Some Non-human Robots

            I am not having the robot stories appear in the order in which they were written. Rather, I am grouping them by the nature of the contents. In this first division, for instance, I deal with robots that have a non-human shape--a dog, an automobile, a box. Why not? The industrial robots that have come into existence in reality are non-human in appearance.

            The very first story, “A Boy’s Best Friend,” is not in any of my earlier collections. It was written on September 10, 1974--and you may find in it a distant echo of “Robbie,” written thirty-five years earlier, which appears later in this volume. Don’t think I’m not aware of that.

            You will note, by the way, that in these three stories, the concept of Robot-as-Pathos is clearly marked. You may also notice, however, that in “Sally” there seems to be no hint of the Three Laws and that there is more than a hint of Robot-as-Menace. Well, if I want to do that once in a while, I can, I suppose. Who’s there to stop me?