of peak Sterling. Kill The Moon is definitely not the worst story called Kill The Moon I've ever encountered, but is very much a squib, and a bit of an outdated one at that, with a Berlusconi type cavorting on the Moon in the 2060s; Black Swan is more substantial, but the basic idea (the guy with tech secrets who turns out to come from an alternate universe) is a very familiar one nowadays, and in positing Sarkozy as the most-wanted man in the broken Europe of another timeline, it can't help but feel like one of those multiversal Hitler stories replayed as farce. There are lovely ideas along the way, though, like the world which instead of our Internet has the more civilised "Semantic Web...built by Italians. They had a little bit of help from a few French Oulipo writers." And not that I know more than the barest details about Oulipo, but that's the main sense here, of literary games being played – even if the notion of being stuck in a battered timeline, a long way from the world in which you thought you'd started, is one with plenty of emotional resonance nowadays. My favourite piece was also the longest, Robot In Roses – which, perhaps coincidentally, ditches Turin for the Tyrol, Verona and Rome. It's a farcical fable of the 22nd century, with age and youth, science and art, man and woman still tussling for superiority well into a somewhat renascent Anthropocene rebuilding in the ruins of the bombs and drone-genocides. Nowhere near naturalism, but then for all cyberpunk's gritty rep, that's hardly the first time you could say as much of a Sterling story. And much like the artworks (or are they?) of the wandering autonomous wheelchair at its heart, even if you can't quite put your finger on why it's so affecting, it definitely is. Elsewhere...it's not that the stories aren't fun to read, but I suspect they're more fun if you're also an outsider coming to terms with the particular strangenesses of Italy, and most fun of all if you're the writer. But hey, maybe there's a lot more market than I think there is for Turinese Dante reworks with a mummy playing Virgil and obscure allusions to an unnamed Cesare Pavese.

*Apologies if he already has an adjective and this ain't it.

(Netgalley ARC)

[Ola G · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10 stars

Sterling's foray into Italian themes turned out for me to be at once an intriguing and slightly disappointing venture. Sterling's alter ego, Bruno Argento, is clearly, absolutely enamored of Italy, its history, culture, and people. His indulgent but not uncritical love for all things Italian is contagious: more than once I snorted with laughter at his deft play on national stereotypes, prominent in stories such as Kill the Moon or Esoteric City.

At the same time, however, his fixation can come over as very superficial and heavy-handed, when he focuses on contemporary figures such as Berlusconi (one of the main characters in Elephant on Table), or Sarcozy's wife, Turin-born Carla Bruni (Black Swan). Furthermore, this affectation seems detrimental to the storytelling - both of the stories mentioned above are, in my opinion, among the weakest in the collection.

Sterling's style in the stories collected here reminds me quite a lot of dramatic plays: very heavy on conversation, with plenty of exposition delivered through the dialogues; while in some stories it works pretty well, such as Robot in Roses which is in fact a very interesting, humorous (and quite significantly indebted to classics) discussion on the meaning of humanity, art, and science, in other stories, such as Pilgrims of the Round World it gets increasingly tiresome and meaningless. This story almost made me DNF the whole thing - but I'm happy I persevered, because the best stories were hiding at the very end of the anthology.

My two favorite stories were Esoteric City, a twisted fantastical tale of FIAT's devilish connections, full of impressive Hellish imagery and well-pointed satire; and above-mentioned Robot in Roses. The latter's foundation in the outdated dichotomy of the relationship between male/female and culture/nature is the only serious criticism I have for this story, which otherwise is funny, full of cool quotes and fantastic images, and a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek tribute to Rome, the eternal city.

Scores for each of the story:
Kill the Moon 7/10
Black Swan 4/10
Elephant on Table 1/10
Pilgrims of the Round World 1/10
The Parthenopean Scalpel 3/10
Esoteric City 7.5/10
Robot in Roses 8.5/10

I have received a copy of this novel from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.

[Mona]

How could I not read this? Recommended by Nancy Kress. Intro by Neal Stephenson. Robots & AI in Italy. What’s not to like? Looking forward to this.

[Joe Karpierz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will have to admit that I've not read much of Bruce Sterling's work. I read THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE, of course; as much I was not a fan of cyberpunk back in the day (and to this day I don't know how I feel about it - after all, I still haven't read the most influential of all cyberpunk novels, NEUROMANCER, a book that changed the field of sf forever and made William Gibson a household name), I couldn't resist checking out the pairing of two of the most famous writers of cyberpunk back then. I also read Hugo nominee ISLANDS IN THE NET, but that really was about it. So yeah, it's been 30 years since I've read any Bruce Sterling, at least that I know of.

Robot Artists (I'm going to shorten the title because typing the full title multiple times just gets in the way) is a collection of Sterling's Italian themed science fiction. In order to tie the stories together, the reader is introduced to Sterling's alter ego, Bruno Argento, Italy's famed writer of "fantascienza" (Yes, I did look it up, as I was unfamiliar with the term, even though one can figure out what it means just by looking at it.). Robot Artists, then, is a collection of stories by Bruno Argento.

Several of the stories were indeed published in the Italian market, which surprised me at first. There are introductions by both Neal Stephenson (speaking of cyberpunk royalty) and Bruno Argento himself. As of this writing I'm still not sure whether Sterling actually publishes in Italy under the Bruno Argento name or if this is a marketing tactic - and I guess that's the point, isn't it?

I have a couple of favorite stories in the collection. "Black Swan", the story of a technology blogger who encounters a hacker who may have discovered the existence of a Black Swan, something that could affect the balance of world governmental powers. But is it just that, or is it something more involved, something more complex? The blogger and the hacker travel to different versions of Italy, while Luca (the blogger) has to determine if he wants to write about what Massimo (the hacker) has shown him. It's something of an ethical decision, and something of a, well, moral decision.

The other story that is a favorite is the last story in the collection, "Robot in Roses". On the surface, the story is about one Wolfgang of Nuremburg, who is charged with following around the world a Japanese robotic wheelchair named Winkler, which is an artist. Wolfgang catalogs every place Winkler goes and every piece of art it creates. Things get complicated when he encounters Dr. Jetta Kriehn, who wants to destroy Winkler. The story rapidly turns into a dialog about art and science and everything in between. It's really a lot of fun. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Another story I enjoyed is "Esoteric City", in which time is up for Achille Occhietti. As a result of his dark arts, he is sentenced to Hell, which just happens to be conveniently located beneath Turin. Before he meets with Satan - in Occhietti's back yard, because he had to leave Hell to at least attend his wife birthday party - he retrieves the Holy Grail for his final encounter with Satan. Enjoyable stuff.

Other stories include "The Parthenopean Scalpel", wherein an assassin falls in love with a two headed woman, and bombs are involved; "Kill the Moon", a short and silly tale of an Italian bemoaning the fact that his country is the only one going to the moon, and doesn't everyone see the silliness of it all?; In "Elephant On Table", Tullio and Irma are caretakers of a Shadow House, whose owner, the Chief, pops in every once in a while for cards and games and such. Of course, there is much more to it than that, including the usual elephant on the table; and "Pilgrims of the Round World", a story of the closing of the Inn of Saint Cleopha (who herself is kept in a jar) in Turin. Along the way we have royalty, armies, wars, inept queens, and all sorts of unusual elements.

A lot of punch is packed into these seven stories. I didn't know what to expect out of this collection, but in the end I was thoroughly entertained. If Bruno Argento does indeed exist, then the residents of Italy are lucky to have him.

[Florin Pitea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only liked one story, "Esoteric City", from this collection. The rest was somewhat disappointing.

[Miloš Petrik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like it more than I did. I liked more than I expected to.

The real pity, for me at least, is that the stories I liked the least were the longest two.

If you really like slightly weird sci-fi or anything to do with Italy, you could do much, much worse.

[Robert Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to know where to start with Robot Artists and Black Swans, a collection of Fantasienza short stories by influential science fiction writer Bruce Sterling. Sterling, along with writers like William Gibson (with whom he wrote the seminal steampunk book The Difference Engine) and Neale Stephenson (who has written a foreword for this work) is one of the founding fathers of the cyberpunk subgenre. At some point in time, according to Stephenson, Sterling “decamped” from his native Austin to Turin where he took on the pseudonym Bruno Argento and started to write Italian Fantasienza, some, if the references in the front of the book are to believed, in Italian. This is a collection of seven of those stories and if nothing else can be said about them, they definitely have a European flavour.
The stories range across the gamut of science fiction and fantasy. The two stories that give the book its title are probably the most substantial in that regard. Robot in Rose, the final tale, is set in the 22nd century and is the story of a robotic wheelchair that has become an artists and travels around the world making “natural” art. But it is actually a lengthy, often enjoyable, debate between the poet who is currently charged with following the device and a scientist who is intent on destroying it. Black Swan is an adventure into the multiverse, with a view of a range of alternative timelines.
The fantasy stories are intensely historical. Pilgrims of the Round World is set in Turin during the Crusades. There is not much fantastical here, with the possible exception of the appearance of the spirit of a dead saint, but it is an engaging historical tale about a couple of inn-keepers who have connections to power. The Parthenopean Scalpel, also historical but is a little more ambiguous about timeframe, is about an assassin and his relationship with a two headed muse.
While Sterling exercises a black sense of humour in these stories he saves his satirical eye for the ridiculous Italian’s in space story Kill the Moon and the equally obvious, although more developed, Italians in hell story Esoteric City.
As noted above, Robot Artists and Black Swans is a difficult book to categorise. Some might see it as a form of cultural appropriation but it appears that Sterling has fully immersed himself in his adopted culture. Taking on an Italian persona and writing in Italian, allows Sterling to move away from the standard American-style of narrative and take on a more European voice and approach to the subject matter. And while not all of the stories work as well as he would probably like, it is an experiment that is worth exploring.

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robot Artists and Black Swans is a collection of short stories written by Italian fantascienza author Bruno Argento, the alter-ego of Texan cyberpunk and futurist Bruce Sterling (my favorite author) These stories, mostly first published in Italian, are a love letter to the city of Turin.

They're also, if I might be honest, merely okay. "Kill the Moon", a short critique of an Italian moonlanding in 2061 as a dumb publicity stunt by a billionaire and his actress girlfriend has some bite, "Elephant on Table" has some quality ironies and turns of phrase. "Robot in the Roses" gestures towards a grand conflict between art and science in the post-Anthropocene, as two elites from different secret groups follow a robotic artist and debate its merit.

But on the whole, the stories meander and don't really develop plot, character, or aesthetics. The dialog declaims in archaic cyberpunk grandiosity that doesn't match the stakes of the stories.

[Steve Portigal · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a longtime fan of Sterling the man and Sterling the author. I had a really hard time with this book and could not finish most of the stories, heck I couldn't get very far into most of them. I like that an artist can continue to expand their approach over time, and I find it trite to say "Oh I liked his earlier stuff better." But, I just couldn't parse these stories. I probably don't do well with fantasy anyway, and with these stories being so rooted in Italian geography, history, politics, and so on, I was often stymied by many proper nouns with which I was unfamiliar right at the outset.

I'm glad to see more reviews here where people did find the stories more accessible than I did and got something out of 'em, I wish I had the same reaction myself...

[Artur Coelho · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conheço mal a ficção científica italiana, e desconhecia de todo este Bruno Argento, discreto escritor turinense de curiosas fantasias científicas. Escreve como uma voz obscura de habitante de uma cidade italiana, não daquelas em que pensamos quando se fala de Itália, mas das que nos parecem de segunda linha, importantes à sua maneira, mas não tão sonantes como Roma, Milão ou Florença. Não que Turim, marcada pela indústria automóvel pela Fiat, seja uma cidade de província, mas de facto não é das terras que mais facilmente saltam à mente. 

Argento coloca um sabor de urbanidade provinciana nas suas histórias, falando do que é local com um inusitado olhar global. Quase como se este escritor fosse o alter ego de um escritor cyberpunk texano que se tivesse radicado em Itália, e explorasse o seu fascínio pelo país de acolhimento através da lente de uma ficção científica Cyberpunk diluída e globalista. 

Talvez seja esta visão dupla, a de um italiano que olha para a sua cidade imaginando-a vista pelo olhar de um texano envelhecido, que explique a assimetria destes contos. Temos saltos entre realidades paralelas, onde a cidade de Turim é um nexo entre múltiplos universos. Temos um recontar de experiências republicanas na Fiúme do pós- I guerra, vistas sob um lado de anarquia libertária. Um estranho conto non sequitur onde duas figuras históricas turinesas do renascimento se cruzam com uma inúmera galeria de personagens, de jograis a princesas sem trono. Ou a descida aos infernos do executivo da indústria automóvel italiana, que invocou o espírito de uma múmia para progredir na csrreira, e terá de enfrentar Lúcifer, encarnado como um jovem engenheiro apostado em tornar os automóveis ecológicos. O inferno é uma cidade italiana cheia de trânsito, onde alfaiates de luxo são castigados passando a eternidade a servir num pronto a vestir. Isto sim, é um verdadeiro lugar de choro e ranger de dentes. Ou, também, o futurismo pós-apocalíptico de utopia ecológica, onde um robot que produz  arte percorre um mundo regressado ao estado selvagem, embora a civilização se mantenha nas cidades, tornadas utopias de ciência e elegância. 

Histórias curiosas, que cruza estéticas pós-cyberpunk e cli-fi com o substrato estético, histórico e cultural do norte de Itália. Argento não nos lega grandes histórias, mas leituras agradáveis que transmutam o fascínio por um local específico, pelo ambiente de Turim. Quase como se Argento fosse o alter-ego do texano Bruce Sterling, um dos pais do Cyberpunk e hoje guru da confluência entre arte, tecnologia e sociedade, que adotou Turim (e o seu fablab) como cidade para se radicar. Mas isso, já me soa demasiado fantástico, mesmo para um romance de fantascienza.

[WorldconReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I would like to thank the publisher, Tachyon Publications, for providing a review copy of this book.

Although I have enjoyed many of the scifi sub-genres over the year, Bruce Sterling’s “Robot Artists & Black Swans” was my first solid encounter with Italian “Fantascienza” stories. Having enjoyed earlier works by Bruce Sterling, I naively anticipated that this latest collection would simply be cyberpunk with an Italian flair. After reading each of the stories and rereading the introduction, I learned that I had it backward. These are first-and-foremost stories about Italy. Secondly, they are examples of creative genius. Thirdly, they tend to have some aspect of historical fantasy (in Italy) or future history (in Italy) with a seasoning of scifi and/or cyberpunk ideas. Each story was entertaining and thought provoking. Out of the seven stories in this collection, I really liked the four that were recognizable cyberpunk. The remaining three were good, but not quite what I was expecting. My impressions of each story follow.

“Kill The Moon” - The first story met my expectation of a scifi story taking place in the backdrop of Italian culture. Well written, and entertaining. (This was one of my top three stories for this collection.

“Black Swan” - Unsurprisingly this story takes place in Turin, Italy. As it contains travel between parallel universes, it deeply appealed to my inner scifi geek. (This was one of my top three stories for this collection.

“Elephant On Table” - I would absolutely classify this story as Italian cyberpunk. Very satisfying for readers who like this sub-genre.

“Pilgrims of the Round World” - An ironic historical fantasy taking place in Turin, Italy. A lively story. The story itself was good. However, I lack sufficient European and Italian historical and cultural background to fully appreciate the inside jokes.

“The Parthenopean Scalpel” - A creative historical fantasy. I lacked sufficient knowledge of European/Italian history to fully appreciate the depth of the story.

“Esoteric City” - A creative magical look at Turin, Italy. A nice story. I suspect that knowing more about Turin would greatly increase my appreciation of this story.

“Robot in Roses” - This story matched my expectations for Italian cyberpunk, and was an enjoyable story to read. (This was one of my top three stories for this collection.)

In conclusion, I am glad that I could expand my understanding of international science fiction, and look forward to learning more about Italy and reading more stories by either Bruce Sterling or his alter ego Bruno Argento.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange, disorienting collection of short stories draped in Italian culture. Not bad by any means but perhaps not the best place to start with Bruce Sterling.

"Robot Artists and Black Swans" is an anthology of stories written in the style of Italian science fiction, or more specifically Italian literary speculative fiction like Italo Calvino's fare. In a nutshell, Sterling presents these stories within a framing device that turns him into "Bruno Argento," a supposedly Italian author from Torino who (still within the framing device) merely pretended to be the Texan "Bruce Sterling."

It's an interesting idea, although I'm not sure what it added to the collection. I'm not even sure how far Sterling pushed the device. Did he really write these in Italian and then translate them into English? And if so, how much of the original style did he manage to preserve? Still, the framing device draws an interesting connection between Sterling and another author, Primo Levi, mentioned in the book. Levi (whose works I wholeheartedly recommend) is known for his account of his ordeal in Auschwitz, but he also published science fiction under a pseudonym and wrote some pieces on the art (and ripple effects) of translation, such as "L'altrui mestiere." So if you're wondering (like I was) why Sterling brings up Primo Levi, that might be it.

As for the stories, they're all fairly readable, although they suffered from a distanced approach to the characters' minds and situations. Everything felt external and false. That might have been the intention, or perhaps the issue jutted out more because of the uncomfortable pseudo-Italian dressing. None of the stories managed to attain a sense of authenticity. I was always on the outside, but at least the mixture of science-fiction and historical fiction took me to another world for a short while. "Robot in Roses" and "Kill the Moon" were both my personal highlights and the bookends for the collection.

Recommended if you are curious about Sterling's take on Italian short story conventions or Sterling's Italian-esque magical realism, but it's also worth your time if you're a Sterling fan plain and simple.

Thank you to Tachyon Publications and Netgalley for granting me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 2.0 of 5

I have been a fan of Bruce Sterling's work since his first novel, Involution Ocean, was part of The Harlan Ellison Discovery Series (#4) and I've read nearly all his published fiction (and much of his published non-fiction) since then. This collection of short stories is possibly my least favorite of his works.
As the book's subtitle indicates, these stories are connected by location and culture. These are "The Italian Fantascienza Stories." But what is confusing here is that author Bruce Sterling takes on a different (Italian) persona and writes as Bruno Argento - who is also a character.

My biggest disappointment is that the stories are so deeply intertwined with Italy that I feel like an absolute outsider. This is not my background or heritage, and that should be okay - I like learning about other cultures - but this is really Sterling's (or Argento's) love affair and I'm invited only to be an observer, not a participant.

The one story that I enjoyed was the final story, "Robot in Roses," in which a robotic wheelchair making art offers up a lot of philosophical contemplation.

Overall, though, for me as a Bruce Sterling fan, I was highly disappointed.

This book contains the following:

Introduction by Neal Stephenson
"Storia, Futurità, Fantasia, Scienza, Torino" by Bruno Argento
"Kill the Moon"
"Black Swan"
"Elephant on Table"
"Pilgrims of the Round World"
"The Parthenopean Scalpel"
"Esoteric City"
"Robot in Roses"
Afterword: "Bruce Sterling, Erudite Dreamer and Pirate" by Dario Tonani
Looking for a good book? Bruce Sterling's collection, Robot Artists and Black Swans, is a series of Italian themed fantasy/science fiction stories that are mostly forgettable.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of Robot Artists and Black Swans: The Italian Fantascienza Stories by Bruce Sterling.

Bruce Sterling’s renown as a writer rests on his co-founding of the cyberpunk movement in Science Fiction in the late 80’s and early 90’s, along with William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and others. Cyberpunk found great appeal because it looked closely at the technological trends of the present and extrapolated to how society would evolve in the near future. Sterling is a consummate experimenter with styles, ideas, and approaches to writing, and the depth of his thought makes his efforts worth considering even when they are not completely successful.

In the preface, Neal Stephenson notes his own inability to write in that form, and admires the current effort by Sterling. In SciFi writing, the short story reduces the space for world building. This compression allows the author to explore a wider range of different ideas and perspectives in a collection, but also gives the reader less time to enjoy each world the author has built.

In the current collection, Sterling writes Italian-style short stories (think Italo Calvino, whom Sterling invokes often), under the alter-ego Bruno Argento. It’s a cute conceit, one that escapes being too cute through solid writing and compelling ideas.

The stories in this collection are very different from each other, and often seem more like Borges in their avoidance of predictable themes or structure. There are times when some drag a bit, but, in general, the writing is light and fun to read.

The collection was satisfying, but at the end I was left a tiny bit dissatisfied, as if there was a joke that I wasn't getting that would tie everything together. Nonetheless, the book is well written, fun, and interesting, and worth reading.

This is a review of a book supplied by NetGalley in exchange for a thoughtful review.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't recall if I actually finished this before it came due. Likely not. Started in 2021! Ah, it was an eARC that expired. Anyway, usual thing, liked some stories more than others. TOC & story histories: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?...

Paul di Filippo's nice Locus review: https://locusmag.com/2021/03/paul-di-...
"... in the new book right from the start (after a sprightly introduction from Neal Stephenson), when we encounter the foreword: “Storia, Futurità, Fantasia, Scienza, Torino” by Bruno Argento. It seems that the sober-minded and humble Argento, a native Italian, is the real author of these fictions, and that Sterling is only his pen name. This droll distancing from the fiction gives the book a kind of laid-back Stanislaw Lem metatextuality not found in Sterling’s earlier work.

Before examining the actual stories, let me just pause to praise the John Coulthart cover art and interior illustrations; their cool formalism invokes a similar kind of old-world air of abstraction. ..."

As a side note, you won't be surprised to learn that the typographical niceties PdF describes were absent from my eARC!

Andreas' 3-star review here is a good detailed one. I agree that the standout story is "Esoteric City" (2009), not online. Also reprinted in his "Gothic High-Tech" collection (2011), which was another mixed bag.

[Lord Humungus · Rating 3 out of 5]

It'd been a long time since I read any Bruce Sterling. Early on in the compilation, I was considering how his obsession with all things tech was reminiscent of Charles Stross' writing. But rather than be obsessed with tech esoterica, which is a turnoff for this reader, Sterling flexes his eclectic knowledge and includes generous doses of art, history, design and language on a mild base of tech. In this collection, Italy or more specifically the city of Turin, is the centerpiece for the stories and it makes for an interesting setting.

It had been so long since I last read Sterling, I couldn't remember if this was his usual approach to dialog and storywriting. Or if he was going after a specific "Italian opera" style, where everything was dramatic and unsubtle, and most thoughts and emotions were spoken rather than internalized. Regardless it made for entertaining reading. My one complaint, and again this may be part of Sterling's style that I've long since forgotten, is that after regaling the reader with a long, far-ranging story where Sterling demonstrates his effusive affection for Turin and Italy and the glory of writing in general, he would abruptly end on a mundane, anti-climactic note as if he ran out of ideas and didn't know where to go next.

Definitely recommended as an entertaining diversion for Sterling fans.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 85%. There are great ideas and illustrations here, and the glimpses of Italian history are interesting. I am a Sterling fan! I have good memories of Caryatids! But... these stories just don't move me, especially the longer ones. They seem very mannered and more about discourse and ideas than about telling stories that engage the reader, with the possible exceptions of Black Swan (alternative Italys) and Elephant on Table (the Shadow House, very cool), which did have a good rhythm going and were short enough to work. The two quasi-novellas The Pilgrims of the Round World and Robot in Roses... I just couldn't.

How I struggled! Three whole weeks and I made it to page 202 out of 237 only today. Been pushing myself every day to read a little more. Just now flipped ahead, realized I was on the last story and that I don't care. Maybe I should have quit sooner, but here I am now. I'll still always pick up a new Bruce Sterling.

I also didn't quite get it - did he actually write these in Italian? The elaborate fiction of Bruno Argento being the man behind the author Bruce Sterling didn't really land for me either. Maybe that was the point.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lived in Italy for awhile now, former cyberpunk Texan Bruce Sterling has apparently absorbed all of Italian history and culture, sent it through the gonzo blender of his unique perspective, and come out with a collection of science fiction and fantasy stories set in Italy, especially Turin. Some are set in the future, some in the past. All are a bit nuts.

These are fun reads but have some of the madcap over-the-top metaphorical nature of his recent work, including stories co-written with Rudy Rucker. This Krazy Kat approach is a little offputting to me, but your mileage may vary.

One thing is still true: Sterling is still total immersed in whatever interests him and uses it to propel his fiction and philosophical musings.

[John Pedersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this really disappointing. It did not grab me at all. At first that was okay, because I was amused by some of the cleverness. The first story, Kill the Moon, was only a few pages long and the voice so reminded me of European colleagues who I speak to frequently that I was charmed. The charm wore off as I read the later stories, and at a certain point I found myself skimming quickly because I was bored. The characters were often flat, but although it was supposed to be in that old-school stories from the Continent with Count R——- and other shenanigans, it didn’t work for me. The plots were simultaneously Byzantine and tiresomely simple.

This one was not for me. I’m giving it two stars because of the cleverness. That feels generous.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings on this.
The idea is interesting, the prose is stylish and sly, almost to the Jack Vance level.
Each story starts out fascinating, but most of them seem to just stumble a disappointing ending.
Maybe that's intentional, a comment on life in Italy as a series of "oh well, we tried and it was a fun ride."

The robot artist story in particular, and a few others, dove a little too deep for me, such as in the long, long ramble on "what is art?" etc. Interesting that the other author I think of when I wrote "dove too deep" is Neal Stephenson, who wrote the intro to this. Neal does VAST amounts of research, and every single atom of it goes into his books. But that's just me.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruce Sterling is so interesting and creative! I love how his Bruno Argento alter-ego acts like Bruce Sterling is the pretend one! And I just have to read each sentence and savor it, he hops from idea to idea and emotion to emotion so quickly! These are short stories, and I really enjoy the variety available from short stories. They remind me a bit of Avram Davidson, in terms of their inventiveness and entertainment. All are set in Italy, clearly Bruce has fallen in love with Italy, with all of its charm, grit, passion - and he makes me want to visit Turin and see the city that he describes so vividly.
Recommended!

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm rounding up to three stars. These stories ranged from mediocre to decent. I think that anyone who likes thoughtful science fiction will like at least one of the stories in this volume and that one story is likely to be different for different people. Nothing is bad, nor is anything notably good, unless you're really into wry observations of the character of Italian culture. Nothing really stood out to me except, perhaps, for the final story, "Robot in Roses," which was a essentially a setting of a philosophical dialogue exploring and contrasting the positions of techno-futurism and humanism.

[Dan Drake]

I feel like I just didn't "get" these stories. I can see that Sterling -- er, Argento? -- is aiming for a kind of absurdist style that's very metaphorical, and...I just didn't get it.

I will note that the final story, the about the robot artist called "the Winkler", really reminded me of Too Like the Lightning and the other Terra Ignota books -- which I *also* didn't quite "get". I could dimly grasp how Palmer's book was really good, but neither that one nor the stories here clicked for me...

[Ada]

***WHO SUCKED ME IN***
Thomas of SFF180 on YouTube in their SFF180 | Mailbag Monday | October 12, 2020 video published on ma. 12 okt. 2020

I don't know something about Italian sci-fi just works for me. Ah what's that serie called Stad van bloemen. That was my jam as a teenager!

[Anonymouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Bruce Sterling essays but not his fiction. This is a book of short stories written in a magical realism style and set in some sort of Italy. Definitely not for me. I received this book from two places and when I told the manager of the second online blog that I wasn't able to finish, she said I was the only one or her reviewers who offered to try it.

I received a review copy of this book from NetGalley.com and also from SFRevu.

[Groucho42 · Rating 1 out of 5]

A pretentious, dull and annoying set of short stories. The author acts as if he's an Italian supposedly writing in an Italian style. The book is listing in fantasy, but it's fiction. The first three stories are truly annoying, presenting Italians as lousy people. The rest aren't as bad until halfway through when the mediocrity got to me and I gave up. Avoid this pile of rubbish.

[Charl]

A handful of stories that read like they were written in the 19th Century. A style that I hate.

No rating because Sterling captured the feel of Italian Renaissance writing quite well. It's not his fault I hate that style of writing.

NOTE: these are NOT SF stories. If you're looking for cyberpunk, it ain't here.

[Isaiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got an ARC of this book.

I just couldn't get into it. I know I am not the best at reading, but having to be reminded just that many times that this is Italian stories was a little much. It felt like at least once a paragraph there was a reminder in the first or second story. I tried a few stories, but none of them stood out for good reasons.

[Pershing48 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Acclaimed American sci-fi author (well, not that acclaimed) moves to Italy and writes a few stories that kind of suck. The Mediterranean climate snuffed out the small candle of any original ideas he had.