Search Worlds Without End

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Ian Watson and Pamela Sargent
• The American Book of the Dead - novelette by Jody Scott
• Time of Passage - (1964) - shortstory by J. G. Ballard
• Of Space-Time and the River - (1985) - novelette by Gregory Benford
• Out of My Head - novelette by James E. Gunn
• A Work of Art - (1956) - novelette by James Blish
• The Rapture - poem by Thomas M. Disch
• Wood - novelette by Michael N. Langford
• A Woman's Life - shortstory by W. Warren Wagar
• Into That Good Night - novelette by James A. Stevens
• Prometheus's Ghost - novelette by Chet Williamson
• Small Change - (1982) - shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
• A Draft of Canto CI - shortstory by Carter Scholz
• Dust - novelette by Mona A. Clee
• Diary of a Dead Man - shortstory by Michael Bishop
• Fair Game - novelette by Howard Waldrop
• In Frozen Time - shortstory by Rudy Rucker
• Tropism - shortstory by Leigh Kennedy
• If Ever I Should Leave You - (1974) - shortstory by Pamela Sargent
• Time's Hitch - poem by Robert Frazier
• The Rooms of Paradise - (1978) - shortstory by Ian Watson
• Checking Out - shortstory by Gene Wolfe
• The Region Between - (1970) - novella by Harlan Ellison

A girl growing up in an insulated though pleasant environment, with a furry guardian for company, comes to realize that she must be the last human left on earth.

Suppose we could:

--genetically alter our bodies so that we could settle alien environments

--use cryonics (the freezing of tissues and organs) to preserve seriously ill people until a cure is found to treat them, or freeze people now alive so that they could be revived in a future when immortality is a reality

--reproduce ourselves by using artificial wombs, test-tube fertilization, or cloning

--plant electronics in human brains so that we could control behavior seen as undesirable

All these possibilities may become actualities in the near future. Will we use these technological advances to transcend our biological destinies, or will we refuse to meddle with nature and reject them altogether? In this collection, Kate Wilhelm, R. A. Lafferty, Leonard Tushnet, Thomas M. Disch, Ursula K. Le Guin, Poul Anderson, James Gunn, Thomas N. Scortia, Frederik Pohl, and James Blish imaginatively consider what our biological future selves will be like.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Pamela Sargent
• The Planners - (1968) - short story by Kate Wilhelm
• Slow Tuesday Night - (1965) - short story by R. A. Lafferty
• In re Glover - (1972) - short story by Leonard Tushnet
• Emancipation: A Romance of the Times to Come - (1971) - novelette by Thomas M. Disch
• Nine Lives - (1969) - novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Call Me Joe - (1957) - novelette by Poul Anderson
• The Immortals - (1958) - novelette by James E. Gunn
• The Weariest River - (1973) - novelette by Thomas N. Scortia
• Day Million - (1966) - short story by Frederik Pohl
• Watershed - (1955) - short story by James Blish
• Further Reading - essay by uncredited
• About the Authors - essay by uncredited

Something is wrong out West.

The Buffalo Soldiers sent to subdue the Cheyenne are deserting and going over to the other side. The Sioux are leaving their barren reservations in hordes. Armed bands of Apaches have been seen east of the Mississippi!

Lemuel Rowland, formerly Poyeshao, has spent his life learning the white man's ways. Now he must choose between his career as a Washington bureaucrat and the ancient dreams of his people. An obscure Lakota chief called Touch-the-Clouds, armed by a Russian spy and inspired by a woman with the gift of prophecy, is uniting the "horse tribes" into an awesome horde that will thunder eastward and reclaim the entire continent for its original owners.

It should be Lemuel Rowland's job to stop thembut he wants them to succeed!

Combining the startling insights of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle with the elegiac lyricism of Dee Brown's bestseller, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Pamela Sargent's brilliant new alternate history epic asksand answersthe most heartbreaking and troubling question in American history:

What if the warlike Indian nations of the high plains had combined under a strong leader? What if they had struck eastward at a weakened America, still reeling from the devastation of the Civil War?

What if they had won?

The complex and fascinating answer, as presented in this extraordinary work of speculative fiction from an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author, will either shock you, enrage you, or make you nostalgic for an America that could have been.

But whatever your reaction, you will never look at our history in the same way again.

The White Man's NightmareThe Indian's Dream!

The famous astrophysicist Paul Swenson creates five perfect clones in his own image. The Swenson clones are the targets of criticism, hostility and abuse from a frightened public that does not understand their strange existence. However, they must survive, for Paul Swenson has cloned them in order to accomplish an important task. This is the story of their loves and battles, triumphs and terrors, as they struggle to save their futures and the collective destiny they were created for...

Here are thirteen original tales in which destinies are changed-and with them, the future. Each story imagines what the world would be like if its most powerful leaders had met different fates. Some of the greatest minds in science fiction take on alternate history, including a victorious Hitler, a virtual Napoleon, and an Alexander the Mediocre.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (2004) - essay by Pamela Sargent
• To the Gods Their Due - shortstory by Michelle West
• Intensified Transmogrification - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg and Bill Pronzini
• The Lion Hunt - shortstory by Janeen Webb
• Observable Things - novelette by Paul Di Filippo
• The Empress Jingu Fishes - shortstory by Kij Johnson
• Twilight of Idols - shortstory by Stephen Dedman
• Spirit Brother - shortstory by Pamela Sargent
• Good Deeds - shortstory by Jack Dann
• Walking Gods - shortstory by George Alec Effinger
• An Appeal to Adolf - shortstory by Ian Watson
• Martyrs of the Upshot Knothole - shortstory by James Morrow
• Nappy - shortstory by George Zebrowski
• Del Norte - shortstory by Michaela Roessner
• About the Editor - (2004) - essay

Nebula and Locus Award winning and Hugo and Sturgeon Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, October 1992. It can also be found in the anthology Nebula Awards 28 (1994), edited by James Morrow, and the collection The Mountain Cage and Other Stories (2002).

When a mysterious stranger appears in Sarah and Gerard's rural town, the two young lovers fighting a fervent battle to overcome America's depression and despair are suddenly faced with a new realm of possibilities. But they find themselves questioning whether this handsome being was an angel sent to rescue them or a dark being bearing terrible dangers.

Pamela Sargent is one of the most respected contemporary SF writers. Ursula LeGuin has praised her writing as "extremely realistic, humane and well-proportioned". These 14 short stories, written over a span of 13 years, explore new ground in the relation between the sexes.

Table of Contents:

• Foreword - (1987) - essay by Michael Bishop
• Introduction - essay
• Gather Blue Roses - (1972) - shortstory
• Clone Sister - (1973) - novelette
• If Ever I Should Leave You - (1974) - shortstory
• Bond and Free - (1974) - shortstory
• Shadows - (1974) - novelette
• The Novella Race - (1978) - shortstory
• The Summer's Dust - (1981) - novelette
• Out of Place - (1981) - shortstory
• The Broken Hoop - (1982) - shortstory
• The Shrine - (1982) - shortstory
• The Old Darkness - (1983) - shortstory
• The Mountain Cage - (1983) - novelette
• Heavenly Flowers - (1983) - shortstory
• Fears - (1984) - shortstory

Thirteen stories of impossible futures and otherworldly adventure, from one of science fiction's most thoughtful authors

In "Hillary Orbits Venus," a young Hillary Rodham pursues her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, while in the Nebula Award-winning "Danny Goes to Mars," former US vice president Dan Quayle embarks on the first expedition to Mars. "The Sleeping Serpent" reveals what might have happened if the Mongols had conquered all of Europe and then crossed the Atlantic to the New World, "Collectors" follows an American expatriate in France during a most unusual alien invasion, and "All Rights" offers a humorous look at a writer and a literary agent forced to negotiate deals in the multiverse.

Whether satirizing the ambitions of a politician, exploring an alternate history, or delving into the consequences of immortality, there is no finer author of short science fiction than Pamela Sargent. This collection displays both her narrative strengths and her versatility.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: The Other Perceiver - essay by Barry N. Malzberg
• The Sleeping Serpent - (1992) - novella
• The Mountain Cage - (1983) - novelette
• Common Mind - (2000) - shortstory
• All Rights - (1994) - shortstory
• Danny Goes to Mars - (1992) - novelette
• Hillary Orbits Venus - (1999) - novelette
• Fears - (1984) - shortstory
• The Novella Race - (1978) - shortstory
• Collectors - (1996) - novelette
• Isles - (1996) - novelette
• The Summer's Dust - (1981) - novelette
• Dream of Venus - (2000) - novelette
• Too Many Memories - (2000) - shortstory

Women rule the world in this suspenseful love story set in a postnuclear future. Having expelled men from their vast walled cities to a lower-class wilderness, the women in this futuristic universe dictate policy and chart the future through control of scientific and technological advances. Among their laws are the rules for reproductive engagement, an act now viewed as a means of procreation rather than an act of love. In this rigidly defined environment, a chance meeting between a woman exiled from the female world and a wilderness man triggers a series of feelings, actions, and events that ultimately threaten the fabric of the women's constricted society. Trying to evade the ever-threatening female forces and the savage wilderness men, the two lovers struggle to find a safe haven and reconcile the teachings of their upbringings with their newly awakened feelings.

This novel was published under the title The White Death in the UK.

Insanity was rampant... Rape and murder was as common as suicide. Medical help was allowed only for certain diseases, and disobedience incurred the worst of punishments. Ever since the sudden appearance of the white hole over Earth in the year 2000, society had decayed---and now only the corrupt survived.

Dr. Simon Negron knew the odds were against him, but he dared to defy the medical code. His 'crime': giving insulin to a diabetic. And because of it he became a fugitive... a hunted outlaw with only a teenaged prostitute and a gang youth for allies...a haunted man running for his life in a nightmare world of increasing madness... a desperate human being who would dare to take a stand against the evil domination of THE SUDDEN STAR.

Great science fiction looks outward toward the intricacy of the universe in order to look inward at the complexity of the human condition. In THUMBPRINTS, Nebula and Locus Award-winning author Pamela Sargent brings together short stories from across her career, each filled with rich characterization and eclectic, fascinating plots.

From Mongolia to Venus, from the distant past to the near future, these works of short fiction explore what it means to be human. Ranging from lyrically mystical to bitterly realistic to laughably satirical, THUMBPRINTS is a shining catalogue of all that Sargent has contributed to the genre.

With an introduction by James Morrow and an afterword by Sargent, herself.

Table of Contents:

• "How Sargent Peppers Phony Arts Dubbed Grand" - essay by James Morrow
• Gather Blue Roses - (1972)
• Out of Place - (1981)
• Climb the Wind - (1994)
• Originals - (1985)
• Erdeni's Tiger - (1995)
• If Ever I Should Leave You - (1974)
• Spirit Brother - (2004)
• Amphibians - (1995)
• Venus Flowers at Night - (2004)
• Shrinker - (1983)
• Thumbprints
• Utmost Bones - (2003)
• Afterword

Sturgeon Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology Microcosms (2004), edited by Gregory Benford. The story can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 10 (2005), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It is included in the collection Thumbprints (2004).

Each of the Nebula winners and finalists featured here displays its own (often highly idiosyncratic) excellence. This volume, which represents the best of 1993, includes offerings from Harlan Ellison, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Lisa Goldstein.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Nebula Awards 29) - essay by Pamela Sargent
• The Year in Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Symposium - essay by Gregory Benford and Eleanor Arnason and Paul Di Filippo and Rebecca Ore and Maureen F. McHugh and Michael Swanwick and Robert J. Sawyer and Norman Spinrad
• The Man Who Rowed Christopher Columbus Ashore - (1991) - shortstory by Harlan Ellison
• Graves - (1992) - shortstory by Joe Haldeman
• Festival Night (from Red Mars) - shortfiction by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Alfred - (1992) - shortstory by Lisa Goldstein
• In Memoriam: Avram Davidson 1923-1993 - (1993) - essay by Lucius Shepard
• In Memoriam: Lester del Rey 1915-1993 - (1993) - essay by Robert Silverberg
• In Memoriam: Chad Oliver 1928-1993 - (1993) - essay by Howard Waldrop
• Georgia on My Mind - (1993) - novelette by Charles Sheffield
• To Be from Earth - (1992) - poem by William J. Daciuk
• Will - (1992) - poem by Jane Yolen
• Death on the Nile - (1993) - novelette by Connie Willis
• Big Teeth and Small Magic: SF and Fantasy Films of 1993 - essay by Kathi Maio
• England Underway - (1993) - novelette by Terry Bisson
• The Franchise - (1993) - novelette by John Kessel
• The Night We Buried Road Dog - (1993) - novella by Jack Cady

Excellent in all departments (Kirkus Reviews), Nebula Awards 30 continues a tradition of excellence by offering, alongside works by the winners in all Nebula categories, a generous selection of fiction, poetry, and essays not found in any other best-of-the-year anthologies.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Nebula Awards 30) - (1996) - essay by Pamela Sargent
• The Year in Science Fiction and Fantasy: A Symposium - (1996) - essay by John Kessel and Nicola Griffith and Pat Murphy and James E. Gunn and Jack Dann and Sheila Finch and Paul Di Filippo
• Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge - (1994) - novella by Mike Resnick
• Inspiration - (1994) - shortstory by Ben Bova
• Virtual Love - (1994) - shortstory by Maureen F. McHugh
• None So Blind - (1994) - shortstory by Joe Haldeman
• Fortyday - (1994) - shortstory by Damon Knight
• In Memorium: Robert Bloch - (1994) - essay by Frank M. Robinson
• The Martian Child - (1994) - novelette by David Gerrold
• Basement Flats: Redefining the Burgess Shale - (1994) - poem by Robert Frazier and W. Gregory Stewart
• Flight Is for Those Who Have Not Yet Crossed Over - (1993) - poem by Jeff VanderMeer
• Spacer's Compass - (1993) - poem by Bruce Boston
• Understanding Entropy - (1994) - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg
• I Know What You're Thinking - (1994) - shortstory by Kate Wilhelm
• A Defense of the Social Contracts - (1993) - shortstory by Martha Soukup
• From a Park Bench to the Great Beyond: The Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of 1994 - (1996) - essay by Kathi Maio
• The Matter of Seggri - (1994) - novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Moving Mars (excerpt) - (1993) - shortfiction by Greg Bear

The prestigious Nebula Awards are the Oscars of science fiction and fantasy, the only SF awards bestowed annually by the writers' own demanding peers, the Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Just as the Nebula Awards honor only the finest science ficiton and fantasy, the Nebula Awards series showcases only the best of the ballot, offering as well fiction and nonfiction not collected elsewhere and a dazzling selection of essays written expressley for each volume. No other best-of-year anthology represents the achievement of the Nebula Awards so well. Nebula Awards 31 is, as Publishers Weekly said of a previous volume, "essential reading for anyone who enjoys science fiction."

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Pamela Sargent
• Rumaging Through the Giant Purse - essay by Paul Di Filippo
• Touchstones for Gender-Benders - essay by Nancy Spinger
• Planet Deseret - essay by Judith Moffett
• The British Scene - essay by Ian Watson
• Gresham's Law and Science Fiction - essay by Robert Silverberg
• Family Values - essay by Michaela Roessner
• Solitude - (1994) - novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Death and the Librarian - (1994) - shortstory by Esther M. Friesner
• Alien Jane - (1995) - shortstory by Kelley Eskridge
• Think Like a Dinosaur - (1995) - novelette by James Patrick Kelly
• In Memoriam: John Brunner and Roger Zelazny - essay by Ian Watson and Jack Dann and Jack C. Haldeman, II
• The Lincoln Train - (1995) - shortstory by Maureen F. McHugh
• The Resurrection Man's Legacy - (1995) - novelette by Dale Bailey
• Pilot, Pilot - (1994) - poem by David Lunde
• Skin of Glass - (1994) - poem by Dan Raphael
• You See But You Do Not Observe - (1995) - shortstory by Robert J. Sawyer
• Old Legends - (1995) - essay by Gregory Benford
• A. E. van Vogt: Prefatory Remarks - essay by Harlan Ellison
• A. E. van Vogt: An Appreciation - essay by Charles L. Harness
• Enchanted Village - (1950) - shortstory by A. E. van Vogt
• It'll Float, but Can It Fly? Science Fiction and Fantasy Films of 1995 - essay by Kathi Maio
• The Narcissus Plague - (1994) - shortstory by Lisa Goldstein
• Last Summer at Mars Hill - (1994) - novella by Elizabeth Hand

Ship hurtles through space. Deep within its core, it carries the seed of humankind. Launched by the people of a dying Earth over a century ago, its mission is to find a habitable world for the children--fifteen-year-old Zoheret and her shipmates--whom it has created from its genetic banks.

To Zoheret and her shipmates, Ship has been mother, father, and loving teacher, preparing them for their biggest challenge: to survive on their own, on an uninhabited planet, without Ship's protection. Now that day is almost upon them...but are they ready to leave Ship? Ship devises a test. And suddenly, instincts that have been latent for over a hundred years take over. Zoheret watches as friends become strangers--and enemies. Can Zoheret and her companions overcome the biggest obstacle to the survival of the human race--themselves?

Centuries ago, the people of Earth sent Ship into space. Deep within its core, it carried the seed of humankind...

More than twenty years have passed since Ship left its children, the seed of humanity, on an uninhabited, earthlike planet--a planet they named Home. Zoheret and her companions have started settlements and had children of their own. But, as on board Ship, there was conflict, and soon after their arrival, Zoheret's old nemesis, Ho, left the original settlement to establish his own settlement far away.

When Ho's daughter, fifteen-year-old Nuy, spies three strangers headed toward their settlement, the hostility between the two groups of old shipmates begins anew and threatens to engulf the children of both settlements. Can the divided settlers face the challenges of adapting to their new environment in spite of their conflicts? And if they do, will they lose their humanity in the process?

An adventure in colonization and conflict from acclaimed SF writer Pamela Sargent

Several hundred years ago, Ship, a sentient starship, settled humans on the planet Home before leaving to colonize other worlds, promising to return one day. Over time, the colony on Home divided into those who live in the original domed buildings of the colony, who maintain the library and technology of Ship, and those who live by the river, farming and hunting to survive. The Dome Dwellers consider themselves the protectors of “true humanity” and the River People “contaminated,” and the two sides interact solely through ritualized trade: food and goods from the River People in exchange for repairs and recharges by the Dome Dwellers.

Then a new light appears in the night sky. The River People believe it might be Ship, keeping its promise to return, but the Dome Dwellers, who have a radio to communicate with Ship, are silent. So Bian, a seventeen-year-old girl from a small village, travels upriver to learn what they know. As she travels through the colony of Home, gaining companions and gathering news, Bian ponders why the Dome Dwellers have said nothing. Has Ship commanded them to be silent, in preparation for some judgment on the River People? Or are the Dome Dwellers lying to Ship, turning Ship against their rivals?

Whatever the answer, life is about to change radically on both sides of the divide.

With their sun about to go nova, the people of Epictetus III face annihilation. Although the U.S.S. Enterprise has come to lead the rescue operation, there is no way to evacuate a population of over twenty million, leaving Captain Picard to make an agonizing decision. Should he try to salvage the planet's children, its greatest leaders and thinkers, or its irreplaceable archeological treasures? No matter what he decides, millions must be sacrificed -- unless another solution can be found.

With time running out, Data proposes a revolutionary scientific experiment that could save all of Epictetus III, or doom both the planet and the Enterprise as well.

The legend of Captain Garth, the hero of Axanar, has spread throughout the Federation. His exploits are required reading at Starfleet Academy -- where he became a hero of a future legend, James T. Kirk.

Brutal injuries sustained on Antos IV forced the native Antosians to heal him by means of giving him their natural shape-changing abilities. But the cure proved worse than the disease, as Garth was driven insane.

His madness apparently cured at the rehab colony on Elba II, Captain Garth has returned to service to mediate a crisis on Antos IV, with the aid of Captain Kirk and the Starship Enterprise. But has Garth truly put his insanity behind him, or will he renew his plans for conquest -- starting with the Antosians?

When an abandoned space habitat is found within a distant asteroid belt, the Starship Enterprise is sent to investigate. Captain Kirk and his crew discover an artificial world full of technological marvels -- and unexpected dangers.

But wonder and curiosity give way to fear when the habitat's shifting orbit sends it on a collision course with an inhabited planet within the same solar system. Now Kirk and Spock must find a way to save the planet without destroying a treasure trove of alien science, and time is running out...

The Hawking left Earth during the 21st Century on a one-way mission to colonize a distant world. Due to the relativistic effects of pre-warp travel, it's crew has aged only thirty years while two centuries have passed outside the ship. When the Starship Enterprise comes to the rescue of the malfunctioning Hawking, the colonists find themselves thrust into a universe and an era that has left them behind.

Captain Kirk intends to help the colonists adjust as best he can, but the task is not a simple one. The newcomers are survivors of a more violent, more paranoid time -- and the have brought old suspicions, and an ancient weapon of mass destruction, into a world of unexpected challenges and dangers.

Iris Angharads, a determined, independent woman, sets herself one massive goal: to make the poison-filled atmosphere of Venus hospitable to humans. She works day and night to realize her dream, with only one person sharing her passion, Liang Chen. It seems impossible to make Venus, with its intolerable air and waterless environment, into a paradise, but Iris succeeds. And in doing so, she also creates a powerful dynasty, beginning with her first born, Benzi Liangharad.

The Venus Project calls upon the strongest and most courageous to create a prosperous world in the dismal wilderness of Venus. Those who demonstrate the skill and the passion to embark on this adventure must transform the barren planet in the midst of political and cultural unrest. When Risa and Benzi, children of Iris, one of the first people to partake in this project, find themselves in opposing forces on the battlefield, it is their love and perseverance that will determine the destiny of the new land.

In CHILD OF VENUS, The Project--the terraforming of Venus--has been going on for centuries and it will be many more years before the planet's surface has been rendered fully habitable and the human settlers , the Cytherians, can leave their protective domes--but there are those who are foolishly unwilling to wait. In a colony still ravaged by the after-effects of a battle between two religious cults that divided families and created civil war, Mahala Liangharad, a true child of Venus, conceived from the genetic material of the rebels and brought to birth only after their deaths, is seen as a beacon of hope and a pointer to the way of the future. Nonetheless, Mahala sees herself in conflict, bearing the burden of a strange birthright and the responsibility of lifelong service to The Project.

Mahala fears the expectation of duty and that she may miss the chance to discover her own destiny. Her world (and the worlds) are being torn apart by a drive for independence from Earth by the Venus colonists and by the rumors of a secret plan developed by the "Habbers," cybernetically enhanced dwellers in the mobile asteroid "Habitats" who are another, and very different, set of humans no longer tied to Earth. A mysterious call from deep space offers a chance at her dream of destiny, along with a terrifying possibility of losing touch with everything she has ever known and loved.

CHILD OF VENUS completes the Venus sequence and Pamela Sargent delivers a dramatically and emotionally satisfying ending to this epic tale of the terraforming of Venus by human colonists as she builds imaginatively-detailed new worlds of breathtaking wonder and shows that humanity may travel far but retains all the challenges that come with being human, whatever form their evolution may take.

Alone in the desert, Daiya is faced with a dilemma that will determine her fate. If she can successfully resolve it she will join the Net of her village, but if she fails, her life will be spent with the feared Merged Ones. Confused and torn between worlds near and far, Daiya harbors a secret of her people, and must find a way to move beyond her discoveries to a safe place where she can survive.

Young Lydee had always known this strange comet-world to be Home. She had always felt the presence and control of the omnipresent Homesmind, an intelligence force that guides the fate of her world and the people in it. Struggling with her future, Lydee discovers the destiny she is meant for--the fate she will fulfill within her community. And it frightens her.... She will act as a bridge between her comet Home and her species' native Earth. She is disgusted by her primitive ancestors on that planet, but knows that she now has a mission in life to complete. But will the Earthlings welcome her? Or is this a journey through grave danger? Lydee hopes that she will live to fulfill her destiny....

Anra is a solitary. She was born without the power to mindspeak and cannot, like all of her fellows can, communicate in unspoken thoughts. In the past, she would have been killed at birth but the arrival of the Wanderer, the comet controlled by the cybernetic intelligence known as the Homesmind has changed everything. The people of the comet, the skydwellers, now supply solitaries with implants that allow artificial mindspeaking. The solitaries are sequestered in a single village willing to care for such children.

Anra and her new brethren were thought to be the possible bridge between the people of Earth and the skydwellers but the gap may be too great since the people of Earth consider solitaries an abomination and the skydwellers as soulless. The solitaries are, instead, outcasts in two worlds, part of each but fully accepted in neither.

Another comet enters the system, refusing to communicate with Homesmind and speaking to the people of Earth with the voices of their own dead, seducing them into a submission of their individual wills and trying to lure them to oblivion. Anra and he fellow solitaries have the power to resist their call but can they unite in time to save everyone else?

'Women are writing many of the things male sf writers thought could never be written; they are making us examine tenets and shibboleths we thought were immutable. The mightily thewed warrior trip is one of these. People like Ursula Le Guin, Joanna Russ, Kate Wilhelm... are making that seem hideously ridiculous' - Harlan Ellison

In Women of Wonder, Pamela Sargent has assembled a collection of amazing stories which show that some of the most exciting and innovative writing in science fiction is being produced by women.

Table of Contents:

• Women in Science Fiction - essay by Pamela Sargent
• The Child Dreams - poem by Sonya Dorman
• That Only a Mother - (1948) - shortstory by Judith Merril
• Contagion - (1950) - novelette by Katherine MacLean
• The Wind People - (1959) - shortstory by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Ship Who Sang - (1961) - novelette by Anne McCaffrey
• When I Was Miss Dow - (1966) - shortstory by Sonya Dorman
• The Food Farm - (1967) - shortstory by Kit Reed
• Baby, You Were Great! - (1967) - shortstory by Kate Wilhelm
• Sex and/or Mr. Morrison - (1967) - shortstory by Carol Emshwiller
• Vaster Than Empires and More Slow - (1971) - novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin
• False Dawn - (1972) - shortstory by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Nobody's Home - (1972) - shortstory by Joanna Russ
• Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand - (1973) - novelette by Vonda N. McIntyre

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Pamela Sargent
• Jirel Meets Magic - (1935) - novelette by C. L. Moore
• The Lake of the Gone Forever - (1949) - novelette by Leigh Brackett
• The Second Inquisition - (1970) - novelette by Joanna Russ
• The Power of Time - (1971) - novelette by Josephine Saxton
• The Funeral - (1972) - novelette by Kate Wilhelm
• Tin Soldier - (1974) - novella by Joan D. Vinge
• The Day Before the Revolution - (1974) - shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Further Reading
• About the Authors
• About the Editor

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Pamela Sargent
• View from the Moon Station - (1977) - poem by Sonya Dorman
• Screwtop - (1976) - novella by Vonda N. McIntyre
• The Warlord of Saturn's Moons - (1974) - shortstory by Eleanor Arnason
• The Triumphant Head - (1970) - shortstory by Josephine Saxton
• The Heat Death of the Universe - (1967) - shortstory by Pamela Zoline
• Songs of War - (1974) - novelette by Kit Reed
• The Women Men Don't See - (1973) - novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.
• Debut - (1970) - shortstory by Carol Emshwiller
• When It Changed - (1972) - shortstory by Joanna Russ
• Dead in Irons - (1976) - novelette by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Building Block - (1975) - shortstory by Sonya Dorman
• Eyes of Amber - (1977) - novelette by Joan D. Vinge
• Further Reading

Based on one of the most popular SF anthologies of all time, which dispelled the notion that women don't write "real" science fiction, this volume features stories by twenty-one seminal SF writers. Included are works by Leigh Brackett, C. L. Moore, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Judith Merril. Introduction and Bibliography by the Editor.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Pamela Sargent
• No Woman Born - (1944) - novelette by C. L. Moore
• That Only a Mother - (1948) - shortstory by Judith Merril
• Contagion - (1950) - novelette by Katherine MacLean
• The Woman from Altair - (1951) - novelette by Leigh Brackett
• Short in the Chest - (1954) - shortstory by Margaret St. Clair
• The Anything Box - (1956) - shortstory by Zenna Henderson
• Death Between the Stars - (1956) - shortstory by Marion Zimmer Bradley
• The Ship Who Sang - (1961) - novelette by Anne McCaffrey
• When I Was Miss Dow - (1966) - shortstory by Sonya Dorman
• The Food Farm - (1967) - shortstory by Kit Reed
• The Heat Death of the Universe - (1967) - shortstory by Pamela Zoline
• The Power of Time - (1971) - novelette by Josephine Saxton
• False Dawn - (1972) - shortstory by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• Nobody's Home - (1972) - shortstory by Joanna Russ
• The Funeral - (1972) - novelette by Kate Wilhelm
• Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand - (1973) - novelette by Vonda N. McIntyre
• The Women Men Don't See - (1973) - novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.
• The Warlord of Saturn's Moons - (1974) - shortstory by Eleanor Arnason
• The Day Before the Revolution - (1974) - shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
• The Family Monkey - (1977) - novella by Lisa Tuttle
• View from a Height - (1978) - shortstory by Joan D. Vinge
• About the Authors
• About the Editor
• Recommended Reading: Science Fiction by Women, 1818-1978 - essay by Pamela Sargent

A companion volume to The Classic Years showcasing recent science fiction by women. Here are Octavia E. Butler, Pat Cadigan, Angela Carter, Nancy Kress, and Connie Willis, among others. Introduction and Bibliography by the Editor.

Table of Contents

• Introduction - essay by Pamela Sargent
• Cassandra - (1978) - shortstory by C. J. Cherryh
• The Thaw - (1979) - novelette by Tanith Lee
• Scorched Supper on New Niger - (1980) - novelette by Suzy McKee Charnas
• Abominable - (1980) - shortstory by Carol Emshwiller
• Bluewater Dreams - (1981) - shortstory by Sydney J. Van Scyoc
• The Cabinet of Edgar Allan Poe - (1982) - shortstory by Angela Carter
• The Harvest of Wolves - (1983) - shortstory by Mary Gentle
• Bloodchild - (1984) - novelette by Octavia E. Butler
• Fears - (1984) - shortstory by Pamela Sargent
• Webrider - (1985) - shortstory by Jayge Carr
• Alexia and Graham Bell - (1987) - shortstory by Rosaleen Love
• Reichs-Peace - (1986) - novelette by Sheila Finch
• Angel - (1987) - shortstory by Pat Cadigan
• Rachel in Love - (1987) - novelette by Pat Murphy
• Game Night at the Fox and Goose - (1989) - shortstory by Karen Joy Fowler
• Tiny Tango - (1989) - novella by Judith Moffett
• At the Rialto - (1989) - novelette by Connie Willis
• Midnight News - (1990) - shortstory by Lisa Goldstein
• And Wild for to Hold - (1991) - novella by Nancy Kress
• Immaculate - (1991) - shortstory by Storm Constantine
• Farming in Virginia - (1993) - shortstory by Rebecca Ore
• About the Authors
• About the Editor
• Recommended Reading: Science Fiction by Women, 1979-1993