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Finalist, Asimov's Annual Readers' Poll

Mae, chief linguist on the Ivoire, heads a diplomatic mission to Ukhanda. Her handling of relations with the Quurzod lead to a battle that causes the Ivoire's anacapa drive to malfunction, stranding the ship in foldspace. Mae can't remember what she did wrong on the mission: all she knows is that she's one of the few survivors. If she doesn't recall it, she won't be able to prevent another disaster when the Ivoire escapes foldspace. If the Ivoire escapes foldspace. Because what no one talks about -- and everyone fears -- is that the Ivoire is becalmed... forever.

This standalone novella first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction in April-May 2011. It has been collected in The Diving Bundle.

Winner, Asimov's Annual Readers' Poll

Boss dives derelict space vessels, for money, yes, but more for their historical value. So, when Boss uncovers the find of a lifetime, she enlists the best divers she can convince to help her pursue it -- off the grid and under the Empire's radar. But the more they discover, the less they realize they know -- and the more it will cost them all.

This novella first appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction in December 2005. In a slightly modified form, it is contained in its entirety within the novel Diving Into The Wreck. The story is included in the anthology The Final Frontier (2018), edited by Neil Clarke. It has been collected in Recovering Apollo 8 and Other Stories and The Diving Bundle.

Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money, but mostly she's an active historian. She wants to know about the past--to experience it firsthand. Once she's dived the ship, she'll either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can bring tourists to dive it as well. It's a good life for a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.

Then one day, Boss finds the claim of a lifetime: an enormous spacecraft, incredibly old, and apparently Earth-made. It's impossible for something so old, built in the days before Faster Than Light travel, to have journeyed this far from Earth. It shouldn't be here. It can't be here. And yet, it is. Boss's curiosity is up, and she's determined to investigate. She hires a group of divers to explore the wreck with her, the best team she can assemble. But some secrets are best kept hidden, and the past won t give up its treasures without exacting a price in blood.

What Boss finds could rewrite history, cost lives, and start an intergalactic war.

This novel includes, in slightly modified form, the complete text of the novellas Diving Into The Wreck and The Room of Lost Souls.

Leaving Boss behind to continue diving the Boneyard, Ivoire Engineer Yash Zarlengo returns to the Lost Souls Corporation's headquarters to analyze the data from the runabout they discovered there.

Convinced that the experience in the Boneyard proves the Fleet still exists, Yash buries herself in her work, interested in little else.

Ivoire Captain Jonathan "Coop" Cooper notices Yash's growing obsession with finding the Fleet and joins her in her search.

For the first time in six years, the crew of the Ivoire feels real hope. Coop and Yash know all too well the dangers hope can pose. But this time their hope might just lead them somewhere no one expected.

Parts of this novel appeared in different forms as the novella Dix (Asimov's March-April 2018) and the novelette Lieutenant Tightass (Asimov's July-August 2018).

Boss' team leader Squishy, who had a mysterious past involving military intelligence, enlisted others to help her destroy stealth tech in the novel Boneyards. But exactly what happened to those teams remained a mystery - until now.

Ten people signed up to help Squishy in her fateful mission. Only five returned.

Paired up in teams of two, they set out across the Enterran Empire to infiltrate and sabotage the Empire's bases which were being used to back up their stealth tech research.

But what exactly happened on those bases? Who survived? Squishy's Teams provides the answers to those burning questions and reveals twists to the ongoing saga no one sees coming.

The author strongly encourages reading Boneyards before picking up Squishy's Teams.