About this item
Clarkesworld publisher Neil Clarke collects a reprint anthology of artificial human-themed short fiction. The idea of creating an artificial human is an old one. One of the earliest science-fictional novels, Frankenstein, concerned itself primarily with the hubris of creation, and one's relationship to one's creator. Later versions of this "artificial human" story (and indeed later adaptations of Frankenstein) changed the focus to more modernist questions ... What is the nature of humanity? What does it mean to be human? These stories continued through the golden age of science fiction with Isaac Asimov's I Robot story cycle, and then through post-modern iterations from new wave writers like Philip K. Dick. Today, this compelling science fiction trope persists in mass media narratives like Westworld and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, as well as twenty-first century science fiction novels like Charles Stross's Saturn's Children and Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl.
About the Author
Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times) , the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once) , and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once) . Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022) , three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards. Additionally, Neil edits - a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: , and the . His next anthology, will published in early 2023. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.
