Search Worlds Without End

This novelette originally appeared in the collection The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet and Other Stories (2008) and was reprinted in Clarkesworld Magazine, #89 February 2014. It can also be found in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection (2010), edited by Gardner Dozois, Year's Best SF 15 (2010), edtied by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer, and Twenty-First Century Science Fiction (2013), edited by David G. Hartwell and Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Four new novellas from four of the best writers of British SF, gathered together in one volume with a new introduction by Peter Crowther. A perfect illustration of why British SF is dominating the world SF market at the moment. Top class fiction, cutting edge design, innovative format - the perfect way to catch up with the latest from your favourite SF writers.

Table of Contents:

• A Rose by Any Other Name: An Introduction - essay by Peter Crowther
• A Writer's Life - (2001) - novella by Eric Brown
• The Human Front - (2001) - novella by Ken MacLeod
• Diamond Dogs - (2001) - novella by Alastair Reynolds
• Park Polar - (2001) - novella by Adam Roberts

The universe shifts and changes: suddenly you understand, you get it, and are filled with a sense of wonder. That moment of understanding drives the greatest science-fiction stories and lies at the heart of Engineering Infinity.

Whether it's coming up hard against the speed of light and, with it, the enormity of the universe, realising that terraforming a distant world is harder and more dangerous than you'd ever thought, or simply realizing that a hitchhiker on a starship consumes fuel and oxygen with tragic results, it's hard science-fiction where sense of wonder is most often found and where science-fiction's true heart lies.

The exciting and innovative science-fiction anthology collects together stories by some of the biggest names in the field including Stephen Baxter, Charles Stross and Greg Bear

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Malak, Peter Watts
• Watching the Music Dance, Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Laika's Ghost, Karl Schroeder
• The Invasion of Venus, Stephen Baxter
• The Server and the Dragon, Hannu Rajaniemi
• Bit Rot, Charles Stross
• Creatures with Wings, Kathleen Ann Goonan
• Walls of Flesh, Bars of Bone, Damien Broderick & Barbara Lamar
• Mantis, Robert Reed
• Judgement Eve, John C. Wright
• A Soldier of the City, David Moles
• Mercies, Gregory Benford
• The Ki-anna, Gwyneth Jones
• The Birds and the Bees and the Gasoline Trees, John Barnes

ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND

Those were Neil Armstrong's immortal words when he became the first human being to step onto another world. All at once, the horizon expanded; the human race was no longer Earthbound.

Edge of Infinity is an exhilarating new SF anthology that looks at the next giant leap for humankind: the leap from our home world out into the Solar System. From the eerie transformations in Pat Cadigan's "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" to the frontier spirit of Sandra McDonald and Stephen D. Covey's "The Road to NPS," and from the grandiose vision of Alastair Reynolds' "Vainglory" to the workaday familiarity of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Safety Tests," the thirteen stories in this anthology span the whole of the human condition in their race to colonise Earth's nearest neighbours.

Featuring stories by Hannu Rajaniemi, Alastair Reynolds, James S. A. Corey, John Barnes, Stephen Baxter, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Elizabeth Bear, Pat Cadigan, Gwyneth Jones, Paul McAuley, Sandra McDonald, Stephen D. Covey, An Owomoyela, and Bruce Sterling, Edge of Infinity is hard SF adventure at its best and most exhilarating.

Table of Contents

• Introduction - essay by Jonathan Strahan
• The Girl-Thing Who Went Out For Sushi - novelette by Pat Cadigan
• The Deeps of the Sky - short story by Elizabeth Bear
• Drive - novelette by James S. A. Corey
• The Road to NPS - novelette by Sandra McDonald and Stephen D. Covey
• Swift as a Dream and Fleeting as a Sigh - short story by John Barnes
• Macy Minnot's Last Christmas on Dione, Ring Racing, Fiddler's Green, the Potter's Garden - short story by Paul J. McAuley
• Safety Tests - novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Bricks, Sticks, Straw - short story by Gwyneth Jones
• Tyche and the Ants - short story by Hannu Rajaniemi
• Obelisk - novelette by Stephen Baxter
• Vainglory - short story by Alastair Reynolds
• Water Rights - short story by An Owomoyela
• The Peak of Eternal Light - novelette by Bruce Sterling

An original collection of new short science fiction from the biggest and most exciting names in the genre. The latest in the Infinities collections edited and comissioned by multiple award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan.

What happens when humanity reaches out into the vastness of space? The brightest names in SF contribute new orginal fiction to this amazing anothology from master editor Jonathan Strahan. Including new work by Alastair Reynolds,Greg Egan,Ian McDonald, Ken Macleod, Pat Cadigan, Karl Schroeder, Hannu Rajaniemi, Karen Lord, Adam Roberts, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Aliette de Bodard Peter Watts, and others!

Table of Contents

• "Report Concerning The Presence of Seahorses On Mars", Pat Cadigan
• "The Dust Queen", Aliette de Bodard
• "Break My Fall", Greg Egan
• "Wilder Still, the Stars", Kathleen Ann Goonan
• "Amicae Aeternum", Ellen Klages
• "Hiraeth: a tragedy in four acts", Karen Lord
• "The Entire Immense Superstructure': An Installation", Ken Macleod
• "The Fifth Dragon", Ian McDonald
• "Attitude", Linda Nagata
• "Invisible Planets", Hannu Rajaniemi
• "In Babelsberg", Alastair Reynolds
• "Trademark Bugs: A Legal History", Adam Roberts
• "Kheldyu", Karl Schroeder
• "Hotshot", Peter Watts

Continuing the award-nominated SF anthology series from multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan.

The world we are living in is changing every day. We surf future shock every morning when we get out of bed. And with every passing day we are increasingly asked: how do we have to change to live in the future we are faced with?

Whether it's climate change, inundated coastlines and drowned cities; the cramped confines of a tin can hurtling through space to the outer reaches of our Solar System; or the rush of being uploaded into some cyberspace, our minds and bodies are going to have to change and change a lot. Meeting Infinity will be one hundred thousand words of SF filled with action and adventure that attempts to answer the question: how much do we need to change to meet tomorrow and live in the future? The incredible authors contributing tho this collection are: Gregory Benford, James S.A. Corey, Aliette de Bodard, Kameron Hurley, Simon Ings, Madeline Ashby, John Barnes, Gwyneth Jones, Nancy Kress, Yoon Ha Lee, Ian McDonald, Ramez Naam, An Owomoyela, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Bruce Sterling and Sean Williams

The books of the "Infinity Project" trace an arc: from the present day into the far future, and now from the broad canvas of interstellar space to the most intimate space of all - ourselves.

Table of Contents:

• "Memento Mori" by Madeline Ashby
• "My Last Bringback" by John Barnes
• "Aspects: A Galactic Centre Story" by Gregory Benford
• "Rates of Change" by James S.A. Corey
• "In Blue Lily's Wake" by Aliette de Bodard
• "Body Politic" by Kameron Hurley
• "Drones" by Simon Ings
• "Emergence" by Gwyneth Jones
• "Cocoons" by Nancy Kress
• "The Cold Inequalities" by Yoon Ha Lee
• "The Falls: A Luna Story" by Ian McDonald
• "Exile from Extinction" by Ramez Naam
• "Outsider" by An Owomoyela
• "Desert Lexicon" by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
• "Pictures from the Resurrection" by Bruce Sterling
• "All the Wrong Places" by Sean Williams

Sense of wonder is the lifeblood of science fiction. When we encounter something on a truly staggering scale -- metal spheres wrapped around stars, planets rebuilt and repurposed, landscapes re-engineered, starships bigger than worlds -- the only response we have is reverence, admiration, and possibly fear at something that is grand, sublime, and extremely powerful.

Bridging Infinity puts humanity at the heart of that experience, as builder, as engineer, as adventurer, reimagining and rebuilding the world, the solar system, the galaxy and possibly the entire universe in some of the best science fiction stories you will experience.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction essay by Jonathan Strahan
• "Sixteen Questions for Kamala Chatterjee" short story by Alastair Reynolds
• "Six Degrees of Separation Freedom" novelette by Pat Cadigan
• "The Venus Generations" novelette by Stephen Baxter
• "Rager in Space" novelette by Charlie Jane Anders
• "The Mighty Slinger" novelette by Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell
• "Ozymandias" novelette by Karin Lowachee
• "The City's Edge" novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• "Mice Among Elephants" novelette by Larry Niven and Gregory Benford
• "Parables of Infinity" short story by Robert Reed
• "Monuments" short story by Pamela Sargent
• "Apache Charley and the Pentagons of Hex" novelette by Allen Steele
• "Cold Comfort" novelette by Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty
• "Travelling into Nothing" novelette by An Owomoyela
• "Induction" novelette by Thoraiya Dyer
• "Seven Birthdays" short story by Ken Liu
• About the Authors essay by Jonathan Strahan

CONFLICT IS ETERNAL

We have always fought. War is the furnace that forges new technologies and pushes humanity ever onward. We are the children of a battle that began with fists and sticks, and ended on the brink of atomic Armageddon. Beyond here lies another war, infinite in scope and scale.

But who will fight the wars of tomorrow? Join Elizabeth Bear, Indrapramit Das, Aliette de Bodard, Garth Nix and many, many more in an exploration of the furthest extremes of military science fiction.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
• Evening of the Span of Their Days, Carrie Vaughn
• The Last Broadcasts, An Owomoyela
• Faceless Soldiers, Patchwork Ship, Caroline M Yoachim
• Dear Sarah, Nancy Kress
• The Moon is Not a Battlefield, Indrapramit Das
• Perfect Gun, Elizabeth Bear
• Oracle, Dominica Phettaplace
• In Everlasting Wisdom, Aliette deBodard
• Command and Control, David D. Levine
• Conversations with an Armory, Garth Nix
• Overburden, Genevieve Valentine
• Heavies, Rich Larson
• Weather Girl, E.J. Swift
• Mines, Eleanor Arnason
• ZeroS, Peter Watts

The multi-award winning Infinity Project undertakes its seventh and final voyage in the imagination of the finest science fiction authors alive...

INFINITY'S END

Humanity has made the universe home. On the outskirts of the solar system, beyond the asteroid fields, deep in space, under the surface of planets, in the ruins of fallen civilisations, in the flush of new creation: life finds a way.

From intelligent velociraptors to digital ghosts; from a crèche on an asteroid to an artist using a star system as a canvas, this is a future where Earth's children have adapted to every nook and cranny of existence.

This is life on the edge of the possible.

Table of Contents:

• Last Small Step - Stephen Baxter
• Prophet of the Roads - Naomi Kritzer
• Nothing Ever Happens on Oberon - Paul McAuley
• Swear Not by the Moon - Seanan McGuire
• Longing For Earth - Linda Nagata
• A Portrait of Salai - Hannu Rajaniemi
• Death's Door - Alastair Reynolds
• Foxy and Tiggs - Justina Robson
• Intervention - Kelly Robson
• Once on the Blue Moon - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Talking to Ghosts at the Edge of the World - Lavie Tidhar
• Kindred - Peter Watts
• The Synchronist - Fran Wilde

Vân is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student.

Sunless Woods is a mindship – and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She's come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to Vân's resolute integrity.

When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of Vân's student, Vân and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship – and to the devastating secrets they've kept from each other.