Robo Divine
by Will Silver Hastings
My new anthology of short stories
© August 2015
This collection spans a range of fiction from insightful logical prediction to completely fantastic tales of imagination and fantasy. With a technical spin and documentary style of delivery, the stories explore hot topics from the past and future including autonomous automobile hackers, exotic robot manufacturers, DNA enhancement engineers, programmers, ancient sorcerers, investigators of infernal spirits, radical battery innovators and a silent, smiling extraterrestrial who can bring people back from the dead.
The 21 tall tales explore themes of vengeance, justice and greed as well as the virtues and sins of heroes and villains in our modern age of technological challenges.
One of my readers compared the collection to The Twilight Zone - the wonderful television anthology series hosted and created by Rod Serling. I love that comparison. The original Zone stories combined a range of stories including fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, drama, horror and humour along with unpredictable and unexpected endings with a twist. The Robo Divine collection adds 21st Century colour and techno texture with computers, programming, physics, science and robotics.
The tales are not predictable romances or formula stories with commonplace characters evolving or learning to become better persons. The stories resemble veritable, documentary-style descriptions of unusual events and situations as they occur and how people react to extraordinary situations.
There are elements of satire and comedy mixed in with innate social commentary as well as logical deductive prediction resulting in the creation of a unique combination of edifying entertainments.
The collection is available on Amazon as a POD (Print On Demand) paperback as well as eBook: Robo Divine on Amazon
The 21 Tall Tales:
Dream Nanobridge
Brilliant scientists create the ultimate solution in battery technology, but have to deal with the frenzied greed of multinational corporate manufacturers who will stop at nothing to obtain their intellectual property.
Always Willing
An excavator discovers a mysterious chest buried deep beneath a future subdivision only to find it contains an ancient demon who promises to fulfill his every wish, but ultimately for an impossibly expensive price.
CyberClone UtraBowl
A murder takes place on the playing field during the ultimate playoff game, live, right in front of billions of fans, but the perpetrator still claims to have the perfect alibi.
Patience Without Virtue
An ambitious archaeologist has her Howard Carter moment of discovery only to find the dark past of her childhood is far more significant than she ever could have imagined.
Sum Of Its Parts
A brilliant old geek with anger management problems creates a mechanized disguise in order to conceal himself from the rest of the world.
Routine Deviation
In the future world of biological enhancement, one of the richest men in the world is tired of everyone copying him and seeks out the doctor who could resolve his greatest desire.
Robo Divine
A sea salvage team encounter an artificial island created and run autonomously by robots who have the means of taking control of the whole world.
Uncertain Terms
A digital architect encounters an ancient shaman who has found a way to create a temporal continuum through which he can travel and acquire historical versions of personalities and turn them into conduits of ability to his own advantage.
Emergency Furlough
An alien from a distant world has the ability to heal people to the point where local townsfolk have lost their sense of danger and turned the hospital into a vacation resort.
Elucidation Commission
A secret group of paranormal investigators have a long history of chasing infernal spirits in order to take them to trial in the preternatural courts.
The Perfect Round
A super-computing, experimental robot falls out of the sky and lands on a golf course with nowhere to hide. In order to survive, he must learn to play the only game where perfection is impossible.
Viceroy of the Alpha Regents
On a quiet summer night, the Plasma-5 Physics Group in Roseland makes a discovery so radical it catches the attention of security forces from other solar systems.
Meteoric Resignation
The popular host of a kids' morning TV show in the 1950s finds out he's out of a job, but then he gets a surprising letter from someone who manipulates the future.
17 Zero 4 Point 2
Set onboard a galactic cruiser, a pair of shipmates are concerned about an emergency taking place all around them, but can't decide on a plan of action.
Lemurian Departure
A young woman searching for her father discovers a portal into multi-dimensional worlds full of ancient magic and a plot to alter the fabric of the universe.
Assuming You're Right
A young boy is mistaken for a serious threat and a gang of miscreants set out to find him, but they don't know he has recently met a powerful friend.
Acrimonious Terrain
A group of reprobates liesurely spend their evening chatting in a diner until they are called upon to chase someone they don't know and may never find.
Chrono Modder
A technical genius figures out how to transmit inanimate objects through space and time and decides to scoop the Spanish conquistadors from stealing Inca gold in AD 1532.
Zero Access Chamber
Mistakenly transported into an unfamiliar demension, a young man finds himself inside a woman's apartment that has no entrance and no exit.
The Lucky Ice Cube
One upon a time there was a young transparent hedron with atoms connected by covalent bonds who finds himself in a frigid, frozen landscape.
AutoHack
A pair of autonomous automobile hijackers find themselves in a vehicle they no longer control.
