Unique visions and astonishments—new stories by:

Tobias S. Buckell and Karl Schroeder
Cory Doctorow
Neil Gaiman
Kathleen Ann Goonan
Alastair Reynolds
Michael Swanwick

Last year's best short-form SF—selected by acclaimed, award-winning editors and anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer—offers stunning new extrapolations on what awaits humankind beyond the next dawn. The art of the story is explored boldly and provocatively in this powerful new collection of Year's Best speculative fiction.

After the collapse of the Coalition, the Inner Cluster is besieged by new and old threats. In the power vacuum left by the destruction of the skip network, a new military force called the Black Sun has taken form and is rampaging across human space. Meanwhile, old hatreds are flaring up in the Inner Cluster and threatening their social cohesion and peace. Finally, danger from the void of space has made itself known. Khalihl and Meiind must fight both the demons of human nature and the demons in their own hearts and minds if they are going to survive the storm of violence, hatred, and ignorance swirling around them.

Praise for The Void Beyond:

"Tkacz has an amazing story to give us, in a cerebral and thoughtful package. This is more Picard than Star Wars, and there is no clear hero’s journey here. He paints motivations and fears for each character, giving us not only a great action packed novel, but a galaxy of hope and of hopelessness, all tied together by the lives and very souls of his characters."

"Well written with a good flow... this saga presented an engaging, immersive depiction of the way humans seem to always take their personal beliefs too far."

"The books made me think -- about life, humanity, history, inability to learn from history, and continuation of extremist fundamentalism extending centuries into the future with some of the same destructive and divisive results."
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Three Humans, an intergalactic conspiracy, and a battle to save Earth.

From 2019 Georgia Author of the Year Nominee (First Novel) and 2019 James Tiptree Award Nominee Samantha Heuwagen, Dawn Among the Stars examines what it means to be human in this multicultural space romance.

The Reluctant Ambassador. Kayin Aves’s everyday life becomes complicated when the La’Mursians, an alien race focused on unity, come out of hiding to build a diplomatic relationship with Humanity. After a second alien race attacks Earth unprovoked, Kayin finds herself both entangled in intergalactic politics and drawn to the Prince of Selucia with alluring lavender eyes. Now, Kayin has to fight for Earth’s future without letting her heart get in the way.

The Misguided Do-Gooder. Henry Rickner wishes he could take back all of his mistakes, including letting the love of his life go before the attack on Earth. Within the chaos of war, he tries to reunite with those he holds dear and atone for everything he's done up until this point.

The Stubborn Survivor. Melissa Pebbles only has one goal: to keep her family alive during and after the attack. While she fights to keep her loved ones safe, Melissa learns that family is more than just blood. The first member of her expanded family unit? The mysterious La’Mursian who has decided to help Melissa and the Pebbles clan survive intergalactic war.

Can these humans trust their new allies or will they lose the only home they’ve ever known?

The Complete Starless Series:

Dawn Among the Stars
Stardust Emerging
Fading Starlight
In the Wake of Stars
BONUS: Moonlit
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The house on Detroit's east side had been empty for twenty years. Fredrick bought it cheap, planning a quick flip. He expected rotting pipes and bad wiring.

What he certainly did not expect to find was a secret door covered in drywall.

When Fredrick opens the forgotten door, he expects to find a closet. Instead, he finds a hidden room with a hole carved into the back wall. When he peers through that hole, he sees what looks like endless space stretching into darkness.

But that's impossible. Fredrick measures the room, then measures the house from outside. The numbers don't add up. The space beyond that hole extends far past where the exterior wall should be. His measurements confirm the impossible—that darkness extends into space that simply cannot exist.

Some renovations uncover history. Others uncover things that should have stayed buried.

"This book is an excellent read, once I started I could not put it down! I had to know what happens next at the end of every chapter." —Amazon Review

"I loved the twilight zone like feel of Bootstrap Paradox." —Amazon Review

"Brain bending twists that would give Rod Serling a migraine, but very easy to imagine and follow the narrative." —Amazon Review

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The handwritten note on the dashboard read: Not Abandoned.

When Thomas passes the dusty car at the trailhead of a hike he has done many times before, he didn't expect to find himself with a stranger, navigating through a newly discovered world hidden from view at the end of the trail.

Getting to the bottom of the mystery might be difficult, but getting to the bottom of the cliff will be their first challenge as they begin their adventure. Only their physical fitness and combined knowledge will get them through everything they may encounter, proving two heads are better than one.

Two adventurous people. A strange world. One goal. Unravel the mystery.