In Los Angeles Times Book Prize nominee Ariel S. Winter's Barren Cove , humans are nearly extinct and robots are now the dominant life-form on Earth. The aged robot Sapien is the recent victim of a debilitating accident. The socially acceptable thing to do in robot culture is deactivate, but Sapien is not ready to end his life. Instead he orders spare parts for himself and rents a remote beach house in order to repair and ponder why he wants to go...