Search Worlds Without End

Are we alone? From War of the Worlds to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, ET to Close Encounters, creators of science fiction have always eagerly speculated on just how the story of alien contact would play out. Editor Marty Halpern has gathered together some of the best stories of the last 30 years, by today's most exciting genre writers, weaving a tapestry that covers a broad range of scenarios: from the insidious, to the violent, to the transcendent.

Contents:

• Introduction: Beginnings... - (2012) - essay by Marty Halpern
• The Thought War - (2008) - shortstory by Paul J. McAuley
• How to Talk to Girls at Parties - (2006) - shortstory by Neil Gaiman
• Face Value - (1986) - shortstory by Karen Joy Fowler
• The Road Not Taken - (1985) - novelette by Harry Turtledove
• The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything - (1984) - shortstory by George Alec Effinger
• I Am the Doorway - (1971) - shortstory by Stephen King
• Recycling Strategies for the Inner City - (1990) - shortstory by Pat Murphy
• The 43 Antarean Dynasties - (1997) - shortstory by Mike Resnick
• The Gold Bug - (2007) - novelette by Orson Scott Card
• Kin - (2006) - shortstory by Bruce McAllister
• Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song - (1989) - shortstory by Ernest Hogan
• Angel - (1987) - shortstory by Pat Cadigan
• The First Contact with the Gorgonids - (1992) - shortstory by Ursula K. Le Guin
• Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's - (2001) - novella by Adam-Troy Castro
• A Midwinter's Tale - (1988) - shortstory by Michael Swanwick
• Texture of Other Ways - (1999) - shortstory by Mark W. Tiedemann
• To Go Boldly - (2009) - shortstory by Cory Doctorow
• If Nudity Offends You - (1988) - shortstory by Elizabeth Moon
• Laws of Survival - (2007) - novelette by Nancy Kress
• What You Are About to See - (2008) - shortstory by Jack Skillingstead
• Amanda and the Alien - (1983) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• Exo-Skeleton Town - (2000) - novelette by Jeffrey Ford
• Lambing Season - (2002) - shortstory by Molly Gloss
• Swarm - (1982) - novelette by Bruce Sterling
• MAXO Signals: A New and Unfortunate Solution to the Fermi Paradox - (2007) - shortstory by Charles Stross (variant of MAXO Signals 2005)
• Last Contact - (2007) - shortstory by Stephen Baxter
• About the Contributors (Alien Contact) - (2012) - essay by uncredited

Beyond our skies... and imaginations.

Are we alone in the universe, and if not, who else-or what else-is out there? Here are thought-provoking stories that explore such questions as: Do intelligent species invariably destroy themselves by nuclear war or ecological collapse? Are the sentient aliens that do exist just too far away? Do they exist in forms beyond our comprehension? Are they among us, but undetectable? These are just some of the possibilities explored by a stellar lineup of contributors.

Contents:

• Introduction: Here Comes Everyone - essay by Paul J. McAuley
• The Word He Was Looking for Was Hello - short story by Alexander C. Irvine
• Residue - short story by Michael Arsenault
• Good News from Antares - short story by Yves Meynard
• Report from the Field - short story by Lezli Robyn and Mike Resnick
• Permanent Fatal Errors - short story by Jay Lake
• Galaxy of Mirrors - short story by Paul Di Filippo
• Where Two or Three - short story by Sheila Finch
• Graffiti in the Library of Babel - short story by David Langford
• The Dark Man - short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• One Big Monkey - short story by Ray Vukcevich
• The Taste of Night - short story by Pat Cadigan
• Timmy, Come Home - short story by Matthew Hughes
• A Waterfall of Lights - short story by Ian Watson
• Rare Earth - short story by Felicity Shoulders and Leslie What
• The Vampires of Paradox - short story by James Morrow
• About the Authors - essay by uncredited
• About the Editors - essay by uncredited

The Barnes & Noble Review

Witpunk, an edgy collection of sardonic fiction, was inspired when someone asked on an Internet literary forum, "When did reading SF/fantasy stop being fun?" Claude Lalumière, a popular Canadian author and columnist, took exception to this and, along with editor Marty Halpern, put together an anthology of some of the best works of satirical fiction in the last two decades.

While some of the stories are speculative classics, like Robert Silverberg's "Amanda and the Alien," Pat Cadigan's "Mother's Milk," and Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "Savage Breasts," half the collection is made up of never-before-published works by some of the brightest authors in contemporary science fiction and fantasy, including Paul Di Filippo, Allen M. Steele, Bradley Denton, and Pat Murphy.

Included are stories about a science fiction writer gone temporarily insane, a post#150;global warming society where infertile infants are killed by priests in the name of God, a boy's friendship with a turkey, demonic light bulbs, and a secretary with lethal weapons under her sweater -- to name but a few.

The back of Witpunk says it all: "When the world is just too stupid, brutal, or annoying to believe -- strike back by laughing at it." This diverse collection of stories, which ranges from witty science fiction to black-humored horror to just plain bizarre fantasy, is a typical Four Walls Eight Windows offering: highly intelligent, brilliantly clever stories with that unique mix of style, irreverence, and attitude. Those afflicted with a twisted sense of humor will cherish this collection for a long, long time.

Paul Goat Allen

Table of Contents:

• Preface - essay by Marty Halpern and Claude Lalumière
• The Teb Hunter - short story by Allen Steele
• Coyote Goes Hollywood - short story by Ernest Hogan
• Spicy Detective #3 - (2002) - short story by Jeffrey Ford
• Auspicious Eggs - (2000) - novelette by James Morrow
• Timmy and Tommy's Thanksgiving Secret - short story by Bradley Denton
• Savage Breasts - (1988) - short story by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• I Love Paree - (2000) - novelette by Cory Doctorow and Michael Skeet
• Arabesques of Eldritch Weirdness #8 - (2002) - short story by Jeffrey Ford
• The Seven-Day Itch - short story by Elise Moser
• The Scuttling or, Down by the Sea with Marvin and Pamela - (1999) - novelette by William Sanders
• A Halloween Like Any Other - short story by Michael Arsenault
• The Lights of Armageddon - (1994) - short story by William Browning Spencer
• Doc Aggressive, Man of Tin #2 - (2002) - short story by Jeffrey Ford
• Bagged 'n' Tagged - (1995) - short story by Eugene Byrne
• Amanda and the Alien - (1983) - short story by Robert Silverberg
• Diary from an Empty Studio - short story by Don Webb
• Is That Hard Science, or Are You Just Happy to See Me? - short story by Leslie What
• Six Gun Loner of the High Butte #6 - (2002) - short story by Jeffrey Ford
• Encounter of Another Kind - (1991) - short story by David Langford
• Tales from the Breast - (1996) - short story by Hiromi Goto
• Science Fiction - novelette by Paul Di Filippo
• Mother's Milt - (1992) - short story by Pat Cadigan
• Deep Space Adventure #32 - (2002) - short story by Jeffrey Ford
• The Wild Girls - short story by Pat Murphy
• Jumping - short story by Ray Vukcevich
• Kapuzine and the Wolf: A Hortatory Tale - short story by Yves Meynard and Jean-Louis Trudel
• Meet the Witpunks - essay by Marty Halpern and Claude Lalumière