Search Worlds Without End

This short story originally appeared in Nature, March 3, 2005. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 11 (2006), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Read the full story for free at Nature.

Enter into the world of the future where human potential is fulfilled to hitherto unexpected and unexplored dimensions.

Here are nine fantastic stories that run the gamut of ultimate imagination: A young woman whose mental condition makes her think the world is all wonderful; a time when space travelers from Earth are all female and cloned; the decision to destroy Ana; a fairy tale of tomorrow, of the Sidhe, beyond death under the waters of the lake.

Also included are marvelous tales of the dynamic directions that "thought experiments" have taken; the discovery of a new home for the human race--after the holocaust, a time when electronic secrets must be traded for food; the search for the beginning of the world; and a society where test-tube babies have three mothers who can be female or male.

Contributors include Raccoona Sheldon, James Tiptree, Jr., Dave Skal, Mildred Downey Broxon, Ursule K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ, P. J. Plauger, Craig Strete, and Marge Piercy.

Table of Contents:

• Feminism and Science Fiction: Beyond BEMs and Boobs - essay by Susan Janice Anderson
• Your Faces, O My Sisters! Your Faces Filled of Light! - short story by Raccoona Sheldon
• Houston, Houston, Do You Read? - novella by James Tiptree, Jr.
• The Mothers, the Mothers, How Eerily It Sounds - short story by David J. Skal
• The Antrim Hills - novelette by Mildred Downey Broxon
• Is Gender Necessary? - essay by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Corruption - short story by Joanna Russ
• Here Be Dragons - short story by P. J. Plauger
• Why Has the Virgin Mary Never Entered the Wigwam of Standing Bear? - short story by Craig Strete
• Woman on the Edge of Time - novelette by Marge Piercy
• Other Works of Interest - essay
• About the Authors - essay

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology 2076: The American Tricentennial (1977), edited by Edward Bryant and Jo Ann Harper. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year #7 (1978), edited by Terry Carr, and Nebula Winners Thirteen (1980), edited by Samuel R. Delany. It is included in the collection Fireflood and Other Stories (1979).

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

Tiptree- and Nebula-nominated Novelette

How will people deal with the immense distances and times of interstellar space?

Originally published at SciFiction.com, this story was later anthologized in Gardner Dozois's The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection (2006) and Jonathan Strahan's Science Fiction: The Very Best of 2005 (2006). It has a companion story, "Little Sisters."

Read the full story for free at Strange Horizons.

Evolution. Reproduction. Power. War.

A companion piece to Nebula-nominated "Little Faces."

This short story originally appeared as a digital chapbook. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton, and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Ten (2016), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

From the ocean's emerald depths, where whales and adapting humans live in harmony ... to the rigors of inter-dimensional travel, the universe is order and laws; the universe is hierarchies, evolution, and space...Now a young pilot with a new bionic heart, a man from a plague-ravaged world, and a beautiful diver from the sea are about to discover that their destinies--and their souls--are entwined. A voyage to a distant planet, a message in a crystal, an accident, and a love affair have suddenly cracked open the known order of the Universe. Two women and a man are caught up in a mystery, and now they are changing every world they travel in, and every life they touch!

Centuries had passed since the Final War devastated Earth & turned its surface into an intolerable radioactive desert. To survive at all, the only place to live was Center--a huge city built of rock & steel in a vast undergroud cavern.

Misha is a mutant who has extraordinary telepathic powers which forever linked her to the mental calls of her family. When the pseudosibs landed and took over most of the ruling power, Mischa saw her chance to escape the tyranny of her relatives. To survive, Mischa had chosen a life of crime....

In seventeenth-century France, Louis XIV rules with flamboyant ambition. In his domain, wealth and beauty take all; frivolity begets cruelty; science and alchemy collide. From the Hall of Mirrors to the vermin-infested attics of the Chateau at Versailles, courtiers compete to please the king, sacrificing fortune, principles, and even the sacred bond between brother and sister.

By the fiftieth year of his reign, Louis XIV has made France the most powerful state in the western world. Yet the Sun King's appetite for glory knows no bounds. In a bold stroke, he sends his natural philosopher on an expedition to seek the source of immortality -- the rare, perhaps mythical, sea monsters. For the glory, of his God, his country, and his king, Father Yves de la Croix returns with his treasures: one heavy shroud packed in ice...and a covered basin that imprisons a shrieking creature.

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, October 1983. There are no other known publications available at this time.

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in the anthology The Alien Condition (1973), edited by Stephen Goldin. It can also be found in the collection Fireflood and Other Stories (1979).

Presented by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America(r), the Nebula Awards honor the extraordinary work of those authors whose stories offer fresh perspectives on the genre. Featuring the year's best, the Nebula Awards Showcase is an annual tradition bringing readers the finest science fiction from today's most respected authors.

This year's winners include New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, Richard Chwedyk, Carol Emshwiller, and Ted Chiang.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: The Heart of the Nebula (Nebula Awards Showcase 2004) - essay by Vonda N. McIntyre
• Bronte's Egg - (2002) - novella by Richard Chwedyk
• Hell Is the Absence of God - (2001) - novelette by Ted Chiang
• Remembering Damon Knight: Damon Knight - essay by Frederik Pohl
• Remembering Damon Knight: Damon - essay by Carol Emshwiller
• Remembering Damon Knight: I Remember Damon - essay by James E. Gunn
• Remembering Damon Knight: Damon Knight the Teacher - essay by Robin Scott Wilson
• Remembering Damon Knight: Oh You Kid! A Personal View of Damon Knight - essay by Edward Bryant
• Remembering Damon Knight: Curious Damon Knight - essay by Eileen Gunn
• Remembering Damon Knight: Sensei Wonder - essay by Leslie What
• American Gods (excerpt) - (2001) - shortfiction by Neil Gaiman
• Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's - (2001) - novella by Adam-Troy Castro
• A Few Things I Know about Ursula - (2004) - essay by Molly Gloss
• Changing Planes (excerpt) - (2003) - shortfiction by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City - (2001) - shortstory by Jack McDevitt
• Cut - (2001) - shortstory by Megan Lindholm
• The Dog Said Bow-Wow - (2001) - shortstory by Michael Swanwick
• Appreciating Katherine MacLean - essay by Sharon Lee
• Games - (1953) - shortstory by Katherine MacLean
• Lobsters - (2001) - novelette by Charles Stross
• Creature - (2001) - shortstory by Carol Emshwiller
• 2003 Final Nebula Ballot - essay by uncredited
• Past Nebula Awards Winners - essay by uncredited

This is the haunting story of an extraordinary woman and her dangerous quest to reclaim her healing powers. Revered healer Snake must undertake a journey in search of the dreamsnake, whose bite eases the fear and pain of death.

Nebula Award winning and Hugo Award nominateed novelette.

In a post-apocalyptic world, the young healer Snake ventures into unknown lands during her proving year. Her genetically engineered rattlesnake and cobra provide vaccines and medicines, while the rare alien dreamsnake eases pain and suffering.

The story is the first chapter in the novel Dreamsnake (1978).

It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, October 1973. It has been reprinted many times since. The story can be found in the anthologies:

• The Best Science Fiction of the Year #3 (1974), edited by Terry Carr
• Nebula Award Stories Nine (1974), edited by Kate Wilhelm
• Women of Wonder (1975), edited by Pamela Sargent
• The Best of Analog (1978), edited by Ben Bova
• The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction (1980), edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg
• The Road to Science Fiction 4: From Here to Forever (1982), edited by James Gunn
• The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV (1986), edited by Terry Carr
• The Best of the Nebulas (1989), edited by Ben Bova
• Women of Wonder: The Classic Years (1995), edited by Pamela Sargent
• A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001), edited by Connie Willis and Sheila Williams

The story can also be found in the collection Fireflood and Other Stories (1979).

Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise face off against the genetically-engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh, a character who first appeared in the 1967 Star Trek television series episode "Space Seed".

When Khan escapes from a 15-year exile to exact revenge on Kirk, the crew of the Enterprise must stop him from acquiring the powerful Genesis terraforming device and turning it into a horrifying weapon. But the price they must pay to prevent galaxy-wide destruction by Khan might be more than they can bear...

As the crew of the starship USS Enterprise grieves for Mr. Spock, the awesome Genesis Device, now controlled by the Federation, has transformed an inert nebula into a new planet teeming with life. But Genisis can also destroy existing worlds.

The creators of the Device want it given freely to the Galaxy. But Starfleet Command fears that it will become a force for evil. And the enemies of the Federation will not rest until they seize it - as their most powerful weapon, in the battle to conquer the Galaxy.

To save Earth from destruction Kirk's crew must rescue a part of the past.

Their ship destroyed and their captain facing charges that could end his career, the men and woman of the starship USS Enterprise head home - to a planet Earth on the verge of extinction. An alien space probe has begun to destroy the atmosphere and threaten all forms of life. But somewhere in the 20th century is the key to the probe's deadly fury. Kirk and his crew must make a desperate journey into the past - to save the only hope of the future.

The universe has less than a century left... unless Spock can change history.

The Enterprise is summoned to transport a dangerous criminal from starbase prison to a rehabilitation center: brilliant physicist, Dr. Georges Mordreaux, accused of promising to send people back in time - then killing them instead. But when Mordreaux escapes, bursts onto the bridge and kills Captain Kirk, Spock must journey back in time to avert disaster - before it occurs.

Now there's more at stake than just Kirk's life. Mordreaux's experiments have thrown the entire universe into a deadly time warp. Spock is fighting time... and the universe is closing in on itself with the relentless squeeze of the Entropy Effect.

James T. Kirk is the youngest man to be promoted to the rank of captain in Federation history. He was an Iowa farm boy and a war hero, promoted to the command of the Federation's most powerful starship.

His crew consists of a first officer who finds him impetuous; a chief engineer who finds him arrogant; a chief medical officer who finds him trifling; and a helmsman who wants a transfer. His first mission: to shuttle a troop of vaudevillians to a distant starbase.

But a comedy of errors turns to deadly drama when a renegade Klingon tries to provoke a war with the Federation, and a wondrous, peaceful world is caught in between. Suddenly Captain Kirk is playing a part he never learned in school: fighting for the respect - and the survival - of his crew, on a mission that could turn out to be his last. And the young crew, which would later become the legendary space explorers, quickly puts aside their differences when the monstrous starship appears on their nascent flight path.

Jugglers, flying horses, and the threat of war - here is the untold story of James T. Kirk's first mission as the commander of the Enterprise!

Princess Leia's children have been kidnapped!

Along with Chewbacca and Artoo-Detoo, she follows the kidnappers' trail to a disabled refugee ship, from which children are also missing. Here she learns of a powerful Imperial officer with a twisted plan to restore the Empire. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are cut off from Leia by the death of a nearby star, which has caused a disruption in the Force. They have gone to the planet Crseih to investigate a report of a lost group of Jedi. Instead they find a charismatic alien named Waru whose miraculous healing powers have attracted a fanatic following. As Leia follows the path of her children across space, Luke and Han draw closer to the truth behind Waru's sinister cult. Together they will face an explosive showdown that will decide the survival of the New Republic... and the universe itself!

In the first in the Starfarers series of novels, the commander of the Starfarer spacecraft, scientist Victoria MacKenzie, must battle her own commanders on Earth to keep on her mission to find extraterrestrial life.

The second novel in the Starfarers series continues the adventures of the crew of the Starfarer spacecraft as they search for alien civilizations while coping with a hidden saboteur.

The third installment in the Starfarers series finds J. D. Sauvage and the crew preparing to meet the reclusive alien ""squidmoth,"" who presents them with a dubious offer for which they must risk everything.

In the final volume in the Starfarers series, the crew of the Starfarer must decide, on the behalf of Earth, whether to join the interstellar Civilization of the aliens or risk being stranded in space.

Screwtop:

In an alien prison, friends are the only chance you have to survive!

The Girl Who Was Plugged In:

The story takes place in the future, where almost everything is controlled by corporate interests, who control consumers through the celebrities they set up, and product placement. The protagonist, seventeen-year-old Philadelphia Burke is enlisted to become one of these celebrities. A suicide attempt lands her in a hospital where she comes to the attention of corporate scouts and is chosen to become a "Remote". A series of modifications and electronic implants allow her to use a sophisticated computer to control another body by remote control; a physically perfect fifteen-year-old girl. It is controlled through a satellite link by P. Burke's brain, which is still physically located in her original body.