Search Worlds Without End

Ten of the most fertile imaginations in science fiction and fantasy come together in one book to create new worlds, new universes, new times, new places, and new realities.

Master of alternate history Harry Turtledove tells a story of the future that casts a frightening light on the present. Award-winners Adam-Troy Castro and Janet Berliner provide two tales of very different kinds of magic. Old master Charles L. Harness is here, as are relative newcomers Aaron Rosenberg, Daniel Pearlman, and H. Courreges LeBlanc. Sarah Zettel looks at the future of computers, Nancy Jane Moore considers the future of gender roles, and bestselling author Craig Shaw Gardner visits a planet called Elvis.

Assembled by bestselling author/anthologist Keith R.A. DeCandido, this book will take you on a journey through ten writers' wildest imaginings....

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Novelette, Over Easy - (2003) - essay by Keith R. A. DeCandido
• Next Year in Jerusalem - (2003) - novelette by Harry Turtledove
• Amends - (2003) - novelette by H. Courreges LeBlanc
• Totem - (2003) - novelette by Janet Berliner
• The Thalatta Thesis - (2003) - novelette by Charles L. Harness
• A Planet Called Elvis - (2003) - novelette by Craig Shaw Gardner
• Great White Hope - novelette by Daniel Pearlman
• Insider - (2003) - novelette by Sarah Zettel
• Inescapable Justice - (2003) - novelette by Aaron Rosenberg
• Walking Contradiction - (2003) - novelette by Nancy Jane Moore
• Of a Sweet Slow Dance in the Wake of Temporary Dogs - (2003) - novelette by Adam-Troy Castro
• Biographies - (2003) - essay by uncredited

Assembled from magazine submissions, fanzines, and even "lost" manuscripts discovered amongst the author's personal papers. See why Fritz Leiber is a must-read for any fan of science fiction, fantasy, or horror. Suspense, surprise, wit, and weirdness--they are all here for old fans to welcome back and new readers to discover.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Imagine, If You Will... - essay by John Pelan
• Horrible Imaginings - (1982) - novella
• The Automatic Pistol - (1940) - shortstory
• Crazy Annaoj - (1968) - shortstory
• The Hound - (1942) - shortstory
• Alice and the Allergy - (1946) - shortstory
• Skinny's Wonderful - shortstory
• Answering Service - (1967) - shortstory
• Scream Wolf - (1961) - shortstory
• Mysterious Doings in the Metropolitan Museum - (1974) - shortstory
• When Brahma Wakes - (1968) - shortstory
• The Glove - (1975) - shortstory
• The Girl with the Hungry Eyes - (1949) - shortstory
• While Set Fled - (1961) - shortstory
• Diary in the Snow - (1947) - novelette
• The Ghost Light - (1984) - novelette

Nebula and World Fantasy Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology Death (1982) edited by Stuart David Schiff. It can also be found in the anthologies Baker's Dozen: 13 Short Horror Novels (1987), edited by Charles G. Waugh and Martin H. Greenberg, and The Century's Best Horror Fiction 1951-2000 (2012), edited by John Pelan. The story is included in the collections The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber (1990), Horrible Imaginings (2004) and Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (2010).

Collected here are the stories, poems, and religious writings that both preceded and helped form the sci-fi and fantasy genres. Topic chapters and represented authors include "Monsters and Human Transformation" (Dickens, Hawthorne, Rossetti); "Strange Societies and Utopias" (Swift, Burroughs); and "Alternate Histories and Parallel Worlds" (Bierce, Lovecraft, McCaffrey). This definitive collection of sci-fi and fantasy sources features period illustrations throughout showing how earlier generations imagined the future and contains stories by:

• Ambrose Bierce
• Ben Bova
• Ray Bradbury
• Edgar Rice Burroughs
• Orson Scott Card
• Arthur C. Clarke
• Stephen Crane
• Arthur Conan Doyle
• Harlan Ellison
• Rudyard Kipling
• Ursula K. LeGuin
• Jack London
• H.P. Lovecraft
• Anne McCaffrey
• Mary Shelley
• Robert Silverberg
• Jonathan Swift
• Jules Verne
• Oscar Wilde

A unique collection of eleven stories from Britain's foremost Mistress of the Fantastic; all are previously uncollected, two have never appeared in print before and five are previously unpublished and wholly original to this collection.

Table of Contents:

• In Praise of Happy Accidents: An Introduction - (2012) - essay by Ian Whates
• Clockatrice - (2009) - novelette
• Malicious Springs - (2003) - shortstory
• The Greyve - (2012) - shortstory
• The Heart of Ice - (2008) - shortstory
• Calinnen - (2008) - shortstory
• En Forêt Noire - (2005) - shortstory
• Fr'eulogy - (2012) - shortstory
• The God Orkrem - (2011) - shortstory
• In the Country of the Blind - (2012) - shortstory
• My Heart: A Stone - (2012) - shortstory
• Killing Her - (2012) - shortstory

Stephen Baxter is one of preeminent science fiction writers of the current age. This collection showcases his work at its best. Last and First Contacts features ten exceptional stories personally selected by the author, none of which have been collected before and one of which, "Erstkontakt", is brand new, having been written especially for this book. Also included is "Last Contact", which was shortlisted for the Hugo Award.

Table of Contents:

• In Praise of Associations: An Introduction - essay by Ian Whates
• Erstkontakt - short fiction
• In the Abyss of Time - (2006) - short story
• Halo Ghosts - (2000) - short story
• Tempest 43 - (2009) - novelette
• The Children of Time - (2005) - short story
• The Pacific Mystery - (2006) - short story
• No More Stories - (2007) - short story
• Dreamers' Lake - (2006) - short story
• The Long Road - (2006) - short story
• Last Contact - (2007) - short story
• Afterword - essay

The first ever collection from one of the UK's finest SF authors: Tony Ballantyne, who has been a finalist for the Philip K Dick award and whose short fiction has featured regularly in Years Best SF anthologies. The book features a quartet of brand new stories set on the world of Penrose (introduced in the novels Twisted Metal and Blood and Iron); these tales combine to provide Penrose's robot denizens with their very own creation myth. They are joined by five stories set in the Recursion universe, one of which is wholly original to the collection. Stories from the Northern Road: Tony Ballantyne at his very best.

Table of Contents:

• 3 - Stories from the Northern Road - interior artwork by Fangorn
• 9 - Introduction (Stories from the Northern Road) - (2012) - essay by Ian Whates
• 13 - A Note from the Author (Stories from the Northern Road) - (2012) - essay
• 15 - Four Blind Horses - [Penrose Universe] - (2012) - short fiction
• 31 - Janet Verdigris - [Penrose Universe] - (2012) - short fiction
• 49 - Isabel and the Outlandish Robots - [Penrose Universe] - (2012) - short fiction
• 67 - The Robot Behind Me - [Penrose Universe] - (2012) - short fiction
• 87 - LDA ADD STA JMP JIZ END - [Recursion] - (2012) - short fiction
• 107 - Restoring the Balance 1 - [Recursion] - (2012) - short fiction (variant of Restoring the Balance 2001)
• 125 - Restoring the Balance 2 - [Recursion] - (2012) - short fiction (variant of Restoring the Balance, 2 2001)
• 144 - Seeds - [Recursion] - (2009) - novelette
• 164 - The Sixth VNM - [Recursion] - (1998) - short story

Lisa Tuttle's stories examine the nuances of relationship and family dynamics. Her work has been commended by such contemporaries as Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, Kelley Armstrong, Robert Holdstock and Dean R. Koontz. She is a winner of both the John W Campbell Award (1974) and the 1989 BSFA Award for best short story. In 1982 she was also awarded a Nebula, which she refused on a point of principle. Drawing largely on her output over the past decade, Objects in Dreams is Lisa at her best; a stunning collection of tales that switch effortlessly between SF, dark fantasy, and horror.

Table of Contents:

• Dreams and Stories: An Introduction - essay
• Objects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear - (2011) - shortstory
• Old Mr. Boudreaux - (2007) - shortstory
• A Cold Dish - (2000) - shortfiction
• Ragged Claws - (2009) - shortstory
• In Translation - (1989) - shortfiction
• The Man in the Ditch - (2011) - shortstory
• Shelf-Life - (2011) - shortstory
• Paul's Mother - shortfiction
• Closet Dreams - (2007) - shortstory

Nina Allan's fiction has appeared regularly in magazines such as Interzone, Black Static and Albedo One and has featured in many anthologies including Gardner Dozois's Year's Best SF #28, Ellen Datlow's Best Horror of the Year #2, and Rich Horton's Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2012. She has been shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award twice, the BSFA Award three times, and was named the winner of Ireland's Aeon Award in 2007.

Microcosmos collects seven mini-masterpieces from one of most intelligent and interesting writers of genre fiction to emerge in recent years, including the BSFA Award shortlisted "Flying in the Face of God" and two brand new stories, "A.H." and "Higher Up", that are wholly original to this book.

"...does things with fiction, and the possibilities of fiction, that dazzle with their ambition." - Robert Shearman

"Beautifully written and paced and enigmatic, yet in an entirely lucid way." - Ian Watson

Table of Contents:

• Foreword - essay
• Microcosmos - (2009) - short story
• The Phoney War - (2010) - short story
• Chaconne - (2011) - novelette
• A. H. - (2013) - novelette
• Orinoco - (2010) - novelette
• Flying in the Face of God - (2010) - novelette
• Higher Up - (2013) - novelette

In Feast and Famine Adrian Tchaikovsky delivers an ambitious and varied collections of stories. Ranging from the deep space hard SF of the title story (originally in Solaris Rising 2) to the high fantasy of "The Sun in the Morning" (a Shadows of the Apt tale originally featured in Deathray magazine), from the Peter S Beagle influenced "The Roar of the Crowd" to the supernatural Holmes-esque intrigue of "The Dissipation Club" the author delivers a dazzling array of quality short stories that traverse genre. Ten stories in all, five of which appear here for the very first time.

Table of Contents:

• More Than Meets the Eye: An Introduction - essay by Ian Whates
• Feast and Famine - (2013) - novelette
• The Artificial Man - (1996) - short story
• The Roar of the Crowd - novelette
• Good Taste - (2012) - short story
• The Dissipation Club - (2011) - novelette
• Rapture - short story
• Care - short story
• 2144 and All That - short story
• The God-Shark - short story
• The Sun of the Morning - (2009) - novelette

Twember is Steve Rasnic Tem's first ever collection of science fiction stories, gathering together the very best of his SF from across a distinguished career, drawing on work from 1980 right through to the current day. With four stories that originally appeared in Asimov's and others from Interzone, Destinies, and elsewhere, Twember showcases Tem at his best. The book also features two brand new pieces written especially for this collection.

"Steve Rasnic Tem is a rare treasure, waiting to be discovered by many more of the world's most sophisticated and mature readers." - Dan Simmons, author of Hyperion

"...a near-perfect short story." - Scientifically Bookish (of A Letter for the Emperor)

"A heartbreaking story of the loving ties between family members, and of mortality, postponed yet never repealed. And of hope." - Lois Tilton, Locus Online (of Visitors)

Table of Contents:

• Twember: An Introduction - essay
• A Letter from the Emperor - (2010) - short story
• Twember - (2012) - short story
• The Day Before the Day Before - (2009) - short story
• Pathetic Fallacy - (1993) - short story
• Forward - (1980) - short story
• Visitors - (2011) - short story
• Cubs - (2000) - short story
• Forty-three Thousand Sunsets - (2012) - short story
• Ephemera - (2011) - novelette
• At Play in the Fields - (2011) - short story
• The Long Afternoon of the Human Race - (2012) - short story

Eric Brown has been writing first rate science fiction for more than a quarter of a century, with over a hundred and twenty short stories, twenty-odd novels, several collections and no few novellas to his credit. Here are nine of those stories, never previously collected, plus a brand new piece written especially for this collection. Sit back, put your feet up, and immerse yourself in the rich worlds of Eric's imagination...

Table of Contents:

• 9 - Eric Brown: An Introduction - essay by Ian Whates
• 11 - Life Beyond... - (2005) - short story
• 25 - Steps Along the Way - (1999) - short story
• 35 - The Sins of Edward Veron - [Sapphire Oasis] - (2005) - short story
• 47 - Myths of the Martian Future - (2002) - short story
• 65 - The Scribe of Betelgeuse V - (2012) - short story
• 79 - The Rest Is Speculation - (2009) - short story
• 99 - The Tragic Affair of the Martian Ambassador - (2013) - short story
• 117 - Bukowski on Mars, with Beer - (2011) - short story
• 127 - People of Planet Earth - (2008) - short story
• 133 - P.O.O.C.H. - short story

Award winning author Adam Roberts is one of the smartest, most insightful and downright entertaining writers of short fiction around. This, his second collection, consists of ten short stories and a poem, all previously uncollected. They include two stories that have never appeared in print before and three that are completely original to this book. The collection opens with "What Did Tessimond Tell You", which was selected by both Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan for their Year's Best anthologies, and it builds from there.

"Roberts is not just a great sci-fi writer, he's a phenomenally interesting writer per se." The Scotsman

"Adam Roberts' strength is that he sees SF as both cerebral and playful..." Strange Horizons

Contents:

• Introduction
• What Did Tessimond Tell You?
• Mocputer
• Moon Poem
• Gerusalemme Liberace
• Anhedonia
• The Sixth Star
• Noose
• Trademark Bugs
• A Distillation of Grace
• Metametamorphosis
• Saint Rebor

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay
• The Fortunate Isles - short fiction
• Sugar Engines - short fiction
• Dali's Clocks - short fiction
• Sic Transit Gloria Mundi - short fiction
• All the News, All the Time, from Everywhere - (2003) - short story
• The Incredible Exploding Man - (2011) - short fiction

Liz Williams possesses the mind of a scientist and the soul of a pagan; her words paint the world in eldritch shades, revealing the familiar in subtly altered forms that make us question our own understanding. In 2010, NewCon Press released Liz's last short story collection, the critically acclaimed 'A Glass of Shadow', and we are now proud to release her next, 'The Light Warden', as part of the Imaginings series.

What the critics said of 'A Glass of Shadow':

"Williams' prose is filled with an understated elegance... This is speculative fiction at its finest: challenging, rich, and, like a good red wine, rewardingly complex." - Strange Horizons

"Williams' rich, colourful stories uniquely combine the usually disparate and mutually incompatible genres of science fiction and fantasy: she writes with equal facility about geographically far-flung settings, ages past, and distant futures." - The Guardian

"From the moment you open this collection, you leave the Known behind and enter the brighter, darker, more actual possibility that lies just through that door, over that hill..." - Tanith Lee

"Williams has mastered the art of writing clearly and believably about weird, alien worlds." - The Times

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (The Light Warden) - essay by Kari Sperring
• The Dragon of Direfell Hall - short fiction (variant of The Dragon of Direfell 2009)
• Tiger, Tiger - (2006) - short story
• Spiderhorse - (2008) - short fiction
• Stormbird - short fiction
• Cad Coddeu - (2012) - short fiction
• The Hide - (2007) - short story
• The Light Warden - short fiction
• Milk - (2010) - short fiction
• Seamoth - short fiction
• The Drove - short fiction
• Skinnrig - short fiction
• Lily Juice - short fiction
• Enigma - (2009) - short story
• The Winter King - short fiction
• Isambard's Kingdom - (2009) - short fiction

Table of Contents:

• Mementoes - (2013) - short fiction
• likeMe - (2010) - short story
• War 3.01 - (2012) - short story
• Sussed - (2010) - short story
• Rewrites - (2016) - short fiction
• Imago - (2011) - short fiction
• A Flicker in the Deep - short fiction
• A Decent Man - short fiction