Kipling is considered one of England's greatest writers, but was born in Bombay. He was educated in England, but returned to India in 1882, where he began writing fantasy and supernatural stories set in his native continent: "The Phantom Rickshaw," "The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes," and his most famous horror story, "The Mark of the Beast" (1890). This masterwork collection, edited by Stephen Jones (Britain's most accomplished and acclaimed anthologist) for the first time collects all of Kipling's fantastic fiction, ranging from traditional ghostly tales to psychological horror.

    Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure but violent purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse's bones—designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?Of such concepts and unforgettable images are made the twenty-eight stories in this collection—many published here for the first time. By turns speculative, satirical, and heart-wrenching, fresh in form and language, and featuring a cast of damaged yet hopeful seekers who come face-to-face with the deep weirdness of the world—and at times the deeper weirdness of themselves—Three Moments of an Explosion is a fitting showcase for one of our most original voices.

    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

    L. MooreSHIPWRECK IN THE SKY, by Eando BinderZEN, by Jerome BixbyTHE LITTLE BLACK BAG, by C.M. KornbluthLANCELOT BIGGS COOKS A PIRATE, by Nelson S. BondLIGHTER THAN YOU THINK, by Nelson BondTHE ISSAHAR ARTIFACTS, by J. F. BoneTHE NEXT LOGICAL STEP, by Ben BovaYEAR OF THE BIG THAW, by Marion Zimmer BradleyEARTHMEN BEARING GIFTS, by Fredric BrownHAPPY ENDING, by Fredric Brown and Mack ReynoldsMONSTERS OF MOYEN, by Arthur J. BurksACCIDENTAL DEATH, by Peter BailyAND ALL THE EARTH A GRAVE, by C. C. MacAppEGOCENTRIC ORBIT, by John CoryDEAD RINGER, by Lester del ReyTHE CRYSTAL CRYPT, by Philip K. DickTHE JUPITER WEAPON, by Charles L. FontenayTHE MAN WHO HATED MARS, by Randall GarrettNAVY DAY, by Harry HarrisonTHE JUDAS VALLEY, by Robert Silverberg & Randall GarrettNATIVE SON, by T. D. HammFINAL CALL, by John Gregory Betancourt

    Other outlandish tales include John Wayne battling cancer using a highly alternative therapy, a gene for integrity being harvested from the brain of an unwilling donor, and the landing of Christopher Columbus in modern-day Manhattan. Included are the Locus and Nebula Award-nominated novelette Auspicious Eggs and several previously unpublished pieces.ContentsIntroduction by Michael Swanwick“Auspicious Eggs”“Come Back, Dr. Sarcophagus”“Director’s Cut”“Fucking Justice”“Isabella of Castile Answers Her Mail”“Martyrs of the Upshot Knothole”“The Cat’s Pajamas”“The Eye That Never Blinks”“The Fate of Nations”“The War of the Worldviews”“The Wisdom of the Skin”“The Zombies of Montrose”

    God help the living.It's too late to run. The zombies are everywhere. They stalk through urban jungles and across the carefully manicured lawns of suburbia. They shudder to unlife on the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War and in the deepest tunnels of interstellar mining colonies. They lurk on your street, in you company boardroom, in your own bedroom. And they hunger.

    Hartwell returns with this fifth annual collection of the year's most imaginative, entertaining, and mind-expanding science fiction.Here are works from some of today's most acclaimed authors, as well as visionary new talents, that will introduce you to new ideas, offer unusual perspectives, and take you to places beyond your wildest imaginings. Contents xiii • Introduction (Year's Best SF 5) • (2000) • essay by David G. Hartwell 1 • Everywhere • (1999) • shortstory by Geoff Ryman 14 • Evolution Never Sleeps • (1999) • shortstory by Elisabeth Malartre 36 • Sexual Dimorphism • (1999) • shortstory by Kim Stanley Robinson 57 • Game of the Century • (1999) • novelette by Robert Reed 94 • Secrets of the Alien Reliquary • (1998) • poem by Michael Bishop 97 • Kinds of Strangers • (1999) • novelette by Sarah Zettel 124 • Visit the Sins • (1999) • shortstory by Cory Doctorow 145 • Border Guards • (1999) • novelette by Greg Egan 174 • Macs • (1999) • shortstory by Terry Bisson (aka macs) 186 • Written in Blood • (1999) • shortstory by Chris Lawson 204 • Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon? • (1999) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe 222 • The Blue Planet • (1999) • shortstory by Robert J. Sawyer 229 • Lifework • (1999) • shortstory by Mary Soon Lee 238 • Rosetta Stone • (2000) • shortstory by Fred Lerner 255 • An Apollo Asteroid • (1999) • shortstory by Brian W. Aldiss 271 • 100 Candles • (1999) • shortstory by Kurt Wohleber 288 • Democritus' Violin • (1999) • shortstory by G. David Nordley 311 • Fossil Games • (1999) • novelette by Tom Purdom 362 • Valour • (1999) • shortstory by Chris Beckett 379 • Huddle • [Manifold] • (1999) • novelette by Stephen Baxter 404 • Ashes and Tombstones • (1999) • shortstory by Brian Stableford [as by Brian M. Stableford ] 422 • Ancient Engines • (1999) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick 433 • Freckled Figure • (1992) • shortstory by Hiroe Suga 457 • Shiva • (1999) • shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg 466 • The Queen of Erewhon • (1999) • novelette by Lucy Sussex

    Young heroes and heroines battle evils with the help of supernatural or super-technological powers, each individual story perfectly balancing historical and fantastical elements. Throw in epic romances that transcend time, and this trendy, engrossing anthology is sure to become another hit for the fast-growing Steampunk genre!This collection features some of the hottest writers in the teen genre, including: Ann Aguirre, Jaclyn Dolamore, Tessa Gratton, Frewin Jones, Caitlin Kittredge, Adrienne Kress, Lesley Livingston, Dru Pagliassotti, Dia Reeves, Michael Scott, Maria V. Snyder, Tiffany Trent, and Kiersten White.

    Anderson has cleared away the dross and shown us the golden roots of fantasy before it became a genre.”–Michael Moorcock, author of The Eternal ChampionMany of today’s top names in fantasy acknowledge J.R.R. Tolkien as the author whose work inspired them to create their own epics. But which writers influenced Tolkien himself? In a collection destined to become a classic in its own right, internationally recognized Tolkien expert Douglas A. Anderson, editor of The Annotated Hobbit, has gathered the fiction of the many gifted authors who sparked Tolkien’s imagination. Included are Andrew Lang’s romantic swashbuckler “The Story of Sigurd,” which features magic rings and a ferocious dragon; an excerpt from E. A. Wyke-Smith’s The Marvelous Land of Snergs, about creatures who were precursors to Tolkien’s hobbits; and a never-before-published gem by David Lindsay, author of A Voyage to Arcturus, a novel that Tolkien praised highly both as a thriller and as a work of philosophy, religion, and morality.In stories packed with magical journeys, conflicted heroes, and terrible beasts, this extraordinary volume is one that no fan of fantasy or Tolkien should be without. These tales just might inspire a new generation of creative writers.

    Trouble was, he didn’t ask Rose what she thought of the idea.It’s been more than sixty years since that night, and she’s still sixteen, and she’s still running.They have names for her all over the country: the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Silk Gown. Mostly she just goes by “Rose,” a hitchhiking ghost girl with her thumb out and her eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to outrace a man who never sleeps, never stops, and never gives up on the idea of claiming what’s his. She’s the angel of the overpass, she’s the darling of the truck stops, and she’s going to figure out a way to win her freedom. After all, it’s not like it can kill her.You can’t kill what’s already dead.