In a post-apocalyptic future long after the human race has vanished, intelligent machines continue rebuilding a shattered Earth. Frost, a powerful sentient robot entrusted with dominion over the Northern Hemisphere, possesses almost limitless knowledge yet remains fascinated by everything logic cannot explain: emotion, creativity, and free will. His search for the essence of humanity leads him to Mordel, an enigmatic machine whose challenging philosophical arguments force Frost to reconsider the boundaries between artificial intelligence and consciousness. Soon, intellectual curiosity becomes an all-consuming obsession, inspiring a daring experiment that could transform Frost’s existence—and reshape the entire planet's future.

Roger Zelazny’s Hugo Award-nominated For a Breath I Tarry is a poetic, intellectually rich novelette that combines post-apocalyptic science fiction, existential philosophy, psychological depth, and biblical allusion. Examining identity, embodiment, mortality, and the legacy of humankind, this visionary work of speculative fiction remains strikingly relevant in the age of generative AI and increasingly sophisticated technology.

Perfect for fans of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, and Harlan Ellison, as well as readers of far-future fiction, technological dystopias, cerebral sci-fi, cyberpunk literature, and stories exploring the relationship between humans and machines.

"A storyteller without peer. He created worlds as colorful and exotic and memorable as any our genre has ever seen."  –George R.R. Martin

". . . his performance was never anything other than dazzling."  –Robert Silverberg

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