In 2005 the original Best of the Best collected the finest short stories from that series and became a benchmark in the SF field. Now, for the first time ever, Hugo Award-winning editor Gardner Dozios sifts through hundreds of stories and dozens of authors who have gone on to become some of the most esteemed practitioners of the form, to bring readers the ultimate anthology of short science fiction novels from his legendary series. Included are such notable short novels as: Sailing to Byzantium by Robert SilverbergIn the fiftieth century, people of Earth are able to create entire cities on a whim, including those of mythology and legend. When twentieth-century traveler Charles Philip accidentally lands in this aberrant time period, he is simultaneously obsessed with discovering more about this alluring world and getting back home. But in a world made entirely of man's creation, things are not always as they seem on the surface. Forgiveness Day by Ursula K. Le GuinLe Guin returns to her Hainish-settled interstellar community, the Edumen, to tell the tale of two star-crossed lovers who are literally worlds apart in this story of politics, violence, religion, and cultural disparity. Turquoise Days by Alastair ReynoldsOn a sea-wold planet covered with idyllic tropical oceans, peace seems pervasive. Beneath the placid water lurks an ominous force that has the potential to destroy all tranquility. Contributors include: Greg Egan; Joe Haldeman; James Patrick Kelly; Nancy Kress; Ursula K. Le Guin; Ian R. MacLeod; Ian McDonald; Maureen F. McHugh; Frederick Pohl; Alastair Reynolds; Robert Silverberg; Michael Swanwick; Walter Jon Williams With work spanning two decades, The Best of the Best, Volume 2 stands as the ultimate anthology of short science fiction novels ever published in the world.ContentsBeggars in Spain • [Sleepless] • (1991) • novella by Nancy KressForgiveness Day • [Yeowe and Werel • 2] • (1994) • novella by Ursula K. Le GuinGriffin's Egg • (1991) • novella by Michael SwanwickMr. Boy • (1990) • novella by James Patrick KellyNew Light on the Drake Equation • (2001) • novella by Ian R. MacLeodOceanic • (1998) • novella by Greg EganOutnumbering the Dead • (1990) • novella by Frederik PohlSailing to Byzantium • (1985) • novella by Robert SilverbergSurfacing • (1988) • novella by Walter Jon WilliamsTendeléo's Story • [Chaga] • (2000) • novella by Ian McDonaldThe Cost to Be Wise • (1996) • novelette by Maureen F. McHughThe Hemingway Hoax • (1990) • novella by Joe HaldemanTurquoise Days • [Revelation Space] • (2002) • novella by Alastair Reynolds

    Qiouyi Lu, reprinted fiction by Kameron Hurley, essays by Sam J. Miller, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Shveta Thakrar, Dawn Xiana Moon, and Paul Booth, poetry by Cassandra Khaw, Brandon O’Brien, Bogi Takács, and Lisa M. Bradley, interviews with Stephen Graham Jones and Sarah Pinsker by Julia Rios, a cover by Julie Dillon, and an editorial by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.

    "Robin Hobb" and "Megan Lindholm" are both pseudonyms used by California-born Margaret Ogden, who from 1983 to 1992, published exclusively as Lindholm. This generous, 400-page hardcover original brings together short stories and novellas penned under both authorial bylines. As Hobb herself notes, "their" writing and styles differ in significant ways. (P.S. This collection includes stories previously unpublished in the United States.)

    It tells of Keevan, a boy who is a candidate for Ramoth's latest clutch in Benden Weyr. Keevan is shorter than the other candidates, and is teased about this by Beterli, a boy who has stood for eight Impressions and has not been chosen. Keevan works hard but his size leads most to underestimate his abilities. When he overhears some of the senior dragonriders talking about dropping some of the younger candidates from the Impression, Keevan automatically thinks he will be dropped.Was included in Get off The Unicorn collection.

     Hap Collins and Leonard Pine are up to their ears in trouble once more, when a kinky, psychotherapist client and her household end up dead with a crazy, nymphomaniac niece as the main suspect. Hap is facing his own inner crisis, wavering between a shrink and a little blue pill, while his lover Brett and his best friend Leonard speculate on a colorful variety of causes and cures. When he opts for neither, ignoring his doctor's advice to call a shrink, she calls him instead and the team is off to the races, facing off with a wide array of odd relationships, crazed florists and murder. Action like only Joe R. Lansdale and Hap & Leonard can provide.

    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

    Included are the uniforms, traditions, honors, histories and ship data of the navy, most of which in rich color. Service uniforms, battle armor, personal weapons, unit organization and tactics are all explained in detail.

    Only when a dose of poison lands in the governor-general's whiskey does it become clear that the "geeks" have had it up to their double-lidded eyeballs with the imperialist Terran Federation's Chartered Uller Company. Then, overnight, war is everywhere. How it will end is in the (merely) two Terran hands of the new governor-general, a man shrewd enough to know that "it is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." The problem is, the particular piece of knowledge he needs hasn't been used in 450 years. . . .

    They're notorious as heroes and killers—the greatest demon hunting team to ever live. But they're getting tired of fighting.Now a Goddess of Death is driving the world toward destruction. When her doomsday clock reaches twelve, the barriers between Hell and Earth will be ripped away and bring humanity to extinction.The clock just struck nine.The world is running out of time.

    All he can do is try to keep the rest of it out of their hands, in Harry Turtledove's Vilcabamba.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    Fighting alongside the Raven Guard Legion, Marcus Valerius of the Therion Cohort has long scorned those who seek to deify the Emperor, but a flash of inspiration leads him to question whether or not there are greater forces at work in the universe...

    Forced to combat enemies without and within, they strive to overcome the odds under the watchful eye of an unwelcome guest: Drake, agent of the bank funding their expedition, who is far more than he seems and may represent the greatest threat of all.“Intrigue and action in this high octane collision between Firefly, the Bourne films and Indiana Jones. A two-fisted SF adventure, space opera as it should be written!” – Gavin Smith, author of Veteran“It is his characters who live through the story and make the reader need to know just how it’s all going to pan out, human characters who may seem familiar but then there’s that one thing, that shifted alteration that changes the world and changes the reader too.” – Interzone

    Highly recommended.”—N.K. Jemisin, New York Times Book ReviewNeil Clarke, publisher of the award-winning Clarkesworld magazine, presents a collection of thought-provoking and galaxy-spanning array of galactic short science fiction.From E. E. "Doc" Smith’s Lensman, to George Lucas’ Star Wars, the politics and process of Empire have been a major subject of science fiction’s galaxy-spanning fictions. The idiom of the Galactic Empire allows science fiction writers to ask (and answer) questions that are shorn of contemporary political ideologies and allegiances. This simple narrative slight of hand allows readers and writers to see questions and answers from new and different perspectives.The stories in this book do just that. What social, political, and economic issues do the organizing structure of “empire” address? Often the size, shape, and fates of empires are determined not only by individuals, but by geography, natural forces, and technology. As the speed of travel and rates of effective communication increase, so too does the size and reach of an Imperial bureaucracy. Sic itur ad astra—“Thus one journeys to the stars.”At the beginning of the twentieth century, writers such as Kipling and Twain were at the forefront of these kinds of narrative observations, but as the century drew to a close, it was writers like Iain M. Banks who helped make science fiction relevant. That tradition continues today, with award-winning writers like Ann Leckie, whose 2013 debut novel Ancillary Justice hinges upon questions of imperialism and empire.Here then is a diverse collection of stories that asks the questions that science fiction asks best. Empire: How? Why? And to what effect?Table of Contents:- “Winning Peace” by Paul J. McAuley- “Night’s Slow Poison” by Ann Leckie- “All the Painted Stars” by Gwendolyn Clare- “Firstborn” by Brandon Sanderson- “Riding the Crocodile” by Greg Egan- “The Lost Princess Man” by John Barnes- “The Waiting Stars” by Aliette de Bodard- “Alien Archeology” by Neal Asher- “The Muse of Empires Lost” by Paul Berger- “Ghostweight” by Yoon Ha Lee- “A Cold Heart” by Tobias S. Buckell- “The Colonel Returns to the Stars” by Robert Silverberg- “The Impossibles” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch- “Utriusque Cosmi” by Robert Charles Wilson- “Section Seven” by John G. Hemry- “The Invisible Empire of Ascending Light” by Ken Scholes- “The Man with the Golden Balloon” by Robert Reed- “Looking Through Lace” by Ruth Nestvold- “A Letter from the Emperor” by Steve Rasnic Tem- “The Wayfarer’s Advice” by Melinda M. Snodgrass- “Seven Years from Home” by Naomi Novik- “Verthandi’s Ring” by Ian McDonaldSkyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

    He lives for the moment each day when the window of his dungeon cell shines a bit of light onto his bearded face.But everything changes when he gets a new neighbor--a young girl with a voice as beautiful as the springrise.They both know the rules: No singing. No speaking. Voices are dangerous. But they can't help themselves. And soon enough, Errik begins to remember himself, why he's here in this dark place, and why his captors will stop at nothing to ensure his silence.

    It was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 2004.