In this playful, dual-natured fantasticienza collection of science-fiction and fantasy, Bruce Sterling introduces his real-life Italian alter-ego, Bruno Argento. Sterling, as Argento, evinces delightfully-continental flights of technological fancy and combines them with intriguing classical European motifs. "It's as if Sterling is the only writer paying attention."--Locus Bruce Sterling has an Italian doppelg nger.
Bruno Argento is the acknowledged master of Italian science fiction. Yet that same popular
fantascienza author somehow also exists in America. (Even less believably, in Texas.) So, whereas English-speaking readers are familiar with Bruno Argento as Bruce Sterling, and Italians are acquainted with Bruce Sterling as Bruno Argento. In
Robot Artists and Black Swans, we have their visionary short stories, including newly-translated stories.
So journey to the Esoteric City, where a Turinese businessman's act of necromancy is catching up with him. Meet the Black Swan, a computer programmer who hacks into alternate versions of Italy. Meanwhile, linger with the Parthenonpean assassin, awaiting his destiny while he nestles in the arms of a two-headed noblewoman. Or argue about the wandering robot-wheelchair, which infuriates artists and scientists alike with its uncategorizable creations.
