Carolyn Ives Gilman

"Reports of a strange, new habitable planet have reached the Twenty Planets of human civilization. When a team of scientists is assembled to investigate this world, exoethnologist Sara Callicot is recruited to keep an eye on an unstable crewmate. Thora was once a member of the interplanetary elite, but since her prophetic delusions helped mobilize a revolt on Orem, she's been banished to the farthest reaches of space, because of the risk that her very presence could revive unrest. Upon arrival, the team finds an extraordinary crystalline planet, laden with dark matter. Then a crew member is murdered and Thora mysteriously disappears"--

A Novel

Dark Orbit

Yoon Ha Lee

S. Qiouyi Lu

Melissa Marr

Charlie Jane Anders

Stephen Graham Jones

Usman T. Malik

Sarah Pinsker

Brian Evenson

K.M. Szpara

Lavie Tidhar

Maria Dahvana Headley

Rich Larson

Tamsyn Muir

Fran Wilde

Carrie Vaughn

Rachel Swirsky

C. L. Polk

Maureen F. McHugh

Naomi Kritzer

Katharine Duckett

Zin E. Rocklyn

G. V. Anderson

M. Rickert

Matthew Pridham

Gregory Norman Bossert

Claire Wrenwood

Jeremy Packert Burke

Justin C. Key

A collection of some of the best original science fiction and fantasy short fiction published on Tor.com in 2020. Includes stories by: Charlie Jane Anders G. V. Anderson Gregory Norman Bossert Jeremy Packert Burke Katharine Duckett Brian Evenson Carolyn Ives Gilman Maria Dahvana Headley Stephen Graham Jones Justin C. Key Naomi Kritzer Rich Larson Yoon Ha Lee S. Qiouyi Lu Usman T. Malik Melissa Marr Maureen McHugh Tamsyn Muir Sarah Pinsker C. L. Polk Matthew Pridham M. Rickert Zin E. Rocklyn Rachel Swirsky Lavie Tidhar Carrie Vaughn Fran Wilde Claire Wrenwood At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A Tor.com Original

Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2020 Edition

Exile's End is an complex, sometimes uncomfortable, examination of artifact repatriation and cultural appropriation. An artifact of indescribable and irreplicable beauty created by an "extinct" culture has been the basis of another culture's origin stories. The race who created the artifact has survived on a distant world and sends a representative to reclaim it, throwing everything into question. Inspired by the SF camp in Danzhai, China, which is co-hosted by the Future Administration Authority (FAA) and Wanda Group. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Exile's End

Touring With the Alien

"The Forsaken Isles are on the brink of revolution. Three individuals are about to push it over the edge and trigger events that will lead to a final showdown between ancient forces and the new overlords of the land. Spaeth Dobrin is destined to life as a ritual healer--but as the dhotamar of the tiny, isolated island of Yora, she will be caught in a perpetual bond between herself and the people she has cured. Is it slavery, or is it love? Meanwhile, Harg, the troubled and rebellious veteran, returns to find his home transformed by conquest. And Nathaway, the well-intentioned imperialist, arrives to teach Spaeth's people 'civilization, ' only to become an explorer in the strange realm of the Forsakens. These two men will propel Spaeth into a vortex of war, temptation, and--just possibly--freedom."--P. [4] of cover.

Isles of the Forsaken

"The best science fiction novel I've read in a long time"-St. Louis Post-Dispatch **** A Starflight Reader nominee for best book of the year **** Tedla is a 'bland, ' an asexual class of people that exist only to serve their fellow beings. **** Val is an expert on alien cultures but has never seen a bland before. They come together after Tedla is found light-years away from its home planet-alone, isolated and suicidal. Val's mission is to help Tedla recover. But the more she learns about the beautiful alien being, the more she discovers about the torment Tedla and its kind suffer on their planet. **** Little does the rest of the universe know of the hidden world of the blands, a world that hides shocking secrets and unspeakable crimes. **** Halfway Human is a mesmerizing look at an intricately created alien world which is strange and distant, yet hauntingly familiar. **** "Beauty, pain, wit, and wisdom all suffuse this powerful novel, as it uses imagined futures to reveal our own world in starkest clarity...and yes, with a whisper of hope." -Locus

Halfway Human

Set in the same universe as Arkfall (although a totally independent story), The Ice Owl tells a tale capturing that moment when we start to lose our childhood...when we start to realize that our parents and the "grown-ups" are just as flawed as we are...everyone struggling to deal with their own demons. *** It is also a story about past crimes and the haunting echo of ghosts long dead, of a life-long quest for redemption and, for some, the final revenge for crimes lost in the stellar dust...

Hugo and Nebula Award Nominated Novella

The Ice Owl

Nina Allan

Paul McAuley

Robert Reed

Samantha Henderson

Cat Rambo

Karl Bunker

Matthew Claxton

Gord Sellar

An unabridged collection spotlighting the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “The Art of Space Travel,” by Nina Allan, the staff of a hotel prepares for the crew of a one-way mission to Mars on the heels of earlier disasters. An artist and his wife search for fulfillment in a utopian world created by AIs in “They Have all One Breath” by Karl Bunker. In “Patience Lake,” by Matthew Claxton, an injured military cyborg helps defend a farm family that has helped him. In a top secret job, an all too conscious bus driver takes a non-cognizant alien and his human translator on a tour of the United States, in “Touring with the Alien” by Carolyn Ives Gilman. In “My Generations Shall Praise,” by Samantha Henderson, a woman on death row is persuaded to have her mind overwritten so that a wealthy relative can use her as a host body. People adapting to a melted Antarctica evolve new folklore, superstitions, and myths in “Elves of Antarctica” by Paul McAuley. In “Red in Tooth and Cog,” by Cat Rambo, a woman acquires a keen interest in the small domestic appliance AI ecosystem that evolves in a park after her phone is stolen. An ancient robot tells a human how it helped build the Great Ship, a planet-sized starship, from hyperfiber in “Parables of Infinity” by Robert Reed. In “Prodigal,” by Gord Sellar, an uplifted family dog questions the relationship between dogs and humans and then takes action. And finally, in a Bradburyesque tale, people go to Mars via cheap, one-person, one-way spacecrafts called jalopies in “Terminal” by Lavie Tidhar.

The Year's Top Ten Tales of Science Fiction 9

Carolyn Ives Gilman

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