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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

Table of Contents:

• Preface - essay by Gardner Dozois
• The Demon Trap - novella by Peter F. Hamilton
• Owner Space - novella by Neal Asher
• The Man with the Golden Balloon - novella by Robert Reed
• The Six Directions of Space - novella by Alastair Reynolds
• The Seer and the Silverman - novella by Stephen Baxter
• The Tear - novella by Ian McDonald

Omnibus edtion of Galactic Empires Volume One and Galactic Empires Volume Two, originally published in 1976.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• A Sense of Perspective - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• Been a Long, Long Time - (1970) - short story by R. A. Lafferty
• The Possessed - (1953) - short story by Arthur C. Clarke
• Protected Species - (1951) - short story by H. B. Fyfe
• All the Way Back - (1952) - short story by Michael Shaara
• 'Wider Still and Wider...' - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• The Star Plunderer - (1952) - novelette by Poul Anderson
• Foundation - (1942) - novelette by Isaac Asimov
• We're Civilized! - (1953) - short story by Mark Clifton and Alex Apostolides
• Horses in the Starship Hold - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal - (1964) - short story by Cordwainer Smith
• The Rebel of Valkyr - (1950) - novella by Alfred Coppel
• Brightness Falls from the Air - (1951) - short story by Margaret St. Clair
• Immigrant - (1954) - novella by Clifford D. Simak
• The Health Service in the Skies - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• Resident Physician - (1961) - novelette by James White
• Age of Retirement - (1954) - short story by Hal Lynch
• Planting Time - (1975) - short story by Pete Adams and Charles Nightingale

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• "You Can't Impose Civilization by Force" - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• Escape to Chaos - (1951) - novella by John D. MacDonald
• Concealment - (1943) - short story by A. E. van Vogt
• To Civilize - (1954) - short story by Algis Budrys
• Beep - (1954) - novelette by James Blish
• The Other End of the Stick - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• Down the River - (1950) - short story by Mack Reynolds
• The Bounty Hunter - (1958) - short story by Avram Davidson
• Not Yet the End - (1941) - short story by Fredric Brown
• All Things Are Cyclic - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• Tonight the Stars Revolt! - (1952) - novella by Gardner F. Fox
• Final Encounter - (1964) - novelette by Harry Harrison
• Big Ancestors and Descendants - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss
• Lord of a Thousand Suns - (1951) - novelette by Poul Anderson
• Big Ancestor - (1954) - novelette by F. L. Wallace
• The Interlopers - (1954) - short story by Roger Dee
• Epilogue - (1976) - essay by Brian W. Aldiss

Stories deal with the rise and fall, government, exploration missions, incorporation, and defense of interstellar empires.

Table of Contents:

• 7 - Introduction: Empires - essay by Isaac Asimov
• 11 - Cycles - essay by uncredited
• 13 - Chalice of Death - [Lest We Forget Thee, Earth - 1] - (1957) - novella by Robert Silverberg
• 47 - Orphan of the Void - [Terran Federation - 1] - (1972) - novelette by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. (variant of The Man Who Wasn't Home 1960)
• 92 - Down to the Worlds of Men - (1963) - novelette by Alexei Panshin
• 120 - Governance - essay by uncredited
• 122 - Ministry of Disturbance - [Empire Era] - (1958) - novelette by H. Beam Piper
• 163 - Blind Alley - [Foundation Universe] - (1945) - short story by Isaac Asimov
• 186 - A Planet Named Shayol - [The Instrumentality of Mankind] - (1961) - novelette by Cordwainer Smith
• 222 - Concerns - essay by uncredited
• 224 - Diabologic - (1955) - short story by Eric Frank Russell
• 245 - Fighting Philosopher - [Philosophical Corps] - (1954) - novelette by Everett B. Cole [as by E. B. Cole]
• 281 - Honorable Enemies - [Dominic Flandry] - (1951) - novelette by Poul Anderson