New Releases by Nancy Kress

Teens from across time are pulled into the twenty-fourth century for an interstellar rescue mission in this action-packed science fiction series debut. Life is easier in the year 2345, since humanity has created a utopia with no more war, disease, or crime. Only now, Earth is in a dire situation, one which the adults are powerless to help. A group of teenagers step up to the challenge, but they’ll need help. . . . Enter Operation Hourglass . . . A team of heroes—champions of their times, spanning history—is assembled, each of them known to have the skills, grit, and instincts to handle crisis. From the twentieth and twenty-first-centuries: a high-school basketball star and a smalltown brainiac. Joining them: a tenth-century Viking and a young thief from nineteenth-century London. Together they must rescue a human star settlement from mysterious, threatening, three-eyed aliens. But even if they survive and successfully complete their mission, there’s still the matter of returning everyone back to their pasts . . .

Observer, by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress is a slick modern, hard sf, standalone, medical thriller combining classic Robin Cook with the hard edge of Black Mirror and Altered Carbon. After neurosurgeon Caro Soames-Watkins’ career has gone down in flames, she receives a strange job offer from Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sam Watkins, a great uncle she barely knows, and desperation overcomes any suspicions. Watkins’ mysterious medical facility conducts research into the nature of consciousness, reality, and life after death. Two obstacles stand in his way: an intel leak and his failing body may not last long enough for the tech to be ready. As danger mounts, Caro finds more than she bargained for: murder, love, and a deep disturbing look into the nature of reality. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A comatose patient undergoes an experimental procedure that uses favorite childhood stories to pull the patient back into consciousness—but the experiment doesn''t go quite as planned... At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Spine-tingling Breathtaking Mind-blowing Experience these powerful new voices—vivid, visceral, and visionary—as they explore uncharted worlds and reveal unlimited possibilities. Twelve captivating tales from the best new science fiction and fantasy writers of the year as selected by Writers of the Future Contest judges accompanied by three more bestselling authors you’ve read before. Each is accompanied by a full-color illustration. Plus Bonus Art and Writing Tips. 24 Award-winning Authors and Illustrators 3 Bonus Short Stories by L. Ron Hubbard • Nancy Kress • S. M. Stirling Art and Writing Tips by Gregory Benford • Bob Eggleton • L. Ron Hubbard • Dean Wesley Smith Edited by Jody Lynn Nye 16-page color gallery of artwork • Cover art by Dan dos Santos

It is extremely difficult to win a Hugo award. It is also extremely difficult to win a Nebula. These are like the Oscars and Golden Globes on the science fiction/fantasy writing side, and just like it is the extremely rare movie that gets both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for Best Movie, it is only stories of the highest caliber that get awarded both the Nebula and the Hugo. The Hugo is awarded at the annual Worldcon, voted on by fans. The Nebula is awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) voted on by its member, primarily professional writers. A piece that wins both, signifies that it had wide-spread fan appeal (fan votes) and also the highest regard by professionals in the field (voted on by exclusively by SFWA member). A novella is something just short of a novel (in word-count), and many of the worlds outstanding series started off as novellas, including Orson Scott Card''s Ender''s Game (the novella is the one that won all the awards, and then was extended into a novel, and finally a series). Some consider the novella the perfect size for a story...large enough to develop it, but with a wordcount constrain that still imposes writing discipline. This anthology reprints four novellas, each of which has stood the test of time and each of which won both the Nebula and the Hugo. Some went on to win a plethora of other awards from around the world. For example, Mike Resnick''s "The Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" may be one of the most awarded stories in science fiction, having won not only the Hugo and Nebula, but also the HOMer award, the SF Chronicle Award, and awards from countries like as Spain, France and Croatia. Here then are four of the most outstanding and most acclaimed novellas in science fiction, penned by Joe Haldeman, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mike Resnick and Nancy Kress. Beggars in Spain take place in a future where genetic engineering has become a reality, and society and culture face the consequences of genetic modifications. The story revolves around the existence of the "Sleepless" individuals genetically modified to not need sleep, who have greater potential for intelligence and accomplishment than ordinary humans, called "Sleepers". The Hemingway Hoax weaves together a story of an attempt to produce a fake Ernest Hemingway manuscript with themes concerning time travel and parallel worlds. The story is based on the real-life incident in Hemmingway''s life when his first wife Hadley lost a suitcase with his manuscripts. The Mountains of Mourning explores the concepts of justice and mercy when Miles Vorkosigan is sent to represent the empire in a far-flung rural village where a woman demands justice for the murder of her baby who was born healthy, but with a cleft lip and palate. The Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge explores the meaning of human progress and decline, long after humans have disappeared from the Earth. An alien archeological expedition is sent to explore humanities rise and fall in its birthplace of Olduvai Gorge where seven recounted stories based on artifacts found tell the tale of how they rose and how they fell, but also leave the aliens with an uneasy feeling of what the future may hold.

In this epic science fiction tale by an award-winning author, two warring tribes are the subjects of a strange alien experiment. Epic in scope, peopled by characters from every strata of profoundly different societies, An Alien Light is an unflinching look at the strengths and weaknesses of the genetic, evolutionary, and historical inheritance that all of us share. Arys, a glassblower and outcast. Jehane, a skilled female warrior. Dahar, with a deeply inquisitive mind. Grax, an alien with profound doubts. These four and hundreds of others are thrown together in an experiment to determine the fate of humanity, both on Earth and in her galactic colonies. For the Ged, the stakes are nothing less than the outcome of a war. For the humans, ignorant of the larger situation, the rewards for participating are incredible riches. But no one except the alien Ged understands the criteria for being chosen. When that knowledge comes, there is no agreement about if, how, or when to use it. Some will betray others. Some will sacrifice. Some will die. And some must succeed, no matter the price. Praise for An Alien Light “This heady mix of fantasy and sf explores humanity’s infinite capacity for change. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal

Explore twenty-four imaginative tales crafted by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its second year, and including several international bestsellers and winners of every major award in the field, as well as newer authors just beginning what promise to be stellar careers. A woman seeking the power to see the evil hiding within others regrets receiving it. Letters written by a wizard in the past threaten a queen’s reign in the present. Competing for Earth, a human wrestler faces an alien shapeshifter in an interstellar tournament. A guide in Tibet must weigh the good of his people when asked to lead a westerner to the fabled realm of Shangri. An activist imprisoned for illegal genetic modification works with the materials at hand and the threads of the multiverse to make the world—a world, at least—a better place. A demonic agent sent to help a human turns the tables on his summoner. Like the “cabinets of curiosities” created by collectors of the sixteenth century, Shapers of Worlds Volume II displays a varied array of thought-provoking delights: tales of humour and sorrow, darkness and light, and hope and despair that are full of adventure, full of life, and sometimes full of regret. There are stories set in alternate histories, in possible futures, near and far, and in the here-and-now, taking place on Earth, on distant planets, or in fantastic realms. All arise from the innate need of human beings to create, to imagine . . . to shape worlds. Praise for Shapers of Worlds Volume I: “One of the most wide-ranging volumes I’ve encountered in terms of sub-genre. It’s rather like a speculative fiction buffet, offering steampunk, fantasy, military fiction, magic, space opera, post-apocalyptic, hard science fiction, and others . . . Inventive and varied, the collection has a lot to offer for those seeking an interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking read.” – Lisa Timpf, The Future Fire

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our June 2021 issue (#177) contains:Original fiction by Nancy Kress ("Little Animals"), Robert Reed ("Poubelle"), Suzanne Palmer ("Bots of the Lost Ark"), Jiang Bo ("Face Changing"), Yukimi Ogawa ("The Shroud for the Mourners"), K.W. Colyard ("Our Fate, Told in Photons"), and Cristina Jurado ("Embracing the Movement").Non-fiction includes an article by Carrie Sessarego and interviews with Cassandra Khaw and Alyssa Winans, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.

12 award-winning science fiction authors from around the world offer original tales of relationships in a future world of evolving technology. For fans of anthologies like Soonish and Netflix''s Black Mirror In a future world dominated by the technological, people will still be entangled in relationships—in romances, friendships, and families. This volume in the Twelve Tomorrows series considers the effects that scientific and technological discoveries will have on the emotional bonds that hold us together. The strange new worlds in these stories feature AI family therapy, floating fungitecture, and a futuristic love potion. Imagine genetic alterations to code for altruism, or digital avatars that can interface with other avatars on dating sites, running sample conversations to find appropriate matches, or artificial assistance animals. Contributions include Xia Jia''s novelette set in a Buddhist monastery, translated by the Hugo Award-winning writer Ken Liu; and a story by Nancy Kress, winner of 6 Hugos and 2 Nebulas. A full story list: James Patrick Kelly, Your Boyfriend Experience Mary Robinette Kowal, A Little Wisdom Nancy Kress, Invisible People Rich Larson, Echo the Echo Sam J. Miller, The Nation of the Sick Annalee Newitz, The Monogamy Hormone Suzanne Palmer, Don''t Mind Me Cadwell Turnbull, Mediation Nick Wolven, Sparklybits Xia Jia, The Monk of Lingyin Temple, translated by Ken Liu Also includes an interview with Nancy Kress by Lisa Yaszek, and Tatiana Plakhova''s beautiful "data abstract" illustrations serve as frontispiece to each of the stories.

Renata Black is entertained by the traffic snarl caused by a rogue self-driving house--until she spots the Org''s Tiffany Teal paint marking the house''s windowsill. In 2022, GMOs were banned after a biopharmed drug caused the Catastrophe: worldwide economic collapse, agricultural standstill, and personal tragedy for a lawyer and her son. Ten years later, Renata, a.k.a. Caroline Denton, is an operative of the Org, an underground group that could save the world from itself. Their illegal research is performed and protected by splinter cells, which are hunted by the feds. Now a mole is in the Org. Who would put the entire Org in jeopardy? Renata is the only one who can find out--and she will need to go to her clients in the Quinault Nation for answers. Nancy Kress (Beggars in Spain, Yesterday''s Kin) once again delivers a smart, mesmerizing bio-thriller, with a hard, nuanced look at the perils and promise of technology.

Nancy Kress returns with Terran Tomorrow, the final book in the thrilling hard science fiction trilogy based on the Nebula Award–winning novella Yesterday''s Kin. io9—New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books You Need to Put on Your Radar for Fall The diplomatic mission from Earth to World ended in disaster, as the Earth scientists discovered that the Worlders were not the scientifically advanced culture they believed. Though they brought a limited quantity of the vaccine against the deadly spore cloud, there was no way to make enough to vaccinate more than a few dozen. The Earth scientists, and surviving diplomats, fled back to Earth. But once home, after the twenty-eight-year gap caused by the space ship transit, they find an Earth changed almost beyond recognition. In the aftermath of the spore cloud plague, the human race has been reduced to only a few million isolated survivors. The knowledge brought back by Marianne Jenner and her staff may not be enough to turn the tide of ongoing biological warfare. The Yesterday''s Kin Trilogy #1 Tomorrow''s Kin #2 If Tomorrow Comes #3 Terran Tomorrow At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Excerpts of fantasy and science fiction novels written by fearless women, including Vengeful by V.E. Schwab, Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang, The Phoenix Empress by K Arsenault Rivera, Terran Tomorrow by Nancy Kress, Horizon by Fran Wilde, and City of Broken Magic by Mirah Bolender. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

An unabridged collection spotlighting the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2017 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “My English Name,” by R. S. Benedict, an intelligent alien, who parasitizes an English teacher in China, falls in love. After a victorious space battle, an indentured robot finds a refugee who makes an offer it can’t refuse in “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance” by Tobias S. Buckell. In “The Moon is Not a Battlefield,” by Indrapramit Das, an Indian soldier retires on Earth after spending most of her life on the Moon. A young woman joins the U.S. Army to fight terrorists after aliens arrive on Earth bearing tech gifts unevenly dispersed to humans in “Dear Sarah” by Nancy Kress. In “An Evening with Severyn Grimes,” by Rich Larson, a gifted hacker uses cyberspace to extract pay back on the rich businessman who put her in prison. Set in the author’s hexarchate universe, an ex-Kel super soldier is enlisted to retrieve a weapon of mass destruction stolen by a rogue general in “The Chameleon’s Gloves” by Yoon Ha Lee. In “The Martian Obelisk,” by Linda Nagata, on a dying Earth, an architect remotely building a monument to mankind on Mars receives a message from an abandoned Mars colony. A petty meat counterfeiter is blackmailed into forging T-bone steaks for an anonymous thug in “A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. In “The Residue of Fire,” by Robert Reed, a torturer tries to cope with one of his alien victims who witnessed a pivotal moment in the lives of two immortals, in this Great Ship tale. And finally, in this Revelation Space tale, a starship captain wakes from hibernation with her ship stalled next to an alien artifact and a mutiny in progress in “Night Passage” by Alastair Reynolds.

Nancy Kress returns with If Tomorrow Comes, the sequel of Tomorrow''s Kin, part of an all-new hard science fiction trilogy based on a Nebula Award-winning novellaiO9--28 New SFF Books Worth Checking out in March 2018Kirkus--18 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in March 2018Unbound Worlds--Best SFF Books of March 2018The Verge-- 15 new science fiction and fantasy books to read this March 2018Ten years after the Aliens left Earth, humanity succeeds in building a ship, Friendship, to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected. No interplanetary culture, no industrial base-and no cure for the spore disease.A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred and far more than ten years have passed.Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change.

Second in the hard science fiction trilogy based on the Nebula Award–winning novella Yesterday’s Kin. 2019 Locus Finalist for Best Science Fiction Novel Locus 2018 Recommended Reading List io9—28 New SFF Books Worth Checking out in March 2018 Kirkus Reviews—18 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in March 2018 Unbound Worlds—Best SFF Books of March 2018 The Verge—15 new science fiction and fantasy books to read this March 2018 Ten years after the Aliens left Earth, humanity succeeds in building a ship, Friendship, to follow them home to Kindred. Aboard are a crew of scientists, diplomats, and a squad of Rangers to protect them. But when the Friendship arrives, they find nothing they expected. No interplanetary culture, no industrial base—and no cure for the spore disease. A timeslip in the apparently instantaneous travel between worlds has occurred and far more than ten years have passed. Once again scientists find themselves in a race against time to save humanity and their kind from a deadly virus while a clock of a different sort runs down on a military solution no less deadly to all. Amid devastation and plague come stories of heroism and sacrifice and of genetic destiny and free choice, with its implicit promise of conscious change. The Yesterday’s Kin Trilogy Tomorrow’s Kin If Tomorrow Comes Terran Tomorrow “Kress keeps the multiple character viewpoints on track . . . offers fans of first-contact fiction a solid, strongly paced story.” —Library Journal

“Nancy Kress at her very best!” First in the hard science fiction trilogy based on the Nebula Award-winning novella Yesterday’s Kin (Greg Bear, New York Times–bestselling author). Locus 2017 Recommended Reading List The aliens have arrived . . . they’ve landed their Embassy ship on a platform in New York Harbor, and will only speak with the United Nations. They say that their world is so different from Earth, in terms of gravity and atmosphere, that they cannot leave their ship. The population of Earth has erupted in fear and speculation. One day Dr. Marianne Jenner, an obscure scientist working with the human genome, receives an invitation that she cannot refuse. The Secret Service arrives at her college to escort her to New York, for she has been invited, along with the Secretary General of the UN and a few other ambassadors, to visit the alien Embassy. The truth is about to be revealed. Earth’s most elite scientists have ten months to prevent a disaster—and not everyone is willing to wait. At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied. “Sparely constructed and cleverly resolved, [it] provides everything readers need for an immersive plunge into a frightening, fascinating, and inescapable predicament.” —The Seattle Times “Kress mixes contemporary issues of isolationism and refugee status with classic SF first-contact tropes, threaded neatly with solid scientific theory and speculation.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Most inviting introduction to science fiction for new readers.” —Chicago Tribune

The Future Is Ourselves The world is rapidly changing. We surf future-shock every day, as the progress of technology races ever on. Increasingly we are asking: how do we change to live in the world to come? 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 cyberspace, our minds and bodies are going to have to drastically alter. Multi-award winning editor Jonathan Strahan brings us another incredible volume in his much praised science-fiction anthology series, featuring stories by Madeline Ashby, John Barnes, James S.A. Corey, Gregory Benford, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Simon Ings, Kameron Hurley, Nancy Kress, Gwyneth Jones, Yoon Ha Lee, Bruce Sterling, Sean Williams, Aliette de Bodard, Ramez Naam, An Owomoyela and Ian McDonald.

Nancy Kress, winner of multiple awards for her science fiction and fantasy, ranges through space and time in this stunning collection. Anne Boleyn is snatched from her time stream--with unexpected consequences for two worlds. A far-future spaceship brings religion to a planet that already harbors shocking natives. People genetically engineered to never need to sleep clash with those who do. A scientific expedition to the center of the galaxy discovers more than anyone bargained for. A woman finds that ''''people like us'''' does not mean what she thinks it does. Praised for both her hard SF and her complex characters, Nancy Kress brings a unique viewpoint to twenty-one stories, the best of a long and varied career that has won her five Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. Table of Contents: Introduction And Wild For to Hold Out of All Them Bright Stars Pathways Dancing on Air Unto the Daughters Laws of Survival Someone To Watch Over Me Flowers of Aulit Prison Price of Oranges By Fools Like Me Casey''s Empire Shiva in Shadow Grant Us This Day Kindness of Strangers End Game My Mother, Dancing Trinity People Like Us Evolution Margin of Error Beggars in Spain

"Each story contains strength andcompassion, even when the personal cost is high. The depictions of battle andtrauma are rarely graphic, but they''re as hard-hitting as the subject demands.This is a truly impressive accomplishment for Guran and her contributors."- Publishers Weekly(STARRED) From fantastic legends andscience fictional futures come compelling tales of powerful women-or those whodiscover strength they did not know they possessed-who fight because they must,for what they believe in, for those they love, to simply survive, or who gloryin battle itself. Fierce or fearful, they are courageous andhonorable-occasionally unscrupulous and tainted-but all warriors worthy of thename. Join bestselling authors,Elizabeth Bear, Nancy Kress, George R. R. Martin, Elizabeth Moon and many othersas they celebrate the STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST in what Publishers Weeklycalls an "epic anthology".

Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This unabridged collection presents the best-of-the-best short science fiction novels published in 2013 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of story-telling. In “Earth I,” by Stephen Baxter, asearch among the stars to ferret out the origins of mankind amidst the Xaian normalization digs up many surprises. In “Success,” by Michael Blumlein, a brilliant but erratic biologist studying epigenetics struggles to hang on to his grip on everyday life as he writes his ground-breaking tome. In “Feral Moon,” by Alexander Jablokov, the Alliance military is invading Phobos to retrieve dead bodies for later repatriation, but the stiff resistance is putting the operation in serious doubt. In “The Weight of the Sunrise,” by Vylar Kaftan, winner of both the Nebula Award and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History, the Incan empire is offered a vaccine, to contain a smallpox out-break, by a Virginian raising funds for the American war against the British. In “One,” by Nancy Kress, a boxer down on his luck gains the ability to read minds and grapples round-after-round with the consequences. In the Great Shipstory “Precious Mental,” by Robert Reed, an immortal captain who has been living incognito for hundreds of years is kidnaped to help salvage an ancient derelict spaceship. Finally, in the Poirot-like mystery “Murder on the AldrinExpress,” by Martin L. Shoemaker, murder is suspected in the death of the leader of a Mars expedition when evidence of sabotage is uncovered.

Fantascienza - romanzo breve (63 pagine) - Cosa accade quando un virus informatico prende il controllo non solo del vostro computer, ma dell''intera casa? Presa in ostaggio. Lei e i suoi due bambini, uno dei quali gravemente malato. Prigioniera nella propria casa. Prigioniera della propria casa. Perché chi l''aveva rapita non era un comune delinquente, ma un software, un''intelligenza artificiale che come un virus informatico aveva preso il controllo degli impianti di automazione della sua abitazione. Ma perché il governo era tanto ansioso di distruggerla? Un romanzo breve ad alta tensione da una delle più grandi autrici di fantascienza contemporanee, più volte vincitrice del Premio Hugo. Nancy Kress è nata nel 1948 a Buffalo (New York). Risiede a Seattle, nello stato di Washington, cercando di conciliare le sue molteplici attività: scrittrice di fantascienza, responsabile di corsi di letteratura e scrittura creativa. Ha cominciato a scrivere e pubblicare fantascienza e fantasy verso la metà degli anni ’70, e i suoi racconti, eleganti e incisivi, sono stati ospitati dalle riviste Omni, Isaac Asimov’s SF Magazine e Fantasy & Science Fiction. Nel 2008/2009 è stata professore ospite di letteratura all’Università di Lipsia in Germania. Nella sua carriera ha vinto quattro Premi Nebula e due Premi Hugo oltre a numerosi altri riconoscimenti che l’hanno consacrata come una delle voci più significative della narrativa di fantascienza contemporanea.

An unabridged collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2013 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Zero for Conduct,” by Greg Egan, an Afghani teenager, living in a near-future Iran with her exiled grandfather, makes a game-changing superconductor discovery. A young girl struggles to survive on a planet, with a stringent class structure, where Doors are used to go off-world in “Exit, Interrupted,” by C. W. Johnson. “Pathways” by Nancy Kress, follows a teenage girl from a small Kentucky mountain town, in a near-future U. S., struggling with her family and culture as she seeks treatment for Fatal Familial Insomnia. In “Entangled,” by Ian R. MacLeod, an Indian woman, in a Britain turned upside down by a disease that links people’s minds, searches for answers to her personal catastrophe. In “The Irish Astronaut,” by Val Nolan, a colleague brings the ashes of an astronaut, who died in the Aquariusdisaster, to Ireland for final burial. In “Among Us,” by Robert Reed, a government agency goes to extraordinary lengths to identify and track the aliens among us. “A Map of Mercury,” by Alastair Reynolds, showcases the plight of a failed artist dispatched to retrieve an artistic genius from a collective of cyborgs parading across the face of Mercury. In “Martian Blood,” by Allen M. Steele, a researcher from Earth goes on an expedition into the untamed regions of Mars to extract blood from its natives. “The She-Wolf’s Hidden Grin,” by Michael Swanwick, set in the same milieu as Gene Wolfe’s “The Fifth Head of Cerberus,” follows the childhoods of two sisters on a planet far from Earth. Finally, in “The Best We Can,” by Carrie Vaughn, a frustrated scientist pursues first contact among an apathetic populace.

Marianne Jenner, a geneticist and mother of three, has 10 months to try to avert a disaster and keep her family intact after aliens land in New York. By the author of Beggars in Spain. 7,500 first printing.

"In an America decimated by economic collapse, teenage Amy jumps at the chance to star in a reality show--but what she doesn''t know is that it may kill her before it pays off"--

Under the countless billions of stars in the universe, what forms will alien life take? How will they live? And what will happen when we meet them? From first encounters to life alongside aliens--and stories of the aliens'' own lives--here are many futures: violent and peaceful, star-spanning and personal.

This collection of unabridged, unforgettable tales, written by some of science fiction’s most esteemed authors, pays homage to one of the genre’s most cherished story types. Whether time travel stories leap forward in time or slip into the past, they remain popular with fans. John Barnesspins a tale of intrigue as the principles of science are discovered centuries ahead of time while mankind is divided into classes (Com''n and Liejt) and the Irish people are slaves in “Things Undone.” Nancy KressAnne Boleyn and that of historians from a distant future to which pivotal historic figures are taken in order to prevent otherwise inevitable bloodshed in “And Wild for to Hold.” Ian R. MacLeodsends three time traveling historians from the future to rescue Captain Oatesfrom the doomed Scott party amidst the race to the South Pole in the early 20thcentury in “Home Time.” Tom Purdomsets historians from the future on a high seas adventure to document a 19thcentury British Admiralty anti-slavery patrol in “The Mists of Time.” Science fiction grand master, Robert Silverberg, slowly slides the fifty-seven year old owner of a Toyota dealership in the San Francisco Bay area backwards in time towards his birth in “Against the Current.” Allen M. Steeletells the story of how a U.S. Navy blimp crewmember happens upon time travelers while monitoring Soviet sea traffic around Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in “The Observation Post.” Michael Swanwickfollows the director of a dinosaur research center holding a timeline-polluting fund raiser located in the late Cretaceous period in the Hugo award winning story, “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur.” Genevieve Valentineobserves the detrimental effects of time travel on the timeline through the eyes of a seamstress whose wealthy patrons are obsessed with their time period costumes in “Bespoke.”

Conflict: a basic human instinct, helping humankind evolve even while threatening the very existence of the species . . . an instinct that will be as much a part of the future as it is now and always has been. For all the glories of war-the defeat of evil, the promise of freedom, justice, protection of the innocent, the righting of wrongs, technological innovation, heroism-there are also the horrors: individual grief, mass destruction, the elimination of entire cultures and great achievments, injustice, villainy, the annihilation of the innocent, and pain beyond bearing. War and Space offers the ultimate speculation on the future of warfare-stories of insectoid anguish, genetically-engineered diplomats who cannot fail, aliens plundering humanity, a weaponized black hole-scenarios of triumph and defeat, great heroism and vile depravity . . . and more.

Get your stories off to a roaring start. Keep them tight and crisp throughout. Conclude them with a wallop. Is the story or novel you''ve been carrying around in your head the same one you see on the page? Or does the dialogue suddenly sound flat and predictable? Do the events seem to ramble? Translating a flash of inspiration into a compelling story requires careful crafting. The words you choose, how you describe characters, and the way you orchestrate conflict all make the difference—the difference between a story that is slow to begin, flounders midway, or trails off at the end—and one that holds the interest of readers and editors to the final page. By demonstrating effective solutions for potential problems at each stage of your story, Nancy Kress will help you... • hook the editor on the first three paragraphs • make—and keep—your story''s "implicit promise" • build drama and credibility by controlling your prose Dozens of exercises help you strengthen your short story or novel. Plus, you''ll sharpen skills and gain new insight into... • the price a writer pays for flashbacks • six ways characters should "reveal" themselves • techniques for writing—and rewriting Let this working resource be your guide to successful stories—from beginning to end.

Collects short stories from Lightspeed, the online science fiction magazine.

Each year, members of the World Science Fiction Convention vote for the science fiction and fantasy works they love the most: the Hugo Awards. Now, for the first time in more than a decade, you can find these treasured gems within a single volume. The Hugo Award Showcase collects the stories-by rising stars like Kij Johnson, beloved taleslingers like Michael Swanwick, and literary legends like Nancy Kress-that have captured the hearts and imaginations of some of the genre''s most dedicated readers.