Search Worlds Without End

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, January 2018.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Returning to the Irish village of Ballymurroe one year after honeymooning there, John and Ann Milne are astonished when the once-friendly townspeople they knew greet them with hostility and two of their friends vanish.

Hugo Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1979. The story can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction of the Year #9 (1980). It is included in the collection Fireflood and Other Stories (1979).

Table of Contents:

• Fireflood - (1979) - novelette
• Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand - (1973) - novelette
• Spectra - (1972) - shortstory
• Wings - (1973) - shortstory
• The Mountains of Sunset, the Mountains of Dawn - (1974) - shortstory
• The End's Beginning - (1976) - shortstory
• Screwtop - (1976) - novella
• Only at Night - (1971) - shortstory
• Recourse, Inc. - (1974) - shortstory
• The Genius Freaks - (1973) - shortstory
• Aztecs - (1977) - novella

A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America's great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water.

Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Arctic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there.

On their journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship and Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking--and bloody--turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers.

In a world prone to violent flooding, Britain, ravaged 20 years earlier by a deadly virus, has been largely cut off from the rest of the world. Survivors are few and far between, most of them infertile. Children, the only hope for the future, are a rare commodity.

For 22-year-old Roza Polanski, life with her family in their isolated tower block is relatively comfortable. She's safe, happy enough. But when a stranger called Aashay Kent arrives, everything changes. At first he's a welcome addition, his magnetism drawing the Polanskis out of their shells, promising an alternative to a lonely existence. But Roza can't shake the feeling that there's more to Aashay than he's letting on. Is there more to life beyond their isolated bubble? Is it true that children are being kidnapped? And what will it cost to find out?

Clare Morrall, author of the Man Booker Prize-shortlisted Astonishing Splashes of Colour, creates a startling vision of the future in a world not so very far from our own, and a thrilling story of suspense.

Osberne Wulfgrimsson and Elfhild are lovers who live on opposite sides of the Sundering Flood, an immense river. When Elfhild disappears during an invasion by the Red Skinners, the heartbroken Osberne takes up his magical sword Boardcleaver and joins the army of Sir Godrick of Longshaw, in whose service he helps dethrone the tyrannical king and plutocracy of merchants ruling the city at the mouth of the river. Afterwards he locates Elfhild, who had fled with a relative, a wise woman skilled in the magical arts, and taken refuge in the Wood Masterless. Elfhild tells Osberne of their adventures en route to safety. Afterwards they return together to Wethrmel, Osberne's home, and all ends happily.

The mysterious saga of the Caskey family begins in Blackwater I: The Flood, as a devastating flood brings a strange and beautiful visitor to the small, sleepy lumber town of Perdido, Alabama.

Elinor Dammert's arrival will forever change the town and the wealthy and powerful Caskey family.

James, who dotes on Elinor like a second daughter...

Sister, who pines for Elinor's strength and independence...

Oscar, who loves Elinor and determines to build a life with her...

And matriarch Mary-Love, perhaps the only person in Perdido with an inkling of Elinor's true power and purpose.

For Elinor is more than she appears, and she brings to Perdido--and to the Caskeys--a deadly, inexplicable otherness from which no one can ever be safe.

This novelette originally appeared in the collection Universes (2013). It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection (2014), edited by Gardner Dozois.

Next year. Sea levels begin to rise. The change is far more rapid than any climate change predictions; metres a year. Within two years London, only 15 metres above the sea, is drowned. New York follows, the Pope gives his last address from the Vatican, Mecca disappears beneath the waves. Where is all the water coming from?

Scientists estimate that the earth was formed with seas 30 times in volume their current levels. Most of that water was burnt off by the sun but some was locked in the earth's mantle. For the tip of Everest to disappear beneath the waters would require the seas to triple their volume. That amount of water is still much less than 1% of the earth's volume. And somehow it is being released. The world is drowning. The biblical flood has returned. And the rate of increase is building all the time.

Mankind is on the run, heading for high ground. Nuclear submarines prowl through clouds of corpses rising from drowned cities, populations are decimated and finally the dreadful truth is known. Before 50 years have passed there will be nowhere left to run.

FLOOD tells the story of mankind's final years on earth.The stories of a small group of people caught up in the struggle to survive are woven into a tale of unimaginable global disaster. And the hope offered for a unlucky few by a second great ark...

As the waters rose in FLOOD, high in the Colorado mountains the US government was building an ark. Not an ark to ride the waves but an ark that would take a select few hundred people out into space to start a new future for mankind. Sent out into deep space on an epic journey centuries, generations of crew members carry the hope of a new beginning on a new, incredibly distant, planet. But as the decades pass knowledge and purpose is lost and division and madness grows. And back on earth life, and man, find a new way.

Two hundred years ago, a Halruaan necromancer disappeared, leaving a bitter legacy and the deadly swamp that bears his name.

Now the battle of Akhlaur's Swamp is over, its monsters vanquished. But Kiva, the treacherous magehound, is far from finished.

In the calm that follows victory, the heroes of Akhlaur's Swamp part ways. Tzigone becomes a wizard's apprentice; Matteo resumes his duties as queen's counselor. But their paths soon converge with Kiva's, and it seems that Akhlaur's Swamp was only the beginning for all of them.

The Human-Covenant War, a desperate struggle for humankind's very survival, has reached its boiling point on the mysterious, ring world called Halo. But the fierce Covenant warriors, the mightiest alien military force known, are not the only peril lying in wait.

As the fortress world of Reach and its brave defenders were bombarded to rubble, a single cruiser fled the carnage with the battle's only human survivors--Captain Keyes, his crew of a few hundred Marines, and the last remaining SPARTAN super-soldier, the Master Chief.

With the cruiser's artificial intelligence, Cortana, concealed in his battle armor, the Master Chief crash lands on Halo in the midst of a massive Covenant occupation. Curiously, the alien soldiers appear to be searching for something hidden on the ring. Built by a long-dead race, Halo harbors many deadly secrets, but one overshadows them all. Now the Master Chief must lead the scattered troops in a brutal race to unravel Halo's darkest mystery--and unleash its greatest source of power....

This novel is based on a Mature-rated video game.

The times and species have been changing at a rapid rate, and the social compact is wearing as thin as environmental stability. Adam One, the kindly leader of the God's Gardeners--a religion devoted to the melding of science and religion, as well as the preservation of all plant and animal life--has long predicted a natural disaster that will alter Earth as we know it. Now it has occurred, obliterating most human life. Two women have survived: Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, a God's Gardener barricaded inside a luxurious spa where many of the treatments are edible.

Have others survived? Ren's bioartist friend Amanda? Zeb, her eco-fighter stepfather? Her onetime lover, Jimmy? Or the murderous Painballers, survivors of the mutual-elimination Painball prison? Not to mention the shadowy, corrupt policing force of the ruling powers...

Meanwhile, gene-spliced life forms are proliferating: the lion/lamb blends, the Mo'hair sheep with human hair, the pigs with human brain tissue. As Adam One and his intrepid hemp-clad band make their way through this strange new world, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move. They can't stay locked away...

Table of Contents:

• Flood Tide - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• The Testing - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Flood Tide (Reprised) (#1) - short fiction by C. J. Cherryh
• The Testing (Reprised) (#1) - short fiction by Nancy Asire
• Flood Tide (Reprised) (#2) - short fiction by C. J. Cherryh
• The Testing (Reprised) (#2) - short fiction by Nancy Asire
• Don't Look Back - novelette by Mercedes Lackey
• Flood Tide (Reprised) (#3) - short fiction by C. J. Cherryh
• The Testing (Reprised) (#3) - short fiction by Nancy Asire
• Walking on the Waves - novelette by Leslie Fish
• Where's the Fire - short story by Roberta Rogow
• Wheels within Wheels - short story by Bradley H. Sinor
• Marriage - novelette by Lynn Abbey
• With Friends Like These - short story by Mercedes Lackey
• Flood Tide (Reprised) (#4) - short fiction by C. J. Cherryh
• Rapproachment - novella by Janet Morris and Chris Morris
• Flood Tide (Reprised) (#5) - short fiction by C. J. Cherryh
• Appendix: Merovingian Folklore 102 - essay by Mercedes Lackey
• Appendix: Merovingian Songs - essay by Mercedes Lackey

The Moomins and the Great Flood is the first book about the Moomins, originally published in 1945. It's the story about Moominmamma and Moomintroll's search for the missing Moominpappa and how they found their way to the Moominvalley.

While exploring a group of devastated class-M planets in a remote sector of space, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise is shocked to discover a group of human slaves on a forbidding, glacial world. When the slaves revolt against their human overseers, Captain Picard and his crew sympathize with the slaves plight but cannot interfere in the conflict. After the revolt is a success, Captain Picard learns that both the slaves and the overseers were controlled by a mysterious bird-like race called the Tseetsk, who are coming to reclaim their property. With the time running out, the rebels kidnap Captain Picard and Counsellor Troi -- drawing the U.S.S. Enterprise into the middle of their deadly plan of vengeance.

The Loop is closed. Life is returning to normal when the pastoral countryside is suddenly flooded by dark water from the huge abandoned underground facility. Rumors spread in classrooms and schoolyards, stories about the flood and how it has brought something with it. One thing is clear: the past is not ready to be forgotten.

In his new artbook Things From The Flood, Stålenhag continues the stories of Tales From The Loop. The story of memories of a Nordic childhood infused with strange machines and weird creatures from other dimensions moves from the 80s into the 90s, the decade of great change when the outside world truly came to Scandinavia. These are tales of the trials of youth, of schoolyard hazings, of first kisses, of finding yourself - and robots.