Edited by Jonathan Strahan.
A ruthless venture capitalist finds love – or something chemically
similar – in an Atlanta strip club; a girl in grey conjures a man from a
handful of moonshine; an ship blazing a highway between the stars
discovers an island of life on a distant gas giant; a boy becomes a man
by mastering the sword; a rebellious young woman suffers a strange
incarceration; an astronaut shares a lifeboat – and herself – with an
unfathomable alien; an infected girl counts the days until she becomes a vampire; an aviatrix and an inventor square off against saboteurs and
monstrous brains; a big man travels to a tiny moon to examine an ancient starship covered with flowers...
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.
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.
Contents:
- Introduction - Jonathan Strahan
- It Takes Two - Nicola Griffith
- Three Twilight Tales - Jo Walton
- The Night Cache - Andy Duncan
- The Island - Peter Watts
- Ferryman - Margo Lanagan
- A Wild and Wicked Youth - Ellen Kushner
- The Pelican Bar - Karen Joy Fowler
- Spar - Kij Johnson
- Going Deep - James Patrick Kelly
- The Coldest Girl in Coldtown - Holly Black
- Zeppelin City - Michael Swanwick & Eileen Gunn
- Dragon's Teeth - Alex Irvine
- This Wind Blowing, and This Tide - Damien Broderick
- By Moonlight - Peter S. Beagle
- Black Swan - Bruce Sterling
- As Women Fight - Sara Genge
- The Cinderella Game - Kelly Link
- Formidable Caress - Stephen Baxter
- Blocked - Geoff Ryman
- Truth and Bone - Pat Cadigan
- Eros, Philia, Agape - Rachel Swirsky
- The Motorman's Coat - John Kessel
- Mongoose - Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear
- Echoes of Aurora - Ellen Klages
- Before My Last Breath - Robert Reed
- Joboy - Diana Wynne Jones
- Utriusque Cosmi - Robert Charles Wilson
- A Delicate Architecture - Catherynne M. Valente
- The Cat That Walked a Thousand Miles - Kij Johnson
- Recommended Reading - Jonathan Strahan