The imaginary lives of mechanical men : stories. by Randy F. Nelson.

Mechanical men -- They have replaceable valves and filters: The cave ; Here's a shot of us at the Grand Canyon ; Food is fuel ; Abuduction ; The guardian -- The ticking and tocking of their hearts: Cutters ; Breaker ; River story ; In the picking room -- Two who drowned: Refiner's fire ; Pulp life -- One who got away: Escape.

The mechanical men in these narratives--Industrial Age holdovers, outsiders in want of relevance and respect, or overwhelmed people who confuse the certainties of one reality with the doubts of another--are cut off in some way from contemporary culture.