Search Worlds Without End

Change the past... and the future may come undone.

An outstanding collection of time-traveling alternate history stories from 16 major science fiction writers, both old and new. Every day, a thousand possible futures die unborn around us-corners not turned, paths not taken. But if one could go back into the past and change it, the outcome could be unimaginable.

Table of Contents:

• Preface - essay by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
• Aristotle and the Gun - (1958) - novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
• Sitka - (2004) - shortstory by William Sanders
• The Only Game in Town - (1960) - novelette by Poul Anderson
• Playing the Game - (1982) - shortstory by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann
• Killing the Morrow - (1996) - shortstory by Robert Reed
• Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne - (1967) - shortstory by R. A. Lafferty
• The Game of Blood and Dust - (1975) - shortstory by Roger Zelazny
• Calling Your Name - (2003) - shortstory by Howard Waldrop
• What Rough Beast - (1959) - novelette by Damon Knight
• O Brave Old World! - (1976) - novelette by Avram Davidson
• Radiant Doors - (1998) - shortstory by Michael Swanwick
• The Hotel at Harlan's Landing - (2002) - shortstory by Kage Baker
• Mozart in Mirrorshades - (1985) - shortstory by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner
• Under Siege - (1985) - novelette by George R. R. Martin

Meet the Women of Futures Past: from Grand Master Andre Norton and the beloved Anne McCaffrey to some of the most popular SF writers today, such as Lois McMaster Bujold and CJ Cherryh. The most influential writers of multiple generations are found in these pages, delivering lost classics and foundational touchstones that shaped the field.

You'll find Northwest Smith, C.L. Moore's famous smuggler who predates (and maybe inspired) Han Solo by four decades. Read Leigh Brackett's fiction and see why George Lucas chose her to write The Empire Strikes Back. Adventure tales, post-apocalyptic visions, space opera, aliens-among-us, time travel -- these women have delivered all this and more, some of the best science fiction ever written!

Table of Contents:

(stories which are available to read for free online are linked)

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Invisible Women by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (read)
• The Indelible Kind [The People] (1968) novelette by Zenna Henderson (read)
• The Smallest Dragonboy [Pern] (1973) short story by Anne McCaffrey (read)
• Out of All Them Bright Stars (1985) short story by Nancy Kress
• Angel (1987) short story by Pat Cadigan (read)
• Cassandra (1978) short story by C.J. Cherryh (listen)
• Shambleau [Northwest Smith] (1933) novelette by C.L. Moore (read)
• The Last Days of Shandakor [Mars] (1952) novelette by Leigh Brackett (read)
• All Cats Are Gray (1953) short story by Andre Norton (read)
• Aftermaths [Vorkosigan Saga] (1986) short story by Lois McMaster Bujold (listen)
• The Last Flight of Doctor Ain (1969) short story by James Tiptree, Jr. (read)
• Sur (1982) short story by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Fire Watch [Oxford Time Travel] (1982) novelette by Connie Willis (read)

A CASE FOR SECTOR GENERAL

The big birdlike creature, found floating in the vastness of space by the Scoutship Torrance, was obviously sick.

A strand--and perhaps deadly--rash that covered its body may well have caused the creature's companions to abandon their helpless friend.

But the crew couldn't leave the beast to die. First they would have to find a way to tow it... and then the doctors and nurses at Sector General could find a cure!

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PLUS TEN MORE SUPER SCIENCE-FICTION STORIES
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Table of Contents:

• 1 - Spacebird - [Sector General] - (1973) - novelette
• 23 - Commuter - (1972) - short story
• 40 - Assisted Passage - [Allen - 1] - (1953) - novelette
• 59 - Curtain Call - (1954) - short story
• 68 - Boarding Party - (1955) - novelette
• 94 - Patrol - (1957) - novelette
• 120 - Fast Trip - (1963) - novelette
• 160 - Question of Cruelty - (1956) - novelette
• 173 - False Alarm - [Allen - 2] - (1957) - novelette
• 193 - Dynasty of One - (1955) - short story
• 199 - Outrider - [Allen] - (1955) - novelette

Iraq + 100 poses a question to ten Iraqi writers: what might your country look like in the year 2103 -- a century after the disastrous American- and British-led invasion, and 87 years down the line from its current, nightmarish battle for survival? How might the effects of that one intervention reach across a century of repercussions, and shape the lives of ordinary Iraqi citizens, or influence its economy, culture, or politics? Might Iraq have finally escaped the cycle of invasion and violence triggered by 2003 and, if so, what would a new, free Iraq look like?

Covering a range of approaches -- from science fiction, to allegory, to magic realism -- these stories use the blank canvas of the future to explore the nation's hopes and fears in equal measure. Along the way a new aesthetic for the 'Iraqi fantastical' begins to emerge: thus we meet time-travelling angels, technophobic dictators, talking statues, macabre museum-worlds, even hovering tiger-droids, and all the time buoyed by a dark, inventive humour that, in itself, offers hope.

Contents:

• Foreword (Iraq + 100) - essay by Hassan Blasim
• Kahramana - short story by Anoud
• The Gardens of Babylon - short story by Hassan Blasim
• The Corporal - novelette by Ali Bader
• The Worker - short story by Diaa Jubaili
• The Day by Day Mosque - short story by Mortada Gzar
• Baghdad Syndrome - short story by Zhraa Alhaboby
• Operation Daniel - short story by Khalid Kaki
• Kuszib - (2015) - novelette by Hassan Abdulrazzak
• The Here and Now Prison - short story by Jalal Hasan
• Najufa - short story by Ibrahim Al-Marashi
• Afterword (Iraq + 100) - essay by Ra Page

Palestine + 100 poses a question to twelve Palestinian writers: what might your country look like in the year 2048 -- a century after the tragedies and trauma of what has come to be called the Nakba? How might this event -- which, in 1948, saw the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs from their homes -- reach across a century of occupation, oppression, and political isolation, to shape the country and its people? Will a lasting peace finally have been reached, or will future technology only amplify the suffering and mistreatment of Palestinians?

Covering a range of approaches -- from SF noir, to nightmarish dystopia, to high-tech farce -- these stories use the blank canvas of the future to reimagine the Palestinian experience today. Along the way, we encounter drone swarms, digital uprisings, time-bending VR, peace treaties that span parallel universes, and even a Palestinian superhero, in probably the first anthology of science fiction from Palestine ever.Translated from the Arabic by Raph Cormack, Mohamed Ghalaieny, Andrew Leber, Thoraya El-Rayyes, Yasmine Seale and Jonathan Wright.

WINNER of a PEN Translates Award 2018

Contents:

• Introduction (Palestine + 100) - essay by Basma Ghalayini
• Song of the Birds - short fiction by Saleem Haddad
• Sleep it Off, Dr Schott - short fiction by Selma Dabbagh
• N - short fiction by Majd Kayyal
• The Key - short fiction by Anwar Hamed
• Digital Nation - short fiction by Emad El-Din Aysha
• Personal Hero - short fiction by Abdalmuti Maqboul
• Vengeance - short fiction by Tasnim Abutabikh
• Application 39 - short fiction by Ahmed Masoud
• The Association - short fiction by Samir El-Youssef
• Commonplace - short fiction by Rawan Yaghi
• Final Warning - short fiction by Talal Abu Shawish
• The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid - short fiction by Mazen Maarouf

Winner of a PEN Translates Award 2021

Kurdistan + 100 poses a question to contemporary Kurdish writers: Might the Kurds one day have a country to call their own? With 13 stories all set in the year 2046 -- exactly a century after the first glimmer of Kurdish independence, the short-lived Republic of Mahabad -- this book offers a space for new expressions and new possibilities in the ongoing struggle for self-determination.

Throughout the 20th century, and so far in the 21st, the Kurds have been repeatedly betrayed, suppressed, and stripped of their basic rights (from citizenship to the freedom to speak their own language), seeing their political aspirations crushed at every turn.

In this groundbreaking anthology, Kurdish authors (including several present and former political prisoners) imagine a freer future, one in which it is no longer effectively illegal to be a Kurd. From future eco-activism, to drone warfare, to the reanimation of victims of past massacres, these stories explore the present struggles through the prism of futurism to dazzling effect.

Egypt + 100 poses a question to ten contemporary Egyptian authors: what might your country look like in the year 2111 -- exactly a century after the (ultimately unsuccessful) Tahrir Square revolution? Might Egypt still be in the grips of pseudo-democratic authoritarians: a police state, riddled with corruption, the inertia of bureaucracy, and ever-widening economic disparities. Or might other historical forces come into play, stemming the recent slide into totalitarianism, and realising some of the lost aspirations of the long-cancelled 'Arab Spring'. From gladiatorial entertainments, to anti-procreation resistance movements, climate and refugee crises, these stories explore different sides of the present predicament through the metaphor of futurism to dazzling effect.

Betrayed and attacked, the Clan fled the Trade Pact for Cersi, believing that world their long-lost home. With them went a lone alien, the Human named Jason Morgan, Chosen of their leader, Sira di Sarc. Tragically, their arrival upset the Balance between Cersi's three sentient species. And so the Clan, with their newfound kin, must flee again.

Their starship, powered by the M'hir, follows a course set long ago, for Clan abilities came from an experiment their ancestors--the Hoveny--conducted on themselves. But it's a perilous journey. The Clan must endure more than cramped conditions and inner turmoil.

Their dead are Calling.

Sira must keep her people from answering, for if they do, they die. Morgan searches the ship for answers, afraid the Hoveny's tech is beyond his grasp. Their only hope? To reach their destination.

Little do Sira and Morgan realize their destination holds the gravest threat of all....