The End is Nigh


John Joseph AdamsNancy Kress - 2014
    Death. War. Pestilence. These are the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse, of the End of the World. In science fiction, the end is triggered by less figurative means: nuclear holocaust, biological warfare/pandemic, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm.But before any catastrophe, there are people who see it coming. During, there are heroes who fight against it. And after, there are the survivors who persevere and try to rebuild. THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH will tell their stories.Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and bestselling author Hugh Howey, THE APOCALYPSE TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic fiction. THE END IS NIGH focuses on life before the apocalypse. THE END IS NOW turns its attention to life during the apocalypse. And THE END HAS COME focuses on life after the apocalypse.THE END IS NIGH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Paolo Bacigalupi, Jamie Ford, Seanan McGuire, Tananarive Due, Jonathan Maberry, Robin Wasserman, Nancy Kress, Charlie Jane Anders, Ken Liu, and many others.

Rise: A Newsflesh Collection


Mira Grant - 2016
    We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, a man-made virus taking over bodies and minds, filling them with one, unstoppable command...FEED.Countdown"Everglades"San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California BrowncoatsHow Green This Land, How Blue This SeaThe Day the Dead Came to Show and TellPlease Do Not Taunt the OctopusAll the Pretty Little HorsesComing to You Live

Memory's Legion


James S.A. Corey - 2022
    A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse series is available in this collection* — includes a brand new novella. Now a major television series.Contents:Drive (2012)The Butcher of Anderson Station (2011)The Churn (2014)Gods of Risk (2012)The Vital Abyss (2015)Strange Dogs (2017)Auberon (2019)Memory’s Legion (2022)*does not include The Last Flight of the Cassandra

The Barbie Murders


John Varley - 1980
    Amazing and creative pieces of imagination and wonder from an articulate and very human science fiction writer. On the Moon, they're altering bodies so everyone can look exactly alike; they're turning Pluto into an amusement park; a cult of zealots is painting the second ring of Saturn red; a man is enjoying his second childhood; there's a living black hole; and on Earth, they're reading...Contents: Bagatelle [Anna-Louise Bach] (1976) / novelette by John Varley · Galaxy Oct ’76 The Funhouse Effect [Eight Worlds] (1976) / novelette by John Varley · F&SF Dec ’76 The Barbie Murders [Anna-Louise Bach] (1978) / novelette by John Varley · IASFM Jan/Feb ’78 Equinoctial [Eight Worlds] (1977) / novella by John Varley · Ascents of Wonder, ed. David Gerrold, Popular Library, 1977 Manikins (1976) / short story by John Varley · Amazing Jan ’76 Beatnik Bayou [Eight Worlds] (1980) / novelette by John Varley · New Voices III, ed. George R. R. Martin, Berkley, 1980 Good-Bye, Robinson Crusoe [Eight Worlds] (1977) / novelette by John Varley · IASFM Spr ’77 Lollipop and the Tar Baby [Eight Worlds] (1977) / novelette by John Varley · Orbit 19, ed. Damon Knight, Harper & Row, 1977 Picnic on Nearside [Eight Worlds] (1974) / novelette by John Varley · F&SF Aug ’74.

METAtropolis: The Dawn of Uncivilization


John ScalziAlessandro Juliani - 2008
    The results are individual glimpses of a shared vision, and a reading experience unlike any you've had before.A strange man comes to an even stranger encampment...a bouncer becomes the linchpin of an unexpected urban movement...a courier on the run has to decide who to trust in a dangerous city...a slacker in a "zero-footprint" town gets a most unusual new job...and a weapons investigator uses his skills to discover a metropolis hidden right in front of his eyes.Welcome to the future of cities. Welcome to Metatropolis.Contents:Introduction (METAtropolis) - essay by John ScalziIn the Forests of the Night - novella by Jay LakeStochasti-city - novella by Tobias S. BuckellThe Red in the Sky Is Our Blood - novelette by Elizabeth BearUtere Nihil Non Extra Quiritationem Suis - novella by John ScalziTo Hie from Far Cilenia - novella by Karl Schroeder

Aurora Resonant: The Complete Collection


G.S. Jennsen - 2018
    The true universe is unfathomably vast, teeming with life and untold wonders. And it is enslaved.Created by ancient aliens in a daring gambit to understand the nature of the enemy, humanity is now asked to be the savior of a universe not their own. If they are to succeed, they must rise above not only their fractious past but the sins of their genetic ancestors to boldly embrace a future they never dared imagine possible.*RELATIVITY"I'd tell you to be careful, but we wouldn't be here if you'd ever taken that advice. No reason to start now, right?"For millennia the Anadens have ruled the known universe. They believe they've crafted the perfect empire, ordered and impervious to challenge. They believe the fight has been crushed out of the species they subjugate. They are wrong.It's a suicide mission, without a doubt. Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano must steal crucial intelligence from the Anadens' central military headquarters. To succeed, they'll need to navigate a strange universe ruled by a cabal of powerful immortals, populated by aliens they've never met and fueled by technology they've never seen. They're going to need a little help--the kind of help only a suicidally defiant anarchist on the run from more than just personal demons can provide.*RUBICON"We are you--the you that you could have been."The Anaden Directorate has ruled Amaranthe for millennia, subjugating species and galaxies in a neverending quest for control and order. For as many millennia, the anarchs have rebelled, defiantly claiming their own freedom yet without hope of winning it for everyone. Now, an alliance with humans offers a tantalizing chance to at last defeat their immortal masters. But can they trust an ally who looks suspiciously like the enemy?Humanity is the genetic recreation of the Anadens, but genetics aren't everything. Humans like to make their own destiny, and they have overcome great challenges to achieve unprecedented peace and prosperity. But have their trials prepared them for the enemy they now face?"The battle for the heart and soul of Amaranthe will be joined, and we must be unafraid."Amidst the chaos of an escalating war, Caleb's bond with the mysterious diati grows ever more powerful, even as Alex's forays into the hidden dimensions of the universe lead them to unfathomable places. But when the anarchs are pushed to the breaking point and the AEGIS fleet is dealt a devastating blow, Miriam Solovy must find a way to defeat a foe wielding superior technology, firepower and numbers, or else more than one civilization will be lost.*REQUIEMThe end of the world began with a library query...how will it conclude?What began as a chance discovery of an anomalous signal is now a multiverse war between humanity and its genetic ancestors over who controls the levers of life and death. Over who decides what life is and whether it will be allowed to exist. For the ruling Anaden Directorate, victory means immortality. For humanity, defeat means extinction.

Glitter & Mayhem


John KlimaTansy Rayner Roberts - 2013
    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

Zima Blue and Other Stories


Alastair Reynolds - 2006
    Short story collection by the critically acclaimed author of Revelation Space and Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2016


John Joseph AdamsMaria Dahvana Headley - 2016
    Valente, Dexter Palmer and others KAREN JOY FOWLER, guest editor, is the author of six novels and four short story collections, including We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. She is the winner of the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, and has won numerous Nebula and World Fantasy awards. JOHN JOSEPH ADAMS, series editor, is the best-selling editor of more than two dozen anthologies, including Brave New Worlds and Wastelands. He is the editor and publisher of the digital magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare and is the editor of John Joseph Adams Books, a new science fiction/fantasy novel imprint from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Table of Contents:"Meet Me in Iram" by Sofia Samatar"The Game of Smash and Recovery" by Kelly Link"Interesting Facts" by Adam Johnson"Planet Lion" by Catherynne M. Valente"The Apartment Dweller’s Bestiary" by Kij Johnson"By Degrees and Dilatory Time" by S.L. Huang"The Mushroom Queen" by Liz Ziemska"The Daydreamer by Proxy" by Dexter Palmer"Tea Time" by Rachel Swirsky"Headshot" by Julian Mortimer Smith"The Duniazát" by Salman Rushdie"No Placeholder for You, My Love" by Nick Wolven"The Thirteen Mercies" by Maria Dahvana Headley"Lightning Jack’s Last Ride" by Dale Bailey"Things You Can Buy for a Penny" by Will Kaufman"Rat Catcher’s Yellows" by Charlie Jane Anders"The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History" by Sam J. Miller"Three Bodies at Mitanni" by Seth Dickinson"Ambiguity Machines: an Examination" by Vandana Singh"The Great Silence" by Ted Chiang

The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge


Vernor Vinge - 2001
    He is now one of the most celebrated science fiction writers in the field , having won the field's top award, the Hugo, for each of his last two novels.Now, for the first time, this illustrious author gathers all his short fiction into a single volume. This collection is truly the definitive Vinge, capturing his visionary ideas at their very best. It also contains a never-before-published novella, one that represents precisely what this collection encapsulates--bold, unique, challenging science fictional ideas brought to vivid life with compelling storytelling.Including such major pieces as "The Ungoverned" and "The Blabber," this sumptuous volume will satisfy any reader who loves the sense of wonder, and the excitement of great SF.The volume collects Vinge's short fiction through 2001 (except "True Names", including Vinge's comments from the earlier two volumes.)Contents:"Bookworm, Run!""The Accomplice""The Peddler's Apprentice" (with Joan D. Vinge)"The Ungoverned""Long Shot""Apartness""Conquest by Default""The Whirligig of Time""Bomb Scare""The Science Fair""Gemstone""Just Peace" (with William Rupp)"Original Sin""The Blabber""Win A Nobel Prize!" (originally published in Nature, Vol 407 No 6805 "Futures")"The Barbarian Princess" (this is also the first section of "Tatja Grimm's World")"Fast Times at Fairmont High" (occurs in the same milieu as Rainbows End) (winner 2002 Hugo Award for Best Novella)

Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century


Kim Fu - 2022
    Each story builds a new world all its own: a group of children steal a haunted doll; a runaway bride encounters a sea monster; a vendor sells toy boxes that seemingly control the passage of time; an insomniac is seduced by the Sandman. These visions of modern life wrestle with themes of death and technological consequence, guilt and sexuality, and unmask the contradictions that exist within all of us.  Mesmerizing, electric, and wholly original, Kim Fu’s Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century blurs the boundaries of the real and fantastic, offering intricate and surprising insights into human nature.

Duel


Richard Matheson - 1971
    It was Thursday and unseasonably hot for April. He had his suitcoat off, his tie removed and shirt collar opened, his sleeve cuffs folded back. There was sunlight on his left arm and on part of his lap. He could feel the heat of it through his dark trousers as he drove along the two-lane highway. For the past twenty minutes, he had not seen another vehicle going in either direction.Then he saw the truck...

Shatterday


Harlan Ellison - 1978
    In these and other thought-provoking stories, legendary author Harlan Ellison dissects the primal fears and inherent frailties common to all people and gives voice to the thoughts and feelings human beings bury deep within their souls. Unflinching and unapologetic, Ellison depicts men and women in all their ugliness and beauty, and humanity in all its fury and glory. Stories include “Introduction: Mortal Dreads,” “Jeffty Is Five,” “How’s the Night Life on Cissalda?,” “Flop Sweat,” “Would You Do it For a Penny?” (written in collaboration with Haskell Barkin), “The Man Who Was Heavily Into Revenge,” “Shoppe Keeper,” “All the Lies That Are My Life,” “Django,” “Count the Clock That Tells the Time,” “In the Fourth Year of the War,” “Alive and Well on a Friendless Voyage,” “All the Birds Come Home to Roost,” “Opium,” “The Other Eye of Polyphemus,” “The Executioner of the Malformed Children,” and “Shatterday.”

Help Fund my Robot Army!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects


John Joseph AdamsScott Sigler - 2014
    But one thing all of those campaigns—boringly!—had in common was: They abided by the physical laws of the universe! HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! is an anthology of science fiction/fantasy stories told in the form of fictional crowdfunding project pitches, using the components (and restrictions) of the format to tell the story. This includes but is not limited to: Project Goals, Rewards, User Comments, Project Updates, FAQs, and more. The idea is to replicate the feel of reading a crowdfunding pitch, so that even though the projects may be preposterous in the real world, they will feel like authentic crowdfunding projects as much as possible.So if what you’ve always been looking for in a Kickstarter—and couldn’t find—was a project that allowed you to SUMMON DEMONS, DEFY GRAVITY, WIELD MAGIC, or VIOLATE CAUSALITY, then HELP FUND MY ROBOT ARMY!!! & Other Improbable Crowdfunding Projects may be just the thing you’ve been looking for.

Get Off the Unicorn


Anne McCaffrey - 1977
    A wonderful writer, as well as successful and beloved by fans across the world, Anne McCaffrey has created an exciting collection of telepaths, secret gifts, dangerous missions, dragonriders, and more.Contents:Lady in the Tower.--A Meeting of Minds.--Daughter.--Dull Drums.--Changeling.--Weather on Welladay.--The Thorns of Barevi.--Horse From a Different Sea.--Great Canine Chorus.--Finder's Keeper.--A Proper Santa Claus.--The Smallest Dragonboy.--Apple.--Honeymoon.