Search Worlds Without End

This novelette originally appeared in Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Inspired by Microsoft (2015), edited by Jennifer Henshaw and Allison Linn (and can be obtained for free at the Kindle link above). It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Ten, edited by Jonathan Strahan, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 1 (2016), edited by Neil Clarke, and The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection (2016), edited by Gardner Dozois.

This short story originally appeared in Subterranean, Issue #4, (2006). It can alos be found in the anthology Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2007 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.

The issue containing this story can be downloaded for free here. Read or listen to the full story for free at EscapePod.

Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe. Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruled The Raven Tower. Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls. And so much more, in this masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.

Contents:

• Stories from the world of the Imperial Radch
  • Night's Slow Poison
  • She Commands Me and I Obey
  • The Creation and Destruction of the World
• Stories from the world of The Raven Tower
  • The God of Au
  • The Nalendar
  • The Snake's Wife
  • Marsh Gods
  • The Unknown God
  • Beloved of the Sun
  • Saving Bacon
• Plus
  • Footprints
  • Hesperia and Glory
  • The Endangered Camp
  • Another Word for World
  • The Justified
  • Bury the Dead
  • The Sad History of the Tearless Onion

This short story originally appeared in Realms of Fantasy, December 2010, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, January 2015.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Clockwork Phoenix 2: More Tales of Beauty and Strangeness (2009), edited by Mike Allen. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2010, edited by Rich Horton.

Listen to or read the full story for free at Escape Pod.

Gods meddle in the fates of men, men play with the fates of gods, and a pretender must be cast down from the throne in this breathtaking first fantasy novel from Ann Leckie, New York Timesbestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards.

For centuries, the kingdom of Iraden has been protected by the god known as the Raven. He watches over his territory from atop a tower in the powerful port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. And under the Raven's watch, the city flourishes.

But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The kingdom borders are tested by invaders who long for the prosperity that Vastai boasts. And they have made their own alliances with other gods.

It is into this unrest that the warrior Eolo--aide to Mawat, the true Lease--arrives. And in seeking to help Mawat reclaim his city, Eolo discovers that the Raven's Tower holds a secret. Its foundations conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself... and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever.

This short story originally appeared in Realms of Fantasy, February 2010, and was reprinted in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 14, January-February 2017.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny Magazine.

A power-driven young woman has just one chance to secure the status she craves and regain priceless lost artifacts prized by her people. She must free their thief from a prison planet from which no one has ever returned.

Ingray and her charge will return to her home world to find their planet in political turmoil, at the heart of an escalating intergalactic conflict. Together, they must make a new plan to salvage Ingray's future, her family, and her world, before they are lost to her for good.

The mystery of a missing translator sets three lives on a collision course that will have a ripple effect across the stars...

Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them: learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn't "optimal behavior". I's the type of behavior that results in elimination.

But Qven rebels. And in doing so, their path collides with those of two others. Enae, a reluctant diplomat whose dead grandmaman has left hir an impossible task as an inheritance: hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. And Reet, an adopted mechanic who is increasingly desperate to learn about his genetic roots--or anything that might explain why he operates so differently from those around him.

As a Conclave of the various species approaches--and the long-standing treaty between the humans and the Presger is on the line--the decisions of all three will have ripple effects across the stars.

Masterfully merging space adventure and mystery, and a poignant exploration about relationships and belonging, Translation State is a triumphant new standalone story set in the celebrated Imperial Radch universe.

"Night's Slow Poison" is from the same universe as Leckie's Ancillary series, and tells a rich, claustrophobic story of a galactic voyage that forces one guardsmen to confront his uneasy family history through the lens of a passenger with his lost lover's eyes. Anthologized in Galactic Empires (2017), edited by Neil Clarke.

Read this story online for free at Electric Velocipede.

Read this story online for free at Tor.com.

"She Commands Me and I Obey" is a haunting story of a ball-game sports tournament where the stakes are much higher than merely winning a trophy.

Read this story online for free at Strange Horizons (part 1) (part 2).

On a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.

Breq is both more than she seems and less than she was. Years ago, she was the Justice of Toren -- a colossal starship with an artificial intelligence linking thousands of corpse soldiers in the service of the Radch, the empire that conquered the galaxy.

An act of treachery has ripped it all away, leaving her with only one fragile human body. And only one purpose -- to revenge herself on Anaander Mianaai, many-bodied, near-immortal Lord of the Radch.

Breq -- the soldier who used to be a spaceship -- is serving the emperor she swore to destroy. She's been given her own warship, her own crew, and ordered to the only place in the galaxy she would have agreed to go: to Athoek Station, to protect the family of the lieutenant she murdered in cold blood.

Athoek was annexed by the Empire some 600 years ago, and by now everyone is fully 'civilised'. Or should be - but everything is not as tranquil as it appears. Old divisions are still troublesome, Athoek Station's AI is restless, and it looks like the alien Presger might have taken an interest in what's going on. With no guarantees that their interest is benevolent.

For a moment, things seem to be under control for the soldier known as Breq. Then a search of Atheok Station's slums turns up someone who shouldn't exist -- someone who might be an ancillary from a ship that's been hiding beyond the empire's reach for three thousand years. Meanwhile, a messenger from the alien and mysterious Presger empire arrives -- as does Breq's enemy, the divided and quite possibly insane Anaander Mianaai, ruler of an empire at war with itself.

Anaander is heavily armed and extremely unhappy with Breq. She could take her ship and crew and flee, but that would leave everyone at Athoek in terrible danger. Breq has a desperate plan. The odds aren't good, but that's never stopped her before.

An inquisitive life-form finds there's more to existence than they ever dreamed in an imaginative short story by New York Timesbestselling and Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Ann Leckie.

On a far-off colony, humans tower over the local species who grow the plants they need. Narr keeps the workers in line--someone has to. But when Narr learns just how short-lived their species is, the little alien embarks on a big mission: to find out why their people die and how to stop it. Stubborn and hopeful, Narr has a plan for the locals, for humans, and for the future.

This novelette originally appeared in Helix, Spring 2008. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2009, edited by Rich Horton, and Mythic Journeys (2019), edited by Paula Guran.

This short story originally appeared in Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Issue #36, 2008, and was reprinted in Uncanny Magazine, Issue Two, January-February 2015.

Read the full story for free here.