From bestselling Nebula-Award winning William Ledbetter comes a groundbreaking collection of science fiction short stories that will bend your heart like a black hole. From AI to robot medics to life on Mars, Ledbetter takes real tech, blends it with hard science fact, and invents futures full of fantastic fiction. Includes 17 previously published stories and one original story.

The brutal Kilburnites finally destroyed all Artificial Intelligences on Earth and reclaimed the planet for humanity. Or did they? Less than a year later, huge structures are growing amid the ruins of the once-great cities, and they aren't being built by humans.Abby Gibson and her AI partner Mortimer, who barely survived the purge on Earth by escaping to space, are again forced to fight for their lives. This time, the enemy is something they don't understand from the cold vacuum of...

Fifteen years after warring artificial intelligences nearly destroyed Earth, Abby, the daughter of Killday hero Leah Gibson, finds an artifact from that struggle, upsetting a delicate balance of power and dragging her into the middle of a new fight for humanity's survival.One AI faction is working with humanity to repair a biosphere teetering on the edge of collapse, while another faction cares only about elevating itself to a higher plane of intelligence and will destroy anyone wh...

In the mountains of Pakistan, a high-tech mission aimed at preventing another nuke on US soil goes off the rails - with deadly results. At a Wall Street investment firm, a computer intelligence takes the first tentative steps to free itself from its digital restraints. In a basement workshop, an engineer sees visions of a god who instructs him to defend the human race - by any means necessary.

A DECADE OF SCIENCE FICTION EXCELLENCESince 2007, Baen Books and The National Space Society have sponsored The Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award, to honor the legacy of Jim Baen and to promote the ideals of forward-thinking, positive science fiction. Here gathered together for the first time are the best of the best of the first decade of the Jim Baen Memorial Award. Winners and runners-up whose stories dared imagine a bright future in which humankind has shaken off the shackles ...

The Texans are at it again!A man sent to stop the world's first zero-G birth. A deep space pilot who runs headlong into Einstein's theory of relativity. A synthetic human fighting for survival in a world that sees her as disposable. All these stories and more can be found in A LONE STAR IN THE SKY, the second anthology from the Future Classics speculative fiction writers' group of North Dallas. Featuring eighteen stunning stories of science fiction and fantasy, including works by N...

Hungry aliens. Futuristic shoppers. Veteran spacers. Medical androids. Killer teddy bears. Janitors with raptor DNA.And now, they're all in one place.Tales from a Lone Star is the first anthology from the Future Classics speculative fiction writers group of North Dallas. Featuring fourteen stories from members such as Nebula nominee Jake Kerr ("The Old Equations") and 2012 Writers of the Future winner William Ledbetter ("The Rings of Mars"), Tales from a Lone Star ranges fr...

Forever is a monthly science fiction magazine that features previously published stories you might have missed. Edited by the Hugo and World Fantasy Award winning editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, Neil Clarke. Our September 2025 issue features "Broken Wings" by William Ledbetter, "The Lichens" by Nina Allan, and "Company Man" by Shiv Ramdas. Cover art by Ron Guyatt.

Evaluating Current Approaches to LeadershipThis book offers a comprehensive evaluation of current approaches to leadership from a discerning Christian perspective. Combining expertise in leadership, theology, and ministry, the authors take a historical look at leadership and how it is viewed and used in today's context. The book is informed by both biblical and leadership studies scholarship and interacts with a number of popular marketplace writings on leadership....

The Winter 2015-16 issue of Ploughshares. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Two out of each year's three issues are guest-edited by prominent writers who explore different personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles, with the Winter issue staff-edited.The stories, poems, and essays that comprise this staff-edited issue of Ploughshares are diverse and timely. Visit a South African laundromat in Laurie Baker’s short story, Here I Am, Laughing with Boers;...

The multiple Locus Award-winning annual collection of the year's best science fiction stories.In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self-evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection, the very best SF authors explore ideas ...

In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection, the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world. This venerable collection brings together award-winning authors and masters of the fie...