Search Worlds Without End

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (2011), edited by Ian Whates. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 17 (2013), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Occam's Scalpel - (1971) - novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
• The Queen of Air and Darkness - (1971) - novella by Poul Anderson
• In Entropy's Jaws - (1971) - novelette by Robert Silverberg
• The Sliced-Crosswise Only-On-Tuesday World - (1971) - shortstory by Philip José Farmer
• A Meeting With Medusa - (1971) - novelette by Arthur C. Clarke
• The Frayed String on the Stretched Forefinger of Time - (1971) - shortstory by Lloyd Biggle, Jr.
• How Can We Sink When We Can Fly? - (1971) - novelette by Alexei Panshin
• No Direction Home - (1971) - shortstory by Norman Spinrad
• Vaster Than Empires and More Slow - (1971) - novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin
• All the Last Wars at Once - (1971) - shortstory by George Alec Effinger
• The Fourth Profession - (1971) - novelette by Larry Niven

Table of Contents:

• Honorable Mentions - 1972 - essay by Terry Carr
• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• The Meeting - (1972) - shortstory by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
• Nobody's Home - (1972) - shortstory by Joanna Russ
• Fortune Hunter - (1972) - shortstory by Poul Anderson
• The Fifth Head of Cerberus - (1972) - novella by Gene Wolfe
• Caliban - (1972) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• Conversational Mode - (1972) - shortstory by Grahame Leman
• Their Thousandth Season - (1972) - shortstory by Edward Bryant
• Eurema's Dam - (1972) - shortstory by R. A. Lafferty
• Zero Gee - (1972) - novelette by Ben Bova
• Sky Blue - (1972) - shortstory by Alexei Panshin and Cory Panshin
• Miss Omega Raven - (1972) - shortstory by Naomi Mitchison
• Patron of the Arts - (1972) - novelette by William Rotsler
• Grasshopper Time - (1972) - shortstory by Gordon Eklund
• Hero - (1972) - novella by Joe Haldeman
• When We Went to See the End of the World - (1972) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• Painwise - (1972) - novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Something Up There Likes Me - (1973) - shortstory by Alfred Bester
• The World as Will and Wallpaper - (1973) - shortstory by R. A. Lafferty
• Breckenridge and the Continuum - (1973) - novelette by Robert Silverberg
• Rumfuddle - (1973) - novella by Jack Vance
• Tell Me All About Yourself - (1973) - shortstory by F. M. Busby
• The Deathbird - (1973) - novelette by Harlan Ellison
• Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand - (1973) - novelette by Vonda N. McIntyre
• The Death of Dr. Island - (1973) - novella by Gene Wolfe
• The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - (1973) - shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Sketches Among the Ruins of My Mind - (1973) - novelette by Philip José Farmer
• The Women Men Don't See - (1973) - novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.
• Honorable Mentions - 1973 - essay by Terry Carr

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• We Purchased People - (1974) - shortstory by Frederik Pohl
• Pale Roses - (1974) - novelette by Michael Moorcock
• The Hole Man - (1974) - shortstory by Larry Niven
• Born with the Dead - (1974) - novella by Robert Silverberg
• The Author of the Acacia Seeds and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics - (1974) - shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Dark Icarus - (1974) - shortstory by Bob Shaw
• A Little Something for Us Tempunauts - (1974) - novelette by Philip K. Dick
• On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi - (1974) - novelette by William Tenn
• The Engine at Heartspring's Center - (1974) - shortstory by Roger Zelazny
• If the Stars Are Gods - (1974) - novelette by Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford
• Honorable Mentions - 1974 - essay by Terry Carr
• The Science Fiction Year (1974) - essay by Charles N. Brown

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Down to a Sunless Sea - (1975) - novelette by Cordwainer Smith and Genevieve Linebarger
• Retrograde Summer - (1975) - novelette by John Varley
• The Hero as Werwolf - (1975) - shortstory by Gene Wolfe
• The Silent Eyes of Time - (1975) - novella by Algis Budrys
• Croatoan - (1975) - shortstory by Harlan Ellison
• Doing Lennon - (1975) - shortstory by Gregory Benford
• The New Atlantis - (1975) - novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Clay Suburb - (1975) - shortstory by Robert F. Young
• The Storms of Windhaven - (1975) - novella by George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle
• Child of All Ages - (1975) - shortstory by P. J. Plauger
• In the Bowl - (1975) - novelette by John Varley
• Sail the Tide of Mourning - (1975) - shortstory by Richard A. Lupoff
• Recommended Reading - 1975 - essay by Terry Carr
• The Science Fiction Year (1975) - essay by Charles N. Brown

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• I See You - (1976) - shortstory by Damon Knight
• The Phantom of Kansas - (1976) - novelette by John Varley
• Seeing - (1976) - novelette by Harlan Ellison
• The Death of Princes - (1976) - shortstory by Fritz Leiber
• The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats - (1976) - novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.
• The Eyeflash Miracles - (1976) - novella by Gene Wolfe
• An Infinite Summer - (1976) - novelette by Christopher Priest
• The Highest Dive - (1976) - shortstory by Jack Williamson
• Meathouse Man - (1976) - novelette by George R. R. Martin
• Custer's Last Jump - (1976) - novelette by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop
• The Bicentennial Man - (1976) - novelette by Isaac Asimov
• Recommended Reading - 1976 - essay by Terry Carr
• The Science Fiction Year (1976) - essay by Charles N. Brown

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Lollipop and the Tar Baby - (1977) - novelette by John Varley
• Stardance - (1977) - novella by Spider Robinson and Jeanne Robinson
• The House of Compassionate Sharers - (1977) - novelette by Michael Bishop
• The Screwfly Solution - (1977) - novelette by Raccoona Sheldon
• Aztecs - (1977) - novella by Vonda N. McIntyre
• Tropic of Eden - (1977) - shortstory by Lee Killough
• Victor - (1977) - shortstory by Bruce McAllister
• The Family Monkey - (1977) - novella by Lisa Tuttle
• A Rite of Spring - (1977) - novelette by Fritz Leiber
• Recommended Reading - 1977 - essay by Terry Carr
• The Science-Fiction Year (1977) - essay by Charles N. Brown

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• The Barbie Murders - (1978) - novelette by John Varley
• A Hiss of Dragon - (1978) - novelette by Gregory Benford and Marc Laidlaw
• Black Glass - (1978) - novelette by Fritz Leiber
• To Bring in the Steel - (1978) - novelette by Donald Kingsbury
• The Very Slow Time Machine - (1978) - novelette by Ian Watson
• Devil You Don't Know - (1978) - novelette by Dean Ing
• Count the Clock That Tells the Time - (1978) - shortstory by Harlan Ellison
• View from a Height - (1978) - shortstory by Joan D. Vinge
• The Morphology of the Kirkham Wreck - (1978) - novelette by Hilbert Schenck
• Vermeer's Window - (1978) - shortstory by Gordon Eklund
• The Man Who Had No Idea - (1978) - novelette by Thomas M. Disch
• Death Therapy - (1978) - shortstory by James Patrick Kelly
• Recommended Reading - 1978 - essay by Terry Carr
• The Science Fiction Year (1978) - essay by Charles N. Brown

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Galatea Galante, The Perfect Popsy - (1979) - novelette by Alfred Bester
• Sandkings - (1979) - novelette by George R. R. Martin
• Time Shards - (1979) - shortstory by Gregory Benford
• In the Country of the Blind, No One Can See - (1979) - shortstory by Melisa Michaels
• Re-deem the Time - (1978) - shortstory by David J. Lake
• Down & Out on Ellfive Prime - (1979) - novelette by Dean Ing
• The Exit Door Leads In - (1979) - shortstory by Philip K. Dick
• Options - (1979) - novelette by John Varley
• In Trophonius's Cave - (1979) - shortstory by James P. Girard
• Fireflood - (1979) - novelette by Vonda N. McIntyre
• No More Pencils, No More Books - (1979) - shortstory by John Morressy
• The Vacuum-Packed Picnic - (1979) - shortstory by Rick Gauger
• The Thaw - (1979) - novelette by Tanith Lee
• In a Petri Dish Upstairs - (1978) - novelette by George Turner
• Recommended Reading - 1979 - essay by Terry Carr
• The Science-Fiction Year (1979) - essay by Charles N. Brown

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Grotto of the Dancing Deer - (1980) - shortstory by Clifford D. Simak
• Scorched Supper on New Niger - (1980) - novelette by Suzy McKee Charnas
• Ginungagap - (1980) - novelette by Michael Swanwick
• Frozen Journey - (1980) - shortstory by Philip K. Dick
• The Ugly Chickens - (1980) - novelette by Howard Waldrop
• Nightflyers - (1980) - novella by George R. R. Martin
• Beatnik Bayou - (1980) - novelette by John Varley
• Window - (1980) - shortstory by Bob Leman
• Tell Us a Story - (1980) - novella by Zenna Henderson
• Le Croix (The Cross) - (1980) - novelette by Barry N. Malzberg
• Martian Walkabout - (1980) - shortstory by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
• Slow Music - (1980) - novella by James Tiptree, Jr.
• The Science Fiction Year (1980) - essay by Charles N. Brown
• Recommended Reading - 1980 - essay by Terry Carr

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1982) - essay by Terry Carr
• The Saturn Game - (1981) - novella by Poul Anderson
• Walk the Ice - (1981) - shortstory by Mildred Downey Broxon
• Trial Sample - (1981) - shortstory by Ted Reynolds
• The Pusher - (1981) - shortstory by John Varley
• Venice Drowned - (1981) - novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Walden Three - (1981) - novelette by Michael Swanwick
• Second Comings - Reasonable Rates - (1981) - shortstory by Pat Cadigan
• Forever - (1981) - shortstory by Damon Knight
• Emergence - (1981) - novelette by David R. Palmer
• You Can't Go Back - (1981) - shortstory by R. A. Lafferty
• Walpurgisnacht - (1981) - shortstory by Roger Zelazny
• The Woman the Unicorn Loved - (1981) - novelette by Gene Wolfe
• Serpents' Teeth - (1981) - shortstory by Spider Robinson
• The Thermals of August - (1981) - novelette by Edward Bryant
• Going Under - (1981) - novelette by Jack Dann
• The Quiet - (1981) - shortstory by George Guthridge
• Swarmer, Skimmer - (1981) - novella by Gregory Benford
• The Science Fiction Year (1981) - essay by Charles N. Brown
• Recommended Reading - 1981 - essay by Terry Carr

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1983) - essay by Terry Carr
• The Pope of the Chimps - (1982) - novelette by Robert Silverberg
• Swarm - (1982) - novelette by Bruce Sterling
• Souls - (1982) - novella by Joanna Russ
• Burning Chrome - (1982) - novelette by William Gibson
• Farmer on the Dole - (1982) - novelette by Frederik Pohl
• Meet Me at Apogee - (1982) - novelette by Bill Johnson
• Sur - (1982) - shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Understanding Human Behavior: A Romance of the Rocky Mountains - (1982) - novelette by Thomas M. Disch
• Relativistic Effects - (1982) - novelette by Gregory Benford
• Firewatch - (1982) - novelette by Connie Willis
• The Wooing of Slowboat Sadie - (1982) - shortstory by George Alec Effinger
• With the Original Cast - (1982) - novelette by Nancy Kress
• When the Fathers Go - (1982) - novelette by Bruce McAllister
• The Science Fiction Year (1982) - (1983) - essay by Charles N. Brown
• Recommended Reading - 1982 - (1983) - essay by Terry Carr

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Servant of the People - (1983) - shortstory by Frederik Pohl
• Slow Birds - (1983) - novelette by Ian Watson
• The Sidon in the Mirror - (1983) - novelette by Connie Willis
• Hardfought - (1983) - novella by Greg Bear
• Amanda and the Alien - (1983) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• Kaleidoscope - (1983) - novelette by Cherry Wilder
• The Tithonian Factor - (1983) - shortstory by Richard Cowper
• Blind Shemmy - (1983) - novelette by Jack Dann
• Scenes from the Country of the Blind - (1977) - shortstory by John Sladek
• Her Habiline Husband - (1983) - novella by Michael Bishop
• The Science Fiction Year (1983) - essay by Charles N. Brown
• Recommended Reading - essay by Terry Carr

For the first time ever, award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has assembled the best science fiction and the best fantasy stories of the year in one volume. More than just two books for the price of one, this book brings together over 200,000 words of the best genre fiction anywhere. Strahan's critical eye and keen editorial instincts have served him well for earlier best of the year round-ups in the Best Short Novels, Science Fiction: Best of and Fantasy: Best of series, and this is his most impressive effort yet.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (2007) - essay by Jonathan Strahan
• How to Talk to Girls at Parties - (2006) - shortstory by Neil Gaiman
• El Regalo - (2006) - novelette by Peter S. Beagle
• I, Row-Boat - (2006) - novelette by Cory Doctorow
• In the House of the Seven Librarians - (2006) - novelette by Ellen Klages
• Another Word for Map is Faith - (2006) - shortstory by Christopher Rowe
• Under Hell, Over Heaven - (2006) - shortstory by Margo Lanagan
• Incarnation Day - (2006) - novella by Walter Jon Williams
• The Night Whiskey - (2006) - novelette by Jeffrey Ford
• A Siege of Cranes - (2006) - novelette by Benjamin Rosenbaum
• Halfway House - (2006) - shortstory by Frances Hardinge
• The Bible Repairman - (2006) - shortstory by Tim Powers
• Yellow Card Man - (2006) - novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi
• Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy) - (2006) - novelette by Geoff Ryman
• The American Dead - (2006) - shortstory by Jay Lake
• The Cartesian Theater - (2006) - novelette by Robert Charles Wilson
• Journey into the Kingdom - (2006) - novelette by M. Rickert
• Eight Episodes - (2006) - shortstory by Robert Reed
• The Wizards of Perfil - (2006) - novella by Kelly Link
• The Saffron Gatherers - (2006) - shortstory by Elizabeth Hand
• D. A. - (2006) - shortstory by Connie Willis
• Femaville 29 - (2006) - shortstory by Paul Di Filippo
• Sob in the Silence - (2006) - shortstory by Gene Wolfe
• The House Beyond Your Sky - (2006) - shortstory by Benjamin Rosenbaum
• The Djinn's Wife - (2006) - novelette by Ian McDonald

The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (2008) - essay by Jonathan Strahan
• The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - (2007) - novelette by Ted Chiang
• The Last and Only, or Mr. Moskowitz Becomes French - (2007) - shortfiction by Peter S. Beagle
• Trunk and Disorderly - (2007) - novelette by Charles Stross
• Glory - (2007) - novelette by Greg Egan
• Dead Horse Point - (2007) - shortstory by Daryl Gregory
• The Dreaming Wind - (2007) - shortstory by Jeffrey Ford
• The Coat of Stars - (2007) - shortstory by Holly Black
• The Prophet of Flores - (2007) - novelette by Ted Kosmatka
• Wizard's Six - (2007) - novelette by Alexander C. Irvine
• The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics - (2007) - novelette by Daniel Abraham
• By Fools Like Me - (2007) - shortstory by Nancy Kress
• Kiosk - (2007) - novelette by Bruce Sterling
• Singing of Mount Abora - (2007) - shortstory by Theodora Goss
• The Witch's Headstone - (2007) - novelette by Neil Gaiman
• Last Contact - (2007) - shortstory by Stephen Baxter
• Jesus Christ, Reanimator - (2007) - shortstory by Ken MacLeod
• Sorrel's Heart - (2007) - shortstory by Susan Palwick
• Urdumheim - (2007) - novelette by Michael Swanwick
• Holiday - (2007) - shortstory by M. Rickert
• The Valley of the Gardens - (2007) - novelette by Tony Daniel
• Winter's Wife - (2007) - novelette by Elizabeth Hand
• The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small - (2007) - novelette by Chris Roberson
• Orm the Beautiful - (2007) - shortstory by Elizabeth Bear
• The Constable of Abal - (2007) - shortstory by Kelly Link

The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer. Jonathan Strahan has edited more than twenty anthologies and collections, including The Locus Awards, The New Space Opera, The Jack Vance Treasury, and a number of year's best annuals. He has won the Ditmar, William J. Atheling Jr., and Peter McNamara Awards for his work as an anthologist, and is the reviews editor for Locus.

Contents:

• Introduction - Jonathan Strahan
• Exhalation - Ted Chiang
• Shoggoths in Bloom - Elizabeth Bear
• Uncle Chaim and Aunt Rifke and the Angel - Peter S. Beagle
• Fixing Hanover - Jeff VanderMeer
• The Gambler - Paolo Bacigalupi
• The Dust Assassin - Ian McDonald
• Virgin - Holly Black
• Pride and Prometheus - John Kessel
• The Thought War - Paul McAuley
• Beyond the Sea Gates of the Scholar Pirates of Sarskoe - Garth Nix
• The Small Door - Holly Phillips
• Turing's Apples - Stephen Baxter
• The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates - Stephen King
• Five Thrillers - Robert Reed
• The Magician's House - Megan McCarron
• Goblin Music - Joan Aiken
• Machine Maid - Margo Lanagan
• The Art of Alchemy - Ted Kosmatka
• 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss - Kij Johnson
• Marry the Sun - Rachel Swirsky
• Crystal Nights - Greg Egan
• His Master's Voice - Hannu Rajaniemi
• Special Economics - Maureen McHugh
• Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment - M Rickert
• From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled... - Michael Swanwick
• If Angels Fight - Rick Bowes
• The Doom of Love in Small Spaces - Ken Scholes
• Pretty Monsters - Kelly Link

The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Jonathan Strahan
• It Takes Two - (2009) - novelette by Nicola Griffith
• Three Twilight Tales - (2009) - shortstory by Jo Walton
• The Night Cache - (2009) - novelette by Andy Duncan
• The Island - (2009) - novelette by Peter Watts
• Ferryman - (2009) - shortstory by Margo Lanagan
• "A Wild and a Wicked Youth" - (2009) - novelette by Ellen Kushner
• The Pelican Bar - (2009) - shortstory by Karen Joy Fowler
• Spar - (2009) - shortstory by Kij Johnson
• Going Deep - (2009) - novelette by James Patrick Kelly
• The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - (2009) - novelette by Holly Black
• Zeppelin City - (2009) - novelette by Eileen Gunn and Michael Swanwick
• Dragon's Teeth - (2009) - novelette by Alexander C. Irvine
• This Wind Blowing, and This Tide - (2009) - novelette by Damien Broderick
• By Moonlight - (2009) - novelette by Peter S. Beagle
• Black Swan - (2009) - novelette by Bruce Sterling
• As Women Fight - (2009) - shortstory by Sara Genge
• The Cinderella Game - (2009) - shortstory by Kelly Link
• Formidable Caress: A Tale of Old Earth - (2009) - novelette by Stephen Baxter
• Blocked - (2009) - shortstory by Geoff Ryman
• Truth and Bone - (2009) - novelette by Pat Cadigan
• Eros, Philia, Agape - (2009) - novelette by Rachel Swirsky
• The Motorman's Coat - (2009) - shortstory by John Kessel
• Mongoose - (2009) - novelette by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette
• Echoes of Aurora - (2009) - shortstory by Ellen Klages
• Before My Last Breath - (2009) - shortstory by Robert Reed
• JoBoy - (2009) - shortstory by Diana Wynne Jones
• Utriusque Cosmi - (2009) - novelette by Robert Charles Wilson
• A Delicate Architecture - (2009) - shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente
• The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles - (2009) - novelette by Kij Johnson
• Recommended Reading - essay by Jonathan Strahan

The depth and breadth of science fiction and fantasy fiction continues to change with every passing year. The twenty-nine stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully map this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (2010) - essay by Jonathan Strahan
• Elegy for a Young Elk - (2010) - shortstory by Hannu Rajaniemi
• The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains - (2010) - novelette by Neil Gaiman
• Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots - (2010) - shortstory by Sandra McDonald
• The Spy Who Never Grew Up - (2010) - novelette by Sarah Rees Brennan
• The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue - (2010) - shortstory by Holly Black
• Under the Moons of Venus - (2010) - shortstory by Damien Broderick
• The Fool Jobs - (2010) - shortfiction by Joe Abercrombie
• Alone - (2010) - novella by Robert Reed
• Names for Water - (2010) - shortstory by Kij Johnson
• Fair Ladies - (2010) - shortstory by Theodora Goss
• Plus or Minus - (2010) - novelette by James Patrick Kelly
• The Man with the Knives - (2010) - shortstory by Ellen Kushner
• The Jammie Dodgers and the Adventure of the Leicester Square Screening - (2010) - shortfiction by Cory Doctorow
• The Maiden Flight of Mccauley's Bellerophon - (2010) - novella by Elizabeth Hand
• The Miracle Aquilina - (2010) - shortfiction by Margo Lanagan
• The Taste of Night - (2010) - shortstory by Pat Cadigan
• The Exterminator's Want-Ad - (2010) - shortfiction by Bruce Sterling
• Map of Seventeen - (2010) - novelette by Christopher Barzak
• The Naturalist - (2010) - novelette by Maureen F. McHugh
• Sins of the Father - (2010) - shortstory by Sara Genge
• The Sultan of the Clouds - (2010) - novella by Geoffrey A. Landis
• Iteration - (2010) - shortstory by John Kessel
• The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn - (2010) - novelette by Diana Peterfreund
• The Night Train - (2010) - shortstory by Lavie Tidhar
• Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale) - (2010) - shortfiction by Ian Tregillis
• Amor Vincit Omnia - (2010) - novelette by K. J. Parker
• The Things - (2010) - shortstory by Peter Watts
• The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball - (2010) - shortstory by Genevieve Valentine
• The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window - (2010) - novella by Rachel Swirsky

An ancient society of cartographer wasps create delicately inscribed maps; a bodyjacking parasite is faced with imminent extinction; an AI makes a desperate gambit to protect its child from a ravenous dragon; a professor of music struggles with the knowledge that murder is not too high a price for fame; living origami carries a mother's last words to her child; a steam girl conquers the realm of imagination; aliens attack Venus, ignoring an incredulous earth; a child is born on Mars...

The science fiction and fantasy fiction fields continue to evolve, setting new marks with each passing year. For the sixth year in a row, master anthologist Jonathan Strahan has collected stories that captivate, entertain, and showcase the very best the genre has to offer. Critically acclaimed, and with a reputation for including award-winning speculative fiction, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year is the only major "best of" anthology to collect both fantasy and science fiction under one cover.

Jonathan Strahan has edited more than twenty anthologies and collections, including The Locus Awards (with Charles N. Brown), The New Space Opera (with Gardner Dozois), and The Starry Rift. He has won the Ditmar, William J. Atheling Jr., and Peter McNamara awards for his work as an anthologist and reviewer, and was nominated for a Hugo Award for his editorial work. Strahan is currently the reviews editor for Locus.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Jonathan Strahan
• The Case of Death and Honey - (2011) - shortstory by Neil Gaiman
• The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees - (2011) - shortstory by E. Lily Yu
• Tidal Forces - (2011) - shortstory by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• Younger Women - (2011) - shortstory by Karen Joy Fowler
• White Lines on a Green Field - (2011) - novelette by Catherynne M. Valente
• All That Touches the Air - (2011) - shortstory by An Owomoyela
• What We Found - (2011) - novelette by Geoff Ryman
• The Server and the Dragon - (2010) - shortstory by Hannu Rajaniemi
• The Choice - (2011) - novella by Paul J. McAuley
• Malak - (2010) - shortstory by Peter Watts
• Old Habits - (2011) - shortstory by Nalo Hopkinson
• A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong - (2011) - novella by K. J. Parker
• Valley of the Girls - (2011) - shortstory by Kelly Link
• The Brave Little Toaster - (2011) - shortstory by Cory Doctorow
• The Dala Horse - (2011) - shortstory by Michael Swanwick
• The Corpse Painter's Masterpiece - (2011) - shortstory by M. Rickert
• The Paper Menagerie - (2011) - shortstory by Ken Liu
• Steam Girl - (2011) - novelette by Dylan Horrocks
• After the Apocalypse - (2011) - shortstory by Maureen F. McHugh
• Underbridge - (2011) - novelette by Peter S. Beagle
• Relic - (2011) - novelette by Jeffrey Ford
• The Invasion of Venus - (2010) - shortstory by Stephen Baxter
• Woman Leaves Room - (2011) - shortstory by Robert Reed
• Restoration - (2011) - shortfiction by Robert Shearman
• The Onset of a Paranormal Romance - (2011) - shortstory by Bruce Sterling
• Catastrophic Disruption of the Head - (2011) - novelette by Margo Lanagan
• The Last Ride of the Glory Girls - (2011) - novelette by Libba Bray
• The Book of Phoenix (Excerpted from The Great Book) - (2011) - novelette by Nnedi Okorafor
• Digging - (2011) - novelette by Ian McDonald
• The Man Who Bridged the Mist - (2011) - novella by Kij Johnson
• Goodnight Moons - (2011) - shortstory by Ellen Klages

In print and on-line, science fiction and fantasy is thriving as never before. A multitude of astonishingly creative and gifted writers are boldly exploring the mythic past, the paranormal present, and the promises and perils of myriad alternate worlds and futures. There are almost too many new and intriguing stories published every year for any reader to be able to experience them all. So how to make sure you haven't missed any future classics?

Award-winning editor and anthologist Jonathan Strahan has surveyed the expanding universes of modern sf and fantasy to find the brightest stars in today's dazzling literary firmament. From the latest masterworks by the acknowledged titans of the field to fresh visions from exciting new talents, this outstanding collection is a comprehensive showcase for the current state of the art in both science fiction and fantasy. Anyone who wants to know where the future of imaginative short fiction is going, and treat themselves to dozens of unforgettable stories, will find this year's edition of Best Science Fiction and Fantasy to be just what they're looking for!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Jonathan Strahan
• The Contrary Gardener - (2012) - shortstory by Christopher Rowe
• The Woman Who Fooled Death Five Times - (2012) - shortstory by Eleanor Arnason
• Close Encounters - (2012) - novelette by Andy Duncan
• Great-Grandmother in the Cellar - (2012) - shortstory by Peter S. Beagle
• The Easthound - (2012) - shortstory by Nalo Hopkinson
• Goggles (c.1910) - (2012) - shortstory by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• Bricks, Sticks, Straw - (2012) - shortstory by Gwyneth Jones
• A Bead of Jasper, Four Small Stones - (2012) - shortstory by Genevieve Valentine
• The Grinnell Method - (2012) - novelette by Molly Gloss
• Beautiful Boys - (2012) - shortstory by Theodora Goss
• The Education of a Witch - (2012) - novelette by Ellen Klages
• Macy Minnot's Last Christmas on Dione, Ring Racing, Fiddler's Green, the Potter's Garden - (2012) - shortstory by Paul J. McAuley
• What Did Tessimond Tell You? - (2012) - shortstory by Adam Roberts
• Adventure Story - (2012) - shortstory by Neil Gaiman
• Katabasis - (2012) - novella by Robert Reed
• Troll Blood - (2012) - novelette by Peter Dickinson
• The Color Least Used by Nature - (2012) - novelette by Ted Kosmatka
• Jack Shade in the Forest of Souls - (2012) - novelette by Rachel Pollack
• Two Houses - (2012) - novelette by Kelly Link
• Blood Drive - (2012) - shortstory by Jeffrey Ford
• Mantis Wives - (2012) - shortstory by Kij Johnson
• Immersion - (2012) - shortstory by Aliette de Bodard
• About Fairies - (2012) - shortstory by Pat Murphy
• Let Maps to Others - (2012) - novella by K. J. Parker
• Joke in Four Panels - (2012) - shortstory by Robert Shearman
• Reindeer Mountain - (2012) - shortstory by Karin Tidbeck
• Domestic Magic - (2012) - shortstory by Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem
• Swift, Brutal Retaliation - (2012) - novelette by Meghan McCarron
• Nahiku West - (2012) - novelette by Linda Nagata
• Fade to White - (2012) - novelette by Catherynne M. Valente
• Significant Dust - (2012) - novelette by Margo Lanagan
• Mono no Aware - (2012) - shortstory by Ken Liu

The best of the year's Science Fiction and Fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan. The series moves to its new publishing home, Solaris, with this eighth annual volume of the celebrated and popular series.

DISTANT WORLDS, TIME TRAVEL, EPIC ADVENTURE, UNSEEN WONDERS AND MUCH MORE!

The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past twelve months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan. This highly popular series now reaches volume eight and will include stories from both the biggest names in the field and the most exciting new talents.

Previous volumes have included stories from Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Cory Doctorow, Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Joe Abercrombie, Paolo Bacigalupi, Holly Black, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Margo Lanagan, Bruce Sterling, Adam Robets, Ellen Klages, and many many more.

With this volume the series comes to a new home at Solaris, publishers of Jonathan Strahan's award-winning original Infinities SF anthologies and the and Fearsome fantasy anthologies.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
• "Some Desperado", Joe Abercrombie (Dangerous Women)
• "Zero for Conduct", Greg Egan (Twelve Tomorrows)
• "Effigy Nights", Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld)
• "Rosary and Goldenstar", Geoff Ryman (F&SF)
• "The Sleeper and the Spindle", Neil Gaiman (Rags and Bones)
• "Cave and Julia", M. John Harrison (Kindle Singles)
• "The Herons of Mer de l'Ouest", M Bennardo (Lightspeed)
• "Water", Ramez Naam (An Aura of Familiarity)
• "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling", Ted Chiang (Subterranean)
• "The Ink Readers of Doi Saket", Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com)
• "Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls", Richard Parks (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• "Rag and Bone", Priya Sharma (Tor.com)
• "The Book Seller", Lavie Tidhar (Interzone)
• "The Sun and I", K J Parker (Subterranean)
• "The Promise of Space", James Patrick Kelly (Clarkesworld)
• "The Master Conjurer", Charlie Jane Anders (Lightspeed)
• "The Pilgrim and the Angel", E. Lily Yu (McSweeney's 45)
• "Entangled", Ian R Macleod (Asimov's)
• "Fade to Gold", Benjanun Sriduangkaew (End of the Road)
• "Selkies Stories are for Losers", Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons)
• "In Metal, In Bone", An Owomoyela (Eclipse Online)
• "Kormack the Lucky", Eleanor Arnason (F&SF)
• "Sing", Karin Tidbeck (Tor.com)
• "Social Services", Madeline Ashby (An Aura of Familiarity)
• "The Road of Needles", Caitlín R Kiernan (Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales)
• "Mystic Falls", Robert Reed (Clarkesworld)
• "The Queen of Night's Aria", Ian McDonald (Old Mars)
• "The Irish Astronaut", Val Nolan (Electric Velocipede)

The best of the year's Science Fiction and Fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan.

DISTANT WORLDS, TIME TRAVEL, EPIC ADVENTURE, UNSEEN WONDERS AND MUCH MORE! The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past twelve months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan. This highly popular series now reaches volume nine and will include stories from both the biggest names in the field and the most exciting new talents. Previous volumes have included stories from Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Cory Doctorow, Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Joe Abercrombie, Paolo Bacigalupi, Holly Black, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Margo Lanagan, Bruce Sterling, Adam Robets, Ellen Klages, and many many more.

Table of Contents:
(stories which can be read online for free are linked)

• "Tough Times All Over" - Joe Abercrombie
• "The Scrivener" - Eleanor Arnason - read
• "Moriabe's Children" - Paolo Bacigalupi
• "Covenant" - Elizabeth Bear
• "Slipping" - Lauren Beukes
• "Ten Rules for Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (The Successful Kind)" - Holly Black - read
• "Shadow Flock" - Greg Egan
• "The Truth About Owls" - Amal El-Mohtar - read
• "Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology" - Theodora Goss - read
• "Cold Wind" - Nicola Griffith - read
• "Someday" - James Patrick Kelly
• "Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No.8)" - Caitlin R Kiernan
• "Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They are Terrifying" - Alice Sola Kim
• "Amicae Aeternum" - Ellen Klages - read
• "Calligo Lane" - Ellen Klages - read
• "The Lady and the Fox" - Kelly Link
• "The Long Haul From the ANNALS OF TRANSPORTATION" - The Pacific Monthly, May 2009" - Ken Liu - read
• "The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family" - Usman T Malik - read
• "Four Days of Christmas" - Tim Maughan - read
• "The Fifth Dragon" - Ian McDonald - read
• "Shay Corsham Worsted" - Garth Nix
• "I Met a Man Who Wasn't There" - K. J. Parker - read
• "Kheldyu" - Karl Schroeder
• "Tawny Petticoats" - Michael Swanwick
• "Grand Jeté (The Great Leap)" - Rachel Swirsky - read
• "The Insects of Love" - Genevieve Valentine - read
• "Collateral" - Peter Watts
• "The Devil in America" - Kai Ashante Wilson - read

The best of the year's Science Fiction and Fantasy stories as selected by the multiple award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan

DISTANT WORLDS, TIME TRAVEL, EPIC ADVENTURE, UNSEEN WONDERS AND MUCH MORE! The best, most original and brightest science fiction and fantasy stories from around the globe from the past twelve months are brought together in one collection by multiple award winning editor Jonathan Strahan. This highly popular series now reaches volume nine and will include stories from both the biggest names in the field and the most exciting new talents. Previous volumes have included stories from Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Cory Doctorow, Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Joe Abercrombie, Paolo Bacigalupi, Holly Black, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Margo Lanagan, Bruce Sterling, Adam Robets, Ellen Klages, and many many more.

Table of Contents:

• "City of Ash", Paolo Bacigalupi
• "The Heart's Filthy Lesson", Elizabeth Bear
• "The Machine Starts", Greg Bear
• "The Winter Wraith", Jeffrey Ford
• "Black Dog", Neil Gaiman
• "Jamaica Ginger", Nalo Hopkinson & Nisi Shawl
• "Drones", Simon Ings
• "Emergence", Gwyneth Jones
• "Dancy vs. the Pterosaur", Caitlin R. Kiernan
• "Another Word for World", Anne Leckie
• "The Game of Smash and Recovery", Kelly Link
• "The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn", Usman T. Mailk
• "Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan", Ian McDonald
• "Little Sisters", Vonda McIntyre
• "Calved", Sam J. Miller
• "Ghosts of Home", Sam J. Miller
• "The Deepwater Bride", Tamsyn Muir
• "The Empress in Her Glory", Robert Reed
• "A Murmuration", Alastair Reynolds
• "Oral Argument", Kim Stanley Robinson
• "Water of Versailles", Kelly Robson
• "Capitalism in the 22nd Century", Geoff Ryman
• "The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club", Nike Sulway
• "The Lily and the Horn", Catherynne Valente
• "Blood, Ash, Braids", Genevieve Valentine
• "Kaiju maximus®: 'So Various, So Beautiful, So New'", Kai Ashante Wilson
• "Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers", Alyssa Wong

The internationally-acclaimed Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year series moves into its second decade with the very best science fiction and fantasy from around the world. Hard science fiction, space opera, epic fantasy, dystopia, alternate history, swords and sorcery - you can find it all in the more than two dozen stories carefully chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan to give readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.

Previous volumes have included stories from Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Cory Doctorow, Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Joe Abercrombie, Paolo Bacigalupi, Holly Black, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Margo Lanagan, Bruce Sterling, Adam Robets, Ellen Klages, and many many more.

Table of Contents:

• "Two's Company", Joe Abercrombie (Sharp Ends)
• "The Art of Space Travel", Nina Allan (Tor.com)
• "Seasons of Glass and Iron", Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit wood)
• "Mika Model", Paolo Bacigalupi (Slate)
• "A Salvaging of Ghosts", Aliette de Bodard (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 01/03/16)
• "Laws of Night and Silk", Seth Dickinson (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 26 May 2016)
• "Touring with the Alien", Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld 115, 4/16)
• "Red as Blood and White as Bone", Theodora Goss (Tor.com)
• "Even the Crumbs Were Delicious", Daryl Gregory (The Starlit Wood)
• "Number Nine Moon", Alex Irvine (F&SF, 1/16)
• "Red Dirt Witch", N.K. Jemisin (Fantasy/PoC Destroy Fantasy)
• "Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9)", Caitlín R. Kiernan (Sirenia Digest 125, 7/16)
• "Successor, Usurper, Replacement", Alice Sola Kim (Buzzfeed, 10/26/16)
• "You Make Pattaya", Rich Larson (Interzone 247)
• "Foxfire Foxfire", Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, March 2016)
• "Seven Birthdays", Ken Liu (Bridging Infinity)
• "The Visitor from Taured", Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov's, 9/16)
• "Elves of Antarctica", Paul McAuley (Drowned Worlds)
• "Things with Beards", Sam J Miller (Clarkesworld 117, 6/16)
• "Spinning Silver", Naomi Novik (The Starlit Wood)
• "Those Shadows Laugh", Geoff Ryman (F&SF, 9-10/16)
• "The Great Detective", Delia Sherman (Tor.com)
• "Terminal", Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com, 04/16)
• "The Future is Blue", Catherynne M Valente (Drowned Worlds)
• "Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home", Genevieve Valentine (Clarkesworld)
• "You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay", Alyssa Wong (Uncanny 10, 5-6/16)
• "Fable", Charles Yu (The New Yorker, 5/30/16)
• "The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight", E Lily Yu (Uncanny 12)

Science fiction is a portal that opens doors onto futures too rich and strange to imagine. Fantasy takes us through doorways of magic and wonder. For more than a decade award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has sifted through tens of thousands of stories to select the best, the most interesting, the most engaging science fiction and fantasy to thrill and delight readers.

Table of Contents:

• "The Mocking Tower", Daniel Abraham (The Book of Swords)
• "Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue", Charlie Jane Anders (Boston Review)
• "Probably Still the Chosen One", Kelly Barnhill (Lightspeed)
• "My English Name", R. S. Benedict (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• "Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance", Tobias Buckell (Cosmic Powers)
• "Though She Be But Little", C.S.E. Cooney (Uncanny)
• "The Moon is Not a Battlefield", Indrapramit Das (Infinity Wars)
• "The Hermit of Houston", Samuel R. Delany (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• "The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine", Greg Egan (Asimov's Science Fiction)
• "Crispin's Model", Max Gladstone (Tor.com)
• "Come See the Living Dryad", Theodora Goss (Tor.com)
• "Bring Your Own Spoon", Saad Z. Hossain (The Djinn Falls in Love)
• "Babylon", Dave Hutchison, 2084
• "The Faerie Tree", Kathleen Kayembe (Lightspeed)
• "Fairy Tale of Wood Street", Caitlin R Kiernan (Sirenia Digest)
• "The Worshipful Society of Glovers", Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny)
• "An Evening with Severyn Grimes", Rich Larson (Asimov's Science Fiction)
• "The Chameleon's Gloves", Yoon Ha Lee (Cosmic Powers)
• "The Smoke of Gold is Glory", Scott Lynch (The Book of Swords)
• "Sidewalks", Maureen McHugh (Omni)
• "Concessions", Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali (Strange Horizons)
• "The Martian Obelisk", Linda Nagata (Tor.com)
• "The Secret Life of Bots", Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld)
• "A Series of Steaks", Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld)
• "Belladonna Nights", Alastair Reynolds (The Weight of Words)
• "Eminence", Karl Schroeder (Chasing Shadows)
• "The Lamentation of their Women", Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com)
• "Confessions of a Con Girl", Nick Wolven (Asimov's Science Fiction)
• "Carnival Nine", Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

A librarian helps a desperate student find the door into a book; Sir Thomas Moore's head is stolen and a messy rescue ensues; a mother sells a piece of her memory so her daughter can afford an education.

Science fiction is the story of what if and what comes next. It's more playful, more inclusive and more entertaining than it has ever been before and as the world falls apart around us, it offers us a chance to understand how things could be better, or just how a great story can get us through another night.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Thirteen brings together the very best clashes between zombies and unicorns, robots and fairies, spaceships and more in a definitive volume that takes us everywhere from the distant future and the moons of our own solar system, to one last visit to Earthsea...

Table of Contents:

• "Dreadful Young Ladies", Kelly Barnhill (Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories)
• "Okay, Glory", Elizabeth Bear (Twelve Tomorrows)
• The Only Harmless Great Thing, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com Publishing)
• "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again", Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog, 11/31/18)
• "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington", P Djeli Clark (Fireside Magazine)
• "Flint and Mirror", John Crowley (The Book of Magic)
• "An Agent of Utopia", Andy Duncan (An Agent of Utopia)
• "The Bookcase Expedition", Jeffrey Ford (Robots vs. Fairies)
• "Nine Last Days on Planet Earth", Daryl Gregory (Tor.com)
• "A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies", Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine)
• "You Pretend Like You Never Met Me, and I'll Pretend Like I Never Met You", Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed,)
• "When We Were Starless", Simone Heller (Clarkesworld)
• "The Woman Who Destroyed Us", SL Huang (Twelve Tomorrows)
• "Golgotha ", Dave Hutchinson (2001: An Odyssey in Words)
• "The Storyteller's Replacement", N K Jemisin (How Long Till Black Future Month?)
• "The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society", T. Kingfisher (Uncanny)
• "Field Biology of the Wee Fairies", Naomi Kritzer (Apex, 9/4/18)
• "Meat and Salt and Sparks", Rich Larson (Tor.com)
• "Firelight", Ursula K Le Guin (The Paris Review 225)
• "The Starship and the Temple Cat", Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
• "Quality Time", Ken Liu (Robots vs. Fairies)
• "A Brief and Fearful Star", Carmen Maria Machado (Slate)
• "The Blue Fairy's Manifesto", Annalee Newitz (Robots vs. Fairies)
• "The Staff in the Stone", Garth Nix (The Book of Magic)
• "Blessings", Naomi Novik (Uncanny)
• "Mother Tongues", S. Qiouyi Lu (Asimov's Science Fiction)
• "Intervention", Kelly Robson (Infinity's End)
• "Widdam", Vandana Singh (F&SF)
• "Yard Dog", Tade Thompson (Fiyah #7)
• "Olivia's Table", Alyssa Wong (A Thousand Beginnings and Endings)

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• The Persistence of Vision - (1978) - novella by John Varley
• Old Folks at Home - (1978) - novella by Michael Bishop
• Shipwright - (1978) - novelette by Donald Kingsbury
• Seven American Nights - (1978) - novella by Gene Wolfe
• Fireship - (1978) - novella by Joan D. Vinge
• The Watched - (1978) - novella by Christopher Priest

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Terry Carr
• Enemy Mine - (1979) - novella by Barry B. Longyear
• The Moon Goddess and the Son - (1979) - novella by Donald Kingsbury
• Palely Loitering - (1979) - novelette by Christopher Priest
• Songhouse - (1979) - novella by Orson Scott Card
• Ker-Plop - (1979) - novella by Ted Reynolds

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.