Mechanical Animals - by Lauren Beukes (Paperback)

About the Book

Mechanical Animals presents a biomimicry menagerie of animalistic machines that blur the lines between what is and isn't nature's design. Featuring 15 original stories by today's top science fiction and fantasy authors and contextual mecha-fauna essays by Insect Lab Studio maker, Mike Libby, and SF encyclopedist and author Jess Nevins.

Book Synopsis

A speculative fiction safari that riffs on the traditional ideals of automata to explore our strange and competitive relationship with the natural world. Biomimicry is no stranger to literature, with canonical authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hans Christian Anderson, and Jules Verne setting the tone for a trope that has expounded and expanded upon what exactly separates humans from the animal kingdom as well as the boundary between machines and living beings. Featuring 15 original stories by today's top science fiction and fantasy authors and contextual mecha-fauna essays by artist and Insect Lab Studio maker, Mike Libby, and SF encyclopedist and author Jess Nevins, Mechanical Animals presents a biomimicry menagerie of animalistic machines that will blur the lines between what is and isn't nature's design.

Edited by Selena Chambers and Jason Heller

Featuring:
Mike Libby
Jess Nevins
Tessa Kum
Delia Sherman
Maurice Broaddus
Sarah Hans
Lauren Beukes
Jesse Bullington
An Owomoyela
Stephen Graham Jones
Hans Christian Andersen
Molly Tanzer
Aliette de Bodard
Nick Mamatas
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Kat Howard
Michael Cisco
Adrian Van Young
Robert T. Toombs
Joseph S. Pulver, Jr.
Alistair Rennie
Jules Verne
Caroline Yoachim
Carrie Vaughn

Review Quotes

INTRODUCTION: MAKING TOTEMIC SENSE
Mike Libby

MECHANICAL ANIMALS
Jess Nevins

TWO BEES DANCING
Tessa Kum

BRASS MONKEY
Delia Sherman

THE REBEL
Maurice Broaddus and Sarah Hans

EXHIBITIONIST
Lauren Beukes

STRAY FROG
Jesse Bullington

THE HARD SPOT IN THE GLACIER
An Owomoyela

EVERY SINGLE WONDERFUL DETAIL
Stephen Graham Jones

THE NIGHTINGALE
Hans Christian Andersen

LE CYGNE BAISEUR
Molly Tanzer

AMONG THE WATER BUFFALOES, A TIGER'S STEPS
Aliette de Bodard

THE TWIN DRAGONS OF SENTIMENTALITY AND DIDACTICISM
Nick Mamatas

THE ARTIST OF THE BEAUTIFUL
Nathaniel Hawthorne

GLASS WINGS
Kat Howard

BET THE FARM
Michael Cisco

LONG PIG
Adrian Van Young

Excerpt from ELECTRIC BOB'S BIG BLACK OSTRICH; OR, LOST ON THE DESERT
Robert T. Toombs

LOOKIN' OUT MY BACKDOOR
Joseph S. Pulver, Jr.

THE ISLAND BRUSHED BY GHOSTS
Alistair Rennie

Excerpt from THE STEAM HOUSE: CHAPTER V: THE IRON GIANT
Jules Verne

THE CLOCKWORK PENGUIN DREAMED OF STARS
Caroline Yoachim

CLOSER TO THE SKY
Carrie Vaughn