The Secret Life of Bots - Misplaced Pages

Science fiction story by Suzanne Palmer

"The Secret Life of Bots" is a 2017 science fiction story by Suzanne Palmer. It was first published in Clarkesworld Magazine.

Synopsis

Autonomous maintenance robots take on a much larger role in saving a spaceship from aliens than the ship's human crew could have ever suspected.

Reception

"The Secret Life of Bots" won the 2018 Hugo Award for Best Novelette and the WSFA Small Press Award. Tangent Online considered it to be "charming", with "vivid, interesting characters", and noted the robots have "individuality and multitudes of personalities".

Year	Award	Category	Result
2018	Hugo Award	Novelette	Won
	Locus Award	Novelette	Nominated
	Theodore Sturgeon Award	—	Finalist
	WSFA Small Press Award	—	Won

References

"REVIEW: "The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer". 18 December 2017.
^ "2018 Hugo Awards". The Hugo Award. March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2024.
Clarkesworld #132, September 2017, reviewed by Filip Wintgren, at Tangent Online; published September 19, 2017; retrieved August 22, 2018
"Summary Bibliography: Suzanne Palmer". isfdb.org. Retrieved March 4, 2024.

External links

Text of the story

v t e Hugo Award for Best Novelette
Retro Hugos	"Rule 18" by Clifford D. Simak (1939) "The Roads Must Roll" by Robert A. Heinlein (1941) "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov (1943) "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (1944) "First Contact" by Murray Leinster (1946) "The Little Black Bag" by Cyril M. Kornbluth (1951) "Earthman, Come Home" by James Blish (1954)
1955–1960	"The Darfsteller" by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1955) "Exploration Team" by Murray Leinster (1956) "The Big Time" by Fritz Leiber (1958) "The Big Front Yard" by Clifford D. Simak (1959)
1967–1980	"The Last Castle" by Jack Vance (1967) "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Leiber (1968) "The Sharing of Flesh" by Poul Anderson (1969) "Goat Song" by Poul Anderson (1973) "The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison (1974) "Adrift Just Off the Islets of Langerhans: Latitude 38° 54' N, Longitude 77° 00' 13" W" by Harlan Ellison (1975) "The Borderland of Sol" by Larry Niven (1976) "The Bicentennial Man" by Isaac Asimov (1977) "Eyes of Amber" by Joan D. Vinge (1978) "Hunter's Moon" by Poul Anderson (1979) "Sandkings" by George R. R. Martin (1980)
1981–1990	"The Cloak and the Staff" by Gordon R. Dickson (1981) "Unicorn Variation" by Roger Zelazny (1982) "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis (1983) "Blood Music" by Greg Bear (1984) "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler (1985) "Paladin of the Lost Hour" by Harlan Ellison (1986) "Permafrost" by Roger Zelazny (1987) "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" by Ursula K. Le Guin (1988) "Schrödinger's Kitten" by George Alec Effinger (1989) "Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another" by Robert Silverberg (1990)
1991–2000	"The Manamouki" by Mike Resnick (1991) "Gold" by Isaac Asimov (1992) "The Nutcracker Coup" by Janet Kagan (1993) "Georgia on My Mind" by Charles Sheffield (1994) "The Martian Child" by David Gerrold (1995) "Think Like a Dinosaur" by James Patrick Kelly (1996) "Bicycle Repairman" by Bruce Sterling (1997) "We Will Drink a Fish Together..." by Bill Johnson (1998) "Taklamakan" by Bruce Sterling (1999) "10 to 1" by James Patrick Kelly (2000)
2001–2010	"Millennium Babies" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (2001) "Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang (2002) "Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick (2003) "Legions in Time" by Michael Swanwick (2004) "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link (2005) "Two Hearts" by Peter S. Beagle (2006) "The Djinn's Wife" by Ian McDonald (2007) "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang (2008) "Shoggoths in Bloom" by Elizabeth Bear (2009) "The Island" by Peter Watts (2010)
2011–2020	"The Emperor of Mars" by Allen Steele (2011) "Six Months, Three Days" by Charlie Jane Anders (2012) "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" by Pat Cadigan (2013) "The Lady Astronaut of Mars", by Mary Robinette Kowal (2014) "The Day the World Turned Upside Down" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt, translated by Lia Belt (2015) "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu (2016) "The Tomato Thief" by Ursula Vernon (2017) "The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer (2018) "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" by Zen Cho (2019) "Emergency Skin" by N. K. Jemisin (2020)
2021–present	"Two Truths and a Lie" by Sarah Pinsker (2021) "Bots of the Lost Ark" by Suzanne Palmer (2022) "The Space-Time Painter" by Hai Ya (2023) "The Year Without Sunshine" by Naomi Kritzer (2024)

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