You meet a souvenir hunter in the Thirtieth Century and a schoolgirl who tries to cope with the teaching methods of the Twenty-second Century. You share the terror of an astronaut in a “haunted” space suit and the dilemma of a wife whose husband knows a common chemical formula for destroying the earth. In short, you feel the impact, the originality, and the uncanny atmosphere created by these science fiction experts not once—but 50 times.Fifty Short Science Fiction Tales have been selected for their concise writing, and for punch lines that leave the reader “surprised, shocked, and delighted at the final sentence.” According to the editors, another important aspect of this literary form is “evocation of a background differing from our own.” Consequently, though some of the stories are just a page long, the reading experience is always excitingly unique.Ballade of an artificial satellite / Paul Anderson --Fun they had / Isaac Astimov --Men are differenct / Alan Bloch --Ambassadors / Anthoy Boucher --Weapon / Fredric Brown --Random sample / T.P. Caravan --Oscar / Cleve Cartmill --Mist / Peter Cartur --Teething ring / James Causey --Haunted space suit / Arthur C. Clarke --Stair Trick / Mildred Clingerman --Unwelcome tenant / Roger Dee --Mathematicians / Arthur Feldman --Third level / Jack Finney --Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! / Stuart Friedman --Figure / Edward Grendon --Rag thing / David Grinnell --Good provider / Marion Gross --Columbus was a dope / Robert A. Heinlein --Texas Week / Albert Hernhuter --Hilda / H.B. Hickey --Choice / W. Hilton-Young --Not with a bang / Damon Knight --Altar at midnight / C.M. Kornbluth --Bad day for sales / Fritz Leiber --Who's cribbing? Jack Lewis --Spectator sport / John D. MacDonald --Cricket ball / Avro Manhattan --Double-take / Winston K. Marks --Prolog / John P. McKnight --Available data on the worp reaction / Lion Miller --Narapoia / Alan Nelson --Tiger by the tail / Alan E. Nourse --Counter charm / Peter Phillips --Fly / Arthur Porges --Business, as usual / Mack Reynolds --Two weeks in August / Frank M. Robinson --See? / Edward G. Robles, Jr. --Appointment at noon / Eric Frank Russell --We don't want any trouble / James H. Schmitz --Built down logically / Howard Schoenfeld --Egg a month from all over / Idris Seabright --Perfect woman / Robert Sheckley --Hunters / Walt Sheldon --Martian and the magician / Evelyn E. Smith --Barney / Will Stanton --Talent / Theodore Sturgeon --Project hush / Willian Tenn --Great judge / A.E. Van Vogt --Emergency landing / Ralph Williams --Obviously suicide / S. Fowler Wright --Postlude --Six Haiku / Karen Anderson

    He hires the husband-and-wife detective team of Ted and Cynthia Randall to follow him and find out. But Ted and Cynthia are mystified when they find that their own memories of what happens during their investigation do not match. There is a thirteenth floor to Jonathan's building that does not exist, there are mysterious and threatening beings living inside mirrors, and all of reality is not what they thought it was.Contents...And He Built a Crooked House... (1941)They (1941)The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1942)Our Fair City (1949)The Man Who Traveled in Elephants (1957)...All You Zombies... (1959)

    Johnny Mnemonic (1981)The Gernsback Continuum (1981)Fragments of a Hologram Rose (1977)The Belonging Kind (1981) with John ShirleyHinterlands (1981)Red Star, Winter Orbit (1983) with Bruce SterlingNew Rose Hotel (1984)The Winter Market (1985)Dogfight (1985) with Michael SwanwickBurning Chrome (1982)

    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

    Each of the writers was asked to write a new story based on one of his or her most famous series. Stephen King tells a tale of Roland, the Gunslinger, in the world of The Dark Tower, in "The Little Sisters of Eluria."Terry Pratchett relates an amusing incident in Discworld, of a magical contest and the witch Granny Weatherwax, in "The Sea and Little Fishes"Terry Goodkind tells of the origin of the Border between realms in the world of The Sword of Truth, in "Debt of Bones."Orson Scott Card spins a yarn of Alvin and his apprentice from the Tales of Alvin Maker, in "Grinning Man."Robert Silverberg returns to Majipoor and to Lord Valentine's adventure in an ancient tomb, in "the Seventh Shrine."Ursual K. Le Guin adds a sequel to her famous books of Earthsea, portraying a woman who wants to learn magic, in "Dragonfly."Tad Williams tells a dark and enthralling story of a great and haunted castle in the age before Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, in "The Burning Man."George R.R. Martin sets his piece a generation before his epic, A Song of Ice and Fire, in the adventure of "The Hedge Knight."Ann McCaffrey, the poet of Pern, returns once again to her world of romance and adventure in "Runner of Pern."Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga is the setting of the tale of "The Wood Boy."Robert Jordan, in "New Spring," tells of crucial events in the years leading up to The Wheel of Time, of the meeting of Lan and Moiraine and the beginning of the search for the child who must grow to lead in the Last Battle.

    • (1971)• Some Notes Concerning a Green Box • (1971)• Why Johnny Can't Speed • (1971)• The Emoman • [Humanx Commonwealth • 4] • (1972)• Space Opera • (1973)• The Empire of T'ang Lang • (1973)• A Miracle of Small Fishes • (1974)• Dream Done Green • (1974)• He • (1976)• Polonaise • (1976)• Wolfstroker • (1977)• Ye Who Would Sing • (1976)

    Your hosts are the Hugo Award-winning editors John Klima (Electric Velocipede) and Lynne M. Thomas (Apex Magazine), and the Hugo-nominated editor Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Magazine).Join glittery authors Christopher Barzak (One for Sorrow) and Daryl Gregory (Pandemonium) on the dance floor, drink cocktails with Maria Dahvana Headley (Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire) and Tim Pratt (Marla Mason series), and skate with Seanan McGuire (InCryptid series), Diana Rowland (Kara Gillian series), and Maurice Broaddus (The Knights of Breton Court series). The fantastic Amber Benson gets the party started with her floor-rattling introduction (Calliope Reaper-Jones series).We’re waiting.Table of ContentsIntroduction by Amber BensonSister Twelve: Confessions of a Party Monster by Christopher BarzakApex Jump by David J. SchwartzWith Her Hundred Miles to Hell by Kat HowardStar Dancer by Jennifer PellandOf Selkies, Disco Balls, and Anna Plane by Cat RamboSooner Than Gold by Cory SkerrySubterraneans by William Shunn & Laura ChavoenThe Minotaur Girls by Tansy Rayner RobertsUnable to Reach You by Alan DeNiroSuch & Such Said to So & So by Maria Dahvana HeadleyRevels in the Land of Ice by Tim PrattBess, the Landlord’s Daughter, Goes for Drinks with the Green Girl by Sofia SamatarBlood and Sequins by Diana RowlandTwo-Minute Warning by Vylar KaftanInside Hides the Monster by Damien Walters GrintalisBad Dream Girl by Seanan McGuireA Hollow Play by Amal El-MohtarJust Another Future Song by Daryl GregoryThe Electric Spanking of the War Babies by Maurice Broaddus & Kyle S. JohnsonAll That Fairy Tale Crap by Rachel Swirsky

    Do you love the sound of a peg leg stomping across a quarterdeck? Or maybe you prefer a parrot on your arm, a strong wind at your back? Adventure, treasure, intrigue, humor, romance, danger — and, yes, plunder! Oh, the Devil does love a pirate — and so do readers everywhere! Swashbuckling from the past into the future and space itself, Fast Ships, Black Sails, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, presents an incredibly entertaining volume of original stories guaranteed to make you walk and talk like a pirate.Table of Content"Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette"Castor on Troubled Waters" by Rhys Hughes"I Begyn as I Mean To Go On" by Kage Baker"Avast, Abaft!" by Howard Waldrop"Elegy to Gabrielle, Patron Saint of Healers, Whores, And Righteous Thieves" by Kelly Barnhill"Skillet and Saber" by Justin Howe"The Nymph's Child" by Carrie Vaughn"68° 07' 15"N, 31° 36' 44"W" by Conrad Williams"Ironface" by Michael Moorcock"Pirates Solutions" by Katherine Sparrow"We Sleep on Thousand Waves beneath the Stars" by Brendan Connell"Voyage of the Iguana" by Steve Aylett"Pirates of the Saura Sea" by David Freer & Eric Flint"A Cold Day in Hell" By Paul Batteiger"The Adventures of Captain Black Heart Wentworth" by Rachel Swirsky"Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake" by Naomi Novik"The Whale below" by Jayme Lynn Blaschke"Beyond the Seagate ff the Scholar-Pirate of Sarskoe" by Garth Nix-

    These stories describe the fall of civilization, the destruction of the entire Earth, or the end of the Universe itself.Contents:When we went to see the end of the world - Robert SilverbergThe End of the World - Sushma JoshiThe Clockwork Atom Bomb - Dominic GreenBloodletting - Kate WilhelmWhen Sysadmins ruled the World - Cory DoctorowThe Rain at the End of the World - Dale BaileyThe Flood - Linda NagataThe End of the World Show - David BarnettFermi and Frost - Frederik PohlSleepover - Alastair ReynoldsThe Last Sunset - Geoffrey LandisMoments of Inertia - William BartonThe Books - Kage BakerPallbearer - Robert ReedAnd the Deep Blue Sea - Elizabeth BearThe Meek - Damien BroderickThe Man who Walked Home - James Tiptree JRA Pail of Air - Fritz LeiberGuardians of the Phoenix - Eric BrownLife in the Anthropocene - Paul di FilippoTerraforming Terra - Jack WilliamsonWorld Without End - F Gwynplaine MacIntyreThe Children of Time - Stephen BaxterThe Star called Wormwood - Elizabeth Counihan

    Long before he was a novelist, SF writer Jay Lake, was an acclaimed writer of short stories.  In Last Plane to Heaven, Lake has assembled thirty-two of the best of them. Aliens and angels fill these pages, from the title story, a hard-edged and breathtaking look at how a real alien visitor might be received, to the savage truth of “The Cancer Catechisms.” Here are more than thirty short stories written by a master of the form, science fiction and fantasy both.This collection features an original introduction by Gene Wolfe.

    P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the 20th century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale.”—Stephen KingThe most important tales of the godfather of the modern horror genre—a master who influenced the works of a generation of writers including Stephen King and Anne Rice—are gathered in one volume by National Book Award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates.Combining the 19th-century gothic sensibility of Edgar Allan Poe with a daring internal vision, Lovecraft’s tales foretold a psychically troubled world to come. Set in a meticulously wrought, historically grounded New England landscape, his harrowing stories explore the collapse of sanity beneath the weight of chaotic events. Lovecraft’s universe is a frightening shadow world were reality and nightmare intertwine, and redemption can come only from below. For aficionados and a new generation of 21st-century readers , Tales of H. P. Lovecraft is a classic not to be missed.

    Aldiss; Michael Swanwick; Philip K. Dick; and Peter Hamilton. The collection includes tales of travel through space and time, aliens coming to Earth and the pull of black holes.

    With cover art by Bob Eggleton.Contents: Through darkest adolescence with Lois McMaster Bujold : or Thank you, but I already have a life / Lillian Stewart Carl — The adventure of the lady on the embankment — Barter — Garage sale — The hole truth — Dreamweaver’s dilemma — The mountains of mourning — My first novel — Beyond genre barriers — The unsung collaborator — Allegories of change — Biolog — Answers — Miles Naismith Vorkosigan : his universe and times / Suford Lewis — Towards a genealogy of Lord Miles Vorkosigan and other persons of interest / Suford Lewis — A pronunciation guide to names and places / Suford Lewis

    Readers only familiar with such masterpieces as The Dragonbone Chair and Talchaser’s Song will be delighted to discover that in his short fiction, Williams has been able to explore myriad new possibilities and adventures.Previously collected in multiauthor anthologies and limited hardcover editions, these superlative talks of dragons, super-soldiers, wizards, cyberpunks, heroes, and fools are now available together for the first time in an affordable trade paperback edition. These stories showcase the exhilarating breadth of Williams’ imagination, in stories hearkening to the tales of such classic fantasists as J. R. R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, Ray Bradbury, and Peter S. Beagle. Included is an original tale written specifically for this volume.The Very Best of Tad Williams is a true delight to those who have imagined themselves in fantastic worlds beyond the everyday and mundane.TABLE OF CONTENTSThe Old Scale GameThe Storm DoorThe Stranger’s HandsChild of an AncientCityThe Boy Detective of Oz: An Otherland StoryThree Duets for Virgin and NosehornDiary of a DragonNot with a Whimper, EitherSome Thoughts Re: Dark DestroyerZ is for...Monsieur Vergalant’s CanardThe Stuff that Dreams are Made OfFish Between FriendsEvery Fuzzy Beast of the Earth, Every Pink Fowl of the AirA Stark and Wormy KnightBlack SunshineAnd Ministers of Grace

    These stories are about the future, worlds beyond our own, the realms of our imaginations and dreams but, more importantly, they are the stories of ourselves. Featuring best-selling writers and emerging talents, here are some of the most exciting genre writers working today. Multi-award winning editor Jonathan Strahan once again brings you the best stories from the past year. Within you will find twenty-eight amazing tales from authors across the globe, displaying why science fiction and fantasy are genres increasingly relevant to our turbulent world.CONTENT “Tough Times All Over”, Joe Abercrombie “The Scrivener”, Eleanor Arnason “Moriabe’s Children”, Paolo Bacigalupi “Covenant”, Elizabeth Bear “Slipping”, Lauren Beukes “Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (The Successful Kind)”, Holly Black “Shadow Flock”, Greg Egan “The Truth About Owls”, Amal El-Mohtar “Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology”, Theodora Goss “Cold Wind”, Nicola Griffith “Someday”, James Patrick Kelly “Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No.8)”, Caitlin R Kiernan “Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They are Terrifying”, Alice Sola Kim “Amicae Aeternum”, Ellen Klages “Calligo Lane”, Ellen Klages “The Lady and the Fox”, Kelly Link “The Long Haul From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION”, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009”, Ken Liu “The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family”, Usman T Mailk “Four Days of Christmas”, Tim Maughan “The Fifth Dragon”, Ian McDonald “Shay Corsham Worsted”, Garth Nix “I Met a Man Who Wasn’t There”, K. J. Parker “Kheldyu”, Karl Schroeder “Tawny Petticoats”, Michael Swanwick “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)”, Rachel Swirsky “The Insects of Love”, Genevieve Valentine “Collateral”, Peter Watts “The Devil in America”, Kai Ashante Wilson