A review by mdpenguin
Robot Artists and Black Swans : The Italian Fantascienza Stories by Bruce Sterling, Neal Stephenson, Bruno Argento, Dario Tonani, John Coulthart

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.