Nancy Kress

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 writers of the year as selected by Writers of the Future Contest judges accompanied by three more from L. Ron Hubbard, Nancy Kress, S.M. Stirling. Each story has a full-color illustration. Plus Bonus Art and Writing Tips from Gregory Benford, Bob Eggleton, L. Ron Hubbard, Dean Wesley Smith ?When her owner goes missing, a digital housecat must become more than simulation to find her dearest companion through the virtual world. The Edge of Where My Light Is Cast? by Sky McKinnon, art by Carina Zhang No one came to his brother's funeral. Not even the spirits. tienne knew it was his fault. Son, Spirit, Snake? by Jack Nash, art by Pedro N. Man overboard is a nightmare scenario for any sailor, but Lieutenant Susan Guidry is also running out of air?and the nearest help is light years away. Nonzero? by Tom Vandermolen, art by Jennifer Mellen Mac wanted to invent a cocktail to burn itself upon the pages of history?but this one had some unexpected side effects. The Last Drop? by L. Ron Hubbard and L. Sprague de Camp, art by Chris Arias Dementia has landed Dan Kennedy in Graydon Manor, and what's left of his life ahead seems dismal, but a pair of impossible visitors bring unexpected hope. The Imagalisk? by Galen Westlake, art by Arthur Haywood When a teenage swamp witch fears her mama will be killed, she utilizes her wits and the magic of the bayou?no matter the cost to her own soul. Life and Death and Love in the Bayou? by Stephannie Tallent, art by Ashley Cassaday Our exodus family awoke on the new world?a paradise inexplicably teeming with Earth life, the Promise fulfilled. But 154 of us are missing. Five Days Until Sunset? by Lance Robinson, art by Steve Bentley Spirits were supposed to lurk beneath the Lake of Death, hungry and patient and hostile to all life. Shaman Dreams? by S.M. Stirling, art by Dan dos Santos A new app lets users see through the eyes of any human in history, but it's not long before the secrets of the past catch up with the present. The Wall Isn't a Circle? by Rosalyn Robilliard, art by Guelly Rivera In the shadows of Teddy Roosevelt's wendigo hunt, a Native American boy resolves to turn the tables on his captors, setting his sights on the ultimate prey?America's Great Chief. Da-ko-ta? by Amir Agoora, art by Connor Chamberlain When squids from outer space take over, a punk-rock P.I. must crawl out of her own miserable existence to find her client's daughter?and maybe a way out. Squiddy? by John Eric Schleicher, art by Tyler Vail Another outbreak? This time it's a virus with an eighty percent infection rate that affects personality changes ? permanently. Halo? by Nancy Kress, art by Lucas Durham Planet K2-18b is almost dead, humanity is enslaved, and it's Rickard's fault. Now in his twilight years, he?d give an arm and a leg for redemption. Literally. Ashes to Ashes, Blood to Carbonfiber? by James Davies, art by May Zheng What if magic could undo the unthinkable, and undo Death itself? Would you use it no matter the cost? What would you sacrifice for love Summer of Thirty Years? by Lisa Silverthorne, art by Gigi Hooper Joe is a prospector tasked with exploring the cosmos on behalf of an all-powerful government. Breadna is a toaster. There have been weirder love stories, but that's unlikely. Butter Side Down? by Kal M, art by Selena Meraki 24 Award-winning Authors and Illustrators 16-page color gallery of artwork

Lightspeed (www.lightspeedmagazine.com) is the critically-acclaimed, online science fiction magazine edited by bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams. Lightspeed publishes all types of science fiction, from near-future, sociological soft sf, to far-future, star-spanning hard sf, and anything and everything in between. Each month, Lightspeed features a mix of originals and reprints, from a variety of authors — from the bestsellers and award-winners you already know to the best new voices you haven't heard of yet. Now, in Lightspeed: Year One, you will find all of the fiction published in Lightspeed's first year, from new stories such as Nebula Award finalists, Vylar Kaftan's "I'm Alive, I Love You, I'll See You in Reno" and "Arvies" by Adam-Troy Castro, and Carrie Vaughn's Hugo Award-nominee "Amaryllis," to classic reprints by Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, and more.

Observer, by Robert Lanza and Nancy Kress is a slick, modern, hard science fiction standalone medical thriller, combining classic Robin Cook with the hard edge of Black Mirror and Altered Carbon. After neurosurgeon Caro Soames-Watkins's 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's 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.

Unrivaled: Four Groundbreaking Hugo & Nebula Winning Stories includes four of the most outstanding and most acclaimed novellas in science fiction, penned by Joe Haldeman, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mike Resnick, and Nancy Kress. Each novella has stood the test of time and completed the extremely difficult task of winning both the Nebula and the Hugo. Only stories of the highest caliber 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 members, 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 exclusively by SFWA member.) 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 a real-life incident when Hemingway's first wife Hadley lost a suitcase containing 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 humanity's rise and fall in its birthplace of Olduvai Gorge. Seven recounted stories based on artifacts found tell the tale of how humans rose and how they fell and leave the aliens with an uneasy feeling about what the future may hold.

Unrivaled: Four Groundbreaking Hugo & Nebula Winning Stories includes four of the most outstanding and most acclaimed novellas in science fiction, penned by Joe Haldeman, Lois McMaster Bujold, Mike Resnick, and Nancy Kress. Each novella has stood the test of time and completed the extremely difficult task of winning both the Nebula and the Hugo. Only stories of the highest caliber 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 members, 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 exclusively by SFWA member.) 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 a real-life incident when Hemingway's first wife Hadley lost a suitcase containing 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 humanity's rise and fall in its birthplace of Olduvai Gorge. Seven recounted stories based on artifacts found tell the tale of how humans rose and how they fell and leave the aliens with an uneasy feeling about what the future may hold.

"A startling, fascinating novel." - Kim Stanley Robinson, New York Times bestselling author If we can alter the structure of reality, should we? In Observer, scientist Robert Lanza, one of Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People," is joined by Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author Nancy Kress to confront the space between biology and consciousness. Dr. Caroline Soames-Watkins's star has been on the rise. But when she accuses a superior of sexual misconduct, the Twitterstorm that follows upends her career. With few professional options and an impoverished sister with a disabled child to support, Caro is willing to consider a mysterious proposal from her great-uncle, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Samuel Watkins. Sam Watkins has invested untold sums of money to build a medical facility in the Caribbean. But he is very sick and in urgent need of a surgeon to perform a unique procedure developed at his island compound. The procedure isn't for the cancer surely killing him. It is to offer new life of a truer kind. Helped in his mission by the eminent physicist George Weigert and the young, charismatic tech entrepreneur Julian Dey, Sam has gone far beyond curing the body to develop a technology that could solve the riddle of mortality for the soul. Though wary of the project's secret aims, Caro signs on for the chance to secure a future for her sister and herself. What she encounters is something so much more profound than she ever could have anticipated. It will put her on the precipice of a humanity-altering discovery. It will lead her to a level of interpersonal connection that she thought was only for others. And it will throw her into a kind of danger she never imagined. Joining a fascinating and relatable cast of characters with a mind-expanding journey to the very edges of science, Observer will thrill you, inspire you, and lead you to think about life and the power of the imagination in startling new ways.

An unabridged collection spotlighting the best hard science fiction stories and novellas published in 2021 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster.- "Light Up the Clouds" by Greg Egan - Inhabitants in the floating forests of a gas giant that orbits a dwarf star launch a glider on an orbital trajectory to investigate unnatural asteroid-like objects that threaten their survival.- "Striding the Blast" by Gregory Feeley - As a form of punishment, a thief is forced by posthumans to race on a set of wings across a cloud-covered Mercury.- "Little Animals" by Nancy Kress - Using entangled quantum effects, a researcher goes back in time and unexpectedly becomes immersed in the life of the daughter of Antonj van Leeuwenhoek.- "Flowers Like Needles" by Derek K nsken - A metallic crablike creature living on a planet orbiting a pulsar confronts other warriors in its quest for wisdom.- "The Planetbreaker's Son" by Nick Mamatas - Interstellar posthuman emigrants, on a starship the size of a football stadium, grapple with vessel maintenance and family preservation while destroying worlds.- "Paley's Watch" by Anil Menon - Fishermen find a peculiar artifact in the Gulf of Alaska that is older than Earth and models the structure of the universe.- "The Metric" by David Moles - A billion-year-old ship delivers a message to a far-future Earth that could mean the destruction of space and time.- "A o Nuevo" by Ray Nayler - Listless aliens, resembling oversized plastic garbage bags, suddenly disappear thirty years after arriving on a California beachfront.- "Vaccine Season" by Hannu Rajaniemi - A boy ventures out to an island to inoculate his secluded grandfather with a transmissible vaccine in a post-pandemic.- "Submergence" by Arula Ratnakar - An investigator uncovers the exploitation of an unusual marine sponge while optogenetically accessing the memories of a scientist who died unexpectedly.- "Aptitude" by Cooper Shrivastava- A woman from a slowly dying universe finds herself having to take a rigorous standardized exam after cheating her way into the selection process to become a universe builder.- "The Egg Collectors" by Lavie Tidhar - Two wild ballooners, forced to land during an ice storm, discover humming black eggs melting into the ice of Titan's Ligeia Mare.

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.

SEEK BEYOND THE ELEVENTH GATE No one wants the city-states of the Eight Worlds to repeat the Terran Collapse by going to war. But when war accidentally breaks out, everyone seeks ways to exploit it for gain. The Landry and Peregoy ruling dynasties see opportunities to grab territory, increase profits, and settle old scores. The downtrodden underclasses use war to fuel rebellion. And suddenly ambitious heirs across the Eight Worlds can finally topple their elders’ regimes—or try to. The key to victory and peace lies with two unlikely allies: Philip Anderson, a philosopher who seeks only the transcendent meaning of universal physics; and Tara Landry, the spoiled and defiant youngest granddaughter of an ancient dynasty. First Tara accidentally discovers an eleventh star-jump gate. Next, Philip figures out how to use it. Now everything is about to change for the Eight Worlds—for through the gate lies a planet of danger and mystery. Will what lies beyond lead to the ultimate collapse of civilization or to a new transcendent order? The answer lies somewhere behind the Eleventh Gate! About The Eleventh Gate: "Warring families and philosophies drive this complex science fiction thriller from Hugo and Nebula award–winner Kress (Sea Change.) . . .This swift, political story proves a rip-roaring diversion."—Publishers Weekly About Nancy Kress: "Nancy Kress at her very best . . . A first-contact novel like no other."—Greg Bear on Tomorrow's Kin "It's a rare and desirable hybrid: a literary, military, hard-SF novel."—Amazon.com on Probability Moon “Nancy Kress is one of the best science-fiction writers working today."—Kim Stanley Robinson

A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy ISSUE 48: January 2021Lezli Robyn, EditorMartin Shoemaker, Assistant EditorTaylor Morris, CopyeditorShahid Mahmud, PublisherStories by Kai Wolden, Michael Swanwick, Elise Stephens. Sean Patrick Hazlett, Nancy Kress, Dantzel CherrySerialization: Over the Wine Dark Sea by Harry TurtledoveColumns by: Gregory Benford, L. PenelopeRecommended Books: Richard ChwedykGalaxy's Edge is a bi-monthly magazine published by Phoenix Pick, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Arc Manor, an award winning independent press based in Maryland. Each issue of the magazine has a mix of new and old stories, a serialization of a novel, columns by L. Penelope and Gregory Benford, and book recommendations by Richard Chwydyk.

There is no light without dark; no highlights without shadows; no good without evil. The Devil is where things happen. Where stories begin. This collection brings together stories from multiple cultures, featuring the Devil both as an abstract concept and a creature, a terror, a force of nature, an enemy, a trickster, and so many more.Step into the world of shadows, and travel through Devil's many incarnations spanning centuries of history and myth, from the Ancient Greece, African and Caribbean folklore, dark ages in Europe, all the way to the present day.This anthology features new and established authors from diverse, multicultural backgrounds.

New from the Nebula Award winning author of Beggars in Spain, a riveting climate-change technothriller of espionage, conspiracy, and stakes so high they could lead to the destruction of humanity itself. "Kress wisely keeps her global catastrophe on a human scale, eschewing superheroic action for tense realism. This urgent, deeply satisfying story is as tenacious and inspiring as its heroine."--Publishers Weekly Operative Renata Black has an unusual problem: an ordinary self-driving house. But this particular house, which is causing a traffic snarl, also has the Org's teal paint on the windowsill. In 2022, GMOs were banned. A biopharmaceutical drug caused the Catastrophe: worldwide economic and agricultural collapse, and personal tragedy for lawyer Caroline Denton and her son. Ten years later, as Renata Black, she is a member of the Org, an underground group of scientists hunted by the feds. But the Org's illegal research might just hold the key to rebuilding the worlds' food supply. Now there's a mole in the Org, and Renata is the only one who can find out who it is. Will there be time to reveal the solutions that the world has not been willing to face?

WHAT LIES BEYOND THE ELEVENTH GATE . . . Despite economic and territorial tensions, no one wants the city-states of the Eight Worlds to repeat the Terran Collapse by going to war. But when war accidentally happens, everyone seeks ways to exploit it for gain. The Landry and Peregoy ruling dynasties see opportunities to grab territory, increase profits, and settle old scores. Exploited underclasses use war to fuel rebellion. Ambitious heirs can finally topple their elders’ regimes—or try to. But the unexpected key to either victory or peace lies with two persons uninterested in conquest, profits, or power. Philip Anderson seeks only the transcendent meaning of the physics underlying the universe. Tara Landry, spoiled and defiant youngest granddaughter of dynasty head Rachel Landry, accidentally discovers an eleventh star-jump gate, with a fabulous find on the planet behind it. Her discovery, and Philip’s use of it, alter everything for the Eight Worlds. About Nancy Kress: "Nancy Kress at her very best . . . A first-contact novel like no other."—Greg Bear on Tomorrow's Kin "It's a rare and desirable hybrid: a literary, military, hard-SF novel."—Amazon.com on Probability Moon “Nancy Kress is one of the best science-fiction writers working today."—Kim Stanley Robinson

A Magazine of Science Fiction and FantasyISSUE 41: November 2019Mike Resnick, Editor Taylor Morris, Copyeditor Shahid Mahmud, PublisherStories by: Nick DiChario, Eric S. Fomley, Nancy Kress, Kimberly Unger, Anthony George, Joe Haldeman, K.G. An-derson, George Nikolopoulos, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, Veronica Brush, Larry Hodges, Mercedes LackeySerialization: Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. ChalkerColumns by: Robert J. Sawyer, Gregory BenfordRecommended Books: Richard ChwydykInterview: Joy Ward interviews Rebecca MoestaGalaxy's Edge is a bi-monthly magazine published by Phoenix Pick, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Arc Manor, an award winning independent press based in Maryland. Each issue of the magazine has a mix of new and old stories, a serialization of a novel, columns by Robert J. Sawyer and Gregory Benford, book recommendations by Richard Chwydyk and an interview conducted by Joy Ward.

An unabridged collection spotlighting the "best of the best" hard science fiction stories published in 2017 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In "Shadows of Eternity," by Gregory Benford, a student investigates enigmatic SETI recordings from probes sent to nearby stars despite her teachers' admonishments to stick to the curriculum. An alien robot offers to help save Earth as war and pollution ravage the last of the survivors on the planet in "The Chatter of Monkeys," by Bond Elam. In "Acadie," by Dave Hutchinson, the first humans still, even after five hundred years, hunt across the stars for their augmented children who have left Earth in search of paradise. The crew of an exploratory starship finds an icy moon that might harbor life in "Canoe," by Nancy Kress. In "The Use of Things," by Ramez Naam, an astronaut struggles to survive after being jolted free from an asteroid while on a solitary prospecting mission. A problem with the local birds threatens the rebuilding of Bikini Island as sea-levels rise due to global warming in "The Proving Ground," by Alec Nevala-Lee. In "Holdfast," by Alastair Reynolds, a genmod human soldier faces off with an alien warrior in the inhospitable terrain of a superjovian planet. A Russian astronaut, gathering debris in near-Earth space, must make tough moral choices when asked to carry out a special mission in "Vanguard 2.0," by Carter Scholz. And finally, after a terrorist attack, a technically dead fish farmer gets a new body and second chance at life as an experimental super soldier, in "ZeroS," by Peter Watts.

A Magazine of Science Fiction and FantasyISSUE 33: July 2018Mike Resnick, Editor Taylor Morris, Copyeditor Shahid Mahmud, PublisherR.K. Nickel, Gerri Leen, Orson Scott Card, George Nikolopoulos, Rebecca Birch, Deborah L. Davitt, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Larry Hodges, Floris M. Kleijne, Robert Silverberg, D.A. Xiaolin Spires, Ralph Roberts, Nancy KressSerialization: Daughter of Elysium by Joan SlonczewskiColumns by: Robert J. Sawyer, Gregory BenfordRecommended Books: Bill Fawcett and Jody Lynn NyeInterview: Joy Ward interviews David DrakeGalaxy's Edge is a Hugo-nominated bi-monthly magazine published by Phoenix Pick, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Arc Manor, an award winning independent press based in Maryland. Each issue of the magazine has a mix of new and old stories, a serialization of a novel, columns by Robert J. Sawyer and Gregory Benford, book recommendations by Bill Fawcett and Jody Lynn Nye and an interview conducted by Joy Ward.