G. Ballard, Arthur C. Clarke, Alastair Reynolds, and Geoffrey Landis.Contents:Out of the sun / Arthur C. Clarke --The Pevatron rats / Stephen Baxter --The edge of the map / Ian Creasey --Cascade Point / Timothy Zahn --A dance to strange musics / Gregory Benford --Palindromic / Peter Crowther --Castle in the sky / Robert Reed --The hole in the hole / Terry Bisson --Hotrider / Keith Brooke --Mother grasshopper / Michael Swanwick --Waves and smart magma / Paul Di Filippo --The black hole passes / John Varley --The peacock king / Ted White, Larry McCombs --Bridge / James Blish --Anhedonia / Adam Roberts --Tiger burning / Alastair Reynolds --The width of the world / Ian Watson --Our lady of the sauropods / Robert Silverberg --Into the Miranda Rift / G. David Nordley --The rest is speculation / Eric Brown --Vacuum states / Geoffrey A. Landis

    From the summer isles to the mysterious people next door all the way to the odd guy one cubicle over, Hand teases apart the dark strangenesses of everyday life to show us the impossibilities, broken dreams, and improbable dreams that surely can never come true.“Ten evocative novellas and stories whisper of hidden mysteries carved on the bruised consciousness of victims and victimizers. Memories and love are as dangerous as the supernatural, and Hand often denies readers neat conclusions, preferring disturbing ambiguity. The Hugo-nominated “The Maiden Flight of McCauley’s Bellerophon” marries science fiction and magical realism as three men recreate a legendary aircraft’s doomed flight for a dying woman. A grieving widower in “Near Zennor” unearths a secret of spectral kidnapping in an ancient countryside. “Hungerford Bridge,” a lesser piece, shares a secret that can only be enjoyed twice in one’s life. Celtic myth and human frailty entangle in the darkly romantic “The Far Shore.” The vicious nature of romantic love is dissected with expressionistic abandon in the dreamlike “Summerteeth.” Hand’s outsiders haunt themselves, the forces of darkness answering to the calls of their battered souls. Yet strange hope clings to these surreal elegies, insisting on the power of human emotion even in the shadow of despair. Elegant nightmares, sensuously told.”—Publishers WeeklyTable of ContentsThe Maiden Flight of McCauley’s BellerophonNear Zennor (a Shirley Jackson Award winner)Hungerford BridgeThe Far ShoreWinter’s WifeCruel Up NorthSummerteethThe Return of the Fire WitchUncle LouErrantryElizabeth Hand's novels include Shirley Jackson Award–winner Generation Loss, Mortal Love, and Available Dark.

    Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including:Stephen Baxter, M.Shayne Bell, Rick Cook, Albert E. Cowdrey, Tananarive Due, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Peter F. Hamilton, Earnest Hogan, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Ian McDonald, Susan Palwick, Severna Park, Alastair Reynolds, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Robert Charles WilsonSupplementing the stories is the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.

    but the war still goes on!Backed by a cadre of SS officers, Himmler seizes control of the Reich and instigates a plan to change the course of the war.First, an armistice with Russia.Second, the mass production of jet fighters.And third, the appointment of legendary "Desert Fox" Erwin Rommel to the European theater, leading to a very different Battle of the Bulge where he must confront "Blood n Guts" George Patton in a campaign that will determine the fate of Europe . . . and possibly the entire free world.

    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.

    But when the world gets weird, there's no one who's better to have on your side...Is a renegade dragon harassing the men laying the rails of the great railroad? Are headless Indian spirits driving you from your land? Is that volcano threatening to destroy your settlement? Then Mad Amos is the man for you.Plus, two new, never-before-published stories in the Mad Amos canon:NEITHER A BORROWER BE: When a horse thief sets his sights on stealing Amos' faithful mount Worthless, he gets more than he expects...for Worthless isn't exactly an ordinary horse...THE PURL OF THE PACIFIC: Mad Amos takes to the high seas on a whale of an adventure and thwarts a vengeful South Pacific island shaman at his own game...Ten delightful stories of dragons, jackalopes, snake-oil salesmen, iron horses, and, of course, the incomparable Mad Amos Malone from the incredible imagination of world-class storyteller and bestselling author Alan Dean Foster!

    There's nothing inconstant about this Moon; a fact that shines forth brightly in all her Phases.Contents:Bargains --ABCs in Zero G --A delicate adjustment --Too wet to plow --Gut feelings --The generic rejuvenation of Milo Ardry --New World Symphony --Just another day at the weather service --Politics --In suspect terrain --The happy frog --Horse of her dreams --Knight of other days --Aura --Those who walk in darkness.

    But if, by chance, an insider led you to the White Hart on a Wednesday night, you would have found yourself in the midst of a select gathering or writers, editors, scientists and interested laymen—drinking, swapping odd bits of information, and, like as not, listening to Harry Purvis' memorable stories. A scientist by profession, Harry Purvis has had or heard about some of the most astonishing experiences—like the story of the carnivorous orchid that was used in a murder plot, or the one about the military computer that was converted to pacifism. There's SILENCE PLEASE, involving a spurned lover and a device that was supposed to destroy sound; and BIG GAME HUNT, in which an ambitious researcher becomes so wrapped up in his latest projest—controlling animal behavior with electrical impulses— that he overlooks one tiny important detail. Such stories may challenge your powers of logic and strain your imagination. Yet even if you doubt their veracity, they're guaranteed to provide you with hours of SF reading. Baron Munchausen, step aside.Contains: Silence Please; Big Game Hunt; Patent Pending; Armaments Race; Critical Mass; The Ultimate Melody; The Pacifist; The Next Tenants; Moving Spirit; The Man Who Ploughed the Sea; The Reluctant Orchid; Cold War; What Goes Up; Sleeping Beauty & The Defenestration of Ermintrude

    When a headstrong peasant girl burning to avenge her murdered family demands that he train her, Saukendar is faced with a momentous choice. Send Taizu away, never see her again--or join her and destroy the tyrant who has nearly destroyed them both.

    Book One of a new Series (Year's Best Military and Adventure SF), featuring the best stories of the year from the top magazine and online venues with a military and adventure science fiction theme. With an introduction by best-selling military science fiction author David Drake and selected by editor David Afsharirad from the top short story markets in the field, here are the most thrilling, pulse-pounding, and thought-provoking stories of the past year. Stories of future military men and women, space opera on a grand scale, and edge-of-your-seat adventure tales in the pulp tradition, from giants of the genre to brilliant up-and-comers.Contents: Preface (The Year's Best Military SF & Space Opera) • essay by David Afsharirad Excitement! Adventure! Science Fiction! • essay by David Drake Codename: Delphi [The Red] (2014) / short story by Linda Nagata Persephone Descending (2014) / novelette by Derek Kunsken The End of the Silk Road (2014) / novelette by David D. Levine Picket Ship (2014) / novelette by Brad R.Torgersen Decaying Orbit (2014) / short story by Robert R. Chase Morrigan in the Sunglare (2014) / short story by Seth Dickinson Light and Shadow (2014) / short story by Linda Nagata Icarus at Noon (2014) / short story by Eric Leif Davin Soft Casualty [Freehold Short Fiction] (2014) / short story by Michael Z. Williamson Palm Strike's Last Case (2014) / novelette by Charlie Jane Anders Brood (2013) / novelette by Stephen Gaskell Stealing Arturo (2014) / novelette by William Ledbetter Rules of Engagement (2014) / novelette by Matthew Johnson Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind) (2014) / novelette by Holly Black War Dog (2014) / short story by Mike Barretta [as by Michael Barretta].

    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

    The Nazis have supermen, the British have demons, and one perfectly normal man gets caught in betweenRaybould Marsh is a British secret agent in the early days of the Second World War, haunted by something strange he saw on a mission during the Spanish Civil War: a German woman with wires going into her head who looked at him as if she knew him.When the Nazis start running missions with people who have unnatural abilities--a woman who can turn invisible, a man who can walk through walls, and the woman Marsh saw in Spain who can use her knowledge of the future to twist the present--Marsh is the man who has to face them. He rallies the secret warlocks of Britain to hold the impending invasion at bay. But magic always exacts a price. Eventually, the sacrifice necessary to defeat the enemy will be as terrible as outright loss would be.Alan Furst meets Alan Moore in the opening of an epic of supernatural alternate history, the tale of a twentieth century like ours and also profoundly different.

    AldissAn invasion of invisible monsters strikes terror on an English farm.HE WHO SHAPES, by Roger ZelaznyThe science of tomorrow makes possible a new kind of psychiatrist--one who can enter another human mind and reshape it...if he dares!THE DOORS OF HIS FACE, THE LAMPS OF HIS MOUTH, by Roger ZelaznyA man measures his courage against a Venusian sea monster the size of a thirty-story building."REPENT, HARLEQUIN!" SAID THE TICKTOCKMAN, by Harlan EllisonA John Birch world of the future where tardiness takes time off your life, and a joker who's never on time throws jelly-beans into the clockworks.Four Distinguised Runners-up:THE DROWNED GIANT, by J.G. BallardCOMPUTERS DON'T ARGUE, by Gordon R. DicksonBECALMED IN HELL, by Larry NivenBALANCED ECOLOGY, by James H. Schmitz"The stories in this book...show the quality of modern science fiction, its range, and, I think, its growing depth and maturity. Science fiction has come a long way." --DAMON KNIGHTContents ix • Introduction (Nebula Award Stories) • (1966) • essay by Damon Knight 1 • The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth • (1965) • novelette by Roger Zelazny 34 • Balanced Ecology • (1965) • shortstory by James H. Schmitz 53 • "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman • (1965) • shortstory by Harlan Ellison 65 • He Who Shapes • (1965) • novella by Roger Zelazny 151 • Computers Don't Argue • (1965) • shortstory by Gordon R. Dickson 165 • Becalmed in Hell • [Known Space] • (1965) • shortstory by Larry Niven 178 • The Saliva Tree • (1965) • novella by Brian W. Aldiss 234 • The Drowned Giant • (1964) • shortstory by J. G. Ballard

    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

    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