Search Worlds Without End

Steampunk Anthology

Contains:

• Steampunch by James LovegroveStatic by Marly Youmans
• Speed, Spped the Cable by Kage Baker
• Elementals by Ian R. MAcLeod
• Machine Maid by Margo Lanagan
• Lady Witherspoon's Solution by James Morrow
• Hannah by Keith Brooke
• Petrolpunk by Adam Roberts
• American Cheetah by Robert Reed
• Fixing Hanover by James VanderMeer
• The Lollygang Save the World on Accident by Jay Lake
• The Dream of Reason by Jeffrey Ford
  
  

Among the brilliant visionary scenarios in Extrasolar: military antagonists meet in the atmosphere of a gas giant; gifted children hijack a starship to search out a new home; a superjovian world yields mysterious and much-coveted gemstones; aliens find our solar system disconcertingly paradoxical; a feminist SF writer of the Seventies crafts liberating exoplanetary dreams; the habitats aboard a gargantuan spaceship cater to the needs of truly exotic aliens; and scientists eagerly seeking exoplanets confront a devastating truth. And then there are songs of home and far away and bitter exile; intelligence calling to intelligence across light years and species barriers; utterly immersive dives into perilous planetary atmospheres; brave responses to enigmatic messages from the stars; a machine embracing a Gothic destiny; and a truly different kind of space opera.

Table of Contents:

• Holdfast - Alastair Reynolds
• Shadows of Eternity - Gregory Benford
• A Game of Three Generals - Aliette de Bodard
• The Bartered Planet - Paul Di Filippo
• Come Home - Terry Dowling
• The Residue of Fire - Robert Reed
• Thunderstone - Matthew Hughes
• Journey to the Anomaly - Ian Watson
• Canoe - Nancy Kress
• The Planet Woman By M.V. Crawford - Lavie Tidhar
• Arcturean Nocturne - Jack McDevitt
• Life Signs - Paul McAuley
• The Fall of the House of Kepler - Ian R. MacLeod
• The Tale of the Alcubierre Horse - Kathleen Ann Goonan

Seventeen all-new stories illuminate the steampunk world of fog and fear!

Modern masters of the supernatural weave their magic to revitalize the chilling Victorian and Edwardian ghostly tale: here are haunted houses, arcane inventions, spirits reaching across the centuries, ghosts in the machine, fateful revelations, gaslit streets scarcely keeping the dark at bay, and other twisted variations on the immortal classics that frighten us still.

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

Eleven original stories about the different paths our world might've taken...

Alternate history explores the many possible directions our world could follow if certain key events didn't occur at all or were changed in some crucial way. Is our Earth the only Earth, our reality the only one that exists? Or are there many parallel worlds and societies, some very similar to ours, some barely recognizable?

What if...
Lincoln had never become president, and the Civil War had never taken place?
Columbus never discovered America, and the Inca developed a massive, technologically advanced empire?
Magic was real and a half-faery queen ruled England?
Hitler and Germany won the war because America never got involved?
Many of the world's religions were totally commercialized, their temples run like casinos, religions deisgned purely for profit?
An author discovered a book written by an alternate version of himself?

These are just some of the possible pathways that you can take to explore the Other Earths that may be waiting just one event away...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Nick Gevers and Jay Lake
• This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe - novelette by Robert Charles Wilson
• The Goat Variations - short story by Jeff VanderMeer
• The Unblinking Eye - short story by Stephen Baxter
• Csilla's Story - novelette by Theodora Goss
• Winterborn - short story by Liz Williams
• Donovan Sent Us - short story by Gene Wolfe
• The Holy City and Em's Reptile Farm - short story by Greg van Eekhout
• The Receivers - novelette by Alastair Reynolds
• A Family History - short story by Paul Park
• Dog-Eared Paperback of My Life - novella by Lucius Shepard
• Nine Alternate Alternate Histories - short story by Benjamin Rosenbaum