Best of
Speculative-Fiction

1996

Epiphany of the Long Sun


Gene Wolfe - 1996
    The two novels combined in this omnibus (Caldé of the Long Sun and Exodus from the Long Sun) comprise the second half of Gene Wolfe's long novel, The Book of the Long Sun.

The Sparrow


Mary Doria Russell - 1996
    While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".

The True Game


Sheri S. Tepper - 1996
    Award winner, national bestseller, and one of the genre's most respected and acclaimed talents, she has transcended the boundaries of science fiction and fantasy with her widespread success. Available for the first time in one volume, this is the long out-of-print trilogy that launched her remarkable career: King's Blood Four, Necromancer Nine, and Wizard's Eleven. In the lands of the True Game, your lifelong identity emerges as you play-Prince or Sorcerer, Demon or Doyen. Raising the dead is the least of the Necromancer's Talents-he is a wild card who threatens the True Game itself. A giant stalks the mountains. Shadowpeople gather by the light of the moon. Bonedancers raise up armies of the dead. And the Wizard's Eleven sleep trapped in their dreams. Players, take your places. The final Game begins now...

Spares


Michael Marshall Smith - 1996
    An eye for an eye, but some people are doing all the taking.Spares - the story of Jack Randall: burnt-out, dropped out, and with a zero credit rating at the luck bank. After five years lying low on a Spares farm, looking after inmates that can't even spell luck, he is finally faced with a chance at redemption....if he, and the spares, can run fast enough.Spares - a breathless race through strange, disturbing territories in a world all too close to our own.Spares - it's fiction. But only just...

Remnant Population


Elizabeth Moon - 1996
    On this planet far away in space and time from the world of her youth, she has lived and loved, weathered the death of her husband, raised her one surviving child, lovingly tended her garden, and grown placidly old. And it is here that she fully expects to finish out her days–until the shifting corporate fortunes of the Sims Bancorp Company dictates that Colony 3245.12 is to be disbanded, its residents shipped off, deep in cryo-sleep, to somewhere new and strange and not of their choosing. But while her fellow colonists grudgingly anticipate a difficult readjustment on some distant world, Ofelia savors the promise of a golden opportunity. Not starting over in the hurly-burly of a new community... but closing out her life in blissful solitude, in the place she has no intention of leaving. A population of one.With everything she needs to sustain her, and her independent spirit to buoy her, Ofelia actually does start life over–for the first time on her own terms: free of the demands, the judgments, and the petty tyrannies of others. But when a reconnaissance ship returns to her idyllic domain, and its crew is mysteriously slaughtered, Ofelia realizes she is not the sole inhabitant of her paradise after all. And, when the inevitable time of first contact finally arrives, she will find her life changed yet again–in ways she could never have imagined...

Night Calls


Katharine Eliska Kimbriel - 1996
    Five were taken before the girl's parents agreed to give her up. They called in Cousin Cory, Aunt Marta, all the known practitioners. The ones who could teach me how to hide in a leaf, dip into minds, and find the secret herbs that heal. Her childhood now over, the girl must face the Dark of the Other Side.

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan: The Land That Time Forgot


Russ Manning - 1996
    She competes like a woman possessed, which she is, by the shame of whatever her mother is hiding. When Lya goes in search of her mother's secrets, she is lost at sea, somewhere off the coast of Peru. The only man who can find her -- and the only man who can uncover her mother's secrets -- is Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. And even he may have met his match in The Land That Time Forgot.

Over the Edge/An Edge in My Voice


Harlan Ellison - 1996
    Harlan Ellison's stories and essays have been on the cutting edge of contemporary American Literature for over 40 years, but he stubbornly refuses to abandon the use of a manual typewriter. He's involved in every medium from television drama to comic books, and his works have been translated into 26 languages. Although he's won more awards for his writing than any living fantasist, Harlan still refuses to eat lima beans. In May 1996, White Wolf announced what is still its most ambitious publishing program for a single author: the first 20 volumes of the collected fiction, essays, teleplays and columns of the writer whom The Washington Post calls ""one of the great living American short story writers"." The first volume of this series, containing An Edge in My Voice and Over the Edge, is now available in trade paperback. Both books have been completely revised, updated and expanded for the hardcover publication, and this trade edition has been re-edited as well".

Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus


Orson Scott Card - 1996
    In one of the most powerful and thought-provoking novels of his remarkable career, Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch interweaves a compelling portrait of Christopher Columbus with the story of a future scientist who believes she can alter human history from a tragedy of bloodshed and brutality to a world filled with hope and healing.

No One Noticed the Cat


Anne McCaffrey - 1996
    After the death of wise old Mangan, the Regent of Esphania, many of the regent's skills and qualities seem to have been transferred to his beautiful and intelligent cat, Niffy, who at once attaches herself to the new ruler, Prince Jamas.

The Truth Machine


James L. Halperin - 1996
    Violent Crime is the number one political issue in America. Now the Swift and Sure Anti-Crime bill guarantees a previously convicted violent criminal one fair trial, one quick plea, then immediate execution. To prevent abuse of the law, a machine must be built that detects lies with 100% accuracy.Once perfected, the truth machine will change the face of the world. Yet the race to finish the Truth Machine forces one man to commit a shocking act of treachery, burdening him with a dark secret that collides with everything he believes in. Now he must conceal the the truth from his own creation...or face execution.By turns optimistic and chilling, THE TRUTH MACHINE is nothing less than a history of the future, a spellbinding chronicle that resonates with insight, wisdom and astounding possibility.

Tran


Jerry Pournelle - 1996
    With Larry Niven he has collaborated on a string of bestselling novels, including Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, and many more. He holds advanced degrees in psychology, statistics, engineering, and political science, and has been involved professionally in all these fields. He and his wife live in Los Angeles.

Making History


Stephen Fry - 1996
    And with their success is launched a brave new world that is in some ways better than ours--but in most ways even worse. Fry's experiment in history makes for his most ambitious novel yet, and his most affecting. His first book to be set mostly in America, it is a thriller with a funny streak, a futuristic fantasy based on one of mankind's darkest realities. It is, in every sense, a story of our times.

The Complete Works of Mary Shelley


Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - 1996
    (Version 1)* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Shelley's life and works* Concise introductions to the novels and other texts* ALL 7 novels, with individual contents tables* Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original gothic works* Includes both the original 1818 version of FRANKENSTEIN and the revised 1831 version* Special bonus text of Peake's famous play adaptation of FRANKENSTEIN, giving a flavour of the novel's immediate popularity* Excellent formatting of the texts* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the poetry and the short stories* Easily locate the poems or short stories you want to read* Features rare short stories and poems appearing here for the first time in digital print* The complete travel books appear here for the first time in digital publishing* Includes Shelley's letters - spend hours exploring the author’s personal correspondence* Features two biographies - discover Shelley's literary life* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genresCONTENTS:The NovelsFRANKENSTEIN (1818 version)FRANKENSTEIN (1831 version)MATHILDAVALPERGATHE LAST MANTHE FORTUNES OF PERKIN WARBECKLODOREFALKNERThe Short StoriesLIST OF SHORT STORIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERLIST OF SHORT STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERThe Children’s FictionPROSERPINEMIDASThe PoemsLIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERLIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERThe Travel WritingHISTORY OF A SIX WEEKS’ TOUR THROUGH A PART OF FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY, AND HOLLANDRAMBLES IN GERMANY AND ITALY, IN 1840, 1842, AND 1843The Non-FictionNOTES TO THE COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEYAn AdaptationTHE FATE OF FRANKENSTEIN by Richard Brinsley PeakeThe BiographiesTHE LIFE AND LETTERS OF MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY by Florence A. Thomas MarshallMRS. SHELLEY by Lucy M. Rossetti

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Ninth Annual Collection


Ellen DatlowStephen King - 1996
    Also useful for its exploration of the crossover genre known as "dark fantasy." Noteworthy authors include Peter S. Beagle, Ursula Le Guin, Stephen King, Lucy Taylor, Steve Rasnic Tem, Tanith Lee, A. S. Byatt, David J. Schow, and Joyce Carol Oates.Contents: * Summation 1995: Fantasy by Terri Windling * Summation 1995: Horror by Ellen Datlow * Horror and Fantasy in the Media: 1995 by Edward Bryant * Obituaries by James Frenkel * Home for Christmas by Nina Kiriki Hoffman * Heartfires by Charles de Lint * Screens by Terry Lamsley * King of Crows by Midori Snyder * Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros by Peter S. Beagle * The Hunt of the Unicorn by Ellen Kushner * More Tomorrow by Michael Marshall Smith * Penguins for Lunch by Scott Bradfield * Either, OR by Ursula K. Le Guin * Paper Lantern by Stuart Dybek * Lunch at the Gotham Café by Stephen King * Queen of Knives (poem) by Neil Gaiman * Dragon-Rain by Eileen Kernaghan * Llantos de La Llorona: Warnings from the Wailer (poem) by Pat Mora * Too Short a Death by Peter Crowther * The James Dean Garage Band by Rick Moody * Because of Dust by Christopher Kenworthy * Loop by Douglas E. Winter * La Loma, La Luna by Sue Kepros Hartman * Women's Stories (poem) by Jane Yolen * Swan/Princess (poem) by Jane Yolen * Switch by Lucy Taylor * Scaring the Train by Terry Dowling * Blood Knot by Steve Resnic Tem * The Girl Who Married the Reindeer (poem) by Eilean Ni Chuilleanain * The Otter Woman (poem) by Mary O'Malley * Resolve and Resistance by S.N. Dyer * La Dame by Tanith Lee * Circe's Power (poem) by Louise Glück * Dragon's Fin Soup by S.P. Somtow * The Granddaughter by Vivian vande Velde * Daphne and Laura and So Forth (poem) by Margaret Atwood * A Lamia in the Cevennes by A.S. Byatt * The Guilty Party by Susan Moody * She's Not There by Pat Cadigan * The White Road (poem) by Neil Gaiman * Refrigerator Heaven by David J. Schow * After the Elephant Ballet by Gary A. Braunbeck * Henry V, Part 2 by Marcia Guthridge * Mrs. Greasy by Robert Reed * ############## by Joyce Carol Oates * The Printer's Daughter by Delia Sherman * Prayer (poem) by Nancy Willard * Jacob and the Angel (poem) by Jane Yolen * The Lion and the Lark by Patricia A. McKillip * Honorable Mentions: 1995Edited by Terry Windling and Ellen Datlow.

Fantasy Art Techniques


Boris Vallejo - 1996
    91 color images; 32 line drawings.

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Tenth Annual Collection


Ellen DatlowGraham Masterton - 1996
    Morlan, Robert Silverberg, Michael Swanwick, Jane Yolen, and many others. Supplementing the stories are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantastic fiction, Edward Bryant's witty roundup of the year's fantasy films, and a long list of Honorable Mentions-all of which adds up to an invaluable reference source, and a font of fabulous reading.

Schismatrix Plus


Bruce Sterling - 1996
    For the first time in one volume: every word Bruce Sterling has ever written on the Shapers-Mechanists Universe.In the last decade, Sterling has emerged a pioneer of crucial, cutting-edge science fiction. Now Ace Books is proud to offer Sterling's stunning world of the Schismatrix--where Shaper revolutionaries struggle against aristocratic Mechanists for ultimate control of man's destiny. This volume includes the classic full-length novel, Schismatrix, plus thousands of words of mind-bending short fiction.

Ribofunk


Paul Di Filippo - 1996
    Di Filippo coined "ribofunk" by fusing "ribosome" (as in cellular biology) with "funk" (as in rock and roll). In the world of Ribofunk, biology is a cutting-edge science, where the Protein Police patrol for renegade gene splicers and part-human sea creatures live in Lake Superior, dealing with toxic spills. Ribofunk depicts a sentient river; a sultry bodyguard who happens to be part wolverine; a reluctant thrill seeker who climbs a skyscraper-and finds himself stuck; and a chain-smoking Peter Rabbit who leads his fellows in a bloody rebellion against-whom else? - Mr. McGregor.This collection includes:One Night in Television CityLittle WorkerCockfightBig Eater The Boot Blankie The Bad Splice McGregorBrain WarsStreetlife Afterschool Special Up the Lazy River Distributed Mind

City of Golden Shadow


Tad Williams - 1996
    Kids, including her brother Stephen, have logged into the net, and cannot escape. Clues point to a mysterious golden city called Otherland, but investigators all end up dead.

The Book of Hyperborea


Clark Ashton Smith - 1996
    

Bellwether


Connie Willis - 1996
    Now, with her trademark wit and inventiveness, she explores the intimate relationship between science, pop culture, and the arcane secrets of the heart.Sandra Foster studies fads - from Barbie dolls to the grunge look - how they start and what they mean. Bennett O'Reilly is a chaos theorist studying monkey group behavior. They both work for the HiTek corporation, strangers until a misdelivered package brings them together. It's a moment of synchronicity - if not serendipity - which leads them into a chaotic system of their own, complete with a million-dollar research grant, caffé latte, tattoos, and a series of unlucky coincidences that leaves Bennett monkeyless, fundless, and nearly jobless. Sandra intercedes with a flock of sheep and an idea for a joint project. (After all, what better animal to study both chaos theory and the herd mentality that so often characterizes human behavior?)But scientific discovery is rarely straightforward and never simple, and Sandra and Bennett have to endure a series of setbacks, heartbreaks, dead ends, and disasters before they find their ultimate answer...

Standard Candles: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt


Jack McDevitt - 1996
    This edition brings together for the first time sixteen of McDevitt’s greatest tales. It is here where the full extent of McDevitt’s talent is at last on display. In Standard Candles, wonders abound, with the lucidity and grace that have become McDevitt’s trademarks.Editorial review:McDevitt has done a number of very interesting novels, of which the last two were The Engines of God and Ancient Shores. The short fiction has been accumulating for years - clever, insightful, often marked by oddly inconclusive endings, and quite neglected in the sense of fame, fortune, and awards. Two of the sixteen stories thus ring of personal relevance: the title story concerns an astronomer who, though he has never flared as brightly as a nova has had a long and glowing career; "The Fort Moxie Branch" offers the notion of a future library that preserves the work of neglected writers and materializes rather like an Isher weapons shop to offer affirmation when a writer needs it most. "Auld Lang Boom" is the butterfly whose wings cause hurricanes - every time two old friends meet, something awful happens in the world; the surviving heir of one, reading the diary left behind, gets quite spooked. "Cryptic" is the tale of closing down a SETI operation and finding the files of an old computer disk with frightening implications. "Time Travelers Never Die" plays fast and loose with continuity when even after death a time traveler is able to maintain contact with his lover. "The Jersey Rifle" concerns the discovery of the world's greatest chess player, an unassuming druggist who can beat anyone. And more. -AnalogContents"Standard Candles""Tidal Effects""Translations from the Colosian""Black to Move""The Fort Moxie Branch""Promises to Keep""Gus""To Hell with the Stars""Ellie""The Jersey Rifle""Cruising through Deuteronomy""Tyger""Auld Lang Boom""Dutchman""Cryptic""Time Travelers Never Die"

The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II


Irene Radford - 1996
    At the height of this age of chaos, the dragons decide to intervene, making their presence known to the mortals through the healer Myrilandel.The Last Battlemage:Nimbulan, the last Battlemage and the founder of the school for Communal Magic, is seeking to create a permanent protection for the kingdom of Coronnan, a spell-crafted border to keep enemies out. His search for the key to this magic leads him to terrifying discovery—the dragons, the guardians of magics, are in terrible danger.Want more Dragon novels? Look for The Star Gods trilogy and the new Children of the Dragon Nimbus series!A letter from the author, Irene Radford:Welcome to the world where dragons are real and magic works. If you are new to the Dragon Nimbus, pull up a chair and join us as we revel in tales that have touched my heart more than anything else I've written under any pen name. If you are returning after an absence, I am very happy to have you back.This is a world that began with a Christmas gift of a blown-glass dragon. The dragon sat proudly on the knick-knack shelf for several months, loved and admired, reluctantly dusted, and totally inert. Then one night at dinner, my son remarked, "You know, Mom, I think dragons are born all dark, like that little pewter dragon, then they get more silvery as they grow up until they are as clear as glass." The dragon came to life for me.Out of that chance remark came first one book, then three, five, seven, and finally ten. I built a career on these books and loved every minute of the process. These characters still live in my mind many years after they jumped into their stories and dragged me along with them.Many thanks to DAW Books and my editor Sheila Gilbert for reviving The Dragon Nimbus a lucky thirteen years after they first debuted.With these omnibus volumes, you can read about the dragons with crystal fur that directs your eye elsewhere yet defies you to look anywhere else. Wonderful dragons full of wit and wisdom. Magic abounds. Magicians and mundanes alike learn about their world and special life lessons as they explore dragon lore past and present. The books will be presented in the order in which they were written, and the order that makes the most sense of the entwined tales.So, sit back and enjoy with me. And may reading take you soaring with Dragons.

The Seven Faces of Darkness


Don Webb - 1996
    Never before has anyone made the true Typhonian current more plain and objective, in practice or in theory.

World Without End


Molly Cochran - 1996
    In the 1990s, he finds himself the target of an international network of conspirators bent on destroying anyone who has found a clue to the location of the lost continent and the secrets of the Atlanteans.

Bible Stories for Adults


James K. Morrow - 1996
    Among the dozen selections is the Nebula Award-winning “Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge.”Contents:Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge (1988)Daughter Earth (1991)Known but to God and Wilbur Hines (1991)Bible Stories for Adults, No. 20: The Tower (1994)Spelling God with the Wrong Blocks (1987)The Assemblage of Kristin (1984)Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The Covenant (1989)Abe Lincoln in McDonald's (1989)The Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge (1989)Bible Stories for Adults No. 46: The Soap Opera (1994)Diary of a Mad Deity (1988)Arms and the Woman (1991)

Gibbon's Decline and Fall


Sheri S. Tepper - 1996
    Taking the girl's case is Carolyn Crespin, a former attorney, who left her job for a quiet family life. Now she must call upon five friends from college, who took a vow to always stand together. But their success might depend on the assistance of Sophy, the enigmatic sixth friend, whom they all believed dead.

The Curious Room: Collected Dramatic Works


Angela Carter - 1996
    Encompassing radio plays, and pieces for stage and screen, this volume explores familiar Carter preoccupations: myth and fairy tale; domestic murder and the violence underlying everyday life, and the rebellious victims of the repressive society.It includes the screenplays for "The Magic Toyshop" and "The Company of Wolves"; a draft for an opera of Virginia Woolf's "Orlando"; and reworkings for radio of "Puss in Boots" and "Dracula".

Black Canary/Oracle: Birds of Prey 1


Chuck Dixon - 1996
    

Aliens and Alien Societies


Stanley Schmidt - 1996
    Teaches writers how to use real scientific knowledge of our universe to create more convincing extraterrestrial life forms in their science fiction or fantasy novel.

Islands in the Sky: Bold New Ideas for Colonizing Space


Stanley Schmidt - 1996
    Contains an astonishing range of new proposals for space travel and colonization including plans for the exploration of Mars, ideas for interstellar travel at the speed of light and the process of terraforming other planets to accommodate human life. Describes the latest in space exploration research and development by the world's foremost astronautic engineers.

Paragons: Twelve Master Science Fiction Writers Ply Their Craft


Robin WilsonJohn Kessel - 1996
    The dozen masters assembled here each take one of their own stories and show exactly how they crafted a particular aspect of it - the style, the theme, the characters, the plot, the setting, or the point of view. A dozen of today's leading science fiction writers provide an inside look at how their craft is accomplished. An invaluable and delightful tool for anyone who writes, "Paragons" includes advice from Kim Stanley Robinson, Bruce Sterling, James Patrick Kelly, Karen Joy Fowler, Greg Bear, and seven others.

Angel Maker: Short Stories of Sara Maitland


Sara Maitland - 1996
    Maitland's interests are as varied as her characters in this stunning collection of short stories about women's lives. From classical mythology and folk stories to inexplicable accidents of history and tales of the supernatural, these narratives "are infused with a feminist awareness and . . . deserve to be read out loud" ("Ms".).

Rapture


David Sosnowski - 1996
    "Spinning an inventive new riff on contemporary angel mania, Sosnowski's first novel is a fanciful zeitgeist satire".--"Publishers Weekly".