Science Fiction

Our November issue features a dramatic cover by an old Analog favorite, Vincent Di Fate, for a two-part serial by G. David Nordley, To Climb a Flat Mountain. If you're marooned in an unfamiliar environment, obviously the first order of business is survival, which is even more of a challenge if, the more you learn about where you are, the less sense your surroundings make. The world Nordley has created here is one that shouldn't even exist, but he's done his usual admirable job of making it belie... more info>>

No room here to be clever about our fabulous October/November double issue, so let�s begin: Ted Kosmatka and Michael Poore contribute a literary tale of loss and personal redemption amidst the curious life cycle of an insect known as the "Blood Dauber"; Heather Lindsley, making her Asimov�s debut, tells of the troubles experienced by time-traveling wage-slaves who answer the eternal question of just "Where the Time Goes"; R. Garcia y Robertson returns to his Burroughs-inspired milieu for a j... more info>>

After the victorious defeat of an Imperial Assault fleet, former Ambassador Plenipotentiary Sten finds himself now a traitor and renegade to the Empire in the midst of a dangerous, galactic Civil War that threatens to put Sten at odds with the Eternal Emperor himself...

A surprise assault on an Exploration Corps starship by implacably hostile, xenophobic aliens leaves its one remaining longboat as the only option for warning the home worlds of the existence of the predators. Unfortunately, the starship met disaster while thousands of light years from Earth. Theoretically, that sort of voyage in a longboat is possible but has never been attempted. In order to return, the crew has to stop on numerous unknown planets to renew supplies and hydrogen fuel many, many ... more info>>

The "deeply scary"(BBC Focus) new novel from a national bestselling and critically acclaimed author. View our feature on Stephen Baxter's Flood.Four hostages are rescued from a group of religious extremists in Barcelona. After five years of being held captive together, they make a vow to always watch out for one another. But they never expected this--The world they have returned to has been transformed by water--and the water is rising. As it continues to flow from the earth's mantle, entire cou... more info>>

I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds. Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked. I'd been warned about Strays--werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared. This brush w... more info>>

Space opera at its finest and most action-filled, from the bestselling author of fantasy quests, epic tales and swashbuckling adventures. Vaun, born a peasant in the stinking mud flats of Ult, a thriving colony planet, claws his way to survival and fame by becoming the toughest young officer in the Space Patrol. A veteran of the brutal training academy, he seizes opportunities as they arise, leading the first ship out against a surprise attack by the mysterious Brotherhood. He returns to a hero'... more info>>

"The fourth novel in the Anthony Award-winning Southern Vampires series... "With the sure touch of a master" (Crescent Blues), Charlaine Harris delivers "the sort of vampire thrills that make Laurell Hamilton's Anita Blake novels so popular" (Locus). In Sookie Stackhouse-a Southern cocktail waitress with a supernatural gift-Harris has a created a heroine like few others, and a series that puts the bite back in vampire fiction. Now the hit series launches into hardcover for Sookie's biggest twist... more info>>

The New York Times bestselling author continues his "epic of survival and rebirth" (Library Journal), chronicling a modern world without technology. Rudi Mackenzie has journeyed far across the land that was once the United States of America, hoping to find the source of the world-altering event that has come to be known as The Change. His final destination is Nantucket, an island overrun with forest, inhabited by a mere two hundred people who claim to have been transported there from out of time... more info>>

Becca knows she's a monster.  No amount of philanthropy or repentance can change that fact.  Now in her seventies, she's seen it all and is ready to die.  Becca's survived the world's near extinction, and witnessed the planet transformed by cosmological catastrophe into an unfamiliar landscape and sky.  She's seen it all, but nothing prepared her for what was to come next.  As a result of an ill-conceived suicide attempt, Becca's life takes a major turn towards the bizarre.  She downs a chemical... more info>>

Princess Renie, one of the beautiful and strong daughters of Lyra, loves nothing more than exploring space with her twin brother, Rezic, but when they venture too close to the Black Zone, the barrier between Vegan space and the rest of the galaxy, things turn from exploration to a fight for their lives. With Rezic injured in a meteorite shower, Renie has no choice but to accept help from a vessel within the Black Zone, even when it turns out to be Vegan! Separated from her brother and taken host... more info>>

Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was a Hugo and Nebula nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical.Sheckley was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001. "The Girls and Nugent Miller" originally appeared in "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction," March 1960 issue.

The classic companion to the most essential science fiction anthology ever published. 46 original stories edited with introductions by Harlan Ellison. Featuring: John Heidenry--Ross Rocklynne--Ursula K. Le Guin--Andrew J. Offutt--Gene Wolfe--Ray Nelson--Ray Bradbury--Chad Oliver--Edward Bryant--Kate Wilhelm--James B. Hemesath--Joanna Russ--Kurt Vonnegut--T. L. Sherred--K. M. O'Donnell (Barry N. Malzberg)--H. H. Hollis--Bernard Wolfe--David Gerrold--Piers Anthony--Lee Hoffman--Gahan Wilson--Joan ... more info>>

Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was a Hugo and Nebula nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical. Sheckley was given the Author Emeritus honor by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2001. "Prospector's Special" originally appeared in "Galaxy" science fiction magazine, December 1959, under the editorship of H.L. Gold.

He is a tortured soul. Separated at an early age from two conflicting personalities, Alistair Crompton has hatched a daring scheme to reintegrate himself. Installed in different host bodies and dispatched to distant planets, the two other Alistairs have developed lives of their own: Loomis--as grossly self- indulgent and amoral as Alistair is moderate and prim. Stack--as vicious and impulsive as Alistair is meek and cautious. What happens when the original Alistair reengages himself first with L... more info>>

Hailed as a "landmark science fiction series" the Sten Series has thrilled millions of readers all over the world. Set three thousand years in the future, the eight Sten novels tell the tale of a tough, street-wise orphan who escapes his fate as factory planet "delinq" to become the strong right-hand of the most powerful man in the Universe--a man hailed by his billons of subjects as "The Eternal Emperor." This edition contains a brand-new "Forward" introduction to the series as well as a select... more info>>

When a laboratory technician on the verge of retirement accidentally infects himself with blood from an emergency room patient, he intends to report it--until government agents swarm the hospital, confiscating every sample of blood taken from the patient--at gunpoint. Deciding not to report the incident just yet for fear of being thrown into an isolation chamber, he goes home--and falls violently ill. By the time he recovers and returns to work, scary things are happening. Everyone who has come ... more info>>

Alexa is keeping a secret from her husband and being half werewolf isn't it. After all, he's a full-blood. Despite their abnormalities, Matt and Alexa York have settled into suburbia and gone out of their way to look like the couple next door. Their rouse may have fooled an entire community, however, others remain unconvinced. The Georgia Pack learns that the Yorks have encroached on their territory. Most strays who venture into their land end up dead because they draw attention to themselves. A... more info>>

I won't even try to describe the pain. I'll just say that it was unbearable even with anesthetics, and that I bore it because I didn't have any choice. Then it faded away and I opened my eyes and looked into the faces of the brahmins standing over me. There were three of them, dressed in the usual white operating gowns and white gauze masks. They say they wear those masks to keep germs out of us. But every soldier knows they wear them so we can't recognize them. Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was a... more info>>

With so much at stake, Charles Dennison should not have been careless. An inventor cannot afford carelessness, particularly when his invention is extremely valuable and obviously patentable. There are too many grasping hands ready to seize what belongs to someone else, too many men who feast upon the creativity of the innocent... Robert Sheckley (1928-2005) was a Hugo and Nebula nominated American author. First published in the science fiction magazines of the 1950s, his numerous quick-witted st... more info>>

In a future where humans engage in galactic commerce with a multitude of unscrupulous aliens, Earth's mega-corporations are held to strict alien laws, and relatives of corporate executives are often abducted as cruel alien revenge for the slightest business infraction. The only chance for a target to hide ... is to Disappear--erasure of all personal records, genetic alteration, and a new life with a new name in a new place. For an exorbitant fee under non-negotiable terms of employment, private ... more info>>

Rebeka's orders are to marry, then betray--but love gets in the way. For thirty years, Rebeka Spearman's people have been at war with the invading Earthmen who took over her planet and took possession of its wealth. Now her father, Alcin, devises a plan to end the conflict. Under a flag of truth, he offers Rebeka in marriage to Philip Hamilcar, the current Terran leader. Unknown to Philip, she and her android bodyguard have a hidden agenda: to kill him and destroy the invaders from within. What ... more info>>

Our October issue starts with a bang, with a Bob Eggleton cover for Michael F. Flynn's novella, "Where the Winds Are All Asleep," a unique and literally deep adventure story. You may think our world has been thoroughly explored, and indeed our knowledge of it has been growing by leaps and bounds. Can it still hold surprises? The answer may be right under your feet, and far bigger (and scarier) than you'd guess. The rest of our diverse grab bag of fiction comes from both old favorites (like Jerr... more info>>

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, one of this year's Readers' Award winners, returns with another big novella, this time set in a wholly new universe from her "Diving into the Wreck" series. In "Broken Windchimes," a talented human vocalist, culturally sequestered by his alien patrons, finds both hope and transcendence through the unknown pleasures of his own race's music. Lisa Goldstein, Nebula-nominee at time of writing, returns with a tale of a circus you can't quite run away to join in "Away from Her... more info>>

Alya has an almost magical talent. Her hunches are never wrong. The scientists of planet 4-I want to use her talent and promise her a spot on the next offworld colonization team in return for her assessment of the potential of the latest worlds they've discovered. But Alya meets Cedric, the grandson of the brilliant and tyrannical director of 4-I and she begins to doubt her own intuition. Cedric has dreamed of becoming a scout and exploring new worlds and when he meets Alya he is more determined... more info>>