Angry Robot
{{Short description|British publisher of SF and fantasy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox publisher
| image =
| parent = Watkins Media
| status =
| founded = 2008
| founder =
| successor =
| country = United Kingdom
| headquarters = Nottingham
| distribution = Penguin Random House (US)
Grantham Book Services (UK)
Simon & Schuster (Australia)
Pansing (Singapore){{Cite web| title = Contact – Angry Robot| accessdate = 2018-05-30| url = https://www.angryrobotbooks.com/contact/}}
| keypeople =
| publications = books
| topics =
| genre = Science fiction and fantasy
| imprints =
| revenue =
| numemployees =
| nasdaq =
| url = {{URL|www.angryrobotbooks.com}}
}}
Angry Robot is a British-based publishing house dedicated to producing modern adult science fiction and fantasy, or as they call it “SF, F and WTF?!?”. The Nottingham-based company first released books in the UK in 2009, and since September 2010 has simultaneously been publishing its titles in the US as well, as a distributed client of Random House. All titles are released as paperbacks and eBooks.
History
Angry Robot was founded in August 2008, when Marc Gascoigne, previously publisher of Games Workshop’s Black Library and Solaris imprints, was hired by HarperCollins UK to create a new science fiction imprint. The intention was to create an experimental line that would complement the existing Voyager imprint, which focussed mainly on big-selling fantasy titles. Angry Robot would be able to trial some different business methods – buying world rights to allow co-publishing in the US and UK, issuing eBooks and potentially audiobooks as standard alongside print editions, and maximising online marketing through bloggers, Twitter and Facebook.{{cite web|url=http://angryrobotbooks.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/press-release-sept-11-2008-it-lives/|title=Press release #1: New Science Fiction/Fantasy Business Venture Launched|date=6 October 2008|publisher=|accessdate=6 April 2018}} {{self-published inline|date=January 2015}}
Editor Lee Harris, previously best known for Hub,{{Cite web |url=http://www.hubfiction.com/ |title=Hub Magazine | Free Weekly Sci-Fi, Horror and Fantasy Fiction – SPONSORED BY SOLARIS |access-date=2011-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122201427/http://www.hubfiction.com/ |archive-date=2011-11-22 |url-status=dead }} an online short story magazine, was recruited at the start of 2009. The first titles published by the imprint, released in July of that year, were Slights by Kaaron Warren and Moxyland by Lauren Beukes. Both met with praise (Slights won the Australian Ditmar Award for best novel, and the Shadows Award for Best Fiction). The company continued to release two or three titles every month, but in April 2010, book production was temporarily halted when HarperCollins and the imprint parted.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
Gascoigne purchased the imprint from HarperCollins for a nominal sum, in partnership with Oxford-based Osprey Publishing.{{Cite web |url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/118131-hc-imprint-angry-robot-acquired-by-osprey.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=27 September 2010 |archive-date=16 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100716140337/http://www.thebookseller.com/news/118131-hc-imprint-angry-robot-acquired-by-osprey.html |url-status=dead }} The imprint remained based in Nottingham. The monthly release of new titles resumed in September of that year, with titles publishing in the US as well as the UK for the first time.
Among the first titles in the new wave of release was Lauren Beukes’ Zoo City, which went on to win the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best science fiction book of the year in April 2011.{{cite news |title=South African author wins Arthur C Clarke award |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/apr/28/lauren-beukes-arthur-c-clarke-award |work=the Guardian |date=28 April 2011 |language=en}} The novel was also nominated for a British Science Fiction Association Award{{cite news |last1=Lutgendorff |first1=Liz |title=I read the 100 "best" fantasy and sci-fi novels - and they were shockingly offensive |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/08/i-read-100-best-fantasy-and-sci-fi-novels-and-they-were-shockingly-offensive |work=New Statesman |date=13 August 2015}} (it came second, but its cover art – by Joey HiFi - won a separate BSFA Award) and a World Fantasy Award.{{cite web |title=2011 World Fantasy Award winners {{!}} The British Fantasy Society |url=https://www.britishfantasysociety.org/news/2011-world-fantasy-award-winners/ |website=www.britishfantasysociety.org}} Also notable was a reprint of K. W. Jeter’s pair of seminal steampunk novels, Morlock Night and Infernal Devices.
The imprint makes great capital out of its “Robot Army”, which is a street team of bloggers, reviewers and influential commentators from the science fiction world, who can access exclusive content and advance reading copies of Angry Robot’s novels. Angry Robot also uses its quirky branding to sell merchandise and eBooks (either singly or in multiples via ongoing subscriptions) direct to readers.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
In October 2011, at the World Fantasy Convention, Marc Gascoigne won the World Fantasy Special Award (Professional) for Angry Robot.[http://www.sfadb.com/Marc_Gascoigne Science Fiction Awards Database: Marc Gascoigne] (retrieved 9 July 2018)
Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A
In November 2011, Angry Robot announced that they were planning a sister imprint, Strange Chemistry,{{Cite web |url=http://strangechemistrybooks.com/ |title=Strange Chemistry |access-date=2011-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151102040819/http://strangechemistrybooks.com/ |archive-date=2015-11-02 |url-status=dead }} that would be devoted to young adult (teen) science fiction, fantasy and supernatural novels. Headed by blogger-turned-editor Amanda Rutter,{{cite web|url=http://floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.com/|title=Floor to Ceiling Books|website=floor-to-ceiling-books.blogspot.com|accessdate=6 April 2018}} it was launched in September 2012.
A crime fiction imprint, Exhibit A, was launched in 2014.{{Cite web | title = Announcing our new Crime fiction imprint, EXHIBIT A! | work = Angry Robot | accessdate = 2015-01-19 | url = http://angryrobotbooks.com/2012/04/announcing-our-new-crime-fiction-imprint-exhibit-a/ }}
Both Strange Chemistry and Exhibit A imprints were closed in June 2014, after they were "unable to carve out their own niches".{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookseller.com/news/angry-robot-closes-exhibit-and-strange-chemistry-imprints|title=Angry Robot closes Exhibit A and Strange Chemistry imprints - The Bookseller|website=www.thebookseller.com|accessdate=6 April 2018}}
Sale
In 2014 Angry Robot was sold by Osprey to Watkins Media, owned by Etan Ilfeld.{{Cite web | title = Osprey sells off Watkins, Angry Robot and Nourish | work = The Bookseller | accessdate = 2015-01-19 | url = http://www.thebookseller.com/news/osprey-sells-watkins-angry-robot-and-nourish }}
2024 Israeli AI Controversy
In April 2024. Angry Robot announced that they would be using the Israeli Artificial Intelligence system Storywise to aid in the processing of submissions.{{Cite web |last=Portsmouth |first=Amy |date=2024-04-08 |title=Storywise and Open Submissions FAQ’s |url=https://angryrobotbooks.com/2024/04/open-submissions-2024/ |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=Angry Robot |language=en-US}} This resulted in a social media controversy, given the use of Israeli Artificial Intelligence in alleged war crimes carried out by the Israeli Defence Force on Palestinian civilians,{{Cite web |last=Iraqi |first=Amjad |date=2024-04-03 |title=‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza |url=https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/ |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=+972 Magazine |language=en-US}} and concerns regarding authorial control of works submitted to this system. The controversy escalated when Angry Robot claimed that Storywise was not generative, despite reports that the system itself was actively being promoted by owner Etan Ilfeld's Remagine Ventures firm (of which he is a partner) as part of the Israeli "Generative AI Landscape"{{Cite web |title=Generative AI landscape – Remagine Ventures |url=https://www.remagineventures.com/generative-ai-landscape/ |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.remagineventures.com}} After multiple days of controversy, Angry Robot divested from use of Storywise,{{Cite web |date=2024-04-09 |title=Angry Robot and Angry Writers |url=https://astrolabe.aidanmoher.com/angry-robot-ai-publishing-storywise/ |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=Astrolabe |language=en}} and no comment on the AI investments of Etan Ilfeld was given.