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pilebythebed's review against another edition
3.0
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.
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.
jugglingpup's review against another edition
1.0
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.
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.
look_to_the_sun's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
mdpenguin's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
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.
arkron's review against another edition
3.0
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:
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
christinecc's review against another edition
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
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.
"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.
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