Bob Claus tries to make up for last year's Christmas havoc by building an android that can help his brother, Santa, by delivering toys in a gorilla-driven sleigh, but despite his good intentions, things go horribly wrong.

No one ever expected the robot apocalypse to begin in the little town of Brighthaven. And no one ever expected it to involve murderous robot turkeys and their even more terrifying brethren, robot Santas that fire laserbeams from their eyes. However, Brighthaven's finest are ready to tackle any robotic holiday menace that might come their way. Two interlinked holiday stories of approx. 6000 words by Hugo winner Cora Buhlert

We all know Santa Claus: fat, jolly, omniscient, swift. Lives in a nice home in the Arctic, with the missus and a pack of elves. Well, forget what you know. Santa Claus is from Greenpoint, Brooklyn, as it turns out, and he's not as fat as he used to be. Here's something else you didn't know: he's been dabbling in some futuristic technology, and has found myriad ways to make his job possible. How can Santa know who's been naughty and nice? Simple: implant listening devices into your ornaments. How can he make it to every house Christmas Eve? That's nothing a little cloning and some wormholes can't solve. And he has plenty of other tactics: quantum entanglement, organ replacement, drug-induced hibernation, and unmanned aerial vehicles, to name just a few. In this fantastically illustrated, affectionate, and hilarious book, Gregory Mone uses science and technology to overturn the assumption that Santa can't be real. Drawing on the work of accomplished scientists and researchers, Mone gives us a whole new portrait of this remarkable man and the miracles he makes happen every year. With imaginative artwork and an eye-catching package, this book makes an outstanding Christmas gift for just about anyone.

Two sisters save Christmas from Santa's evil twin brother who delivers worms, spiders, spinach, and Brussels sprouts candy.

At Christmastime all over Australia - from the bush to the 'burbs - Santa arrives on the back of the fire truck! This boisterous picture book celebrates a much-loved Aussie tradition. A Christmas tradition, all round this land, from the city to the country, from the bush to the sand, in a shiny red truck instead of a sleigh, Santa sets out on his jolly old way. But this fire truck has seen better days. It creaks and rattles and groans as Santa makes his rounds. It will take a miracle to get through Christmas Eve... With beautiful illustrations by Nathaniel Eckstrom, this is an energetic and delightful celebration of a wonderful Aussie tradition.

Although they entered the world as pure science fiction, robots are now very much a fact of everyday life. Whether a space-age cyborg, a chess-playing automaton, or simply the smartphone in our pocket, robots have long been a symbol of the fraught and fearful relationship between ourselves and our creations. Though we tend to think of them as products of twentieth-century technology—the word “robot” itself dates to only 1921—as a concept, they have colored US society and culture for far longer, as Dustin A. Abnet shows to dazzling effect in The American Robot. In tracing the history of the idea of robots in US culture, Abnet draws on intellectual history, religion, literature, film, and television. He explores how robots and their many kin have not only conceptually connected but literally embodied some of the most critical questions in modern culture. He also investigates how the discourse around robots has reinforced social and economic inequalities, as well as fantasies of mass domination—chilling thoughts that the recent increase in job automation has done little to quell. The American Robot argues that the deep history of robots has abetted both the literal replacement of humans by machines and the figurative transformation of humans into machines, connecting advances in technology and capitalism to individual and societal change. Look beneath the fears that fracture our society, Abnet tells us, and you’re likely to find a robot lurking there.

Sixteen tales of Christmas by Hugo winner Cora Buhlert. Romance, cozy fantasy, murder mysteries, pulp thrillers, science fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, horror and humor – we have all that and more. Watch young people find love in the pre-holiday shopping rush at Hickory Ridge Mall, at a Christmas tree lot, on the parking lot of a shuttered outlet mall and at the one bar in town that’s open on Christmas Eve. Experience Christmas in Hallowind Cove, the permanently fog-shrouded seaside town, where strange things keep happening. Watch as Santa’s various helpers unite to depose him. Massachusetts 1695 AD: Follow apprentice witchfinder Matthew Goodson and condemned witch Grace Pankhurst, as they try to dodge both witchfinders and a creature that lives in the woods and hunts around the winter solstice. Follow Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team as they investigate the death of a robber dressed as Santa Claus as well as a wave of thefts at a Christmas market. Meet Richard Blakemore, hardworking pulp author by day and the masked crimefighter known only as the Silencer by night, as he fights to save an orphanage from demolition in Depression era New York City. Watch Alfred and Bertha, an ordinary married couple, as they decorate the Christmas tree and live their marvellous twenty-first century life. No one ever expected the robot apocalypse to begin in the little town of Brighthaven. And no one ever expected it to involve murderous robot turkeys and their even more terrifying brethren, robot Santas that fire laserbeams from their eyes. Experience Christmas on the space colony of Iago Prime as well as after the end of the world. Enjoy sixteen novellas, novelettes and short stories in six genres. This is a collection of 136000 words or approx. 420 print pages. Contains the following stories: Christmas Gifts Christmas Shopping with a Broken Heart The Crappiest Christmas Ever Christmas Eve at the Purple Owl Café Driving Home for Christmas The Bakery on Gloomland Street Revolt at the North Pole The Solstice Horror A Bullet for Father Christmas Santa’s Sticky Fingers St. Nicholas of Hell’s Kitchen The Tinsel-Free Christmas Tree The Robot Turkey Apocalypse Invasion of the Robot Santas Christmas on Iago Prime Christmas after the End of the World