Best of
Speculative-Fiction

2005

Serenity


Keith R.A. DeCandido - 2005
    The characters are based on the science fiction TV series Firefly, which has achieved cult status.Five hundred years in the future, Captain Mal Reynolds, a hardened war veteran (on the losing side), ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family -- squabbling, insubordinate, and undyingly loyal.When Mal takes on two new passengers -- a young doctor named Simon and his unstable, telepathic sister, River -- he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from a coalition that dominates the universe with unlimited wealth and power -- and that will stop at nothing to control River and her abilities. The crew of mercenaries, used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed, soon find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Caught up in the fight to stay alive, they don't yet realize that their greatest danger may be on board Serenity herself....

Zahrah the Windseeker


Nnedi Okorafor - 2005
    Thirteen-year-old Zahrah Tsami feels like a normal girl -- she grows her own flora computer, has mirrors sewn onto her clothes, and stays clear of the Forbidden Greeny Jungle. But unlike other kids in the village of Kirki, Zahrah was born with the telling dadalocks. Only her best friend, Dari, isn't afraid of her, even when something unusual begins happening -- something that definitely makes Zahrah different. The two friends investigate, edging closer and closer to danger. When Dari's life is threatened. Zahrah must face her worst fears alone, including the very thing that makes her different.In this exciting debut novel by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, things aren't always what they seem -- monkeys tell fortunes, plants offer wisdom, and a teenage girl is the only one who stands a chance at saving her best friend's life.-from the Hardcover edition

Phineas Poe: Kiss Me, Judas / Penny Dreadful / Hell's Half Acre


Will Christopher Baer - 2005
    In trade paperback and priced at $19.00, readers of the Baer will now be able to buy the trilogy in one handy volume. The novels follow antihero Phineas Poe, ex cop and his love for Jude. Together they try to make sense of their past and navigate the internal landscape he calls hell's half acre. The Phineas Poe trilogy includes Kiss Me Judas, Penny Dreadful, Hell's Half Acre

Chasers of the Wind


Alexey Pehov - 2005
    Luk, a soldier, and Ga-Nor, a Northern barbarian, are thrown together as they attempt to escape the Nabatorian hordes and find their way back to their comrades.Gray and Layan are a married couple, master thieves who are hiding out and trying to escape their former gang. They hope to evade the bounty hunters that hound them and retire to a faraway land in peace.Tia is a powerful dark sorceress and one of The Damned—a group trying to take over the world and using the Nabatorian invasion as a diversion.Unfortunately, for Gray and Layan, they unwittingly hold the key to a powerful magical weapon that could bring The Damned back to power.Hounded by the killers on their trail and by the fearsome creatures sent by The Damned, Gray and Layan are aided by Luk and Ga-Nor—and Harold, the hero of The Chronicles of Siala. Realizing what’s at stake they decide that, against all odds, they must stop The Damned.Chasers of the Wind is the first book in a new series from internationally bestselling author Alexey Pehov.

Isabel of the Whales


Hester Velmans - 2005
    When her fifth-grade class goes on a whale-watch field trip, something amazing happens: Dozens of different species of whales surround the boat, bumping the deck and sending Isabel flying into the ocean. Isabel is shocked to hear the whales speaking to her—she is a mermaid, they tell her, a “Chosen One” who has the ability to turn from a human into a whale and back again. She is destined to live among the whales long enough to learn their ways, and teach them about the human world. Living among her pod is fun, at first, but Isabel has an important mission. She will change the whales’ future forever, and learn a lot about herself in the process.From the Hardcover edition.

The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction


Gardner DozoisRobert Reed - 2005
    Now, after twenty-one annual collections, comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies, The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction, in which legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the very best short stories for this landmark collection. Contributors include: * Stephen Baxter * Greg Bear * William Gibson * Terry Bisson * Pat Cadigan * Ted Chiang * John Crowley * Tony Daniel * Greg Egan * Molly Gloss * Eileen Gunn * Joe Haldeman * James Patrick Kelly * John Kessel * Nancy Kress * Ursula K. Le Guin * Ian R. MacLeod * David Marusek * Paul McAuley * Ian McDonald * Maureen F. McHugh * Robert Reed * Mike Resnick * Geoff Ryman * William Sander * Lucius Shepard * Robert Silverberg * Brian Stableford * Bruce Sterling * Charles Stross * Michael Swanwick * Steven Utley * Howard Waldrop * Walter Jon Williams * Connie Willis * Gene WolfeWith work spanning two decades, The Best of the Best stands as one of the ultimate science fiction anthologies ever published.Contents xi • Foreword (The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction) • essay by Robert Silverbergxvii • Preface (The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction) • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear19 • A Cabin on the Coast • (1984) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe28 • Salvador • (1984) • shortstory by Lucius Shepard42 • Trinity • (1984) • novella by Nancy Kress78 • Flying Saucer Rock and Roll • (1985) • novelette by Howard Waldrop (aka Flying Saucer Rock & Roll)93 • Dinner in Audoghast • (1985) • shortstory by Bruce Sterling103 • Roadside Rescue • (1985) • shortstory by Pat Cadigan109 • Snow • (1985) • shortstory by John Crowley121 • The Winter Market • (1985) • novelette by William Gibson137 • The Pure Product • (1986) • novelette by John Kessel152 • Stable Strategies for Middle Management • (1988) • shortstory by Eileen Gunn162 • Kirinyaga • [Kirinyaga • 2] • (1988) • novelette by Mike Resnick177 • Tales from the Venia Woods • [Roma Eterna] • (1989) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg191 • Bears Discover Fire • (1990) • shortstory by Terry Bisson199 • Even the Queen • (1992) • shortstory by Connie Willis213 • Guest of Honor • (1993) • novelette by Robert Reed238 • None So Blind • (1994) • shortstory by Joe Haldeman246 • Mortimer Gray's History of Death • (1995) • novella by Brian Stableford (aka Mortimer Gray's "History of Death")293 • The Lincoln Train • (1995) • shortstory by Maureen F. McHugh303 • Wang's Carpets • (1995) • novelette by Greg Egan328 • Coming of Age in Karhide • [Hainish] • (1995) • novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin342 • The Dead • (1996) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick352 • Recording Angel • (1996) • shortstory by Ian McDonald363 • A Dry, Quiet War • (1996) • novelette by Tony Daniel380 • The Undiscovered • (1997) • novelette by William Sanders400 • Second Skin • (1997) • shortstory by Paul J. McAuley418 • Story of Your Life • (1998) • novella by Ted Chiang454 • People Came from Earth • (1999) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter464 • The Wedding Album • [Cathy] • (1999) • novella by David Marusek502 • 10 to 16 to 1 • (1999) • novelette by James Patrick Kelly (aka 1016 to 1)520 • Daddy's World • (1999) • novelette by Walter Jon Williams541 • The Real World • [Silurian Tales] • (2000) • shortstory by Steven Utley561 • Have Not Have • (2001) • novelette by Geoff Ryman577 • Lobsters • [Macx Family] • (2001) • novelette by Charles Stross597 • Breathmoss • (2002) • novella by Ian R. MacLeod647 • Lambing Season • (2002) • shortstory by Molly Gloss

The Unicorn Chronicles (The Unicorn Chronicles #1-2)


Bruce Coville - 2005
    Eleven! She must be on the roof when the next bell tolls. Twelve! With a deep breath, and only half believing she will be safe, Cara jumps off the church roof and into Luster, land of the unicorns.There she meets many wonderful creatures -- including hairy Dimblethum and the monkey-like Squijum -- but the most magnificent of all is a young, rebellious unicorn named Lightfoot. Together they set out to find the missing Unicorn Queen before a mysterious stranger banishes all unicorns forever. Can Cara deliver her message to Luster's might Queen in time? Or will this be the end of the unicorns?Trickery awaits. Destruction looms. The journey of a lifetime begins...

The Shadow at the Bottom of the World


Thomas Ligotti - 2005
    But now Ligotti has pulled together a collection of his favorite fiction, both old and new, representing his best and most characteristic works.Thomas Ligotti's stories are perhaps best described as dark magical realism. Many of his stories center on the distorted perspective of a frequently doomed narrator. The title story, "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World," reimagines a kind of Bradbury-like small town that encounters the appearance of a kind of existential darkness, written with a sharp imagery like that of William S. Burroughs. In story after story in this collection, Ligotti does not merely present his readers with isolated incidents of supernatural horror - he challenges them to confront nightmares that are entwined in the very fabric of life itself.QUOTES:"The best new American writer of weird fiction to appear in years" - The Washington Post"Ligotti is wonderfully original; he has a new vision of a dark and special kind, a vision that no one had before him." - Interzone"Aficianados of the macabre consider Ligotti one of the finest writers in the field" - The Sunday Times"Thomas Ligotti is an absolute master of supernatural horror and weird fiction, and a true original. He pursues his unique vision with admirable honesty and rigorousness and conveys it in prose as powerfully evocative as any writer in the field. I'd say he might just be a genius." - Ramsey Campbell ("Britain's most respected living horror writer," according to the Oxford Companion toEnglish Literature)

The Deep Beyond: Cuckoo's Egg / Serpent's Reach (Union-Alliance Universe)


C.J. Cherryh - 2005
    Original.Cuckoo's EggThey named him Thorn. They told him he was of their people, although he was so different. He was ugly in their eyes, strange, sleek-skinned instead of furred, clawless, different. Yet he was of their power class: judge-warriors, the elite, the fighters, the defenders.Thorn knew that his difference was somehow very important -- but not important enough to prevent murderous conspiracies against him, against his protector, against his caste, and perhaps against the peace of the world. But when the crunch came, when Thorn finally learned what his true role in life was to be, that on him might hang the future of two worlds, then he had to stand alone to justify his very existence.Serpent's ReachWithin the Constellation of the Serpent, out of bounds to all spacefarers, humans live among the insect-like aliens--and one of them, a woman named Raen, is bent on a revenge that will tear apart the truce between human and alien. "Brisk pacing . . . and genuinely brilliant world-building."--ALA Booklist. Reissue.

Rising


Sally Malcolm - 2005
    Emerging in an abandoned Ancient city, the team quickly confirms that they have found the Lost City of Atlantis. But, submerged beneath the sea on an alien planet, the city is in danger of catastrophic flooding unless it is raised to the surface. Things go from bad to worse when the team must confront a new enemy known as the Wraith who are bent on destroying Atlantis. Stargate Atlantis is the exciting new spin-off of the hit TV show, Stargate SG-1. Based on the script of the pilot episode, Rising is a must-read for all fans and includes deleted scenes and dialog not seen on TV � with photos from the pilot episode.

Magicians of Quality


Patricia C. Wrede - 2005
    Oh, not the mere love spells used by country folk, but real sorcery capable of thwarting ambitions and destroying life. In Sorcery & Cecilia, a great deal is happening in London and the country this season. For starters, there's the witch who tried to poison Kate at the Royal College of Wizards. There's also the man who seems to be spying on Cecelia. (Though he's not doing a very good job of it--so just what are his intentions?) And then there's Oliver. Ever since he was turned into a tree, he hasn't bothered to tell anyone where he is. Clearly, magic is a deadly and dangerous business. And the girls might be in fear for their lives . . . if only they weren't having so much fun! Cecy and Kate are determined to discover who the stranger with the lethal chocolate is and how to put a stop to the malevolent flow of sorcery before anyone else can be harmed. But there are forces at work that are equally determined to put a stop to them...In The Grand Tour, Kate and Cecy and their new husbands, Thomas and James, are off on a Grand Tour. Their plans? To leisurely travel about the Continent, take in a few antiquities, and--of course--purchase fabulous Parisian wardrobes.But once they arrive in France, mysterious things start to happen. Cecy receives a package containing a lost coronation treasure, Thomas's valet is assaulted, and Kate loses a glove. Soon it becomes clear that they have stumbled upon a dastardly, magical plot to take over Europe. Now the four newlyweds must embark on a daring chase to thwart the evil conspiracy. And there's no telling the trouble they'll get into along the way. For when you mix Kate and Cecy and magic, you never know what's going to happen next!

Grass for His Pillow, Episode 2: The Way Through the Snow


Lian Hearn - 2005
    Takeo works to escape the Tribe and fulfill the last wishes of his adoptive father, Lord Shigeru Otori. And Kaede, heir to two seats of power, moves forward step by step, aided by her own wits and a precarious alliance with Lord Fujiwara. In their separate worlds, the two long for each other, knowing that they are meant to be together, wondering if they will ever see each other again. . . .

MirrorMask: The Illustrated Film Script


Neil Gaiman - 2005
    and frequently does.Here is the complete film book of the new high-water mark in family fantasy entertainment. The story of young Helena, daughter of the circus, comes vividly alive as we accompany her on her remarkable mission to a place far beyond wonder; a phantasmagorical quest to rescue a realm from the devouring forces of chaos and shadow in order to win back her stolen "real" life from a runaway interloper from the other side.Containing the full screenplay and more than 1,700 illustrated storyboards of the major motion picture -- as well as movie stills, comments, appreciations, and memories from the authors and filmmakers -- this one-of-a-kind volume is destined to become a classic, a keepsake to be cherished by fans of all ages.For all who believe in the glorious reality of dreams, for everyone who longs to ride their imagination to miraculous places, the door is now open wide. See the world anew through the MirrorMask ... and nothing will ever look the same again.

Serenity Rose Volume 1: Working Through the Negativity


Aaron Alexovich - 2005
    Come stare at Ms. Serenity Rose, local witch, as she spends the day dodging goblins, goths, and a bad case of social phobia in the spookiest lil town in America. A Booklist Starred Review - Serenity "Sera" Rose tries to live a quiet life. She has her friends Tess and Kelton and her art. For the most part, she is happily sullen among Crestfallen's gothy not-quite-subculture. But the fact that she is a witch makes her dreams of anonymity seem out of reach. It's bad enough trying to avoid becoming a tourist attraction and dodging the goth wannabes, but when vampires start turning up and rock star-witch Rivet Hed's creepy manager wants something from her, she knows her life won't be quiet much longer. There are a lot of words to read in Serenity Rose, but in the first collection of it, they're all worthwhile. Aaron A. (for Alexovich) isn't afraid to take time to develop a plot, which means there is also time to get to know the characters and appreciate the full-on snarky sarcasm of his humor. While the setting is an urban gothic subculture, plenty of potshots are taken at the cliches of cool among its inhabitants. A.'s artwork is beautiful, a sort of dark homage to animation genius Chuck Jones with a splash of Ameri-manga for good measure. Even in shades of gray rather than color, it has enough attitude to stop a truck, making it a nice contrast to all those stuffy superheroes on the graphic-novel shelves.

Oceanic


Greg Egan - 2005
    In these dozen glimpses into the future Egan continues to explore the essence of what it is to be human, and the nature of what - and who - we are, in stories that range from parables of contemporary human conflict and ambition to far-future tales of our immortal descendants. Return to the universe of the meta-civilisation known as the Amalgam, which Egan explored in his critically acclaimed novel Incandescence: 'Riding the Crocodile', which recounts an epic endeavour a million years from now to bridge the divide between the Amalgam and the reclusive Aloof; 'Glory', set in the same future, in which two archaeologists strive to decipher the artefacts of an ancient civilisation, and 'Hot Rock', where an obscure, sunless world conceals mind-spinning technological marvels, bitter factional struggles, and a many-layered secret history. This superb collection also includes the title story, the Hugo Award-winning 'Oceanic': a boy is inducted into a religion that becomes the centre of his life, but as an adult he must face evidence that casts a new light on his faith.Contents:Border Guards (1999)Crystal Nights (2008)Dark Integers (2007)Glory (2007)Hot Rock (2009)Induction (2007)Lost Continent (2008)Oceanic (1998)Oracle (2000)Riding the Crocodile (2005)Singleton (2002)Steve Fever (2007)

Grey's Ghost


Mercedes Lackey - 2005
    NOTE: Grey's Ghost is an excerpt from the novel The Wizard of London.When Nan and Sarah attended a séance, they discovered that the medium holding it was not the one who could communicate with ghosts.

Gallifrey: Imperiatrix


Stewart Sheargold - 2005
    When the bombs start going off, the President of Gallifrey decides enough is enough. While Leela and K9 race to track down the terrorist to avoid more bloodshed, Romana enters into a risky bargain for control with a dangerous, influential figure from her past. But she soon discovers that the answer to her problems lies in the future. A future she has already witnessed. And one she has been trying to avoid. But someone desperately wants this future and will stop at nothing to make it occur. Even if it means leading Romana and Gallifrey to war.

Punk Land


Carlton Mellick III - 2005
    The story follows Goblin, a deformed young hermit who is perfectly happy haunting an abandoned gatehouse far outside of civilization with his pet dildo, Frog Strips, until two strangers named Nan and Mortician arrive at his doorstep with a crazy story that turns his quiet post-life existence upside-down. Goblin soon finds himself mixed up in a war between corporate punks and traditional punks that he really couldn't care less about. But without the help of Goblin, Mortician's sperm, and a blue-mohawked female assassin named Shark Girl, the utopian anarchy in Punk Land will surely be lost. Featuring cameos by famous punk icons and cartoonish illustrations in the tradition of Kurt Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions." This Bizarro novel is Carlton Mellick III's most fun and hilarious book to date.

Extinction


Ray Hammond - 2005
    Over eleven million people have lost their homes because of global warming, a phenomenon directly caused by the energy companies who once marketed oil, gas and coal.’ The year is 2055, global warming has happened, and the oil and gas corporations responsible for creating it have developed a 'cure'. Using climate control technology, they are able to manage and create new weather conditions, but only for those who can pay. Millions of the poor are now environmental refugees. They are forced to live on abandoned oil tankers, with no food, fresh water, with no citizenship or rights, and battling the very worst effects of global warming. But those climate control technologies are wreaking their own havoc on Planet Earth. Unexpected volcanic eruptions, huge earthquakes and tsunamis, all threaten to destroy everything. A lawyer tries to fight for justice for the environmental refugees (known as the 'hulk' people) by bringing the evil ERGIA corporation to the high courts. Along the way, he teams up with like-minded scientists and they try to uncover what is really happening deep down at the Earth's core and warn anyone who will listen before its too late. Praise for Ray Hammond: 'Compelling, vivid and utterly terrifying... Be afraid, be very afraid.' - Daily Express 'This dazzling vision of global chaos explodes off the page with the dramatic force of a smart bomb.' - Daily Express Ray Hammond is a novelist, dramatist and non-fiction author. He is also a futurologist who lectures on future social and business trends for universities, corporations and governments. He lives in London and can be found on the web at www.rayhammond.com. His other works with Venture Press include The Black Hole and Emergence.

The Big Over Easy


Jasper Fforde - 2005
    Ovoid D-class nursery celebrity Humpty Stuyvesant Van Dumpty III, minor baronet, ex-convict, and former millionaire philanthropist, is found shattered to death beneath a wall in a shabby area of town. All the evidence points to his ex-wife, who has conveniently shot herself. But Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant Mary Mary remain unconvinced, a sentiment not shared with their superiors at the Reading Police Department, who are still smarting over their failure to convict the Three Pigs of murdering Mr. Wolff. Before long Jack and Mary find themselves grappling with a sinister plot involving cross-border money laundering, bullion smuggling, problems with beanstalks, titans seeking asylum, and the cut and thrust world of international chiropody. And on top of all that, the JellyMan is coming to town . . .

The Masque of Mañana


Robert Sheckley - 2005
    HartwellContains:Leech --Demons --Fool's mate --Monsters --Seventh victim --Shape --Untouched by human hands --Something for nothing --Accountant --Thief in time --Battle --Milk run --Ghost V --Laxian key --Skulking permit --Squirrel cage --Lifeboat mutiny --Necessary thing --Citizen in space --Ticket to Tranai --Skag castle --All the things you are --Bad medicine --Early model --Pilgrimage to earth --Native problem --Language of love --Deaths of Ben Baxter --Wind is rising --Gray flannel armor --Holdout --Prize of peril --Minimum man --Sweeper of Loray --Triplication --Store of the worlds --Prospector's special --Shall we have a little talk? --Sarkanger --Dukakis and the aliens.

In the Forest of Forgetting


Theodora Goss - 2005
    The table of contents has been slightly modified: "Phalaenopsis" has been replaced by "Her Mother's Ghosts," which first appeared in 2004 in The Rose and Twelve Petals and Other Stories, released by Small Beer Press."The Rose in Twelve Petals""Professor Berkowitz Stands on the Threshold""The Rapid Advance of Sorrow""Lily, With Clouds""Miss Emily Gray""In the Forest of Forgetting""Sleeping with Bears""Letters from Budapest""The Wings of Meister Wilhelm""Conrad""A Statement in the Case""Death Comes for Ervina""The Belt""Her Mother's Ghosts""Pip and the Fairies""Lessons with Miss Gray"

Out of Time


Pauline Baird Jones - 2005
    He's a blast from the past. Can their love survive the test of time... and war?Adventure reporter Melanie "Mel" Morton tackles current events, not historical retellings. But that all changes when a WWII veteran tracks her down and seeks her help in saving her gold-star grandfather's life... by traveling back in time.For Mel, the stakes keep rising until she finds herself on her grandfather's fateful final mission. Shot down behind enemy lines, Mel and Jack Hamilton, the now-young and handsome pilot, must navigate the occupied French countryside and their generational differences. With her grandfather's life and her future on the line, Mel and Jack can't afford the distraction of their undeniable chemistry. Failure to complete their mission could get them killed, or worse, change the course of history.Out of Time is a riveting time travel romance adventure novel. If you like explosive chemistry, rapid-fire action, and accurate depictions of the Second World War, then you'll love Pauline Baird Jones' homage to the Greatest Generation.Buy Out of Time to parachute into a war-torn love story today!

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection


Gardner DozoisKage Baker - 2005
    Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including: Daniel Abraham • Eleanor Arnason • Pauolo Bacigalupi • Kage Baker • Stephen Baxter • Terry Bisson • James L. Cambias • Albert E. Cowdrey • Colin P. Davies • Paul Di Fillipo • Brendan DuBois • Michael F. Flynn • Peter F. Hamilton • M. John Harrison • James Patrick Kelly • Caitlin R. Kiernan • Nancy Kress • Paul Melko • David Moles • Pat Murphy • Robert Reed • Benjamin Rosenbaum • Mary Rosenbaum • Christopher Rowe • William Sanders • Vandana Singh • Vernor Vinge • Walter Jon WilliamsSupplementing the stories are the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and a list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource as well as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.Cover design by Shea M. KornblumCover illustration by Stephan MartiniereDescription from back cover Contents xi • Acknowledgments (The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection) • (2005) • essay by Gardner Dozoisxiii • Summation: 2004 • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • Inappropriate Behavior • (2004) • novelette by Pat Murphy27 • Start the Clock • (2004) • shortstory by Benjamin Rosenbaum42 • The Third Party • (2004) • novelette by David Moles72 • The Voluntary State • (2004) • novelette by Christopher Rowe105 • Shiva in Shadow • (2004) • novelette by Nancy Kress153 • The People of Sand and Slag • (2004) • novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi172 • The Clapping Hands of God • (2004) • novelette by Michael F. Flynn214 • Tourism • (2004) • shortstory by M. John Harrison228 • Scout's Honor • (2004) • shortstory by Terry Bisson244 • Men Are Trouble • (2004) • novelette by James Patrick Kelly283 • Mother Aegypt • [Company] • (2004) • novella by Kage Baker348 • Synthetic Serendipity • (2004) • shortstory by Vernor Vinge366 • Skin Deep • (2004) • shortstory by Mary Rosenblum389 • Delhi • (2004) • shortstory by Vandana Singh405 • The Tribes of Bela • [Colonel Kohn] • (2004) • novella by Albert E. Cowdrey465 • Sitka • (2004) • shortstory by William Sanders478 • Leviathan Wept • (2004) • shortstory by Daniel Abraham499 • The Defenders • (2004) • shortstory by Colin P. Davies504 • Mayflower II • [Xeelee] • (2004) • novella by Stephen Baxter562 • Riding the White Bull • (2004) • novelette by Caitlín R. Kiernan588 • Falling Star • (2004) • shortstory by Brendan DuBois603 • The Dragons of Summer Gulch • (2004) • novelette by Robert Reed628 • The Ocean of the Blind • (2004) • shortstory by James L. Cambias649 • The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance • [Hwarhath] • (2004) • novella by Eleanor Arnason688 • Footvote • (2004) • shortstory by Peter F. Hamilton706 • Sisyphus and the Stranger • (2004) • shortstory by Paul Di Filippo (aka Sisyphe et l'étranger)718 • Ten Sigmas • (2004) • shortstory by Paul Melko726 • Investments • [Dread Empire's Fall] • (2004) • novella by Walter Jon Williams811 • Honorable Mentions: 2004 • essay by Gardner Dozois

Harrowing the Dragon


Patricia A. McKillip - 2005
    McKillip has created worlds of intricate beauty and unforgettably nuanced characters. For 25 years, she's drawn readers into her spell, spinning modern-day fables with a grace rarely seen. Now she presents a book of previously uncollected short stories, full of beautiful dragons, rueful princesses, and handsome bards, and written in the gorgeous--and often surprisingly funny--prose she's known for. This is her world, wrapped up in the finery of fairy tales.

Fallen From Babel


T.L. Higley - 2005
    Or rather, he doesn’t believe in one God. “All paths are valid,” he teaches his university students. One evening he ventures to the archaeology museum and touches an artifact recently discovered from ancient Babylon. At the touch he is transported three thousand years back in time to Old Testament Babylon. Somehow he knows the language—and the people know him as Rim-Sin, sorcerer and high priest to the gods of Babylon. The moment he arrives he is accused of murder—a murder Rim-Sin committed—and he must run for his life. Against the backdrop of Nebuchadnezzar’s court at its zenith, he and rival sorcerers vie with Beltshazzar, the Jewish upstart, for the king’s favor. As Peter scrambles to get back to the twenty-first century he encounters a lovely young woman who has some disturbingly powerful arguments about the God of the Bible. Peter won’t get home until he has fallen from his pride. Fallen from his polytheism. Fallen from Babel.

Gallifrey: Lies


Gary Russell - 2005
    Well, apart from Romana's latest scheme, the opening up of Gallifrey's famed Academy to the students of alien races with the ability, or the potential, to harness temporal powers. Unfortunately, deep below the Capitol, Leela, confused and morose over the truth about her husband Andred, disturbs a malevolent power. Something from the Dark Days of Ancient Gallifrey. Something that wants to be reborn and will use any and every means that is at hand. Including the past of Gallifrey's incumbant President…

People of the Dark (The Weird Works of Robert E. Howard #3)


Robert E. Howard - 2005
    Howard's fantasy work, from the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales and its rival Strange Tales, features more classic fiction and poetry from Howard's prime writing years. Gathered here are stories with such enduring and popular characters as Solomon Kane, Turlogh Dubh and Comac of Connacht. Other highlights include "The Black Stone," considered by many to be Howard's finest excursion into Lovecraftian horror; "The Horror from the Mound," a vampire story set in Texas; and "People of the Dark," a precursor to the Conan stories which ultimately made Howard famous!

Company Men


Kage Baker - 2005
    collects The Life of the World To Come and The Children of the Company.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Prima Official Game Guide)


Prima Publishing - 2005
    ·Complete Walkthrough for Every Mission ·All Secret Bonus Objectives Revealed ·Discover Hidden Alternate Paths to Victory ·Killer Co-op Strategies ·Full Coverage of Every Version ·Learn Scores of Deadly Techniques in our Detailed Training Section

Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence: After the Long Goodbye


Masaki Yamada - 2005
    So why did he dream the other night--and dream that he has a son?At one time, Batou had a human love for his partner, the legendary Major, before he witnessed her transfiguration into something beyond humanity. Now he has only his job, and his beloved basset hound, Gabriel. But when Batou has a near-death experience in an arranged car "accident," he returns home to find Gabriel has gone missing--perhaps, to go look for her owner's lost soul.Batou's desperate search for Gabriel leads him down surreal streets where homeless men fight tanks and yakuza racing hounds chase rabbits downloaded into their heads. Batou fears his poor dog has made a horrible mistake out of innocence--for Batou has taken a cold look inside himself...and decided that he never truly had a soul...Innocence, After The Long Goodbye is the prequel to the Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence film, also available as a four-volume Ani-Manga box set from VIZ Media. The Innocence novel contains a special bonus discussion between the director, Mamoru Oshii, and the author, Masaki Yamada.

Gallifrey: Spirit


Stephen Cole - 2005
    Tired of the backbiting politics and intrigues in the sterile society of Time Lords. With the fate of her husband now known, she feels lonely and out of place on Gallifrey. Romana is tired. Tired of justifying herself and her policies to a hostile council. With the line between allies and enemies beginning to blur, she persuades Leela to go with her to the presidential retreat of Davidia, a protected paradise. Then an anomalous time ship arrives, carrying a single passenger. His hands are crushed, his tongue torn out, his mind destroyed. Is this broken man a victim of some terrible crime or part of a trap now primed and ready to spring? After this strange encounter, Romana and Leela may never be the same again.

Eternity and Other Stories


Lucius Shepard - 2005
    Viktor Chemayev is the Philip Marlowe of Russian detectives, a sad-eyed, heavy drinking romantic who refuses to stay beat. In the title novella of this extraordinary collection, he goes head-to-head with an Irish assassin in the depths of a Moscow nightclub in an attempt to win back his true love, who has been sold to the Beelzebub-like king of the Moscow underworld... Lucius Shepard is known for his dark, unpredictable vision, and in this assemblage of some of his best writing he takes us from Moscow to Africa; from the mountains of Iraq, where Specialist Charlie N. Wilson encounters a very different sort of enemy, to Central America, where a bloody-handed colonel meets his doom via lizards. In these seven tales Shepard's imagination spans the globe and, like an American Gabriel Garcia Marquez, refuses to be restricted by mere reality.

Joplin's Ghost


Tananarive Due - 2005
    Now twenty-four, Phoenix is launching a career as an R&B singer. She's living out her dreams and seems destined for fame and fortune. But a chance visit to a historical site in St. Louis ignites a series of bizarre, erotic encounters with a spirit who may be the King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin. The sound of Scott Joplin is strange enough to the ears of the hip-hop generation. But the idea that these antique sounds are being channeled through Phoenix? Her life is suddenly hanging in the balance. How will she find her true voice and calling? Can the power of her own inner song give Phoenix the strength to fight to live out her own future? Or will she be forever trapped in Scott Joplin's doomed, tragic past? Stunningly original, Joplin's Ghost is a novel filled with art and intrigue—and is sure to bring music to readers' ears.

The Hashish Man and Other Stories


Lord Dunsany - 2005
    Fanciful tales of strange adventure in imaginary exotic locales and depictions of otherworldly grim creepiness abound.

The Alien Mind


V.L. Jennings - 2005
    The Aunantet, a benevolent race of aliens, rescue the children and adopt them into their culture and raised them as if they belong. The children's new families teach them how to harness the full capacity of their minds, enabling them to defy the laws of physics and develop special mental abilities. The past returns to haunt them as the Aruk plot revenge and regain control of their former captives. The fate of the entire galaxy depends on whether the children can maintain their freedom.

Science Fiction


Roger Luckhurst - 2005
    The book introduces and explicates major works of science fiction literature by placing them in a series of contexts, using the history of science and technology, political and economic history, and cultural theory to develop the means for understanding the unique qualities of the genre. Luckhurst reads science fiction as a literature of modernity. His astute analysis examines how the genre provides a constantly modulating record of how human embodiment is transformed by scientific and technological change and how the very sense of self is imaginatively recomposed in popular fictions that range from utopian possibility to Gothic terror. This highly readable study charts the overlapping yet distinct histories of British and American science fiction, with commentary on the central authors, magazines, movements and texts from 1880 to the present day. It will be an invaluable guide and resource for all students taking courses on science fiction, technoculture and popular literature, but will equally be fascinating for anyone who has ever enjoyed a science fiction book.

The Necessary Beggar


Susan Palwick - 2005
    But it is also a land of swift and severe justice. Young Darroti has been accused of the murder of a highborn woman who had chosen the life of a Mendicant, a holy beggar whose blessing brings forgiveness. Now his entire family must share his shame, and his punishment--exile to an unknown world.Grieving for the life they have left behind, Darroti and his family find themselves in a hostile land--an all-too-familiar American future, a country under attack in a world torn by hatred and war. There, each tries to cope in their own way.Some will surrender to despair. Some will strive to preserve the old ways. Some will be lured by the new world's temptations. And some, sustained by extraordinary love, will find a way to heal the family's grief and give them hope.

The Seventh Heaven: Supernatural Tales


Naguib Mahfouz - 2005
    As ingenious at capturing the surreal as he is at documenting the very real social landscape of modern Cairo, Mahfouz guides these restless spirits as they migrate from the shadowy realms of other worlds to the haunted precincts of our own.

Adrift on the Haunted Seas: The Best Short Stories


William Hope Hodgson - 2005
    There has never been a collection of his very best short stories offered to the trade. Hodgson's sea stories have unusual authenticity owing to his having spent a lot of time on merchant's ships-he left his family in 1890 at the age of thirteen to spend eight years at sea, where the experience of mistreatment, poor pay, and worse food was contrasted by Hodgson's immeasurable fascination with the sea. His obsession for the sea fills his writings. This volume collects the very best of Hodgson's sea stories-which has not been done before-with some of the most exciting and dramatic creatures of fantasy on the written page, exhibiting the sea in all her moods: wonder, mystery, beauty, and terror."This collection brings together the very best of his short stories, together with a sampling of his poetry. It includes a variety of his sea horrors along with two non-fantastic pieces: "On the Bridge," a journalistic story written immediately after the sinking of the Titanic which attempts to show some of the various factors which contributed to the tragedy, and the suspenseful nonfiction story "Through the Vortex of a Cyclone," which is based on Hodgson's own experiences at sea." - From the Introduction by Douglas A. Anderson"Among connoisseurs of fantasy fiction William Hope Hodgson deserves a high and permanent rank . . . Few can equal him in adumbrating the nearness of nameless forces and monstrous besieging entities through casual hints and significant details, or in conveying feelings of the spectral and abnormal." - H. P. Lovecraft"Among those fiction writers who have elected to deal with the shadowlandsand borderlands of human existence, William Hope Hodgson surely merits a place with the very few that inform their treatment of such themes with a sense of authenticity." - Clark Ashton Smith

Stark and the Star Kings


Edmond Hamilton - 2005
    John Gordon is torn from his 20th Century humdrum into otherworldly intrigue as he exchanges bodies with Prince Zarth Arn, heir to the Kingdom of Fomalhaut. Shorr Kan, Lord of the Dark Worlds, schemes to kill Zarth Arn and overthrow the alliance of the Star Kings. Gordon reluctantly assumes the role of Zarth Arn to prevent Shorr Kan from throwing the entire universe into interstellar anarchy! ERIC JOHN STARK Forged in the hellish heat of Mercury and tempered on the desert sands of Mars, Eric John Stark battles the forces of evil and tyranny, selling his sword-arm to defend the cause of justice among worlds of sin and decay. STARK AND THE STAR KINGS In their only formal collaboration, Hamilton’s Star Kings and Brackett’s Eric John Stark meet to confront a peril of unending doom. Can Stark persuade the Star Kings to put aside their political games long enough to defeat this threat to the whole universe? For the first time, admirers of both authors can enjoy this long-coming story.

Wings of Morning


Katharine Eliska Kimbriel - 2005
    Magicians pass from day into night, from dark into dawn -- they stand on the threshold of change and cast their spells. The stories we usually tell about our heroes are the flashy ones, the calling of the lightning tales, the riding of the storm saga, the splitting the earth and swallowing the enemy whole adventures.Wings of Morning tells about two heroines, both capable in their own ways of pyrotechnics, but this time learning lessons of subtle power. Anthropologist Brenna Stewart discovers that you can neither run from nor dictate to magic, while young Alfreda Sorensson of Night Calls and Kindred Rites learns that the power of life and death may be the greatest authority of all...and that magic may have nothing to do with it.

Science Fiction Quotations: From the Inner Mind to the Outer Limits


Gary Westfahl - 2005
    Jekyll into Mr. Hyde; is present when Bruce Wayne resolves to become Batman; and overhears the cosmic conclusions of The Incredible Shrinking Man. Drawing upon two centuries of the vast and provocative literature of science fiction and fantasy, this comprehensive book presents more than 2,900 quotations from wide-ranging sources, including science fiction and fantasy stories, novels, films, and television programs. The quotations are organized by topic—alien worlds; darkness and light; robots, androids, and cyborgs; machines and technology; weapons; and more than one hundred others. The reader will encounter the wit and wisdom of renowned authors (H. G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin) along with definitive versions of such important statements as Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics and Star Trek’s Prime Directive. With its thorough index, this book is both an invaluable resource for the writer or scholar and an irresistible page-turner for the curious browser.

His Dark Materials Illuminated: Critical Essays on Philip Pullman's Trilogy


Millicent Lenz - 2005
    The first critical analysis of Philip Pullman’s cross-age fantasy trilogy.

Storm Constantine's Wraeththu Mythos 'Terzah's Sons'


Victoria Copus - 2005
    Terzah has recently had a harling, and is far from happy with Zen's posting. Terzah despises humans and has nothing but contempt for those around him. However, when tragedy strikes the small community, and a human who Terzah realises was actually a friend to him dies unexpectedly, Terzah is moved to take in the woman's orphaned sons. Not every human agrees with this, as they feel humans should be raised by humans. Terzah finds himself fighting prejudice as keen as his own. Gradually, Terzah realises his attitude to humanity must change, as hara and humans are forced to work together to overcome common threats and dilemmas, so that the settlement will succeed and become a real community. Conflicts within his own family and dark secrets kept by his consort add intrigue and drama to the tale. Terzah's Sons gives a fascinating glimpse into the daily life of hara, far from the courts of the high ranking and mighty. These are hara who get their hands dirty, coping with life's problems as best they can in primitive conditions. Author Victoria Copus has captured the character of Terzah, the customs of the shamanic Kheops and the complexities of intertribal politics with a deft hand. This story is a skilful and insightful addition to the canon of the Wraeththu Mythos.

Fairy Island: An Enchanted Tour of the Homes of the Little Folk


Laura C. Martin - 2005
    Its conceit involves a botanist, Christine Newkirk, who has discovered five tiny houses on a magical island, all made from natural materials on a perfect fairy scale--the houses are no more than 18 inches high, beds are 2 x 3 inches, shoes are 1 inch long. She documents her finds in a field diary she is keeping for her granddaughter. The woodland cottage is filled with bent twig furniture. The Japanese house displays bamboo slippers outside the door, and the beach house has a minute bath tiled with seashells. Each spread is filled with photos and drawings of these tiny objects, all identified with their botanical names. To leaf through these pages is to enter another world and dwell in it--the world of fantasy that has fascinated people through the ages.

The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl


Tim Pratt - 2005
    Witty and suspenseful, here is a contemporary love song to the West that was won and the myths that shape us….As night manager of Santa Cruz’s quirkiest coffeehouse, Marzi McCarty makes a mean espresso, but her first love is making comics. Her claim to fame: The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, a cowpunk neo-western yarn. Striding through an urban frontier peopled by Marzi’s wild imagination, Rangergirl doles out her own brand of justice. But lately Marzi’s imagination seems to be altering her reality. She’s seeing the world through Rangergirl’s eyes–literally--complete with her deadly nemesis, the Outlaw.It all started when Marzi opened a hidden door in the coffeehouse storage room. There, imprisoned among the supplies, she saw the face of something unknown…and dangerous. And she unwittingly became its guard. But some primal darkness must’ve escaped, because Marzi hasn’t been the same since. And neither have her customers, who are acting downright apocalyptic.Now it’s up to Marzi to stop this supervillainous superforce that’s swaggered its way into her world. For Marzi, it’s the showdown of her life. For Rangergirl, it’s just another day....

Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories


Maureen F. McHugh - 2005
    McHugh examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations.Contents:Ancestor Money (2003)In the Air (1995)The Cost to Be Wise (1996)The Lincoln Train (1995)Interview: On Any Given Day (2001)Oversite (2004)Wicked (2005)Laika Comes Back Safe (2002)Presence (2002)Eight-Legged Story (2003)The Beast (1992)Nekropolis (1994)Frankenstein's Daughter (2003)

In the Midnight Museum


Gary A. Braunbeck - 2005
    In the grip of blackest depression, he attempts to take his own life, only to find himself waking up in a local mental health facility where he has been placed for observation.But something more has happened to Martin than just a failed suicide attempt; certain doors of perception have been unlocked in his mind, allowing him to see fantastic creatures that lurk outside on the streets of Cedar Hill - creatures only he can perceive.Over the next 48 hours, Martin will discover what these creatures are, who controls them, and why he must enter The Midnight Museum, a place with no doors or windows, but many entrances and exits; a place just outside the perception of everyday life; a place where Martin will discover how and why he inadvertently holds the fate of the world in his hands.

Sea-Kings of Mars and Otherworldly Stories


Leigh Brackett - 2005
    A collection of the best stories by one of fantasy and science fiction's most evocative writers, including Sea-Kings of Mars, which combines high adventure with a strongly romantic vision of an ancient, sea-girt Martian civilisation.

Aleister Crowley: The Fire and the Force


Don Webb - 2005
    Most of the latter focus on his colorful lifestyle, while others seek to interpret his meta-poetic words in terms of one or another Thelemite orthodoxy. In this volume Don Webb, former High Priest of the Temple of Set, goes beyond either of these approaches. Webb, who has himself made his way along the same arduous initiatory pathways pioneered by the First Beast, here focuses on the initiatory and philosophical meaning of Crowley's life-work. He does so in a way that can be of personal magical benefit to all who read the book. The text of Webb's book is divided into two sections: The first is made up of essays originally written for his inner students in the Temple of Set, the second part consists of new writings created exclusively for this book. Throughout Webb guides the reader in a fascinating initiatory journey along the Left Hand Path with "Uncle Al," like Vergil, at his side.

The Grinding House


Kaaron Warren - 2005
    Printed in 2005 and edited by Donna Maree Hanson, it contains stories by Kaaron Warren. Warren won the 2006 Fiction ACT Writers and Publishers Award for The Grinding House.The collection contains the following stories: * "Fresh Young Widow" * "The Glass Woman" * "The Blue Stream" * "The Hanging People" * "Smoko" * "A-Positive" * "The Missing Children" * "Al's Iso Bar" * "The Left Behind" * "Tiger Kill" * "The Wrong Seat" * "Skin Holes" * "The Sameness of Birthdays" * "The Speaker of Heaven" * "The Smell of Mice" * "The Grinding House" * "Survival of the Last" * "Salamander" * "Working for the God of the Love of Money"The cover art is by Robyn Evans.[from Wikipedia]

The Ultimate Neil Gaiman Audio Collection


Neil Gaiman - 2005
    Neil Gaiman is the WINNER of the 2010 Cilip Carnegie Medal, the Newbery Medal and the Booktrust Teenage Book Prize 2009 for his novel The Graveyard Book.Hours of listening pleasure are to be had with this definitive audio collection of works by Neil Gaiman, all read by Neil himself, apart from Coraline, which is read by Dawn French.From the picture book classics "The Wolves in the Walls" and "Crazy Hair", to the bestselling novels "Coraline" and "The Graveyard Book", fans old and new will delight in the worlds conjured up here by the award-winning author Neil Gaiman.

Battlestar Galactica : The Official Companion


David Bassom - 2005
    The fight is just beginning.Battlestar Galactica is back. The "re-imagined" version of the cult 1970s series has quickly become one of the most critically acclaimed shows on TV. With its suburb ensemble cast, cutting-edge special effects, outstanding production design, and gritty, adult-oriented scripts, the new Battlestar Galactica is both a worthy successor to a classic original, and a stunning piece of television in its own right.Author David Bassom was granted full access to the production for this official companion, which is packed with exclusive cast and crew interviews, previously unseen photos, behind-the-scenes revelations, and a complete episode guide to the miniseries and first season.Launch when ready!

Stargate Atlantis: The Official Companion Season 1


Sharon Gosling - 2005
    New characters, new planets, new alien encounters: but the same irresistible brand of Stargate adventure Here's the official companion to the first season, packed with behind the scenes interviews, an episode guide and scores of photos, including a 16pp colour gallery.

The Courtesan Prince


Lynda Williams - 2005
    Reetions Ranar (anthopologist) and Ann (pilot)came to check out what the socially primitive neo-feudal people of Sevildom have been up to in the last 200 years. What they discover will threaten their own civilization. Di Mon, Sevolite king-maker, aristocrat and champion for his beleaguered house under Sword Law, finds the one thing he's avoided at all costs: love. Hot-headed Reetion pilot, Ann, learn that true love has a price. And Von, the sword-dancer and Courtesan, is somehow the key to it all. First book of the character-driven science fiction series called The Okal Rel Saga.

Compact Objects in Astrophysics: White Dwarfs, Neutron Stars and Black Holes


Max Camenzind - 2005
    Supermassive black holes play an important role in the understanding of the formation of galaxies in the early Universe. Old white dwarfs are nowadays used to calibrate the age of the Universe. Mergers of neutron stars and black holes are the sources of intense gravitational waves which will be measured in the next ten years by gravitational wave detectors.Camenzind's Compact Objects in Astrophysics gives a comprehensive introduction and up-to-date overview about the physical processes behind these objects, covering the field from the beginning to most recent results, including all relevant observations.After a presentation of the taxonomy of compact objects, the basic principles of general relativity are given. The author then discusses in detail the physics and observations of white dwarfs and neutron stars (including the most recent equations of state for neutron star matter), the gravitational field of rapidly rotating compact objects, rotating black holes (including ray tracing and black hole magnetospheres), gravitational waves, and the new understanding of accretion processes by means of the magnetorotational instability of accretion disks.This modern treatise of compact object astrophysics uses the 3+1 split approach to Einstein's equations, and to relativistic hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics. In each chapter problems and solutions help deepen the understanding of the subject. Both advanced students and researchers will appreciate this book as an advanced textbook and reference on this fascinating field of astrophysics.

GURPS Vorkosigan Saga


Genevieve Cogman - 2005
    set in a future universe of honor and betrayal, war and intrigue, great victories and great defeats. Miles Vorkosigan is brilliant, charismatic, the heir to a noble house on a warrior planet... and hopelessly crippled.No. Not hopelessly. A Vorkosigan never gives up. And when the fragile, dwarfed, odd-looking Miles charges headlong against the universe... Miles may break, but he's used to breaking. And he'll pay that price, for his Emperor's honor and his own, because when Miles hits it hard enough, the universe gives way.Now you can enter the world of Miles Vorkosigan. Play his soldiers, his agents, his comrades. Play Miles himself, if you're up to the challenge... and if you think you can dare as much, and talk as fast, as the "little Admiral."Illustrated by Bob Stevlic, with character art specifically approved by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Apocrypha


Catherynne M. Valente - 2005
    Valente's first full-length poetry collection, where freaks, emperors, bodhisattvas, beasts, witches, wicked stepmothers, Greek heroes, told seductively and wickedly in poem and prose, jostle and vie for supremacy . .

Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction


Neil Williamson - 2005
    These genres include science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism and alternate history. Nova Scotia provides a unique showcase for work by both established and up-and-coming writers which addresses the nature of Scotland and Scottishness from fresh and unexpected angles.Comprising twenty-one original stories, as well as a new poem by Edwin Morgan, Nova Scotia is full of writing that will surprise, provoke, and above all, entertain readers. Contributors, including Ken Macleod, Charles Stross, Jane Yolen, Ron Butlin and Matthew Fitt reimagine Scotland in the past, present and future. There are secret histories, echoes of Scottish mythology and folklore, contemporary marvels and visions of the fate of the nation. There are also glimpses of other, alternative Scotlands, places that might have been, or perhaps even do coexist in a parallel time-line. Some of the stories are about this far-flung corner of Europe, some are about the people who come from it, and some deal with the essential qualities, both good and bad, of the national psyche.Introduced by David Pringle, former editor of Interzone magazine, Nova Scotia reflects the power of the contemporary Scottish imagination, carrying on a thread that has run through the work of writers such as James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle and Neil Gunn.

Savannah 2116 AD


Jenny Robson - 2005
    This title takes us to the year 2116AD and tells us the story of Savannah, who is neither a Golden Armbander nor a Con but just an ordinary Homosap u and therefore must know not to dream or aspire.