Search Worlds Without End

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" [Jackaroo] (2007) novelette by Paul J. McAuley
• "Night's Slow Poison" [Imperial Radch] (2012) short story by Ann Leckie
• "All the Painted Stars" (2012) short story by Gwendolyn Clare
• "Firstborn" (2005) novelette by Brandon Sanderson
• "Riding the Crocodile" (2005) novella by Greg Egan
• "The Lost Princess Man" (2009) novelette by John Barnes
• "The Waiting Stars" [Universe of Xuya] (2013) novelette by Aliette de Bodard
• "Alien Archaeology" [Polity Universe] (2007) novella by Neal Asher
• "The Muse of Empires Lost" (2006) novelette by Paul Berger
• "Ghostweight" (2011) novelette by Yoon Ha Lee
• "A Cold Heart" (2014) short story by Tobias S. Buckell
• "The Colonel Returns to the Stars" (2004) novella by Robert Silverberg
• "The Impossibles" [Retrieval Artist] (2011) novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• "Utriusque Cosmi" (2009) novelette by Robert Charles Wilson
• "Section Seven" (2003) short story by John G. Hemry
• "Invisible Empire of Ascending Light" (2008) short story by Ken Scholes
• "The Man with the Golden Balloon" [The Great Ship Universe] (2008) novella by Robert Reed
• "Looking Through Lace" [Looking Through Lace 1] (2003) novella by Ruth Nestvold
• "A Letter from the Emperor" (2010) short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• "The Wayfarer's Advice" [The Imperials Saga] (2010) novelette by Melinda M. Snodgrass
• "Seven Years from Home" (2010) novelette by Naomi Novik
• "Verthandi's Ring" (2007) short story by Ian McDonald

The idea of creating an artificial human is an old one. One of the earliest science-fictional novels, Frankenstein, concerned itself primarily with the hubris of creation, and one's relationship to one's creator. Later versions of this "artificial human" story (and indeed later adaptations of Frankenstein) changed the focus to more modernist questions... What is the nature of humanity? What does it mean to be human?

These stories continued through the golden age of science fiction with Isaac Asimov's I Robot story cycle, and then through post-modern iterations from new wave writers like Philip K. Dick. Today, this compelling science fiction trope persists in mass media narratives like Westworld and Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, as well as twenty-first century science fiction novels like Charles Stross's Saturn's Children and Paolo Bacigalupi's The Windup Girl.

The short stories in More Human than Human demonstrate the depth and breadth of artificial humanity in contemporary science fiction. Issues of passing... of what it is to be human... of autonomy and slavery and oppression, and yes, the hubris of creation; these ideas have fascinated us for at least two hundred years, and this selection of stories demonstrates why it is such an alluring and recurring conceit.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Dolly -- Elizabeth Bear
• A Good Home -- Karin Lowachee
• The Djinn's Wife -- Ian McDonald
• And The Ends of The Earth For Thy Possession -- Robert B. Finegold
• Patterns of a Murmuration, in Billions of Data Points -- JY Yang
• The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees -- John Barnes
• Fixing Hanover -- Jeff VanderMeer
• Grand Jeté (The Great Leap) -- Rachel Swirsky
• Brisk Money -- Adam Christopher
• Act of Faith -- Fadzlishah Johanabas
• The Caretaker -- Ken Liu
• Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots -- Sandra McDonald
• We, Robots -- Sue Lange
• The Education of Junior Number 12 -- Madeline Ashby
• A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight -- Xia Jia
• The Man -- Paul McAuley
• The Robot's Girl -- Brenda Cooper
• .identity -- E. Catherine Tobler
• American Cheetah -- Robert Reed
• Artifice -- Naomi Kritzer
• Small Medicine -- Genevieve Valentine
• Silently and Very Fast -- Catherynne M. Valente
• I, Robot -- Cory Doctorow
• Bit Rot -- Charles Stross
• Angels of Ashes -- Alastair Reynolds
• The Old Dispensation -- Lavie Tidhar
• Today I am Paul -- Martin L. Shoemaker

Mankind comes face to face with extraterrestrial life in this short fiction reprint anthology from Clarkesworld publisher Neil Clarke.

They Are Strangers from Far Lands...

Science fiction writers have been using aliens as a metaphor for the other for over one hundred years. Superman has otherworldly origins, and his struggles to blend in on our planet are a clear metaphor for immigration. Earth's adopted son is just one example of this "Alien Among Us" narrative.

There are stories of assimilation, or the failure to do so. Stories of resistance to the forces of naturalization. Stories told from the alien viewpoint. Stories that use aliens as a manifestation of the fears and worries of specific places and eras. Stories that transcend location and time, speaking to universal issues of group identity and its relationship to the Other.

Nearly thirty authors in this reprint anthology grapple both the best and worst aspects of human nature, and they do so in utterly compelling and entertaining ways. Not One of Us is a collection of stories that aren't afraid to tackle thorny and often controversial issues of race, nationalism, religion, political ideology, and other ways in which humanity divides itself.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction by Neil Clarke
• Touring with the Alien by Carolyn Ives Gilman
• Laws of Survival by Nancy Kress
• At Play in the Fields by Steve Rasnic Tem
• The Ants of Flanders by Robert Reed
• Taking Care of God by Liu Cixin
• Water Scorpions by Rich Larson
• The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill by Kelly Robson
• Men are Trouble by James Patrick Kelly
• They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass by Alaya Dawn Johnson
• Bits by Naomi Kritzer
• And Never Mind the Watching Ones by Keffy R. M. Kehrli
• Dark Heaven by Gregory Benford
• Nine-Tenths of the Law by Molly Tanzer
• Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion by Caroline M. Yoachim
• Time of the Snake by A.M. Dellamonica
• The Fear Gun by Judith Berman
• Tendeléo's Story by Ian McDonald
• The Choice by Paul McAuley
• Passage of Earth by Michael Swanwick
• Reborn by Ken Liu
• Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang

On July 20, 1969, mankind made what had only years earlier seemed like an impossible leap forward: Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the moon, and Neil Armstrong the first person to step foot on the lunar surface. While there have only been a handful of new missions since, the fascination with our planet's satellite continues, and generations of writers and artists have imagined the endless possibilities of lunar life.

The Eagle Has Landed collects the best stories written in the fifty years since mankind first stepped foot on the lunar surface, serving as a shining reminder that the moon is a visible and constant example of all the infinite possibility of the wider universe.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Bagatelle (1976) - novelette by John Varley
• The Eve of the Last Apollo (1976) - novelette by Carter Scholz
• The Lunatics (1988) - novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Griffin's Egg (1991) - novella by Michael Swanwick
• A Walk in the Sun (1991) - short story by Geoffrey A. Landis
• Waging Good [Sister Alice] (1995) - novelette by Robert Reed
• How We Lost the Moon (1999) - short story by Paul McAuley
• People Came From Earth (1999) - short story by Stephen Baxter
• Ashes and Tombstones (1999) - short story by Brian Stableford
• Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's (2001) - novella by Adam Troy Castro
• Stories for Men (2002) - novella by John Kessel
• The Clear Blue Seas of Luna (2002) - novelette by Gregory Benford
• You Will Go to the Moon (2006) - short story by William Preston
• SeniorSource (2008) - short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• The Economy of Vacuum (2009) - short story by Sarah Thomas
• The Cassandra Project (2010) - short story by Jack McDevitt
• Fly Me to the Moon (2010) - novelette by Marianne J. Dyson
• Tyche and the Ants (2012) - short story by Hannu Rajaniemi
• The Moon Belongs to Everyone (2012) - novella by Michael Alexander and K.C. Ball
• The Fifth Dragon [Luna] (2014) - novelette by Ian McDonald
• Let Baser Things Devise (2015) - short story by Berrien C. Henderson
• The Moon is Not a Battlefield (2017) - novelette by Indrapramit Das
• Every Hour of Light and Dark (2017) - short story by Nancy Kress
• In Event of Moon Disaster (2018) - short story by Rich Larson
• Permissions
• About the Editor

The vast and mysterious universe is explored in this reprint anthology from award-winning editor and anthologist Neil Clarke (Clarkesworld magazine, The Best Science Fiction of the Year).

The urge to explore and discover is a natural and universal one, and the edge of the unknown is expanded with each passing year as scientific advancements inch us closer and closer to the outer reaches of our solar system and the galaxies beyond them.

Generations of writers have explored these new frontiers and the endless possibilities they present in great detail. With galaxy-spanning adventures of discovery and adventure, from generation ships to warp drives, exploring new worlds to first contacts, science fiction writers have given readers increasingly new and alien ways to look out into our broad and sprawling universe.

The Final Frontier delivers stories from across this literary spectrum, a reminder that the universe is far larger and brimming with more possibilities than we could ever imagine, as hard as we may try.

Table of Contents:

• "A Jar of Goodwill" by Tobias S. Buckell (Clarkesworld, May 2010)
• "Mono no aware" by Ken Liu (The Future is Japanese, edited by Nick Mamatas and Masumi Washington)
• "Rescue Mission" by Jack Skillingstead (The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 3, edited by George Mann)
• "Shiva in Shadow" by Nancy Kress (Between Worlds, edited by Robert Silverberg)
• "Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick (Analog, December 2002)
• "Three Bodies at Mitanni" by Seth Dickinson (Analog, June 2015)
• "The Deeps of the Sky" by Elizabeth Bear (Edge of Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• "Diving into the Wreck" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov's, December 2005)
• "The Voyage Out" by Gwyneth Jones (Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, edited by Lynne Jamneck)
• "The Symphony of Ice and Dust" by Julie Novakova (Clarkesworld, October 2013)
• "Twenty Lights to "The Land of Snow"" by Michael Bishop (Going Interstellar, edited by Les Johnson and Jack McDevitt)
• "The Firewall and the Door" by Sean McMullen (Analog, March 2013)
• "Permanent Fatal Errors" by Jay Lake (Is Anybody Out There? edited by Nick Gevers and Marty Halpern)
• "Gypsy" by Carter Scholz (PM Press, November 2015)
• "Sailing the Antarsa" by Vandana Singh (The Other Half of the Sky, edited by Athena Andreadis)
• "The Mind is Its Own Place" by Carrie Vaughn, LLC (Asimov's, September 2016)
• "The Wreck of the Godspeed" by James Patrick Kelly (Between Worlds, edited by Robert Silverberg)
• "Seeing" by Genevieve Valentine (Clarkesworld, November 2010)
• "Travelling into Nothing" by An Owomoyela (Bridging Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• "Glory" by Greg Egan (New Space Opera, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois)
• "The Island" by Peter Watts (New Space Opera 2, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois)

Better... Stronger... Faster... The doctors rebuilt Hugo Award-winning editor Neil Clarke and made him a cyborg. Now he has assembled this anthology of twenty-six original cyborg stories by Greg Egan, Madeline Ashby, Elizabeth Bear, Peter Watts, Ken Liu, Robert Reed, Yoon Ha Lee, and more!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Upgraded) - essay by Neil Clarke
• Always the Harvest - shortstory by Yoon Ha Lee
• A Cold Heart - shortstory by Tobias S. Buckell
• The Sarcophagus - shortstory by Robert Reed
• Oil of Angels - shortstory by Chen Qiufan
• What I've Seen with Your Eyes - shortstory by Jason K. Chapman
• No Place to Dream, But a Place to Die - shortstory by Elizabeth Bear
• Married - shortstory by Helena Bell
• Come from Away [Company Town] - shortstory by Madeline Ashby
• Negative Space - shortstory by Amanda Forrest
• Fusion - shortstory by Greg Mellor
• Taking the Ghost - shortstory by A. C. Wise
• Honeycomb Girls - shortstory by Erin Cashier
• The Regular - novelette by Ken Liu
• Tender - shortstory by Rachel Swirsky
• Tongtong's Summer - shortstory by Xia Jia
• Musée de l'Âme Seule - shortstory by E. Lily Yu
• Wizard, Cabalist, Ascendant - shortstory by Seth Dickinson
• Memories and Wire - shortstory by Mari Ness
• God Decay - shortstory by Rich Larson
• Small Medicine - shortstory by Genevieve Valentine
• Mercury in Retrograde - shortstory by Erin Hoffman
• Coastlines of the Stars - shortstory by Alex Dally MacFarlane
• The Cumulative Effects of Light Over Time - shortstory by E. Catherine Tobler
• Synecdoche Oracles - shortstory by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
• Collateral - novelette by Peter Watts
• Seventh Sight - shortstory by Greg Egan

Selected from the Hugo award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine, this anthology collects the work of twenty-seven visionary writers of short fiction, including such World Fantasy, Philip K. Dick, Tiptree, Hugo, and Campbell Award winners and finalists as Jay Lake, Nnedi Okorafor, Robert Reed, Sarah Monette, Mike Resnick, Lavie Tidhar, N.K. Jemisin and Catherynne M. Valente.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Neil Clarke
• Non-Zero Probabilities - (2009) - shortstory by N. K. Jemisin
• The Second Gift Given - (2009) - shortstory by Ken Scholes
• Walking with a Ghost - (2009) - shortstory by Nick Mamatas
• Celadon - (2009) - shortstory by Desirina Boskovich
• Teaching Bigfoot to Read - (2009) - shortstory by Geoffrey W. Cole
• The Radiant Car Thy Sparrows Drew - (2009) - shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Jisei of Mark VIII - (2009) - shortstory by Berrien C. Henderson
• Passwords - (2008) - shortstory by John A. McDermott
• Idle Roomer - (2008) - shortstory by Mike Resnick and Lezli Robyn
• From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7 - (2009) - shortstory by Nnedi Okorafor
• Gift of the Kites - (2008) - shortstory by Jim C. Hines
• Batch 39 and the Deadman's Switch - (2008) - shortstory by Simon DeDeo
• Rolling Steel: A Pre-Apocalyptic Love Story - (2009) - shortstory by Jay Lake and Shannon Page
• The Completely Rechargeable Man - (2008) - shortstory by Karen Heuler
• Episode 72 - (2008) - shortstory by Don Webb
• Placa del Fuego - (2009) - novelette by Tobias S. Buckell
• Herding Vegetable Sheep - (2009) - shortstory by Ekaterina Sedia
• The Devonshire Arms - (2009) - shortstory by Alex Dally MacFarlane
• The Loyalty of Birds - (2009) - shortstory by Rachel Sobel
• The Giving Heart - (2009) - shortstory by Corie Ralston
• White Charles - (2009) - novelette by Sarah Monette
• On the Lot and In the Air - (2009) - shortstory by Lisa L. Hannett
• A Woman's Best Friend - (2008) - shortstory by Robert Reed
• The Dying World - (2009) - shortstory by Lavie Tidhar
• Advection - (2009) - shortstory by Genevieve Valentine

Since 2006, Clarkesworld Magazine has been entertaining science fiction and fantasy fans with their brand of unique science fiction and fantasy stories. Collected here are all of the stories this Hugo Award-winning magazine published during their fourth year. Included in this volume are twenty-four stories by visionary writers of short fiction, including Jay Lake, Kij Johnson, Catherynne M. Valente, Robert Reed, Lavie Tidhar, Peter Watts and more!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction by Neil Clarke
• Between Two Dragons by Yoon Ha Lee
• The Cull by Robert Reed
• The Mermaids Singing Each to Each by Cat Rambo
• Of Melei, of Ulthar by Gord Sellar
• Night, in Dark Perfection by Richard Parks
• The Grandmother-Granddaughter Conspiracy by Marissa Lingen
• Brief Candle by Jason K. Chapman
• All the King's Monsters by Megan Arkenberg
• Torquing Vacuum by Jay Lake
• The Language of the Whirlwind by Lavie Tidhar
• A Sweet Calling by Tony Pi
• Alone with Gandhari by Gord Sellar
• The History Within Us by Matthew Kressel
• January by Becca De La Rosa
• Messenger by J.M. Sidorova
• A Jar of Goodwill by Tobias S. Buckell
• Futures in the Memories Market by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• My Father's Singularity by Brenda Cooper
• Beach Blanket Spaceship by Sandra McDonald
• The Association of the Dead by Rahul Kanakia
• Spar by Kij Johnson
• Paper Cradle by Stephen Gaskell
• Thirteen Ways of Looking at Space/Time by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Things by Peter Watts
• Clarkesworld Citizens--Official Census
• About Clarkesworld

Since 2006, Clarkesworld Magazine has been entertaining science fiction and fantasy fans with their brand of unique science fiction and fantasy stories. Collected here are all of the original stories this Hugo Award-winning magazine published during their fifth year. Included in this volume are twenty-four stories by visionary writers of short fiction, including Ken Liu, Nnedi Okorafor, Robert Reed, N.K. Jemisin, Yoon Ha Lee, E. Lily Yu, and more!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction by Neil Clarke
• Ghostweight by Yoon Ha Lee
• Perfect Lies by Gwendolyn Clare
• Tying Knots by Ken Liu
• Seeing by Genevieve Valentine
• Salvaging Gods by Jacques Barcia
• Laying the Ghost by Eric Brown
• The Children of Main Street by A. C. Wise
• Diving After the Moon by Rachel Swirsky
• Three Oranges by D. Elizabeth Wasden
• Matchmaker by Erin M. Hartshorn
• Trickster by Mari Ness
• The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book) by Nnedi Okorafor
• The Architect of Heaven by Jason K. Chapman
• Frozen Voice by An Owomoyela
• Trois morceaux en forme de mechanika by Gord Sellar
• Pack by Robert Reed
• Semiramis by Genevieve Valentine
• Whose Face This Is I Do Not Know by Cat Rambo
• The Taxidermist's Other Wife by Kelly Barnhill
• On the Banks of the River Lex by N. K. Jemisin
• Signals in the Deep by Greg Mellor
• The Fish of Lijiang by Chen Qiufan, translated by Ken Liu
• Conservation of Shadows by Yoon Ha Lee
• The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees by E. Lily Yu
• Clarkesworld Citizens - Official Census
• About Clarkesworld

Since 2006, Clarkesworld Magazine has been entertaining science fiction and fantasy fans with their brand of unique science fiction and fantasy stories. Collected here are all thirty-four stories published in the sixth year of this Hugo Award-winning magazine.

Contents:

• Introduction by Neil Clarke
• Scattered Along the River of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard
• All the Painted Stars by Gwendolyn Clare
• Prayer by Robert Reed
• A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight by Xia Jia
• And the Hollow Space Inside by Mari Ness
• What Everyone Remembers by Rahul Kanakia
• The Bells of Subsidence by Michael John Grist
• The Switch by Sarah Stanton
• Sunlight Society by Margaret Ronald
• A Militant Peace by David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell
• All the Young Kirks and Their Good Intentions by Helena Bell
• In Which Faster-Than-Light Travel Solves All of Our Problems by Chris Stabback
• The Womb Factory by Peter M. Ferenczi
• Draftyhouse by Erik Amundsen
• All the Things the Moon is Not by Alexander Lumans
• Fade to White by Catherynne M. Valente
• Astrophilia by Carrie Vaughn
• If The Mountain Comes by An Owomoyela
• From Their Paws, We Shall Inherit by Gary Kloster
• Sirius by Ben Peek
• Synch Me, Kiss Me, Drop by Suzanne Church
• Iron Ladies, Iron Tigers by Sunny Moraine
• Mantis Wives by Kij Johnson
• Pony by Erik Amundsen
• Robot by Helena Bell
• The Found Girl by David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell
• muo-ka's Child by Indrapramit Das
• Honey Bear by Sofia Samatar
• The Smell of Orange Groves by Lavie Tidhar
• Silently and Very Fast by Catherynne M. Valente
• Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes by Tom Crosshill
• You Were She Who Abode by E. Catherine Tobler
• Staying Behind by Ken Liu
• Immersion by Aliette de Bodard
• About the Authors
• Clarkesworld Census
• About Clarkesworld

Since 2006, Clarkesworld Magazine has been entertaining science fiction and fantasy fans with their brand of unique science fiction and fantasy stories. Collected here are all thirty-six original stories published in the seventh year of this Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning magazine.

CONTENTS:

• Introduction by Neil Clarke
• The Weight of a Blessing by Aliette de Bodard
• The Urashima Effect by E. Lily Yu
• The Battle of Candle Arc by Yoon Ha Lee
• A Bead of Jasper, Four Small Stones by Genevieve Valentine
• (To See the Other) Whole Against the Sky by E. Catherine Tobler
• The Last Survivor of the Great Sexbot Revolution by A.C. Wise
• Gravity by Erzebet YellowBoy
• Vacant Spaces by Greg Kurzawa
• Tachy Psyche by Andy Dudak
• Pockets Full of Stones by Vajra Chandrasekera
• Across the Terminator by David Tallerman
• Your Final Apocalypse by Sandra McDonald
• Shepherds by Greg Kurzawa
• Soulcatcher by James Patrick Kelly
• Cry of the Kharchal by Vandana Singh
• England under the White Witch by Theodora Goss
• Aquatica by Maggie Clark
• Melt With You by Emily C. Skaftun
• Driftings by Ian McDonald
• Everything Must Go by Brooke Wonders
• Sweet Subtleties by Lisa L Hannett
• The Wanderers by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam
• Variations on Bluebeard and Dalton's Law Along the Event Horizon by Helena Bell
• I Tell Thee All, I Can No More by Sunny Moraine
• This is Why We Jump by Jacob Clifton
• Free-Fall by Graham Templeton
• No Portraits on the Sky by Kali Wallace
• The Wisdom of Ants by Thoraiya Dyer
• One Flesh by Mark Bourne and Elizabeth Bourne
• Found by Alex Dally MacFarlane
• Mar Pacifico by Greg Mellor
• 86, 87, 88, 89 by Genevieve Valentine
• (R + D) /I = M by E. Catherine Tobler
• Annex by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
• The Promise of Space by James Patrick Kelly
• Effigy Nights by Yoon Ha Lee
• About the Authors
• Clarkesworld Census
• About Clarkesworld

Since 2006, Clarkesworld Magazine has been entertaining science fiction and fantasy fans with their brand of unique science fiction and fantasy stories. Collected here are all of the stories this Hugo Award-winning magazine published during their eighth year. Includes stories by Michael Swanwick, Yoon Ha Lee, Robert Reed, Susan Palwick, Sean Williams, N.K. Jemisin, James Patrick Kelly, E. Lily Yu, Ken Liu, Xia Jia, Seth Dickinson, Juliette Wade, Matthew Kressel, and many more!

Table of Contents:

• "Passage of Earth" by Michael Swanwick
• "Mystic Falls" by Robert Reed
• "Weather" by Susan Palwick
• "Human Strandings and the Role of the Xenobiologist" by Thoraiya Dyer
• "A Gift in Time" by Maggie Clark
• "Never Dreaming (In Four Burns)" by Seth Dickinson
• "Wine" by Yoon Ha Lee
• "The Cuckoo" by Sean Williams
• "Five Stages of Grief After the Alien Invasion" by Caroline M. Yoachim
• "Silent Bridge, Pale Cascade" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
• "And Wash Out by Tides of War" by An Owomoyela
• "Tortoiseshell Cats Are Not Refundable" by Cat Rambo
• "Grave of the Fireflies" by Cheng Jingbo
• "Bonfires in Anacostia" by Joseph Tomaras
• "Stone Hunger" by N. K. Jemisin
• "The Contemporary Foxwife" by Yoon Ha Lee
• "Suteta Mono de wa Nai" by Juliette Wade
• "The Saint of the Sidewalks" by Kat Howard
• "Daedalum, the Devil's Wheel" by E. Lily Yu
• "The Rose Witch" by James Patrick Kelly
• "The Creature Recants" by Dale Bailey
• "Spring Festival: Happiness, Anger, Love, Sorrow, Joy" by Xia Jia
• "Of Alternate Adventures and Memory" by Rochita Loenen-Ruiz
• "wHole" by Robert Reed
• "Pepe" by Tang Fei
• "The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul" by Natalia Theodoridou
• "Bits" by Naomi Kritzer
• "Communion" by Mary Anne Mohanraj
• "The Aftermath" by Maggie Clark
• "Water in Springtime" by Kali Wallace
• "Soul's Bargain" by Juliette Wade
• "The Symphony of Ice and Dust" by Julie Novakova
• "Migratory Patterns of Underground Birds" by E. Catherine Tobler
• "Patterns of a Murmuration, in Billions of Data Points" by JY Yang
• "Autodidact" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
• "Morrigan in the Sunglare" by Seth Dickinson
• "The Clockwork Soldier" by Ken Liu
• "The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye" by Matthew Kressel

Since 2006, Clarkesworld Magazine has been entertaining science fiction and fantasy fans with their brand of unique science fiction and fantasy stories. Collected here are all of the stories this Hugo Award-winning magazine published during the first half of their ninth year. Includes stories by Aliette de Bodard, Naomi Kritzer, Ken Liu, Robert Reed, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Catherynne M. Valente, Kij Johnson, Jay Lake, Matthew Kressel, Rich Larson, and many more!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Neil Clarke
• Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight - (2015) - short story by Aliette de Bodard
• Cameron Rhyder's Legs - (2014) - short story by Matthew Kressel
• Cassandra - (2015) - short story by Ken Liu
• Indelible - (2015) - short story by Gwendolyn Clare
• Slowly Builds An Empire - (2015) - short story by Naim Kabir
• The Last Surviving Gondola Widow - (2015) - short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Ether - (2015) - novelette by Zhang Ran
• A Universal Elegy - (2015) - short story by Tang Fei
• All Original Brightness - (2015) - short story by Mike Buckley
• No Vera There - (2014) - short story by Dominica Phetteplace
• Fatima's Wound - (2014) - short story by Kali Wallace
• Seeking boarder for rm w/ attached bathroom, must be willing to live with ghosts ($500 / Berkeley) - (2014) - short story by Rahul Kanakia
• The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild - (2015) - novelette by Catherynne M. Valente
• An Exile of the Heart - (2015) - short story by Jay Lake
• Lovecraft - (2014) - short story by Helena Bell
• The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill - (2015) - short story by Kelly Robson
• Now Dress Me in My Finest Suit and Lay Me in My Casket - (2014) - short story by M. Bennardo
• Taxidermist in the Underworld - (2014) - short story by Maria Dahvana Headley
• The Apartment Dweller's Bestiary - (2015) - short story by Kij Johnson
• Pithing Needle - (2014) - short story by E. Catherine Tobler
• Coming of the Light - (2015) - novelette by Chen Qiufan
• Pernicious Romance - (2014) - short story by Robert Reed
• The Magician and Laplace's Demon - (2014) - novelette by Tom Crosshill
• The Long Haul, from The Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 - (2014) - short story by Ken Liu
• Meshed - (2015) - short story by Rich Larson
• Cat Pictures Please - (2015) - short story by Naomi Kritzer

To keep up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more -- a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the inaugural volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a new yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy award-winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor in chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

Table of Contents:

• "A Murmuration" by Alastair Reynolds (Interzone, March/April 2015)
• "In Blue Lily's Wake" by Aliette de Bodard (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• "Outsider" by An Owomeyla (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
• "Another Word for World" by Ann Leckie (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
• "Iron Pegasus" by Brenda Cooper (Mission Tomorrow, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt)
• "Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World" by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, September 2015)
• "Bannerless" by Carrie Vaughn (The End Has Come, edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey)
• "Gypsy" by Carter Scholz (PM Press)
• "The Smog Society" by Chen Qiufan, translated by Ken Liu and Carmen Yiling Yan (Lightspeed, August 2015)
• "The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss" by David Brin (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
• "Damage" by David D. Levine (Tor.com, 1/21/2015)
• "Capitalism in the 22nd Century" by Geoff Ryman (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
• "Folding Beijing" by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu (Uncanny, January/February 2015)
• "Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan" by Ian McDonald (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
• "Hold-Time Violations" by John Chu (Tor.com, 10/17/2015)
• "Two-Year Man" by Kelly Robson (Asimov's, August 2015)
• "The Gods Have Not Died in Vain" by Ken Liu (The End Has Come, edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey)
• "Today I Am Paul" by Martin L. Shoemaker (Clarkesworld, August 2015)
• "Cocoons" by Nancy Kress (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
• "Cat Pictures Please" by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015)
• "So Much Cooking" by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, November 2015)
• "No Placeholder for You, My Love" by Nick Wolven (Asimov's, August 2015)
• "Wild Honey" by Paul McAuley (Asimov's, August 2015)
• "Meshed" by Rich Larson (Clarkesworld, February 2015)
• "Empty" by Robert Reed (Asimov's, December 2015)
• "Calved" by Sam J. Miller (Asimov's, September 2015)
• "The Audience" by Sean McMullen (Analog, June 2015)
• "Hello, Hello" by Seanan McGuire (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
• "Three Bodies at Mitanni" by Seth Dickinson (Analog, June 2015)
• "Violation of the TrueNet Security Act" by Taiyo Fujii, Translated by Jim Hubbert (Lightspeed, July 2015)
• "The Cold Inequalities" by Yoon Ha Lee (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)

To keep up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more--a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a new yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy award-winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

Table of Contents:

• "The Visitor from Taured", novelette by Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov's, September 2016)
• "Extraction Request", short story by Rich Larson (Clarkesworld, January 2016)
• "A Good Home", short story by Karin Lowachee (Lightspeed, June 2016)
• "Prodigal", novelette by Gord Sellar (Analog, December 2016)
• "Ten Days", novelette by Nina Allan (Now We Are Ten, edited by Ian Whates)
• "Terminal", short story by Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com, April 2016)
• "Panic City", short story by Madeline Ashby (CyberWorld, edited by Jason Heller and Joshua Viola)
• "Last Gods", short story by Sam J. Miller (Drowned Worlds, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
• "HigherWorks", novelette by Gregory Norman Bossert (Asimov's, December 2016)
• "A Strange Loop", novelette by T.R. Napper (Interzone, January/February 2016)
• "Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse", short story by Xia Jia (Invisible Planets, edited by Ken Liu)
• "Pearl", novelette by Aliette de Bodard (The Starlit Wood, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
• "The Metal Demimonde", novelette by Nick Wolven (Analog, June 2016)
• "The Iron Tactician", novella by Alastair Reynolds (Newcon Press)
• "The Mighty Slinger", novelette by Tobias S. Buckell and Karen Lord (Bridging Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
• "They All Have One Breath", novelette by Karl Bunker (Asimov's, December 2016)
• "Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea", short story by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, February 2016)
• "And Then, One Day, the Air was Full of Voices", short story by Margaret Ronald (Clarkesworld, June 2016)
• "The Three Lives of Sonata James", novelette by Lettie Prell (Tor.com, October 2016)
• "The Charge and the Storm", novelette by An Owomoyela (Asimov's, February 2016)
• "Parables of Infinity", short story by Robert Reed (Bridging Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
• "Ten Poems for the Mossums, One for the Man", short story by Suzanne Palmer (Asimov's, July 2016)
• "You Make Pattaya", short story by Rich Larson (Interzone, November/December 2016)
• "Number Nine Moon", novelette by Alex Irvine (F&SF, January/February 2016)
• "Things with Beards", short story by Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld, June 2016)
• "Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit--Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts", short story by Ken Liu (Drowned Worlds, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
• "Touring with the Alien", novelette by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld, April 2016)

To keep up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more?a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a new yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy award-winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor in chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

Table of Contents:

• "A Series of Steaks" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld, January 2017)
• "Holdfast" by Alastair Reynolds (Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers)
• "Every Hour of Light and Dark" by Nancy Kress (Omni, Winter 2017)
• "The Last Novelist, or a Dead Lizard in the Yard" by Matthew Kressel (Tor.com, March 2017)
• "Shikasta" by Vandana Singh (Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities, edited by Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich)
• "Wind Will Rove" by Sarah Pinsker (Asimov's Science Fiction, September/October 2017)
• "Focus" by Gord Sellar (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May/June 2017)
• "The Martian Obelisk" by Linda Nagata (Tor.com, July 2017)
• "Shadows of Eternity" by Gregory Benford (Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers)
• "The Worldless" by Indrapramit Das (Lightspeed, March 2017)
• "Regarding the Robot Raccoons Attached to the Hull of My Ship" by Rachael K. Jones and Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali (Diabolical Plots, June 2017)
• "Belly Up" by Maggie Clark (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2017)
• "Uncanny Valley" by Greg Egan (Tor.com, August 2017)
• "We Who Live in the Heart " by Kelly Robson (Clarkesworld, May 2017)
• "A Catalogue of Sunlight at the End of the World" by A.C. Wise (Sunvault, edited by Phoebe Wagner and Bronte Christopher Wieland)
• "Meridian" by Karin Lowachee (Where the Stars Rise, edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak)
• "The Tale of the Alcubierre Horse" by Kathleen Ann Goonan (Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers)
• "Extracurricular Activities" by Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com, February 2017)
• "In Everlasting Wisdom" by Aliette de Bodard (Infinity Wars, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• "The Last Boat-Builder in Ballyvoloon" by Finbarr O'Reilly (Clarkesworld, October 2017)
• "The Speed of Belief" by Robert Reed (Asimov's Science Fiction, January/February 2017)
• "Death on Mars" by Madeline Ashby (Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities, edited by Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich)
• "An Evening with Severyn Grimes" by Rich Larson (Asimov's Science Fiction, July/August 2017)
• "ZeroS" by Peter Watts (Infinity Wars, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• "The Secret Life of Bots" by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, September 2017)
• "Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance" by Tobias S. Buckell (Cosmic Powers, edited by John Joseph Adams)

A human detective and their partner, an enhanced chimpanzee, investigate a strange murder on the subway... a smart home goes into lockdown, turning a man's own home into his prison... at a robot factory, something has caused the machines to attempt to escape... mysterious seeds raining down from deep space could be the first sign of an alien invasion... a woman seeks to restore a broken AI, hoping it can help return humanity to better days...

For decades, science fiction has compelled us to imagine futures both inspiring and cautionary. Whether it's a warning message from a survey ship, a harrowing journey to a new world, or the adventures of well-meaning AI, science fiction inspires the imagination and delivers a lens through which we can view ourselves and the world around us. With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Four, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and twenty-nine of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2018.

Table of Contents:

• "When We Were Starless" by Simone Heller (Clarkesworld Magazine, October 2018)
• "Intervention" by Kelly Robson (Infinity's End, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• "All the Time We've Left to Spend" by Alyssa Wong (Robots vs. Fairies, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
• "Domestic Violence" by Madeline Ashby (Slate, March 26, 2018)
• "Ten Landscapes of Nili Fossae" by Ian McDonald (2001: An Odyssey in Words, edited by Ian Whates and Tom Hunter)
• "Prophet of the Roads" by Naomi Kritzer (Infinity's End, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• "Traces of Us" by Vanessa Fogg (GigaNotoSaurus, March 2018)
• "Theories of Flight" by Linda Nagata (Asimov's Science Fiction, November/December 2018)
• "Lab B-15" by Nick Wolven (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March/April 2018)
• "Requiem" by Vandana Singh (Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories, Small Beer Press)
• "Sour Milk Girls" by Erin Roberts (Clarkesworld Magazine, January 2018)
• "Mother Tongues" by S. Qiouyi Lu (Asimov's Science Fiction, January/February 2018)
• "Singles' Day" by Samantha Murray (Interzone, September/October 2018)
• "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth" by Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, September 19, 2018)
• "The Buried Giant" by Lavie Tidhar (Robots vs. Fairies, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
• "The Anchorite Wakes" by R.S.A. Garcia (Clarkesworld Magazine, August 2018)
• "Entropy War" by Yoon Ha Lee (2001: An Odyssey in Words, edited by Ian Whates and Tom Hunter)
• "An Equation of State" by Robert Reed (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2018)
• "Quantifying Trust" by John Chu (Mother of Invention, edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts)
• "Hard Mary" by Sofia Samatar (Lightspeed Magazine, September 2018)
• "Freezing Rain, a Chance of Falling" by L.X. Beckett (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2018)
• "Okay, Glory" by Elizabeth Bear (Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Wade Roush)
• "Heavy Lifting" by A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2018)
• "Lions and Gazelles" by Hannu Rajaniemi (Slate, September 27, 2018)
• "Different Seas" by Alastair Reynolds (Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Wade Roush)
• "Among the Water Buffaloes, a Tiger's Steps" by Aliette de Bodard (Mechanical Animals, edited by Selena Chambers and Jason Heller)
• "Byzantine Empathy" by Ken Liu (Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Wade Roush)
• "Meat and Salt and Sparks" by Rich Larson (Tor.com, June 6, 2018)
• "Umbernight" by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld Magazine, February 2018)

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more -- a task that can be accomplished by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to present the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

Table of Contents:

• "Moonlight" - short story by Cixin Liu
• "Permafrost" - novella by Alastair Reynolds
• "Give the Family My Love" - short story by A. T. Greenblatt
• "At the Fall" - novelette by Alec Nevala-Lee
• "Sympathizer" - short fiction by Karin Lowachee
• "The Painter of Trees" - short story by Suzanne Palmer
• "Cratered" - novelette by Karen Osborne
• "The Work of Wolves" - novella by Tegan Moore
• "The Ocean Between the Leaves" - novelette by Ray Nayler
• "Rescue Party" [Xuya] - novelette by Aliette de Bodard
• "By the Warmth of Their Calculus" - novelette by Tobias S. Buckell
• "The Empty Gun" - short story by Yoon Ha Lee
• "In the Stillness Between the Stars" - novelette by Mercurio D. Rivera
• "On the Shores of Ligeia" - short story by Carolyn Ives Gilman
• "The Justified" - short fiction by Ann Leckie
• "Kali_Na" - short fiction by Indrapramit Das
• "Close Enough for Jazz" - short fiction by John Chu
• "Deriving Life" - novelette by Elizabeth Bear
• "Old Media" - short story by Annalee Newitz
• "Painless" - short story by Rich Larson
• "Emergency Skin" - novelette by N. K. Jemisin
• "Song Xiuyun" - novelette A Que
• "The River of Blood and Wine" - novelette by Kali Wallace
• "Knit Three, Save Four" - short story by Marie Vibbert
• "Such Thoughts Are Unproductive" - short story by Rebecca Campbell
• "Mother Ocean" - short story by Vandana Singh
• "The Little Shepherdess" - short story by Gwyneth Jones
• "One Thousand Beetles in a Jumpsuit" - novelette by Dominica Phetteplace

Visit a future where you can rent out your body, just like an apartment....

Join a robot dog repurposed for mining as it fights to stay alive after being judged as defective....

Follow a woman who must race across the surface of an alien world alone and through deadly flora and fauna to save the life of her mentor....

Discover what happens when an autonomous undersea drone sent to find life on Enceladus begins demonstrating signs of an emerging consciousness....

Find out what happens when you have your boyfriend test out your newest playbot.

For decades, science fiction has compelled us to imagine futures both inspiring and cautionary. Whether it's a warning message from a survey ship, a harrowing journey to a new world, or the adventures of well-meaning AI, science fiction inspires the imagination and delivers a lens through which we can view ourselves and the world around us. With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Six, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 33 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2020.

Table of Contents:

• Scar Tissue - short story by Tobias S. Buckell
• Eyes of the Forest - short story by Ray Nayler
• Sinew and Steel and What They Told - short story by Carrie Vaughn
• An Important Failure - novelette by Rebecca Campbell
• The Long Iapetan Night - novelette by Julie Novakova
• AirBody - short story by Sameem Siddiqui
• The Bahrain Underground Bazaar - novelette by Nadia Afifi
• Lone Puppeteer of a Sleeping City - novelette by Arula Ratnakar
• Your Boyfriend Experience - novelette by James Patrick Kelly
• Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars - novelette by Mercurio D. Rivera
• The 1st Interspecies Solidarity Fair and Parade - novelette by Bogi Takács
• Oannes, From the Flood - short story by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• Yellow and the Perception of Reality - novelette by Maureen F. McHugh
• Exile's End - novelette by Carolyn Ives Gilman
• Invisible People - novelette by Nancy Kress
• Red_Bati - short story by Dilman Dila
• Textbooks in the Attic - short fiction by S. B. Divya
• Seeding the Mountain - novelette by Maggie Clark
• "Knock, Knock" Said the Ship - short story by Rati Mehrotra
• Still You Linger, Like Soot in the Air - short story by Matthew Kressel
• Tunnels - [Lydia Duluth] - novelette by Eleanor Arnason
• Test 4 Echo - short story by Peter Watts
• Uma - short story by Ken Liu
• Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love - short story by Usman T. Malik
• The Translator, at Low Tide - short story by Vajra Chandrasekera
• Fairy Tales for Robots - novelette by Sofia Samatar
• This World Is Made for Monsters - short story by M. Rickert
• Elsewhere - short story by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck [as by James S. A. Corey]
• Salvage - novelette by Andy Dudak
• The Long Tail - short story by Aliette de Bodard
• Rhizome, by Starlight - short story by Fran Wilde
• How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar? - novelette by Rich Larson

Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more--a task that can be accomplished by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to present the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.