Here’s the correct version, as published in Omni, 1990." -- Terry Bisson

    Well, not literally. Not yet.Leah's stand-up career isn't going well. But she understands the power of fiction, and when she's offered employment with the mysterious Genrenauts Foundation, she soon discovers that literally dying on stage is a hazard of the job!Her first assignment takes her to a Western world. When a cowboy tale slips off its rails, and the outlaws start to win, it's up to Leah - and the Genrenauts team - to nudge the story back on track and prevent a catastrophe on Earth.But the story's hero isn't interested in winning, and the safety of Earth hangs in the balance...

      In an alternate world in which John F. Kennedy survived and scientific breakthroughs in animal research and telepathy allow for advanced communication with animal companions, fifteen-year-old Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, scavenge the wastelands of a war-torn United States, survivors of a nuclear World War III between the Americans and the Soviets. While Blood guides Vic toward women—to be used for sex—Vic ensures that Blood has food, but the symbiotic relationship is put at risk when the pair meets Quilla June Holmes, who lures the boy to an underground civilization. A piece of shocking, dystopic science fiction, A Boy and His Dog questions the boundaries and nature of love while crafting a vision of a dark future guaranteed to leave chills.   Also included here is “Ahbhu: The Passing of One Man’s Inspiration and Best Friend,” a personal essay by author Harlan Ellison, which lovingly recounts the life of his canine companion, Ahbhu, the true-life basis for Blood. Ellison recalls rescuing Ahbhu from the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter and gives a brief chronicle of life with his furry friend, whom he stresses was both “a person” and “impossible to anthropomorphize.” The nostalgic in memoriam frames the author’s relationship with animals while casting a personal light on the inspiration for the novella with which it is paired.   Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novella and a Hugo Award finalist, A Boy and His Dog was adapted into a cult classic film and fully solidifies Ellison as a master of his craft. This volume combines a dark, dystopian future of animal telepathy, sex, and postapocalyptic underworlds with a real-life account of the author’s muse for the feisty but loyal Blood. Indispensible reading material for any fan of Ellison or dark science fiction, animal lovers will also delight over the relationship between Vic and Blood.

    Who's off course now?

     In his illustrious forty-five year career as a novelist and author of short fiction, Robert Silverberg has belonged in the company of the best writers of the 20th century. His writing has been compared to Conrad, Huxley, and Orwell. In this definitive collection Silverberg presents the novellas that have won him multiple Hugo and Nebula Award nominations, including his Nebula Award winning achievement, "Sailing To Byzantium." Here are the virtuoso performances of the third phase of Silverberg's astounding career: the Nebula Award nominee "Homefaring"; the Hugo Award nominee "The Secret Sharer"; "Thomas The Proclaimer" and "We Are For The Dark." If you are a lover of Silverberg's work or are simply looking for a place to begin a relationship with the literature of science fiction and fantasy, this is the place to start.Contents:Sailing to Byzantium (1985)Homefaring (1983)Thomas the Proclaimer (1972)We Are for the Dark (1988)The Secret Sharer (1987)

    R. Martin441 • Flying Saucer Rock & Roll • (1985) • novelette by Howard Waldrop459 • A Spanish Lesson • (1985) • novelette by Lucius Shepard486 • Roadside Rescue • (1985) • shortstory by Pat Cadigan494 • Paper Dragons • (1985) • novelette by James P. Blaylock510 • Magazine Section • (1985) • shortstory by R. A. Lafferty522 • The War at Home • (1985) • shortstory by Lewis Shiner526 • Rockabye Baby • (1985) • novelette by S. C. Sykes551 • Green Mars • (1985) • novella by Kim Stanley Robinson620 • Honorable Mentions: 1985 • essay by Gardner Dozois

    For years she's been longing to go back up there, to once more explore the stars. But there are few opportunities for an aging astronaut, even the famous Lady Astronaut of Mars. When her chance finally comes, it may be too late. Elma must decide whether to stay with her sickening husband in what will surely be the final years of his life, or to have her final adventure and plunge deeper into the well of space.

    When the box fails to return, he constructs another and tests it the same way, but it also fails to return. Believing the entire experiment to be a failure, he discontinues his efforts and gives up on time machines. The first box arrives in the middle of the twentieth century and the second in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Both have had their time-travel circuitry irreparably damaged by the journey.Originally published in the February 1943 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction Magazine.Novelette, Classic science fiction, the basis for the film "The Last Mimsy"

    HE WOULD DO ANYTHING TO RECLAIM IT... OR SO HE THOUGHT.Minister Shea Ashcroft refuses the queen's order to gas a crowd of protesters. After riots cripple the capital, he's banished to the border to oversee the construction of the biggest anti-airship tower in history. The use of otherworldly technology makes the tower volatile and dangerous; Shea has to fight the local hierarchy to ensure the construction succeeds—and to reclaim his own life.He must survive an assassination attempt, find love, confront the place in his memory he'd rather erase, encounter an ancient legend, travel to the origin of a species—and through it all, stay true to his own principles.Climbing back to the top is a slippery slope, and somewhere along the way, one is bound to fall.„Poetry in prose... I love a story that is huge, but also incredibly intimate, and this novella managed to encompass both of these things.“ — Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel in Game of Thrones)"Tower of Mud and Straw" is a Tower of Babel story with a hero haunted by his fate. Shea Ashcroft is an Aeneas in an airship set in a world that gives homage to Dune. Once immersed it is hard to stop reading: like a play or a good painting, you won't be able to look away until you've discovered everything. — Rebecca DeVendra, writer, artist, former reviewer at Tangent Online.

    Justine Larbalestier has collected 11 key stories--many of them not easily found, and all of them powerful and provocative--and sets them alongside 11 new essays, written by top scholars and critics, that explore the stories' contexts, meanings, and theoretical implications. The resulting dialogue is one of enormous significance to critical scholarship in science fiction, and to understanding the role of feminism in its development. Organized chronologically, this anthology creates a new canon of feminist science fiction and examines the theory that addresses it. Daughters of Earth is an ideal overview for students and general readers.Content: 1. The Fate of Poseidonia - Clare Winger Harris, 19272. The Conquest of Gola - Leslie F. Stone, 19313. Created He Them - Alice Eleanor Jones, 19554. No Light in the Window - Kate Wilhelm, 19635. The Heat Death of the Universe - Pamela Zoline, 19676. And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill Side - James Tiptree Jr., 19717. Wives - Lisa Tuttle, 19768. Rachel in Love - Par Murphy, 19879. The Evening and the Morning and the Night - Octavia E. Butler, 198710. Balinese Dancer - Gwyneth Jones, 199711. What I Didn't See - Karen Joy Fowler, 2002

    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

    She has raised her Shadow Army of seven assassins from childhood. But mounting disillusionment over a life of brutality, a petulant emperor, and prodding from The Artful Djinni force her to defy orders for the first time in her thirty year career. When the empire decides they no longer need Édo if they can get the mask, she must face the monsters of her own making and the legacy they've turned against her.

    In its unfathomable depths, a variety of curious creatures have left a record of their coming, of their struggle to survive, and of their eventual end. And that's just the local human beings over the last seventy-five years. Then there are the prehistoric creatures...and, just maybe, something else.Ranging from the late 1930s to the present day, "Wakulla Springs" is a tour de force of the human, the strange, and the miraculous.

    Or a backyard tale from the 1001 American Nights. Macbeth re-imagined as a screwball comedy. Three extraordinary economic tasks performed by a small expert in currency exchange that risk first career and then life and then soul.From the disturbing beauty of 'Flat Diane' (Nebula-nominee, International Horror Guild award-winner) to the idiosyncratic vision of 'The Cambist and Lord Iron' (Hugo- and World Fantasy-nominee), Daniel Abraham has been writing some of the most enjoyable and widely admired short fiction in the genre for over a decade.Ranging from high fantasy to hard science fiction, screwball comedy to gut-punching tragedy, Daniel Abraham's stories never fail to be intelligent, compassionate, thoughtful, and humane. Leviathan Wept and Other Stories is the first collection of his short works, including selections from both the well-known and the rare.Contents:The Cambist and Lord Iron (2007)Flat Diane (2004)The Best Monkey (2009)The Support Technician Tango (2007)A Hunter in Arin-Quin (2010)Leviathan Wept (2004)Exclusion (2001)As Sweet (2001)The Curandero and the Swede (2010)

    But he does remember. And so does her mom. So why doesn’t Stella? The more she investigates the show and the grip it has on her hometown, the eerier the mystery grows.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.