To you, my prospective reader:Suppose humanoids from a relatively close part of our galaxy came to earth not as mentors or monsters but simply as trading partners. Earth could not compete with the economy of scale of their production and distribution networks, which would be supplied by raw materials from a wide variety of planets.Early in the 22nd century, half a century after the arrival of these aliens, our planet has become economically depressed, exporting raw material...

Sum is a stunning exploration of funny and unexpected afterlives that have never been considered- each presented as a vignette that offers a lens through which to see ourselves here and now. In one afterlife you may find that God is the size of a microbe and is unaware of your existence. In another, you work as a background character in other people's dreams. Or you may find that the afterlife contains only those people whom you remember. The stories in Sum are rooted in romance, science, ...

From quiet, elegiac, contemporary tales to far-future, deep-space sagas, the stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor Karen Joy Fowler for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 demonstrate the vast spectrum of what science fiction and fantasy aims to illuminate, displaying the full gamut of the human experience, interrogating our hopes and our fears—of not just what we can accomplish or destroy as a person, but what we can a...

**“Steeped in elements from real-life South Asian cultures, the worldbuilding is original and intriguing, incorporating dystopian and utopian elements along with current hot issues such as societal inequities, digital surveillance, and technology’s impact on humanity. . . . [A] strong and intricate story.” —Kirkus ReviewsThis 2022 Colorado Book Award Winner is a rare, searing portrayal of the future of climate change in South Asia. A streetrat turned revolutionary and the ...

A haunting exploration of memory, technology, and the power of human connection in a near-future world.Meet Us by the Roaring Sea, an New York Times Editors' Choice and finalist for the Lambda Award in Bisexual Fiction, follows a young woman as she grapples with her mother's death in the near future. Seeking solace, she immerses herself in translating an old manuscript about female medical students living through drought and war, creating a new way of exis...

Under the countless billions of stars in the universe, what forms will alien life take? How will they live? And what will happen when we meet them? Aliens: Recent Encounters collects answers to these questions from some of today's best science fiction writers. From first encounters to life alongside aliens—and stories of the aliens' own lives—here are many futures: violent and peaceful, star-spanning and personal. Only one thing is certain: alien life will defy our expectations.

Since 2006, Clarkesworld Magazine has been entertaining science fiction and fantasy fans with their brand of unique science fiction and fantasy stories. Collected here are all of the stories this Hugo Award-winning magazine published during their eighth year. Includes stories by Michael Swanwick, Yoon Ha Lee, Robert Reed, Susan Palwick, Sean Williams, N.K. Jemisin, James Patrick Kelly, E. Lily Yu, Ken Liu, Xia Jia, Seth Dickinson, Juliette Wade, Matthew Kressel, and many more!&nbs...

The world that these stories sprang from was the troubled, bewildering, dangerous, and very exciting world of those weird years when the barriers were down and the future was rushing into the present with the force of a river unleashed. But of course I think these stories speak to our times, too, and that most of them will remain valid as we go staggering onward through the brave new world of the twenty-first century. I am not one of those who believes that all is lost and the end is nigh....

“Til death do us part,” Aria and her husband swore. But death came much too soon.When tragedy strikes one summer night, everything is taken from Aria: her family, her future. Desperate to find meaning in life after loss, she and her beloved mare leave their home in search of something —anything. It feels like the end of her life. It is the beginning.If she can find her way through the forest of grief, she will discover an incredible adventure waiting on the other side. Hers...

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our December 2021 issue (#183) contains:Original fiction by Aimee Ogden ("The Cold Calculations"), Meghan Feldman ("Beneath the Earth Where the Nymphs Sleep"), David Goodman ("Vegvísir"), Rich Larson ("You Are Born Exploding"), Wang Yuan ("Other Stories"), E. N. Díaz ("Just One Step, and Then the Next"), and Amal ...

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our January 2023 issue (#196) contains:Original fiction by D.A. Xiaolin Spires ("Symbiosis"), Gregory Feeley ("The Fortunate Isles"), R.T. Ester ("Anais Gets a Turn"), Cao Baiyu ("Reverie"), Natasha King ("Sharp Undoing"), and Felix Rose Kawitzky ("Pearl").Non-fiction includes an article by Ashley Deng, intervie...

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction (new and classic works), articles, interviews and art.Our September 2017 issue (#132) contains:Original fiction by A. Brym ("Antarctic Birds"), Eric Schwitzgebel ("Little /^^^\&-"), Suzanne Palmer ("The Secret Life of Bots"), Jess Barber and Sara Saab ("Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics"), and Gu Shi ("Möbius Continuum").Repri...