Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance and Other Stories

Zen and the Art of Spaceship Maintenance and Other Stories is an anthology by best-selling author Tobias Buckell. This fifteen short story collection contains many original tales first published in this book. Buckell’s book seems to be an ode to sci-fi. Unlike his novels and series, many of these pieces have a modern feel of the classics from the “Golden Age of Science Fiction.” As humans and machines grapple with identities, life, and death, Buckell offers many thought-provoking questions. Even the titles of his stories provide much delight. “Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex” and “By the Warms of Their Calculus,” just to name a couple.

Buckell delves into the emotions of a semi-autonomous machine waiting to fulfill its mission. He investigates the Venusian slave industry. He explores the difficulties of finding Alan Shepard’s golf ball on the moon. And, of course, he discusses the laws of robotics. This book is excellent for anyone into robotic and space-themed sci-fi shorts. For fans of Buckell’s previous works, Zen and the Art of Spaceship Maintenance and Other Stories is out of this world.