Ash's Pokémon journey has taken him through some incredible regions, and now they're all in one book! This deluxe handbook includes facts & figures for every Pokémon ever. That's over 480 entries--packed with inside info and special tips. It's truly the ultimate guide for every Pokémon fan.

    Over the centuries, cities and governments have risen and fallen beyond the concent's walls. Three times during history's darkest epochs violence born of superstition and ignorance has invaded and devastated the cloistered mathic community. Yet the avout have always managed to adapt in the wake of catastrophe, becoming out of necessity even more austere and less dependent on technology and material things. And Erasmas has no fear of the outside—the Extramuros—for the last of the terrible times was long, long ago.Now, in celebration of the week-long, once-in-a-decade rite of Apert, the fraas and suurs prepare to venture beyond the concent's gates—at the same time opening them wide to welcome the curious "extras" in. During his first Apert as a fraa, Erasmas eagerly anticipates reconnecting with the landmarks and family he hasn't seen since he was "collected." But before the week is out, both the existence he abandoned and the one he embraced will stand poised on the brink of cataclysmic change.Powerful unforeseen forces jeopardize the peaceful stability of mathic life and the established ennui of the Extramuros—a threat that only an unsteady alliance of saecular and avout can oppose—as, one by one, Erasmas and his colleagues, teachers, and friends are summoned forth from the safety of the concent in hopes of warding off global disaster. Suddenly burdened with a staggering responsibility, Erasmas finds himself a major player in a drama that will determine the future of his world—as he sets out on an extraordinary odyssey that will carry him to the most dangerous, inhospitable corners of the planet . . . and beyond.

    Gonzo Lubitsch, professional hero and troubleshooter, is hired to put it out, but there's more to the fire, and the Pipe itself, than meets the eye. The job will take Gonzo and his best friend, our narrator, back to their own beginnings.

    Dick was a writer of incandescent originality and astonishing fertility, who made and unmade fictional world-systems with ferocious rapidity and unbridled speculative daring. “The floor joists of the universe,” he once wrote, “are visible in my novels.” The five novels collected in this volume—a successor to Philip K. Dick: Four Novels of the 1960s—offer a breathtaking overview of the range of this science-fiction master. In these classics from the height of his career, the wild humor, freewheeling inventiveness, and darkly prophetic insights of Dick at his best are fully on display.Martian Time-Slip (1964) unfolds on a parched and thinly colonized Red Planet where the unscrupulous seek to profit from a troubled child’s time-fracturing visions. Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb (1965) chronicles the interwoven stories of a multiracial community of survivors, including the scientist who may have been responsible for World War III. Into this apocalyptic framework Dick weaves observations of daily life in the California of his own moment. Famous, among other reasons, for a therapy session involving a talking taxicab, Now Wait for Last Year (1966) explores the effects of JJ-180, a hallucinogen that alters not only perception, but reality.In Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974), a television star seeks to unravel a mystery that has left him stripped of his identity. A Scanner Darkly (1977), the basis for the 2006 film, envisions a drug-addled world in which a narcotics officer’s tenuous hold on sanity is strained by his new surveillance assignment: himself. Regarded by some as Dick’s most powerful novel, A Scanner Darkly mixes futuristic fantasy with an all-too-real evocation of the culture of addiction in 1970s America. Mixing metaphysics and madness, Dick’s work remains exhilarating and unsettling in equal measure.

    But they re shocked to hear his reason for premature retirement: John claims he must move on because he does not age, and cannot stay in one place for more than ten years without his secret being discovered. Tempers rise and emotions flow as John s fellow professors attempt to poke holes in his story, but it soon becomes clear that his tale is as impossible to disprove as it is to verify. What starts out as a friendly gathering soon builds to an unexpected and shattering climax. Acclaimed science fiction writer Jerome Bixby, writer of the original Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, originally conceived this story back in the early 1960 s. It would come to be his last great work."

    Social criticism, political parable, and environmental advocacy lie at the center of Paolo's work. Each of the stories herein is at once a warning, and a celebration of the tragic comedy of the human experience.The eleven stories in Pump Six represent the best Paolo's work, including the Hugo nominee "Yellow Card Man," the nebula and Hugo nominated story "The People of Sand and Slag," and the Sturgeon Award-winning story "The Calorie Man."

    Before she was an acclaimed mercenary soldier with the Gyrfalks, she was "Redhead," a young recruit in Lizardi's Lunatics. Meanwhile, there was a weatherman, Ichliad Brunner. A weatherman's job is to observe and predict. What else can an honorable Liaden do, but his duty? A space-based Liaden meteorologist can only observe the trials of a mercenary troop abandoned in place during a world war fueled by hate and superstition. The young soldier who carries the station's weather equipment to the surface, is cheerful, bright, and going to die. The station commander isn't concerned because the data on weapons used to gas populations and destroy cities is priceless, while the soldiers below are only misfits. Misfits like Miri Robertson, who doesn't know quite when to give up. The framing story is set immediately after the novel "I Dare", and ties those early characters back into the main intentions/plot direction laid out at the end of "I Dare".

    After Mrs. Armitage makes a wish, the Armitage family has “interesting and unusual” experiences every Monday (and the occasional Tuesday). The Board of Incantation tries to take over their house to use as a school for young wizards; the Furies come to stay; and a cutout from a cereal box leads into a beautiful and tragic palace garden. Charming and magical, the uncommon lives of the Armitage family will thrill and delight. Includes Joan Aiken’s “Prelude” from Armitage, Armitage, Fly Away Home, as well as introductions from Joan Aiken’s daughter, Lizza Aiken, and best-selling author Garth Nix. Illustrated by Andi Watson.

    Adaptation of much-loved thriller about racism by award-winning children's author Malorie Blackman.

    For the anthology of the same name, see Beyond the Aquila RiftBeyond the Aquila Rift: it's shorthand for the trip no one ever hopes to make by accident. The one that will screw up the rest of your life, the one that creates the ghosts you see haunting the shadows of company bars across the whole Bubble. Men and women ripped out of time, cut adrift from families and lovers by an accident of an alien technology we use but rarely comprehend

    Featuring the breathtaking design of Chip Kidd and Mike Essl, WATCHING THE WATCHMEN is both a major art book in its own right, and the definitive companion to the graphic novel that changed an industry.Voted among Time magazine's 100 Best Novels from 1923 to the present, a perennial bestseller over the past twenty years and widely considered the greatest graphic novel of all time, WATCHMEN is a gripping, labyrinthine piece of comic art, which has earned an acclaimed place in modern literary history."I've had a great time, re-visiting the very beginnings of Watchmen and unearthing material I haven't set eyes on for many years. As a fan myself, this is the kind of stuff I eat up and I'm sure the many devotees of the graphic novel will do the same!" says Gibbons.© DC Comics 2008. All Rights Reserved.

    Jemisin, originally published in the August 2008 issue of Jim Baen’s Universe.In “Playing Nice with God’s Bowling Ball,” a police detective tries to understand how a children’s dispute over a playing card could have led to a mysterious disappearance.

    On the outskirts is the great Aislinn House, where heir Miss Miranda Beryl and her entourage of friends and servants wait while aged Lady Eglantyne dies; where maid Emma opens doors sometimes to a castle with Princess Ysabo and knights.

    in black-and-white. When a turn-of-the-century scientist travels into the distant future in his time machine, he expects to find progress and superior people. But instead he discovers a world in decay. Reading level: 2.4.  Book Details: Format: Paperback Publication Date: 8/18/1990 Pages: 96 Reading Level: Age 6 and Up

    Generations of Avedons have watched over Avedon Hill and controlled the only pass through the Lantis Mountains. Traditions are important to the Avedon family, but one tradition has tragically come to an end. Gretta Platt, Housemistress of Avedon Manor, has been murdered. A member of the Platt family has always served the Avedons as Housemistress. until now. Only a handful of people live at Avedon Hill, and most are suspects. Arames Kragen, retired Aarronic Advisor and scholar of prophecy, arrives at the gates of Avedon Hill, hoping to gain access to the mountain pass. Lord Avedon is not in a giving mood, however.This is the story of Arames Kragen and his attempt not only to discover who killed Gretta Platt, but also to uncover the truth about a town that apparently has more secrets than inhabitants.The Land of Caern: It is a world where the gods, the Children of Az, can choose to be born as mortals to directly affect events in the world, and often do. It is a world where the Priests of Caern frantically search for the mortal incarnations of any of the Children, in order prevent the Prophecies of Iberian from coming to pass.Welcome to The Land of Caern... Welcome... to Murder at Avedon Hill, the podcast novel by P.G. Holyfield.

    BloodCast, Season 2 contains the following short stories: Kissyman & Screamin' Jesse Dupre- A different kind of illegal alien story, from a time gone by in America.Passenger, Part 1 of 3-Another story set in "The Rookie" universe, but a couple of centuries before Quentin Barnes and the Krakens.Passenger, Part 2 of 3-Another story set in "The Rookie" universe, but a couple of centuries before Quentin Barnes and the Krakens.Passenger, Part 3 of 3- Another story set in "The Rookie" universe, but a couple of centuries before Quentin Barnes and the Krakens.Bag Man- The phone rings. Why would an unstoppable child vigilante call me?Hero- The perfect weapon finally tracks down his target and things will finally be settled, one way or another.Chuckles Mulrooney, Attorney for the Damned- Everyone needs representation, especially those who sell their eternal souls.You're a Damned Fool, Charlie Brown- Charlie and the gang in WWII after they're all grown up.Perry's Podcast #1- Perry Dawsey is the main character in Scott's novel Infected. Perry has a bit of difficulty in dealing with his rage. These podcasts helped him manage that anger somewhat. Unfortunately, outside events limited him to three 'casts which we were able to recPerry's Podcast #2- Perry Dawsey is the main character in Scott's novel Infected. Perry has a bit of difficulty in dealing with his rage. These podcasts helped him manage that anger somewhat. Unfortunately, outside events limited him to three 'casts which we were able to recPerry's Podcast #3- Perry Dawsey is the main character in Scott's novel Infected. Perry has a bit of difficulty in dealing with his rage. These podcasts helped him manage that anger somewhat. Unfortunately, outside events limited him to three 'casts which we were able to recEusocial Networking- Scott's contribution to the 7th Son: Obsidian anthology shows just how far wrong things can go when you combine genetic engineering, environmentalism, and corporate greed.

    

    But her parents aren’t interested in her, and the terrible head teacher at her school hates clever children. But Matilda finds a way to be strong, and the results are very funny.

    This collection, showcasing Bear’s unique imagination and singular voice, includes her Hugo- and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winning story “Tideline” and Hugo-winning novelette “Shoggoths in Bloom,” as well as an original, never-published story. Recipient of the Astounding Award for Best New Writer, the Locus Award, a World Fantasy, British Fantasy, and Philip K. Dick nominee, Bear is one of speculative fiction’s most acclaimed, respected, and prolific authors.ContentTidelineSonny Liston Takes the FallSoundingThe Something-Dreaming GameThe Cold BlacksmithIn the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal BurnsOrm the BeautifulThe Inevitable Heat Death of the UniverseLove Among the TalusCryptic ColorationThe LadiesShoggoths in BloomThe Girl Who Sang Rose MadderDollyGods of the ForgeAnnie WebberThe Horrid Glory of Its WingsConfessorThe Leavings of the WolfThe Death of Terrestrial Radio

    In the future, those who cannot go on their own journeys can ask travelers to take electronic eyes along for them, offering another a virtual window to their experiences. Whose eyes is he carrying? And why is she insistent to the point of tears that he show her a sunrise? China Galaxy Science Fiction Award of Year 1999----------------------------Liu Cixin's writing will remind SF fans of the genre's golden age, with its positive focus on scientific development, combined with a consistently constructive vision of China's future role as a global superpower. It's characteristic of an SF genre which has been embraced by Chinese culture because it is seen as representing the values of technological innovation and creativity so highly prized in a country developing more quickly than any other in the world today.– Damien Walter, The GuardianA science fiction tale with a Chinese touch. The Wandering Earth is filled with imaginative tech and a moving world, literally.– Indiebookoftheday.com

    Violence! Time travel! Midgets! Yes, tremble in fear at Tank Girl: The Novel!Tank Girl and Booga have launched an all-out assault on the town of Chankers, starting with the church. But what prompted this attack? Could it have something to do with Booga’s nightmare vacation there years ago? Well whaddyou think?Destined to become a literary classic — y’know, like Watership Down or something — and a mainstay of high school syllabuses, this is Tank Girl as you’ve never experienced her before: in attractively justified eight point serif.

    ----- From the mind of pulp great, H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. He's developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Christian humanism. -----48 Stories included in this volume: The Beast in the Cave; The Alchemist; The Tomb; Dagon; A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson; Sweet Ermengarde; Polaris; The Green Meadow; Beyond the Wall of Sleep; Memory; Old Bugs; The Transition of Juan Romero; The White Ship; The Doom that Came to Sarnath; The Statement of Randolph Carter; The Terrible Old Man; The Tree; The Cats of Ulthar; The Temple; Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn; The Street; Poetry and the Gods; Celephais; From Beyond; Nyarlathotep; The Picture in the House; The Crawling Chaos; Ex Oblivione; The Nameless City; The Quest of Iranon; The Moon-Bog; The Outsider; The Other Gods; The Music of Erich Zann; Herbet West: Reanimator; Hypnos; What the Moon Brings; Azathoth; The Horror at Martin's Beach; The Hound; The Lurking Fear; The Rats in the Walls; The Unnamable; The Festival; The Shunned House; The Horror at Red Hook; He; In the Vault ---- Full of intrigue, romance and adventure, this collection is a must for pulp literature fans!

    To make matters worse she’s attracted to Jason, the practical but appealing rancher next door. He’s brash, confident, and very easy on the eyes.In spite of a bitter breakup with a girl from the city, Jason finds himself falling for Charlie. As the attraction deepens, Charlie learns that her ancestor Charlotte suffered heartbreak right here on the family farm, and she vows to help re-unite Charlotte with the man she’s never stopped loving. A practical man, Jason wants to believe in Charlie’s quest, but he can’t. Can the two lovers from the past prove to Charlie and Jason that love is forever? A delightful modern romance with gentle, ghostly elements.

    It has been a big success, drawing submissions from well-known sf and fantasy writers, as well as fostering some amazing new talents. This collection contains some of the best of those stories from the past year.There is fiction from David Farber, Tim Pratt, and David Lubar among others, also four new Ender's Game universe stories by Card himself. This collection is sure to appeal to Card's fans, and be a great ambassador to them for these other talented writers.

    His earliest stories, the ones that made his name a quarter of a century ago, were set in the jungles of South America and filled with creatures dark and fantastical. Stories like “Salvador,” “The Jaguar Hunter,” and the excoriatingly brilliant “R&R” deconstructed war and peace in South America, in both the past and the future, like no other writer of the fantastic.A writer of great talent and equally great scope, Shepard has also written of the seamier side of the United States at home in classic stories like “Life of Buddha” and “Dead Money,” and in “Only Partly Here” has written one of the finest post-9/11 stories yet. Perhaps strangest of all, Shepard created one of the greatest sequences of “dragon” stories we’ve seen in the tales featuring the enormous dragon Griaule.The Best of Lucius Shepard is the first ever career retrospective collection from one of the finest writers of the fantastic to emerge in the United States over the past quarter century. It contains nearly 300,000 words of his best short fiction and is destined to be recognized as a true classic of the field.

    His Great Wife Shani bears him a son, and heir to his growing empire. But the ancestors have plans of their own. Shani bears him meji, twins boys considered an abomination among the Sesu but a blessing to Shani's people, the Mawena. Thus begins the story of two brothers destined to transform their world. One brother, Ndoro, fights for his place among the Sesu hoping to shed the stigma of abomination. The other, Obaseki, grows to a man among the Mawena, struggling with a gift that alienates him from his family. Both are forced to seek their destiny, travelling through teeming savanna, mysterious forests, haunted cliffs and torrid deserts, fulfilling a prophecy that changes them and their world forever.

    Covering over a quarter of a century, from his first two published stories both of them Nebula finalists to his most recent, these works bear witness to one of the most vivid and far-ranging imaginations in contemporary fiction. From the hardest of hard science fiction to the purest of core fantasy, from the heartwarming to the despairing, these are works incandescent with literary brilliance. In these pages, Janis Joplin is worshiped as a god, teenagers climb down the edge of the world, zombies are commodified, a vengeful man tracks a wizard across the surface of a planet-sized grasshopper, dinosaurs invade Vermont, a train leaves New York City bound for Hell, and those lovable Post-Utopian con men, Darger and Surplus, seek their fortunes in Buckingham Labyrinth.Michael Swanwick is one of the most acclaimed and prolific writers of his generation, as well as being the only person ever to win five Hugo Awards for fiction in the space of six years. All five of those stories are included here plus much, much more, all of it beautifully written, critically acclaimed, and deeply satisfying to read.Contents1 • Introduction (The Best of Michael Swanwick) • (2008) • essay by Michael Swanwick13 • The Feast of Saint Janis • (1980) • novelette by Michael Swanwick43 • Ginungagap • (1980) • novelette by Michael Swanwick75 • Trojan Horse • (1984) • novelette by Michael Swanwick111 • A Midwinter's Tale • (1988) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick125 • The Edge of the World • (1989) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick139 • Griffin's Egg • (1991) • novella by Michael Swanwick213 • The Changeling's Tale • (1994) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick229 • North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy • (1995) • novelette by Michael Swanwick249 • Radio Waves • (1995) • novelette by Michael Swanwick269 • The Dead • (1996) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick281 • Mother Grasshopper • (1997) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick297 • Radiant Doors • (1998) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick313 • The Very Pulse of the Machine • (1998) • novelette by Michael Swanwick333 • Wild Minds • (1998) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick343 • Scherzo with Tyrannosaur • (1999) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick355 • The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O • (2000) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick371 • The Dog Said Bow-Wow • [Darger and Surplus] • (2001) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick389 • Slow Life • (2002) • novelette by Michael Swanwick413 • Legions in Time • (2003) • novelette by Michael Swanwick437 • Triceratops Summer • (2005) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick449 • From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled • (2008) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick (variant of From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled ...)

    It presents an extensive look into the graphic novel-based film's evolution, from early concept art and diary sketches, to photos of the final props, sets, and filming. Also included is the complete screenplay.

    He lives his life in reverse, from the day he died back to the day he was born. It's hard to make friends when you're travelling in the wrong direction of time. In fact the only true friend he had his little dog, Doof. Until one day, Michael meets Miranda, and his life changes for ever.* From the paperback edition

    This perfect world isn't that perfect though, and three young girls stand up to totalitarian kindness and super-medicine by attempting suicide via starvation. It doesn't work, but one of the girls--Tuan Kirie--grows up to be a member of the World Health Organization. As a crisis threatens the harmony of the new world, Tuan rediscovers another member of her suicide pact, and together they must help save the planet...from itself.

    Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.When the DHS finally releases them, his injured best friend Darryl does not come out. The city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: "M1k3y" will take down the DHS himself.

    Cambias, Greg Egan, Charles Coleman Finlay, James Alan Gardner, Dominic Green, Daryl Gregory, Gwyneth Jones, Ted Kosmatka, Mary Robinette Kowal, Nancy Kress, Jay Lake, Paul McAuley, Ian McDonald, Maureen McHugh, Sarah Monette, Garth Nix, Hannu Rajaniemi, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Mary Rosenblum, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Geoff Ryman, Karl Schroeder, Gord Sellar, and Michael Swanwick.Supplementing the stories are the editor’s insightful summation of the year’s events and a lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book both a valuable resource and the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination, and the heart.xi • Acknowledgments (The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection) • (2009) • essay by Gardner Dozoisxiii • Summation: 2008 • (2009) • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • Turing's Apples • (2008) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter16 • From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled • (2008) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick (aka From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled . . .)32 • The Gambler • (2008) • novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi50 • Boojum • [Boojum] • (2008) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette65 • The Six Directions of Space • (2008) • novella by Alastair Reynolds107 • N-Words • (2008) • shortstory by Ted Kosmatka120 • An Eligible Boy • (2008) • novelette by Ian McDonald140 • Shining Armour • (2008) • shortstory by Dominic Green (aka Shining Armor)154 • The Hero • (2008) • novelette by Karl Schroeder172 • Evil Robot Monkey • (2008) • shortstory by Mary Robinette Kowal175 • Five Thrillers • (2008) • novelette by Robert Reed209 • The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black • (2008) • shortstory by Jay Lake217 • Incomers • (2008) • shortfiction by Paul J. McAuley233 • Crystal Nights • (2008) • novelette by Greg Egan252 • The Egg Man • (2008) • novelette by Mary Rosenblum270 • His Master's Voice • (2008) • shortstory by Hannu Rajaniemi280 • The Political Prisoner • (2008) • novella by Charles Coleman Finlay327 • Balancing Accounts • (2008) • shortstory by James L. Cambias341 • Special Economics • (2008) • novelette by Maureen F. McHugh362 • Days of Wonder • (2008) • novelette by Geoff Ryman390 • City of the Dead • (2008) • novelette by Paul J. McAuley [as by Paul McAuley ]410 • The Voyage Out • (2007) • shortstory by Gwyneth Jones424 • The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm • (2008) • shortstory by Daryl Gregory439 • G-Men • (2008) • novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch466 • The Erdmann Nexus • (2008) • novella by Nancy Kress520 • Old Friends • (2008) • shortstory by Garth Nix526 • The Ray-Gun: A Love Story • (2008) • novelette by James Alan Gardner543 • Lester Young and the Jupiter's Moons' Blues • (2008) • novelette by Gord Sellar568 • Butterfly, Falling At Dawn • (2008) • novelette by Aliette de Bodard585 • The Tear • (2008) • novella by Ian McDonald

    In Brandon Massey's "The Patriarch," a young writer travels to the hushed backwoods of Mississippi, where dangerous secrets surface as a generations-old feud comes to bone-chilling new life. . .Buried.The souls of the mistreated always find a way to be heard. In L.A. Banks's "Ev'ry Shut Eye Ain't Sleep," violent visions haunt a man--until he's handed an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and prevent unspeakable acts from occurring once again. . .Forgotten.When horrors are covered up and lost, our ancestors must find a way--even in death--to tell their tales. In Tananarive Due's "Ghost Summer," ancestors haunt the nights of two children. And when a grisly discovery is made, these ancestors will make their mark on both the dead and the living. . .

    He lives with his eccentric father and grandfather in a city distinguished by a gigantic hand-iron shaped factory perched on a hill. His brother's ex-girlfriend makes passes at him. And to top it all off, an impish, playful alien has run him over with her Vespa and smacked him in the head with a bass guitar! Little does he know that this is only the beginning of his involvement in an interplanetary ideological war.

    Now, in The Year’s Best Science Fiction Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world.This venerable collection brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Ian McDonald, Stephen Baxter, Michael Swanwick, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kage Baker, Walter Jon Williams, Alastair Reynolds, and Charles Stross . And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre.Contentsxiii • Summation: 2007 • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • Finisterra • (2007) • novelette by David Moles26 • Lighting Out • (2007) • shortstory by Ken MacLeod41 • An Ocean Is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away • (2007) • novelette by John Barnes62 • Saving Tiamaat • (2007) • shortstory by Gwyneth Jones76 • Of Late I Dreamt of Venus • (2007) • shortfiction by James Van Pelt90 • Verthandi's Ring • (2007) • shortstory by Ian McDonald101 • Sea Change • (2007) • shortstory by Una McCormack110 • The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small • [Celestial Empire] • (2007) • novelette by Chris Roberson130 • Glory • (2007) • novelette by Greg Egan150 • Against the Current • (2007) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg164 • Alien Archeology • [Polity Universe] • (2007) • novella by Neal Asher (aka Alien Archaeology)202 • The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate • (2007) • novelette by Ted Chiang221 • Beyond the Wall • (2007) • shortfiction by Justin Stanchfield237 • Kiosk • (2007) • novelette by Bruce Sterling270 • Last Contact • (2007) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter280 • The Sledge-Maker's Daughter • (2007) • shortstory by Alastair Reynolds297 • Sanjeev and Robotwallah • [India 2047] • (2007) • shortstory by Ian McDonald309 • The Skysailor's Tale • (2007) • novelette by Michael Swanwick332 • Of Love and Other Monsters • (2007) • novella by Vandana Singh367 • Steve Fever • (2007) • shortstory by Greg Egan379 • Hellfire at Twilight • [Company] • (2007) • novelette by Kage Baker411 • The Immortals of Atlantis • (2007) • shortstory by Brian Stableford420 • Nothing Personal • (2007) • novella by Pat Cadigan452 • Tideline • (2007) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear461 • The Accord • (2007) • novelette by Keith Brooke480 • Laws of Survival • (2007) • novelette by Nancy Kress505 • The Mists of Time • (2007) • novelette by Tom Purdom533 • Craters • (2007) • shortstory by Kristine Kathryn Rusch548 • The Prophet of Flores • (2007) • novelette by Ted Kosmatka570 • Stray • (2007) • shortstory by David Ackert and Benjamin Rosenbaum579 • Roxie • (2007) • shortstory by Robert Reed595 • Dark Heaven • (2007) • novella by Gregory Benford643 • Honorable Mentions: 2007 • essay by Gardner Dozois

    In a quiet town an American teacher who has lost her Japanese lover to death begins to lose her own self. On a remote road amid fallow rice fields, four young friends carefully take their own lives—and in that moment they become almost as one. In a small village a disaffected American teenager stranded in a strange land discovers compassion after an encounter with an enigmatic red fox, and in Tokyo a girl named Love learns the deepest lessons about its true meaning from a coma patient lost in dreams of an affair gone wrong.

    The Great Spirit Mata Nui has been cast into an unending sleep by the evil Makuta. Now Makuta is attacking the island's Matoran villagers with vicious Rahi beasts. The Toa must combine their skills and elemental and mask powers to defeat Makuta and restore peace to the island.In the second story, The Toa return to the island named for Mata Nui to find it is being overrun by mechanical insects called Bohrok. These Bohrok have been unleashed by Makuta and are rapidly destroying trees, mountains, rivers, villages and anything else in their path. After a long, difficult battle, the Toa are able to defeat the queens of the swarms and end the Bohrok threat … for now. During the fight, the heroes are transformed into Toa Nuva, with new armor, new weapons, and new Masks of Power.

    Includes The Ghoul, Hunters from Beyond, Ubbo-Sathla, Vulthoom, The Infernal Star, and others. Selected and introduced by Robert M. Price. This book is part of an expanding collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction and related topics. Call of Cthulhu fiction focuses on single entities, concepts, or authors significant to readers and fans of H.P. Lovecraft.

    However much science fiction texts vary in artistic quality and intellectual sophistication, they share in a mass social energy and a desire to imagine a collective future for the human species and the world. At this moment, a strikingly high proportion of films, commercial art, popular music, video and computer games, and non-genre fiction have become what Csicsery-Ronay calls science fictional, stimulating science-fictional habits of mind. We no longer treat science fiction as merely a genre-engine producing formulaic effects, but as a mode of awareness, which frames experiences as if they were aspects of science fiction. The Seven Beauties of Science Fiction describes science fiction as a constellation of seven diverse cognitive attractions that are particularly formative of science-fictionality. These are the "seven beauties" of the title: fictive neology, fictive novums, future history, imaginary science, the science-fictional sublime, the science-fictional grotesque, and the Technologiade, or the epic of technsocience's development into a global regime.

    In an attempt to make sense of his existence he travels to the provincial town of Ôtani in Japan, hoping that, through his writing, he will obtain the insight that he lacks. But in Japan it is late autumn and, closeted within the garden of the lately widowed Mrs Kunisada, Stokes finds the motleycollection of arboreal reds and yellows working upon his imagination, until reality itself becomes spectral.As the strange season unfolds, and Stokes meditates upon the meaning of life, death and literature, thepower of the Shrike gradually takes centre-stage.In this startling novella Quentin S. Crisp fuses delicacy with darkness and pathos with terror, creatinga blend of Japanese and English literature that is as deeply moving as it is unique.

    These 14 stories contain, among other things, robots, alien planets, genetic manipulation and virtual reality, but their centre focuses on individuals rather than technology, and how they deal with love and loneliness, authenticity, reality and what it really means to be human.

    The narratives reveal many forms of artificial intelligence including a persecuted slave in "Computer Virus," a controlling force of the universe in "Mirror Image," or even one that's entirely indifferent to humans in "Savior." From the center of the galaxy to the swamps of Earth, all 13 inventive tales offer a trademark mix of hard science fiction interacting with flawed humanity.

    Over 590 pages long, this collection features all of Shea’s best award-winning horror, fantasy, science fiction, and Cthulhu Mythos tales, with two complete novels and several stories that have never been collected.Laird Barron’s insightful introduction provides a unique look at this remarkable, visionary storyteller. Combined with the illustrations of John Stewart, as well as several color photographs and devices, this marks the most important collection yet from an undisputed master of the short story.

    A collection of the best early stories from the Merry Sisters of Fate website (www.merryfates.com), written by Maggie Stiefvater, Brenna Yovanoff, and Tessa Gratton.

    But a question remains…will Time be on their side?This story is for anyone with a head overflowing with dreams, a heart filled with a yearning for adventure and a soul buoyant in magic.Cover Design: Julie Elizabeth PowellOriginal background photo: sattva from freedigitialphotos.net

    Pleasure. The sensation of touch.we feel everything through our skin, that delicate membrane separating "I" from "other," protecting the very essence of self.Until it breaks. Or changes. Or burns.What would you do if you were the one called on to save humanity, and the price you had to pay was becoming something other than human? Or if healing your body meant losing the only person you've ever loved?Wander through worlds where a woman craves even a poisonous touch.a man's deformities become a society's fashion.genetic regeneration keeps the fires of Hell away.and painted lovers risk everything to break the boundaries of their caste system down. Separate your mind from your flesh and come in. Welcome.

    However, Yao Xiang has affinity for a poor scholar. Driven to despair, Song Yao mistakenly eats an elixir pill of immortality by chance, soaring into the heaven.Meanwhile, in heaven, Tianshu Xing and Nanming emperor are involved in a love affair. Because of this, they are demoted and forced to descend to earth by the Jade Emperor as a punishment. The Jade Emperor then ordered Song Yao to descend to Earth and break up the two lovebirds. Song Yao’s close friend, Hengwen Qing, accompanied him back to Earth. Decreed by fate, Song Yao is reborn as the eldest son of a feudal lord and brought the weak and fragile scholar, Tianshu Xing, into his mansion. The entanglement in his past life, the cause and effect of his reincarnation... Song Yao plays the role of a bridge connecting people with the red string of fate, while being destined to live a lonely life forever.丞相公子宋珧迷恋花魁瑶湘，瑶湘却与一个穷书生情投意合。失魂落魄的宋珧因缘际会误食了仙丹，就此飞升成了神仙。天庭的天枢星君和南明帝君犯了错，被玉帝贬下凡界，玉帝钦点宋珧下凡将他二人进行折磨。宋珧的知己好友衡文清君也随其来到人间，却遇上了命中注定的劫数。宋珧在下界做了一个藩王世子，把文弱的天枢星君强抢入府…前世纠葛，因果轮回，宋珧在别人的情戏里扮演搭线的桥，自己确是个永世孤鸾的命。

    She dies young, and with so much left to give. He does not understand. He cannot let her go. After the funeral, his father begins talking to a large wooden box that he keeps beneath his bed. And when Daniel whispers to the box one day when his father goes out … it answers back. It’s a voice he does not know. But this voice knows so much.

    Featuring all the characters from the beloved story, this great-value book is packed with scenes to colour in, as well as imaginative drawing activities. It's a must for Gruffalo fans

    If, in his infallible wisdom, he determines that elves do have immortal souls, then the Church will be obliged to bring the Holy Word of the Immaculate to them. But if he decides they do not, there will be holy war.Powerful factions line up on both sides of the debate. War-hungry magnates cast greedy eyes at the ancient wealth of the elven kingdoms and pray for a declaration that elves are little more than animals. And there are men who are willing to do more than merely pray.The delegation sent to the High King of the Elves is led by two great theologians, brilliant philosophers who champion opposite sides of the great debate. And in the Sanctiff s own stead, he sends the young nobleman, Marcus Valerius.Marcus Valerius is a rising scholar in the Church, talented, fearless, and devout. But he is inexperienced in the ways of the world. Nothing in his life has prepared him for the beauty of the elves or the monumental betrayal into which he rides. Praise for "Summa Elvetica"One of the most fascinating fantasy worlds I ve ever visited.Day has put forth a masterpiece with this book.It would not surprise me at all if this is one day regarded as a classic of the fantasy genre. Also Includes: A Magic Broken The Wardog s Coin Qalabi Dawn Master of Cats Birth of an Order The Hoblets of Wiccam Fensboro The Last Witchking Opera Vita AeternaVox Day is a writer and game designer. His interests include economics, history, technology, and wargames. He has written nine books, including "A -Throne of Bones" and "The Return of the Great Depression, " and he speaks three languages. He is a non-denominational Christian and has been recognized as one of the Internet s most in-fluential libertarians.

    Your best friend may turn out to be your worst enemy. A deadly poison might save your life. And two smiling children could become the most horrifying monsters of all.Morton is sure of one thing, however. His four treasures are lost somewhere in this forest and he has to find them, or life is not worth living. Mind you, with bizarre perils lurking behind almost every tree, Morton's life could end at any moment. If that isn't bad enough, he is travelling without a hankerchief.Funny and sinister, this is Doug MacLeod at his scary and entertaining best.

    P. Lovecraft of Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951). The preeminent British supernaturalist of the twentieth century, Blackwood combined elements of philosophy and modern psychology to introduce a new sophistication to a genre formerly dominated by traditional ghost stories. His tales of terror, occult detective stories, fantasies, and other thrillers possess an unprecedented degree of subtlety and finesse.This trio of tales showcases Blackwood's best and most gripping work. An idyllic camping trip along the Danube goes horribly wrong in "The Willows," as supplies start to disappear, trees begin to move, and a hole inexplicably forms in the bottom of the canoe. The dark terror of "The Wendigo" unfolds in the remote Canadian wilderness, where a hunting party encounters a creature from Algonquin myth. "The Listener," a ghost yarn set in a rundown house in London, recounts a struggling writer's dawning realization of the chilling connection between his headaches, a mysterious sound of footsteps, and the sensation of being watched while he sleeps. All three of these stories feature Blackwood's characteristically high level of sustained suspense and offer readers a refined supernatural experience.

    From then on, he is thrust into one highly dangerous situation after another, pursued by an implacable enemy intent on preventing him from realizing his true powers. Ultimately, Jessan must undertake a perilous journey—to escape capture, to find his twin, Niccas, and to realize his destiny as one of the two Nithaial, magical beings who experiences life as humans, but incorporate within themselves the power to bring harmony to the world and the lives of men.Fortunately for Jessan, the herbalist Alfrund, his companion through most of the volume, is as brave and resourceful an ally during their long journey as he is a willing and considerate lover. With him (and on his own), Jessan explores the possibilities of male sex and learns to master his many powers, as the two make a long journey, first by sea, then across the entire kingdom, to a hidden valley where he will fight a climactic battle with a powerful and ingenious necromancer and an entire army of the undead.

    Through the lens of Link's vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look. From the multiple award-winning The Faery Handbag, in which a teenager's grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of The Surfer, whose narrator (a soccer-playing skeptic) waits with a planeload of refugees for the aliens to arrive, Link's stories are funny and full of unexpected insights and skewed perspectives on the world. Her fans range from Michael Chabon to Peter Buck of R.E.M. to Holly Black of Spiderwick Chronicles fame. Now teens can have their world rocked, too!

    His job as a pharmacist is unrewarding. He argues with his girlfriend. He lives in America, where killing has been made legal and serial killers are hot celebrity athletes and have spawned Reap, a demented subculture with millions of fans. Beings from another dimension that only he can see are turning people into terrifying automatons and breeding machines and all he can do to stop them is kill. America has become a scary place for Jeremy Jenkins and it might just get scarier. Can Jeremy reconcile his visions of a dark future with the reality of a twisted present? Jeremy’s earth shattering two-fisted pulp destiny begins.

    The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.A Baghdad merchant encounters an alchemist who may have conquered time; a socialite, a miniature elephant, and a butler attempt to survive a coup masquerading as a wild soiree; a pair of scientists, their species altered in order that they may perform research on an alien world, find themselves embroiled in an interplanetary conflict; a young man begins to question his faith in God when he encounters the remains of a race of tool-using hominids; a warrior treads a grisly path as he strives to stop a rogue wizard's influence; a woman born with her heart outside her body finds solace in the arms of a heartless man; the messiah returns to earth, with disappointing news about the afterlife; figures out of myth and legend do battle with an enemy armed with a frightening weapon...the ability to steal away language itself; a girl and her fortune-teller mother travel the countryside, collecting ghosts.

    

    'The Last Great Paladin of Idle Conceit' was a truly remarkable debut, and he followed it with stories like 'Raiders', 'Don't Touch the Blackouts', 'Dying in the Arms of Jean Harlow' and the British Fantasy Award winning 'Black Static'. We decided to publish a later story, 'Islington Crocodiles', in Interzone, which gained Paul a lot of new fans (as well as, it's fair to say, leaving some IZ readers slack-jawed!).All these stories are collected here, along with several others published elsewhere and three that are previously unpublished: 'The Vague', 'The Last Place on Earth for Snow' and 'An Ocean by Handfuls'.Cover art is by Vincent Chong. Introduction is by David Mathew. Foreword is by Graham Joyce.

    I'm pretty sure something has infected my gray matter; an epic battle between Godzilla and the divine She-Sus rages in my hypothalamus. In my pituatary gland a dragonfly woos an electric blue angelfish and all the while brutal prog steampunk echoes through my cerebrum. One more slip-up and the landlady might just add my frontal lobe to her collection.

    Nearly all scholars and critics of early science fiction acknowledge that colonialism is an important and relevant part of its historical context, and recent scholarship has emphasized imperialism's impact on late Victorian Gothic and adventure fiction and on Anglo-American popular and literary culture in general. John Rieder argues that colonial history and ideology are crucial components of science fiction's displaced references to history and its engagement in ideological production. He proposes that the profound ambivalence that pervades colonial accounts of the exotic other establishes the basic texture of much science fiction, in particular its vacillation between fantasies of discovery and visions of disaster. Combining original scholarship and theoretical sophistication with a clearly written presentation suitable for students as well as professional scholars, this study offers new and innovative readings of both acknowledged classics and rediscovered gems.Includes discussion of works by Edwin A. Abbott, Edward Bellamy, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John W. Campbell, George Tomkyns Chesney, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Edmond Hamilton, W. H. Hudson, Richard Jefferies, Henry Kuttner, Alun Llewellyn, Jack London, A. Merritt, Catherine L. Moore, William Morris, Garrett P. Serviss, Mary Shelley, Olaf Stapledon, and H. G. Wells.

    Each night foolish creatures called Bloons gather around him to listen to the latest crazy antics of Hoomanity. But it seems as though the Story itself has got out of control. The Hoomans appear set on a course of self-destruction and the Storyteller's health is failing as a result. A Bloon by the name of Bozo volunteers to enter the Story and the Storyteller writes in a boy called Theo to accompany him. Travelling the planet in search of a Cure, they seek the counsel of the Awakened Ones and are pursued by a terrible force they only know as the Enemy. All hope for the Storyteller lies in their hands. And if he should die then our world might just disappear along with him...

    Alternate Series of Lucky StarThe series starts of with the girls getting magically shrunken and getting in all kinds of hyjinx.

    Deadly anomalies defy logic and reason. Monsters roam the streets of dead cities and the bones of the fallen crack beneath your feet. No one knows what really happened, nor do they really care. The World wants the Zones closed off, walled in and forgotten. The governments were only too happy to oblige and gave them away to the Institute.The Institute answers to no one.The borderlands between our world and the Zones are now lawless frontiers where the Institute wields absolute power. Zone refugees are hunted like animals. Scientists experiment on human captives. Criminal activity of every kind flourishes in the shadow of the border, well and truly beyond the reach of law.Even in the Zones, there are things that people want. Things that promise the impossible; infinite energy, the cure for all ailments, or the power to rewrite fate. Leaders, businessmen and generals would kill to get their hands on them, or to keep from the hands of others. Which is why you are here. Looter. Criminal. Stalker.If you come back with swag – it’s a miracleIf you come back alive – it’s a successIf the patrol bullets miss you – it’s luckAnd as for anything else – that’s fateStalker - the SciFi Roleplaying Game is the one and only true "Stalker" roleplaying game, based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky but brought to the modern times and modern audiences. The Finnish-language original was released in 2008 to rave reviews. The leading daily newspaper named it as one of the top culture events of the year. Years of insistence by hardcore fans lead to it being translated into English and now here we are.

    M. Snyder invites you to visit two very different worlds where love conquers all. Forever After, which combines Snyder's romantic gay novellas Persistence of Memory and The Regent's Knight, both previously available only in electronic format, is for readers of speculative fiction who enjoy stories in which love prevails, whether in a dystopic future or a distant fantasy land!......Persistence of Memory (A Fallen Angels Reviews Recommended Read and a 2008 EPPIE Award Finalist in the GLBT Category! In a future where the government 'culls' citizens at random and erases their memories to create perfect soldiers, Joah somehow remembered one thing. His name. Armed with that alone, he escapes from the facility in search of someone to help him recall the man he used to be. What he finds is a loving husband who never stopped searching for him and who will do anything to bring back the Joah he still loves. But can the love they once shared possibly survive the self-destruct chip in Joah's brain that was triggered at his escape?)......The Regent's Knight (Amery is the only son of the king of Pharr and regent in his father's absence. When barbarian tribes threaten the castle, he calls his most daring knights to his side, including Sir Tovin, his secret lover. Such a relationship is forbidden--Tovin is another man, and his station does not befit a prince. To hide their relationship, the prince and knight stage public arguments and fights, then reconcile in the regent's chambers. But as war approaches, Amery must decide whether to take his rightful place on the throne or forsake his kingdom for the love of one man.)

    Initially the three hacks choose to work separately on the case, but as they continue their investigations they discover clues leading to some of the most powerful figures in the qverse. Soon the hacks realise they are more than just investigating the crime, they are part of it, and part of an even greater scheme to unbalance the long established foundations of the qverse itself.

    Some have become monsters, a few have remained human, and far too many are dead. A vaccine saves a remnant of humanity and they begin to rebuild, taking on new names to represent their new lives and their hope of a better future. Isabella Thanatos, Beautiful Death to the people of New Olympia, is a killing machine who has dedicated her life to protecting her people. Athens, her city, is the jewel in the crown of the civilization they've built off of the ruins of their old lives and she won't let any monster run loose in her city except Hades, the seductively beautiful alien whose people loosed the virus on humanity and caused their ruin. He is a welcome visitor and sits on the city council--but not by her choice. He missed his opportunity to kill her long ago, but she won't miss hers. When Isabella discovers she's been mysteriously contaminated with the virus, she knows she should kill herself before she becomes the very thing she hates. Fearing for her people but desperate to find out how and why she was contaminated before she has to die, Isabella runs to the only one who can help her, the monster Hades. Outside the city she discovers that everything she was taught is a lie. There is no chaos, the contaminated live in harmony with humans, what Hades wants to do to her--with her--doesn't include death, and the city she loves is controlled by a monster in the guise of a man.

    Donald Mackenzie is one of the most perceptive analysts of the workings of the financial world. In this book, MacKenzie argues that economic agents and markets need to be analyzed in their full materiality: their physicality, their corporeality, their technicality. Markets are populated not by disembodied, abstract agents, but by embodied human beings and technical systems. Concepts and systematic ways of thinking that simplify market processes and make them mentally tractable are essential to how markets function.In putting forward this material sociology of markets, the book synthesizes and contributes to the new field of social studies of finance: the application to financial markets not just of economics but of wider social-science disciplines, in particular science and technology studies. The topics covered include hedge funds (the book contains the first social-science study of a hedge fund based on direct observation); the development of financial derivatives exchanges (non-existent in 1970, but now trading products equivalent to $13,000 for every human being on earth); arbitrage; how corporate profit figures are constructed; and the crucial new markets in carbon emissions.The book will appeal to research students and academics across the social sciences, and the general reader will enjoy the book's explanations and analyses of some of the most important phenomena of today's turbulent markets.

    Cyrus becomes the apprentice to Sir Reginald Ogleby, also known as the Crimson Slash, a towering swordsman with a titanic sword and a penchant for self-narrating his own battles. It's up to Reginald to train Cyrus in the essentials of Heroism so that one day, at the conclusion of his first Quest, Cyrus may become a Hero, Second Class. More is afoot than the routine of training in the arts of Heroic Derring-Do, however. A bona fide Arch-Villain is on the loose. And this Villain is particularly interested in Cyrus, not least because of how Cyrus seems to have magic coming to him in spite of himself, resulting in tremendous disruption of the magical planes. Entering into the fray come a wise-cracking Dragon, a petulant gargoyle, the Heroes' Guild, the Army of DarknessTM, and a horde of cursed invisible Centaurs. Cyrus will have to call on his friends, a beautiful young cat girl, and all the power of the Capital Letters and Arbitrary Numbers if he is to live to become a full-fledged Hero. *** When Mitchell was 10 he and his friends created an adventure game called Quest. Mitchell played all the supporting characters, quest givers, and (his favorite) the villains, while his friends played the brave heroes who thwarted them. That game became the basis for Hero, Second Class. Mitchell is a young man with theatrical inclinations, a wry sense of humor, and storytelling ability well beyond his years.

    And in an era where enforced conscription is a way of life, anyone — everyone — will serve the DeepSky Fleet. Many will be assigned to carriers.It is thirty years since the Confederacy instituted its 'strong Fleet policy,' first taxing the far-flung colonies to build the ships, then conscripting their young people to crew them. Decades ago, Earth's military scientists first became aware of a shadowy nemesis, a faceless enemy so powerful, humankind's closest companion in this region of space was obliterated.The same fate awaits Mankind, with only the DeepSky Fleet holding defiance against the dimly perceived foe known simply as the Zunshu. But as the day grows ever-nearer for the DeepSky Fleet to fight this ultimate battle, its infrastructure is rotting at the core.The super-carriers can barely keep pace with the wreckers — mere human foes — and their abused crews have no concept of the mission they were recruited and trained to fight.Into this arena of misery step two unlikely players. Travers and Marin are from worlds so vastly different, they have only their conscripted military service in common — that, and the desire to survive, to see justice done, and to uncover the truths still hidden by Earth's distant government. Travers is still in the service, but his connections to the privateer fleet would be more than enough to execute him. His current assignment is the super-carrier Intrepid, his field of conflict, the Rabelais Drift ... Hellgate.In an age of rampant injustice, often justice must be pursued on a personal level. This mission brings Curtis Marin aboard the carrier as the executor of a sanction purchased by a citizen whose son was murdered by a travesty of justice. Marin has come aboard as an assassin ... if he can stay alive long enough to complete his mission ... and if the carrier herself can survive the corruption of her officer corps, the endless battle with the privateers, and the insuperable forces of nature that churn across the ripped face of the void known as Hellgate.

    The collection offers a haunting montage that works its magic subtly on the reader's subconscious. As Karen Joy Fowler, Author of The Jane Austen Book Club says, ''This lovely collection will take you, like a magic carpet, to some strange and wonderful places.'' The eminent novelist and critic Ursula K. Le Guin writes: ''From the exotic, baroque complexities of 'At the Huts of Ajala' to the stark, folktale purity of 'The Beads of Ku,' these fourteen superbly written stories will weave around you a ring of dark, dark magic.'' Matt Ruff, author of Set This House In Order and Bad Monkeys calls Filter House ''A traveling story-bazaar, offering treasures and curios from diverse lands of wonder.'' Tobias Buckell, author of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, says ''Nisi Shawl uses the tools of future and fable, usually used to explore the other, the future, and the mysterious, to magically reveal what and who we all are here and today.'' Karen Joy Fowler declares, ''Sometimes enigmatic, often surprising, always marvelous. This lovely collection will take you, like a magic carpet, to some strange and wonderful places.'' And Eileen Gunn, author of Stable Strategies, concurs that these are ''Remarkably involving stories that pull you along a path of wonder, word by word, in worlds where everything is a bit different.''

    They celebrate love, beauty, and humanity; and yet throughout many of them is a consciousness of impending apocalypse. The imagery, lush, exotic, full of colors and magic names, is a welcome relief from the sterile, prosaic poetry of today. If you enjoy tripping on language, this book is for you. Whether the poems really are from the Atlantean or whether they are the creations of poet Sidney-Fryer, they deserve to be read and experienced. -- Charles K. Wolfe Sidney-Fryer is, in a very strong sense, a traditionalist; his creations, superlatively original as they are, yet give us a powerful feeling of continuity with our own past and culture; they make us see ... the ideals that moved us when we were less "secure" and more human: adventure, love of life, and above all, the intricate beauty of a world long vanished - yet not vanished, if only we had eyes to see. -- Richard L. Tierney Sidney-Fryer has created, in his fictional Atlantis, an entire civilization and a body of absorbing literature. The book should appeal to lovers of poetry, to devotees of science fiction, and to those who admire writers who can fashion a realistic world from the materials of mythology and speculation. -- Earl J. Dias Mr. Fryer is a profound student of Clark Ashton Smith, and the influence shows, but he is very much his own poet, and he structures and plays with a surety and deftness which is remarkable. -- Gahan Wilson A delightful book of verse - purportedly fragments of poetry from the lost Empire of Atlantis - that is very much in the tradition of Spenser's Faerie Queene. A work that reflects a glittering imagination and no mean talent. -- James Gorski

    She's carved out a life for herself in the bustle of New York City, content with her books, her coffee and her few friends. But the past is about to catch up with her. The time has come for her to fulfill her duty and Queen Luna is determined to see the matter accomplished. Centauri is a warrior of the Tuatha de'. It is his task to see the reluctant princess wed to maintain the balance of the Fae kingdoms. But he is going to need all of his legendary control to deal with the impulsive woman who seems intent on unraveling all of his plans. But there are plots afoot in the Fae kingdoms, plans that go deeper than either of them realize. Only by learning to trust in one another can they avert disaster. In the magic of the Fae realms, one thing is for certain - happily ever after is never assured and true love is a prize above dragon's treasure.

    Here are found the struggles of a medieval Japanese monk, seduced by a mischievous fairy, and a young slave who finds mystery deep within the briar patch of an antebellum plantation. Gidney offers readers a gay teen obsessed with his patron saint, Lena Horne, and, in the title story, an ailing tourist seeking escape at a distant shore but never reckons on encountering an African sea god. Rich, poetic, dark and disturbing, these are tales not soon forgotten. A finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

    In this collection of seven short stories, Fool Wolf is thrown on the mercy of those gods whom he both worships and loathes. He is forced to defend himself against the very destiny that he is to fulfill. The mysteries of his ancestors are brought to light as he traverses the vast empire of his people's land in search of answers.

    Like one of Escher’s drawings, the narrative threads lead one through a dizzying labyrinth of recurring themes, images and characters, all of whom are linked with elegant mathematical precision: God and suicide, food and poison, monks, athletes, soldiers and soccer players all take their places in the circle-dance. Absurdity, surreality and humour abound; death is the ultimate destiny, yet always the next story offers infinite ways of escape.

    Something about Matt brings out the best in Vic--literally. Every time they have sex, Vic gains new superhuman powers from his lover. Can they learn to live with these abilities without losing each other? Previously available only in electronic format, these three stories in J. M. Snyder's best-selling series, The Powers of Love, have now been combined for a paperback edition! Included are the tales......The Powers Of Love (The story that started it all, a winner in the 2007 Amber Quill Heat Wave Contest. When Vic meets Matt for the first time, sparks fly. When they finally consummate their relationship, there's no denying the energy between them. But the next morning, Vic awakens to find his mind crowded with a myriad of thoughts, none of them his own. After their second night of making love, Vic is filled with unparalleled strength. Oh, and now he can fly. Just what exactly is going on here? And how does he tell Matt without alienating his new lover or ruining their budding relationship? Or does Matt know something he, himself, is only now discovering?)......Matching Tats (Vic's latest tattoo makes Matt decide he might want to get inked, too. He'd like a heart with his lover's initials in it. Vic likes the idea, and agrees to get the same tattoo, with Matt's initials inside. They have fun deciding where to put the tattoos--a spot Vic hasn't already covered turns out to be pretty hard to find. Once they decide where to get inked, Matt may not be able to go through with it. He's more than a little skittish when it comes to needles, and watching the tattoo artist at work is frightening. With the powers love gives him, however, Vic finds a way to help Matt overcome his fears.)......With This Ring (Matt's ex, Jordan, confesses all to a tabloid and spills Matt's secret in the process. After the article appears, Matt receives a phone call from a research scientist at a local condom factory who claims to have a solution to his little 'problem.' The offer is tempting--the powers Vic receives from Matt are unpredictable and scary. Matt wants to keep his lover safe, and is eager to hear what the scientist has to suggest. Vic is willing to try the cure and lose his superhero abilities for his lover's peace of mind...even if it means losing the special mental connection they share, a bond formed by the powers, a bond that has become such a part of their lives together that neither is quite prepared when it suddenly disappears.)

    The saga begins as Gwidion—a boy on the verge of manhood and to whom 9/11 means nothing—tries to understand the psychic shock waves of an event that once shook the world and are still felt in his village, all that is left of what was once Wales. Gwidion's unusual mental powers bring him to the attention of the world's remaining politicians, desperate for a way to escape the failing Earth. But in a world that has lost track of its history, Gwidion is determined to find out the truth about his past.