Isaac Asimov's Robot City

Isaac Asimov's Robot City. Series. New York: Ace, various dates. "ROBOT CITY is a trademark of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc.," part of The Berkley Publishing Group (publisher of Ace Books).

We have examined Book 1: Odyssey (1987) by Michael P. Kube-McDowell and Book 6: Perihelion (1988) by William F. Wu. Asimov's introduction to the first volume ("My Robots") attributes to Byron Preiss "the notion of setting up a series of novels under the overall title of Robot City in which 'Asimovian' robots and ideas were to be freely used" — and to have Asimov's involvement to make sure the "robots stay 'Asimovian'" (xi). Asimov cooperated on the series up to at least vol. 6; see his introd., "Robots in Combination." Note Wu as an author with a bent for robot stories. Kube-McDowell's Odyssey Rev. Kenneth Felder, Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual (1988): 233; the third book in the series, Wu's Cyborg (1987), rev. Fred Runk, Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual (1988): 352-53. (For the range of works called "Cyborg," see entry on the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, as of April 2023 at link here.)[1]

Book 4, Arthur Byron Cover's Prodigy is reviewed by Jack Durant in Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual covering 1988: 231-32. Google Books summarizes, "Thrust into the ferment of a robotic renaissance, Derec and Ariel see positronic consciousness emerging in new forms of art, music and roboticide! Can they solve the most dangerous puzzle in Robot City? And will this mechanical menace reach its climax before Derec and Ariel can escape?"[2]

RDE, initial; finishing 12Ap23