Contains: The Borders of InfinityBrothers in Arms Mirror DanceMiles Naismith--in the person of his two alter-egos Admiral Naismith and Lieutenant Lord Vorkosigan--embarks on a perilous series of adventures, from the liberation of Barrayaran allies from a Cetagandan POW camp to the rescue of clone children scheduled to be murdered for their bodies.

    Mistakes might be made, but they are never acknowledged, especially when billions of embezzled dollars earned from illegal weapons sales are at stake. But where does one run when all Earth and the planets are under the aegis of one government?

    Now, after twenty-one annual collections, comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies, The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction, in which legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the very best short stories for this landmark collection. Contributors include: * Stephen Baxter * Greg Bear * William Gibson * Terry Bisson * Pat Cadigan * Ted Chiang * John Crowley * Tony Daniel * Greg Egan * Molly Gloss * Eileen Gunn * Joe Haldeman * James Patrick Kelly * John Kessel * Nancy Kress * Ursula K. Le Guin * Ian R. MacLeod * David Marusek * Paul McAuley * Ian McDonald * Maureen F. McHugh * Robert Reed * Mike Resnick * Geoff Ryman * William Sander * Lucius Shepard * Robert Silverberg * Brian Stableford * Bruce Sterling * Charles Stross * Michael Swanwick * Steven Utley * Howard Waldrop * Walter Jon Williams * Connie Willis * Gene WolfeWith work spanning two decades, The Best of the Best stands as one of the ultimate science fiction anthologies ever published.Contents xi • Foreword (The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction) • essay by Robert Silverbergxvii • Preface (The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction) • essay by Gardner Dozois1 • Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear19 • A Cabin on the Coast • (1984) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe28 • Salvador • (1984) • shortstory by Lucius Shepard42 • Trinity • (1984) • novella by Nancy Kress78 • Flying Saucer Rock and Roll • (1985) • novelette by Howard Waldrop (aka Flying Saucer Rock & Roll)93 • Dinner in Audoghast • (1985) • shortstory by Bruce Sterling103 • Roadside Rescue • (1985) • shortstory by Pat Cadigan109 • Snow • (1985) • shortstory by John Crowley121 • The Winter Market • (1985) • novelette by William Gibson137 • The Pure Product • (1986) • novelette by John Kessel152 • Stable Strategies for Middle Management • (1988) • shortstory by Eileen Gunn162 • Kirinyaga • [Kirinyaga • 2] • (1988) • novelette by Mike Resnick177 • Tales from the Venia Woods • [Roma Eterna] • (1989) • shortstory by Robert Silverberg191 • Bears Discover Fire • (1990) • shortstory by Terry Bisson199 • Even the Queen • (1992) • shortstory by Connie Willis213 • Guest of Honor • (1993) • novelette by Robert Reed238 • None So Blind • (1994) • shortstory by Joe Haldeman246 • Mortimer Gray's History of Death • (1995) • novella by Brian Stableford (aka Mortimer Gray's "History of Death")293 • The Lincoln Train • (1995) • shortstory by Maureen F. McHugh303 • Wang's Carpets • (1995) • novelette by Greg Egan328 • Coming of Age in Karhide • [Hainish] • (1995) • novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin342 • The Dead • (1996) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick352 • Recording Angel • (1996) • shortstory by Ian McDonald363 • A Dry, Quiet War • (1996) • novelette by Tony Daniel380 • The Undiscovered • (1997) • novelette by William Sanders400 • Second Skin • (1997) • shortstory by Paul J. McAuley418 • Story of Your Life • (1998) • novella by Ted Chiang454 • People Came from Earth • (1999) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter464 • The Wedding Album • [Cathy] • (1999) • novella by David Marusek502 • 10 to 16 to 1 • (1999) • novelette by James Patrick Kelly (aka 1016 to 1)520 • Daddy's World • (1999) • novelette by Walter Jon Williams541 • The Real World • [Silurian Tales] • (2000) • shortstory by Steven Utley561 • Have Not Have • (2001) • novelette by Geoff Ryman577 • Lobsters • [Macx Family] • (2001) • novelette by Charles Stross597 • Breathmoss • (2002) • novella by Ian R. MacLeod647 • Lambing Season • (2002) • shortstory by Molly Gloss

    A spaceship from Earth accidentally crossed through a hole in space-time to a universe where the force of gravity is one billion times as strong as the gravity we know. Somehow the crew survived, aided by the fact that they emerged into a cloud of gas surrounding a black hole, which provided a breathable atmosphere. Five hundred years later, their descendants still struggle for existence, divided into two main groups. The Miners live on the Belt, a ramshackle ring of dwellings orbiting the core of a dead star, which they excavate for raw materials. These can be traded for food from the Raft, a structure built from the wreckage of the ship, on which a small group of scientists preserve the ancient knowledge which makes survival possible. Rees is a Miner whose curiosity about his world makes him stow away on a flying tree—just one of the many strange local lifeforms—carrying trade between the Belt and the Raft.

    We have only one option: create time-transfer technology ourselves, find the opposition's ancient source...and take it dawn.When small-time criminal Ross Murdock and Apache rancher Travis Fox stumble separately onto America's secret time travel project, Operation Retrograde, they are faced with a challenge greater than either could have imagined possible. Their mere presence means that they know too much to go free. But Murdock and Fox have a thirst for adventure, and Operation Retrograde offers that in spades.Both men will become time agents, finding reserves of inner heroism they had never expected. Their journeys will take the battle to the enemy, from ancient Britain to prehistoric America, and finally to the farthest reaches of interstellar space...

    Donaldson returns with this exciting and long-awaited new series that takes us into a stunningly imagined future to tell a timeless story of adventure and the implacable conflict of good and evil within each of us.Angus Thermopyle was an ore pirate and a murderer; even the most disreputable asteroid pilots of Delta Sector stayed locked out of his way.  Those who didn't ended up in the lockup--or dead.  But when Thermopyle arrived at Mallory's Bar & Sleep with a gorgeous woman by his side the regulars had to take notice.  Her name was Morn Hyland, and she had been a police officer--until she met up with Thermopyle.But one person in Mallory's Bar wasn't intimidated.  Nick Succorso had his own reputation as a bold pirate and he had a sleek frigate fitted for deep space.  Everyone knew that Thermopyle and Succorso were on a collision course.  What nobody expected was how quickly it would be over--or how devastating victory would be.  It was common enough example of rivalry and revenge--or so everyone thought.  The REAL story was something entirely different.In The Real Story, Stephen R. Donaldson takes us to a remarkably detailed world of faster-than-light travel, politics, betrayal, and a shadowy presence just outside our view to tell the fiercest, most profound story he has ever written.

    Morgan, god of battle and champion of the Fraterdom, was assassinated by his jealous brother, Amon. Over time, the Cult of Morgan has been surpassed by other gods, his blessings ignored in favor of brighter technologies and more mechanical miracles. Now, Eva watches as her new family, her Cult, crumbles around her.When a series of kidnappings and murders makes it clear that someone is trying to hasten the death of the Cult of Morgan, Eva must seek out unexpected allies and unwelcome answers in the city of Ash. But will she be able to save the city from a growing conspiracy, one that reaches back to her childhood, even back to the murder of her god?

    While looking for Gaby, he interrupts a bizarre trio as they are kidnapping her, and he is hurled into another, very weird, universe. His only hope is Doc Sidhe, this Art Deco universe's greatest champion of justice.

    Bella Lind and the crew of her nuclearpowered ship, the Rockhopper, push ice. They mine comets. But when Janus, one of Saturn's ice moons, inexplicably leaves its natural orbit and heads out of the solar system at high speed, Bella is ordered to shadow it for the few vital days before it falls forever out of reach. In accepting this mission she sets her ship and her crew on a collision course with destiny-for Janus has many surprises in store, and not all of them are welcome...

    He took hold of finger-thick cables and pushed their junction ends home into the sockets set in the back of his neck. As the egg continued to fill, he fit a mask over his face, felt its edges seal, and inhaled.

    Two archaeologists glean forbidden knowledge from the ruins of a dead world. Robot servants of ruling insectoid Klikiss guard the Klikiss Torch, which has the power to create suns. The reasons for the fall of the Klikiss empire may return.

    For a thousand years they have fled from an enemy that is bent on their annihilation. The only real defense is their home, a great station called the Grid with a faster than light drive that is unmatched for speed. Don is a Messenger not a hero. But ordinary men sometimes have a way of rising to a challenge. War is again coming to the Grid and fate will place him smack in the middle. Is Man ready for the 43rd Milgari war? Don Grange doesn't think so!

    When his turn comes to try to break through the traps protecting a spaceship it seems his day to die has come. The ship, and others like it, have already claimed the lives of hundreds of prisoners.Instead he manages to avoid the traps and gain access to the ship with two other prisoners, beginning a frantic flight to freedom. Soon Jess finds himself loose in a brutal universe ruled by the Empire and riddled with pirates, slave traders and worse. Can Jess manage to learn the rules of the universe and the capabilities of the ship he has stolen in time to stay alive?

    It is the era of the posthuman. Artificial intelligences have surpassed the limits of human intellect. Biotechnological beings have rendered people all but extinct. Molecular nanotechnology runs rampant, replicating and reprogramming at will. Contact with extraterrestrial life grows more imminent with each new day.Struggling to survive and thrive in this accelerated world are three generations of the Macx clan: Manfred, an entrepreneur dealing in intelligence amplification technology whose mind is divided between his physical environment and the Internet; his daughter, Amber, on the run from her domineering mother, seeking her fortune in the outer system as an indentured astronaut; and Sirhan, Amber's son, who finds his destiny linked to the fate of all of humanity.For something is systemically dismantling the nine planets of the solar system. Something beyond human comprehension. Something that has no use for biological life in any form.

    For the first time in one volume: every word Bruce Sterling has ever written on the Shapers-Mechanists Universe.In the last decade, Sterling has emerged a pioneer of crucial, cutting-edge science fiction. Now Ace Books is proud to offer Sterling's stunning world of the Schismatrix--where Shaper revolutionaries struggle against aristocratic Mechanists for ultimate control of man's destiny. This volume includes the classic full-length novel, Schismatrix, plus thousands of words of mind-bending short fiction.