Maxima Library

The arc of history is unpredictable, and no one knows where it’s headed. But that’s never stopped speculative fiction writers from shouting out a warning.

Join twenty-seven of today’s top science fiction authors as they write about possible tomorrows we hope to avoid, drawing on challenges taken from today’s headlines. Hugo and Nebula Award winners, New York Times best sellers, and some of the hottest names in Hollywood all come together to share tales from a future worth fighting against.

This is a project of passion for all involved. We hope that passion is evident and contagious. At least 50% of each sale of this anthology will go to the ACLU. To learn more about their mission, go to www.aclu.org.

Welcome to the Resistance.

They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies… Now they’re coming for you.

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans—a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire—but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites—at a moment known…