Book picks similar to
England Swings SF by Judith Merril
short-stories
science-fiction
anthology
fantasy-sci-fi
A People's Future of the United States: Speculative Fiction from 25 Extraordinary Writers
Victor LaValleTananarive Due - 2019
K. Jemisin, Charles Yu, Jamie Ford, and more.
For many Americans, imagining a bright future has always been an act of resistance. A People's Future of the United States presents twenty never-before-published stories by a diverse group of writers, featuring voices both new and well-established. These stories imagine their characters fighting everything from government surveillance, to corporate cities, to climate change disasters, to nuclear wars. But fear not: A People's Future also invites readers into visionary futures in which the country is shaped by justice, equity, and joy.Edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams, this collection features a glittering landscape of moving, visionary stories written from the perspective of people of color, indigenous writers, women, queer & trans people, Muslims and other people whose lives are often at risk.Contributors include: Violet Allen, Charlie Jane Anders, Ashok K. Banker, Tobias S. Buckell, Tananarive Due, Omar El Akkad, Jamie Ford, Maria Dahvana Headley, Hugh Howey, Lizz Huerta, Justina Ireland, N. K. Jemisin, Alice Sola Kim, Seanan McGuire, Sam J. Miller, Daniel José Older, Malka Older, Gabby Rivera, A. Merc Rustad, Kai Cheng Thom, Catherynne M. Valente, Daniel H. Wilson, G. Willow Wilson, and Charles Yu.
Saffron and Brimstone: Strange Stories
Elizabeth Hand - 2006
This new collection (an expansion of the limited-release Bibliomancy, which won the World Fantasy Award in 2005) showcases a wildly inventive author at the height of her powers. Included in this collection are "The Least Trumps," in which a lonely women reaches out to the world through symbols, tattooing, and the Tarot, and "Pavane for a Prince of the Air," where neo-pagan rituals bring a recently departed soul to something very different than eternal rest. Written in the author's characteristic poetic prose and rich with the details of traumatic lives that are luminously transformed, Saffron and Brimstone is a worthy addition to an outstanding career.* Elizabeth Hand's work has been selected as a Washington Post Notable Book and a New York Times Notable Book, and she has been awarded a Nebula Award and two World Fantasy Awards.
Year's Best Science Fiction #18
David G. Hartwell - 2013
Hartwell demonstrates the amazing depth and power of contemporary speculative fiction, showcasing astonishing short stories from some of science fiction's most respected names as well as exciting new writers to watch. In this anthology, prepare to travel light years from the ordinary into a tomorrow at once breathtaking, frightening, and possible with some of the greatest tales of wonder published in 2012.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories
Mahvesh MuradJames Smythe - 2017
Eavesdropping and exploring; savaging our bodies, saving our souls. They are monsters, saviours, victims, childhood friends. Some have called them genies: these are the Djinn. And they are everywhere. On street corners, behind the wheel of a taxi, in the chorus, between the pages of books. Every language has a word for them. Every culture knows their traditions. Every religion, every history has them hiding in their dark places. There is no part of the world that does not know them.They are the Djinn. They are among us.With stories from: Nnedi Okorafor, Neil Gaiman, Helene Wecker, Amal El-Mohtar, Catherine King, Claire North, E.J. Swift, Hermes (trans. Robin Moger), Jamal Mahjoub, James Smythe, J.Y. Yang, Kamila Shamsie, Kirsty Logan, K.J. Parker, Kuzhali Manickavel, Maria Dahvana Headley, Monica Byrne, Saad Hossein, Sami Shah, Sophia Al-Maria and Usman Malik.
Year's Best SF 3
David G. HartwellGreg Egan - 1998
Hartwell returns with this fifth annual collection of the year's most imaginative, entertaining, and mind-expanding science fiction.Here are works from some of today's most acclaimed authors, as well as visionary new talents, that will introduce you to new ideas, offer unusual perspectives, and take you to places beyond your wildest imaginings. Contents ix • Introduction (Year's Best SF 3) • (1998) • essay by David G. Hartwell 1 • Petting Zoo • (1997) • short story by Gene Wolfe 9 • The Wisdom of Old Earth • (1997) • short story by Michael Swanwick 23 • The Firefly Tree • (1997) • short story by Jack Williamson 29 • Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City • (1997) • short story by William Gibson 41 • The Nostalginauts • (1997) • short story by Sharon N. Farber [as by S. N. Dyer ] 53 • Guest Law • (1997) • novelette by John C. Wright 77 • The Voice • (1997) • short story by Gregory Benford 95 • Yeyuka • (1997) • short story by Greg Egan 117 • An Office Romance • (1997) • short story by Terry Bisson 135 • Itsy Bitsy Spider • (1997) • short story by James Patrick Kelly 151 • Beauty in the Night • (1997) • novelette by Robert Silverberg 197 • Mr. Pale • (1997) • short story by Ray Bradbury 205 • The Pipes of Pan • (1997) • novelette by Brian Stableford 233 • Always True to Thee, in My Fashion • (1997) • short story by Nancy Kress 249 • Canary Land • (1997) • novelette by Tom Purdom 277 • Universal Emulators • (1997) • short story by Tom Cool 295 • Fair Verona • (1997) • novelette by R. Garcia y Robertson 331 • Great Western • (1997) • novelette by Kim Newman 363 • Turnover • (1997) • short story by Geoffrey A. Landis 369 • The Mendelian Lamp Case • [Dr Phil D'Amato] • (1997) • novelette by Paul Levinson 415 • Kiss Me • (1997) • short story by Katherine MacLean 421 • London Bone • (1997) • novelette by Michael Moorcock
Brave New Worlds
John Joseph AdamsNeil Gaiman - 2010
Brave New Worlds brings together the best dystopian fiction of the last 30 years, demonstrating the diversity that flourishes in this compelling subgenre. This landmark tome contains stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, Cory Doctorow, M. Rickert, Paolo Bacigalupi, Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and many others.Table of ContentsIntroduction / John Joseph Adams --Lottery / Shirley Jackson --Red card / S.L. Gilbow --Ten with a flag / Joseph Paul Haines --Ones who walk away from Omelas / Ursula K. Le. Guin --Evidence of love in a case of abandonment / M. Rickert --The Funeral / Kate Wilhelm --O happy day! / Geoff Ryman --Pervert / Charles Coleman Finlay --From homogeneous to honey / Neil Gaiman & Bryan Talbot --Billennium / J.G. Ballard --Amaryllis / Carrie Vaughn --Pop squad / Paolo Bacigalupi --Auspicious eggs / James Morrow --Peter Skilling / Alex Irvine --The Pedestrian / Ray Bradbury --Things that make me weak and strange get engineered away / Cory Doctorow --Pearl diver / Caitlin R. Kiernan --Dead space for the unexpected / Geoff Ryman --"Repent harlequin!", said the Ticktockman / Harlan Ellison --Is this your day to join the revolution? / Genevieve Valentine --Independence day / Sarah Langan --Lunatics / Kim Stanley Robinson --Sacrament / Matt Williamson --Minority report / Philip K. Dick --Just do it / Heather Lindsley --Harrison Bergeron / Kurt Vonnegut Jr. --Caught in the organ draft / Robert Silverberg --Geriatric ward / Orson Scott Card --Arties aren't stupid / Jeremiah Tolbert --Jordan's waterhammer / Joe Mastroianni --Of a sweet slow dance in the wake of temporary dogs / Adam-Troy Castro --Resistance / Tobias S. Buckell --Civilization / Vylar Kaftan.
I Am Legend and Other Stories
Richard Matheson - 1954
Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood.By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?I am legend --Buried talents --The near departed --Prey --Witch war --Dance of the dead --Dress of white silk --Mad house --The funeral --From shadowed places --Person to person.
Works of Jules Verne : Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea; A Journey to the Center of the Earth; From the Earth to the Moon; Round the Moon; Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne - 1929
They have been the subject of films, radio dramatizations and have even been presented on ice Read the originals now and one of the world's greatest ever story tellers will give you hours of pleasure and enjoyment.Stories included are: "Around the World in 80 Days, The Clipper of the Clouds, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, From the Earth to the Moon" and "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."
The Long and Short of It
Jodi Taylor - 2017
When a Child is Born - A jump back to 1066 to witness the coronation of William the Conqueror goes slightly astray. Roman Holiday - Max and her team become spectacularly involved with Julius Caesar, Cleopatra and a basket of confused asps. Christmas Present - An attempt to rescue lost historians involving an enraged pig and Boudicca herself. The Very First Damned Thing - Discover the truth about the very beginning of St Mary's. Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings - A gun left behind in Ancient Egypt and a race against time to prevent a catastrophe. The Great St Mary's Day Out - Hooray! It's a happy holiday. For everyone except Max - the only one with her mind on the job. My Name is Markham - Alfred, the cakes and Mr Markham. The Great British Bake Off it's not! And a bonus - a new and previously unpublished short story.
Magic for Beginners
Kelly Link - 2005
In "Stone Animals," a house's haunting takes the unusual form of hordes of rabbits that camp out nightly on the front lawn. This proves just one of several benign but inexplicable phenomena that begin to pull apart the family newly moved into the house as surely as a more sinister supernatural influence might. The title story beautifully captures the unpredictable potential of teenage lives through its account of a group of adolescent schoolfriends whose experiences subtly parallel events in a surreal TV fantasy series. Zombies serve as the focus for a young man's anxieties about his future in "Some Zombie Contingency Plans" and offer suggestive counterpoint to the lives of two convenience store clerks who serve them in "The Hortlak." Not only does Link find fresh perspectives from which to explore familiar premises, she also forges ingenious connections between disparate images and narrative approaches to suggest a convincing alternate logic that shapes the worlds of her highly original fantasies.Contents:The Faery Handbag (2004)The Hortlak (2003)The Cannon (2003)Stone Animals (2004)Catskin (2003)Some Zombie Contingency Plans (2005)The Great Divorce (2005)Magic for Beginners (2005)Lull (2002)
Laughter at the Academy
Seanan McGuire - 2019
Now, for the first time, that fiction has been gathered together in one place, ready to be enjoyed one twisting, tangled tale at a time. Her work crosses genres and subverts expectations.Meet the mad scientists of “Laughter at the Academy” and “The Tolling of Pavlov’s Bells.” Glory in the potential of a Halloween that never ends. Follow two very different alphabets in “Frontier ABCs” and “From A to Z in the Book of Changes.” Get “Lost,” dress yourself “In Skeleton Leaves,” and remember how to fly. All this and more is waiting for you within the pages of this decade-spanning collection, including several pieces that have never before been reprinted. Stories about mermaids, robots, dolls, and Deep Ones are all here, ready for you to dive in. This is a box of strange surprises dredged up from the depths of the sea, each one polished and prepared for your enjoyment. So take a chance, and allow yourself to be surprised.Enjoy.
Mountain Magic
David Drake - 2004
But first they'll have to overcome some very unusual residents of the hills and valleys. One is David Drake's unforgettable creation, Old Nathan the Wizard. He doesn't claim much for his magical powers, but they're real enough for what they are-and besides, he hasn't forgotten how to use his long flintlock rifle. Enter the gritty, realistic world of Old Nathan, a backwoodsman who talks to animals and says he'll face the Devil himself-and who in the end will have to face the Devil in very fact. A century later, very different interlopers, from criminals to snooping college professors, are poking around the hills, up to no good. But a very unusual family, the Hogbens, are likely to cause more trouble than unwelcome visitors can handle, as Henry Kuttner relates. They're a family of mutants, with very unusual powers, and city folk who cause trouble are likely to suddenly find unbelievable-and unpleasant-things happening to them. But not all of the trouble is caused by humans, as the Slade family find out when Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor relate how a Kentucky family finds itself caught in the middle of a struggle between battling groups of the creatures who live deep underground and are the basis from the old legends of gnomes. The Slades have to make sure that the right gnomes win-or an earthquake will wipe out everyone in at least four states. Magic, mutants, and mountain folk add up to an unusual volume, with adventure ranging from the grim and eerie to the wildly comic.
Songs of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honour of Jack Vance
George R.R. MartinMike Resnick - 2009
Martin and Gardner Dozois, with the full cooperation of Jack Vance, his family, and his agents, suggest a Jack Vance tribute anthology called Songs of the Dying Earth, to encourage the best of today's fantasy writers to return to the unique and evocative milieu of The Dying Earth, from which they and so many others have drawn so much inspiration, to create their own brand-new adventures in the world of Jack Vance s greatest novel.Half a century ago, Jack Vance created the world of the Dying Earth, and fantasy has never been the same. Now, for the first time ever, Jack has agreed to open this bizarre and darkly beautiful world to other fantasists, to play in as their very own. To say that other fantasy writers are excited by this prospect is a gross understatement; one has told us that he'd crawl through broken glass for the chance to write for the anthology, another that he'd gladly give up his right arm for the privilege that's the kind of regard in which Jack Vance and The Dying Earth are held by generations of his peers.
Thieves' World
Robert Lynn Asprin - 1979
1979 ACE mass market paperback,2nd impression, no ISBN. Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey. A fantasy anthology with a twist. All different stories from different authors, all in the same town.
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection
Gardner DozoisMary Rosenblum - 2008
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