With rich and vibrant worldbuilding, readers are transported to antiquated realms to witness noble sacrifices and astonishing wonders. Gathering a comprehensive survey of beloved stories from the genre, this compilation includes stories by such luminaries as George R.R. Martin, Melanie Rawn, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin Hobb, and Tad Williams, with a foreword by author Brent Weeks. Inspiring and larger-than-life, these tales offer timeless values of courage and friendship in the face of ultimate evil and express mankind's greatest hopes and fears.Stories:01 - Robin Hobb, Homecoming02 - Ursula K. Le Guin, The Word of Unbinding03 - Tad Williams, The Burning Man04 - Aliette de Bodard, As the Wheel Turns05 - Paolo Bacigalupi, The Alchemist06 - Orson Scott Card, Sandmagic07 - Patrick Rothfuss, The Road to Levinshir08 - Brandon Sanderson, Rysn09 - Michael Moorcock, While the Gods Laugh10 - Melanie Rawn, Mother of All Russiya11 - Kate Elliott, Riding the Shore of the River of Death12 - Mary Robinette Kowal, The Bound Man13 - N.K. Jemisin, The Narcomancer14 - Carrie Vaughn, Strife Lingers in Memory15 - Trudi Canavan, The Mad Apprentice16 - Juliet Marillier, Otherling17 - George R.R. Martin, The Mystery Knight

    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!

    A helpful list of honorable mentions and Gardner Dozois's insightful summation of the year in science fiction round out the volume, making it indispensable for anyone interested in science fiction today.Contents ix • Summation: 1995 • (1996) • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • A Woman's Liberation • [Yeowe and Werel • 4] • (1995) • novella by Ursula K. Le Guin51 • Starship Day • (1995) • novelette by Ian R. MacLeod68 • A Place with Shade • [The Remarkables] • (1995) • novelette by Robert Reed100 • Luminous • (1995) • novelette by Greg Egan129 • The Promise of God • (1995) • shortstory by Michael F. Flynn143 • Death in the Promised Land • (1995) • novelette by Pat Cadigan195 • For White Hill • (1995) • novella by Joe Haldeman231 • Some Like It Cold • (1995) • shortstory by John Kessel243 • The Death of Captain Future • [The Captain Future Duet] • (1995) • novella by Allen Steele281 • The Lincoln Train • (1995) • shortstory by Maureen F. McHugh293 • We Were Out of Our Minds with Joy • [North American future] • (1995) • novella by David Marusek341 • Radio Waves • (1995) • novelette by Michael Swanwick360 • Wang's Carpets • (1995) • novelette by Greg Egan389 • Casting at Pegasus • (1995) • novelette by Mary Rosenblum414 • Looking for Kelly Dahl • (1995) • novella by Dan Simmons452 • Think Like a Dinosaur • (1995) • novelette by James Patrick Kelly470 • Coming of Age in Karhide • [Hainish] • (1995) • novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin489 • Genesis • (1995) • novella by Poul Anderson575 • Feigenbaum Number • (1995) • shortstory by Nancy Kress589 • Home • (1995) • shortstory by Geoff Ryman595 • There Are No Dead • (1995) • shortstory by Terry Bisson602 • Recording Angel • (1995) • novelette by Paul J. McAuley627 • Elvis Bearpaw's Luck • (1995) • novelette by William Sanders645 • Mortimer Gray's "History of Death" • (1995) • novella by Brian Stableford698 • Honorable Mentions: 1995 • (1996) • essay by Gardner Dozois

    In "Selected Stories," thirteen of Sturgeon's very best tales have been gathered into one collection: Here are stories of love and darkness, transcendence and obsession, alien contact and human interaction. In the devastating wake of a nuclear holocaust, an actress performs her swan song before a small audience of survivors. A machine is possessed and intent upon destruction. Humankind's place in the vast cosmos is explored, as is the strange humanity of evil. In the author's acclaimed story "The Man Who Lost the Sea," a life is reconstructed in bizarre shattered fragments. And in "Slow Sculpture," Sturgeon's award-winning classic, a breast cancer patient surrenders to a healer's most unorthodox methods. Lyrical, often witty, frequently provocative, and always surprising, "Selected Stories" covers a wide range of human and inhuman emotion and experience, deftly traversing the borders between science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Theodore Sturgeon including rare images and never-before-seen documents from the University of Kansas's Kenneth Spencer Research Library and the author's estate, among other sources.

    Now from this brilliant young writer comes a groundbreaking collection of stories, many of them previously unavailable in the United States, and including four never-before-published tales–one set in Miéville’s signature fantasy world of New Crobuzon. Among the fourteen superb fictions are“Jack”–Following the events of his acclaimed novel Perdido Street Station, this tale of twisted attachment and horrific revenge traces the rise and fall of the Remade Robin Hood known as Jack Half-a-Prayer. “Familiar”–Spurned by its creator, a sorceress’s familiar embarks on a strange and unsettling odyssey of self-discovery in a coming-of-age story like no other.

    The series moves to its new publishing home, Solaris, with this eighth annual volume of the celebrated and popular series.Table of Content"Some Desperado" by Joe Abercrombie"Zero for Conduct" by Greg Egan "Effigy Nights" by Yoon Ha Lee "Rosary and Goldenstar" by Geoff Ryman"The Sleeper and the Spindle" by Neil Gaiman"Cave and Julia" by M. John Harrison"The Herons of Mer de l’Ouest" by M Bennardo"Water" by Ramez Naam"The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" by Ted Chiang "The Ink Readers of Doi Saket" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt "Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls" by Richard Parks "Rag and Bone" by Priya Sharma "The Book Seller" by Lavie Tidhar "The Sun and I" by K J Parker"The Promise of Space" by James Patrick Kelly "The Master Conjurer" by Charlie Jane Anders "The Pilgrim and the Angel" by E. Lily Yu "Entangled" by Ian R Macleod "Fade to Gold" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew "Selkies Stories are for Losers" by Sofia Samatar"In Metal, In Bone" by An Owomoyela "Kormack the Lucky" by Eleanor Arnason "Sing" by Karin Tidbeck"Social Services" by Madeline Ashby "The Road of Needles" by Caitlín R Kiernan "Mystic Falls" by Robert Reed "The Queen of Night’s Aria" by Ian McDonald"The Irish Astronaut" by Val Nolan

    Contents:The Infinite Assassin (1991)The Hundred Light-Year Diary (1992)Eugene (1990)The Caress (1990)Blood Sisters (1991)Axiomatic (1990)The Safe-Deposit Box (1990)Seeing (1995)A Kidnapping (1995)Learning to Be Me (1990)The Moat (1991)The Walk (1992)The Cutie (1989)Into Darkness (1992)Appropriate Love (1991)The Moral Virologist (1990)Closer (1992)Unstable Orbits in the Space of Lies (1992)

    Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including:Stephen Baxter, M.Shayne Bell, Rick Cook, Albert E. Cowdrey, Tananarive Due, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Peter F. Hamilton, Earnest Hogan, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Ian McDonald, Susan Palwick, Severna Park, Alastair Reynolds, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Robert Charles WilsonSupplementing the stories is the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.

    Gathered into one volume by intrepid chrononauts and world-renowned anthologists Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, this book compiles more than a century's worth of literary travels into the past and the future that will serve to reacquaint readers with beloved classics of the time travel genre and introduce them to thrilling contemporary innovations.This marvelous volume includes nearly seventy journeys through time from authors such as Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, H. G. Wells, and Connie Willis, as well as helpful non-fiction articles original to this volume (such as Charles Yu's "Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers").In fact, this book is like a time machine of its very own, covering millions of years of Earth's history from the age of the dinosaurs through to strange and fascinating futures, spanning the ages from the beginning of time to its very end. The Time Traveler's Almanac is the ultimate anthology for the time traveler in your life.

    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 ...)

    This new collection of stories from the multi-award-winning author of Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog contains:A Letter from the ClearysAt the RialtoDeath on the NileThe Soul Selects Her own SocietyFire WatchInside JobEven the QueenThe Winds of Marble ArchAll Seated on the GroundLast of the WinnebagosTen stories - which have all won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award or both - are compulsory reading for the serious science fiction fan.

    W. Jeter’s "La Valse" forges a fable about love, the decadence of technology, and a gala dance that becomes the obsession of a young engineer—and the doom of those who partake in it.… In "You Will Attend Until Beauty Awakens", national bestselling author and John W. Campbell Award winner Jay Lake tells the story of Sleeping Beauty—and how the princess was conceived in deception, raised in danger, and rescued by a prince who may be less than valiant. The tale of "The Tinderbox" takes a turn into the surreal when a damaged young soldier comes into possession of an intricate, treacherous treasure and is drawn into a mission of mercy in national bestselling author Kat Richardson’s "The Hollow Hounds". In "The Kings of Mount Golden", Hugo and World Fantasy Award nominee Paul Di Filippo tells the story of a young man’s search for his heritage and a mechanical marvel that lies at the heart of a sinister pact in this fascinating take on "The King of the Golden Mountain".ALSO INCLUDES STORIES FROM Steven Harper Nancy A. Collins G. K. Hayes Gregory Nicoll Pip Ballantine

    It didn't give you the date and it didn't give you specifics. It just spat out a sliver of paper upon which were printed, in careful block letters, the words DROWNED or CANCER or OLD AGE or CHOKED ON A HANDFUL OF POPCORN. It let people know how they were going to die." Machine of Death tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out. Featuring stories by: * Randall Munroe* Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw* Tom Francis* Camille Alexa* Erin McKean* James L. Sutter* Douglas J. Lane* and many others.Featuring illustrations by: * Kate Beaton* Kazu Kibuishi* Aaron Diaz* Jeffrey Brown* Scott C.* Roger Langridge* Karl Kerschl* Cameron Stewart* and many others

    The journey is the thing as Pinsker weaves music, memory, technology, history, mystery, love, loss, and even multiple selves on generation ships and cruise ships, on highways and high seas, in murder houses and treehouses. They feature runaways, fiddle-playing astronauts, and retired time travelers; they are weird, wired, hopeful, haunting, and deeply human. They are often described as beautiful but Pinsker also knows that the heart wants what the heart wants and that is not always right, or easy.

    Few authors have matched the versatility and stylishness of Walter Jon Williams. His genre-defining novels have received wide critical acclaim and captured the rapt attention of fans worldwide. He has been nominated for every major SF award. The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories contains nine bleeding-edge tales showcasing Williams’ flexibility, power-chord storytelling, and engagingly human and post-human characters. From Walter Jon Williams, author of more than twenty novels, including This Is Not a Game, Implied Spaces, and the definitive cyberpunk novel Hardwired, comes The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, a stunning collection of short fiction including the Nebula Award-winning stories “Daddy’s World” and “The Green Leopard Plague,” and featuring an introduction by Charles Stross, plus in-depth story notes.