Search Worlds Without End

Among the universe's civilizations, some conceive of the journey between stars as the sailing of bright ships, and others as tunneling through the crevices of night. Some look upon their far-voyaging as a migratory imperative, and name their vessels after birds or butterflies....

This story can be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF 17 (2012), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and Aliens: Recent Encounters (2013), edited by Alex Dally MacFarlane, and Worlds Seen in Passing: Ten Years of Tor.com Short Fiction (2018), edited by Irene Gallo. It is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2010. It can also be found in the anthologies War & Space: Recent Combat (2012), edited by Rich Horton and Sean Wallace, and Clarkesworld: Year Four (2013), edited by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace. The story is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, August 2008. It can also be found in the anthologies Realms 2: The Second Year of Clarkesworld Magazine (2010), edited by Neil Clarke and Nick Mamatas, and Time Travel: Recent Trips (2014), edited by Paula Guran. The story is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Combustion Hour by Yoon Ha Lee is a story about the eschatology of shadow puppets.

This story has been anthologized in Paula Guran's The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2015.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #59 August 2011. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2012, edited by Paula Guran and Clarkesworld: Year Five (2013), edited by Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke. It is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

There is no such thing as conservation of shadows. When light destroys shadows, darkness does not gain in density elsewhere. When shadows steal over earth and across the sky, darkness is not diluted...

In this debut collection of short fiction from one of science fiction and fantasy's most notable new writers, Yoon Ha Lee often integrates tropes of science fiction with elements of myth to create tales that are both wonderfully fresh and deeply ancient. No matter what the theme, her wide variety of stories are strikingly original and always indelible.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Aliette de Bodard
• Ghostweight - (2011)
• The Shadow Postulates - (2007)
• The Bones of Giants - (2009)
• Between Two Dragons - (2010)
• Swanwatch - (2009)
• Effigy Nights - (2013)
• Flower, Mercy, Needle, Chain - (2010)
• Iseul's Lexicon - (2013)
• Counting the Shapes - (2001)
• Blue Ink - (2008)
• The Battle of Candle Arc - (2012)
• A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel - (2011)
• The Unstrung Zither - (2009)
• The Black Abacus - (2002)
• The Book of Locked Doors - (2012)
• Conservation of Shadows - (2011)

Commander Niaja vrau Erezeng is up against an enemy that doesn't just destroy all the beings, ships, and planets in its path, but also consumes their greatest arts, somehow scratching them from existence everywhere...

World Fantasy Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Clarkesworld, Issue 76, January 2013. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eight (2014), edited by Jonathan Strahan, The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014, edited by Rich Horton and Clarkesworld: Year Seven (2015), edited by Sean Wallace. It is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

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Sturgeon Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Lightspeed, September 2010. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection (2011), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011, edited by Rich Horton, Lightspeed: Year One (2011), edited by John Joseph Adams and Other Worlds Than These (2012), edited by John Joseph Adams. It is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Locus Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, #194, March 2016. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 11 (2017), edited Jonathan Strahan, and Mythic Journeys (2019), edited by Paula Guran.

Read the full story for free at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Sturgeon Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #52 January 2011. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection (2012), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2012, edited by Rich Horton, Clarkesworld: Year Five (2013), edited by Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke, and Galactic Empires (2017), edited by Neil Clarke. It is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This short story originally appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Issue Seven, November-December 2015.

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Gyen Jebi isn't a fighter or a subversive. Just an artist.

One day they're jobless and desperate; the next, Jebi finds themself recruited by the Ministry of Armor to paint the mystical sigils that animate the occupying government's automaton soldiers.

But when Jebi discovers the depths of the Razanei government's horrifying crimes -- and the awful source of the magical pigments they use -- they find they can no longer stay out of politics.

What they can do is steal Arazi, the ministry's mighty dragon automaton, and find a way to fight...

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Federations (2012), edited by John Joseph Adams, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, December 2012. It is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

This story was originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies #143 in March 2014. It can also be found in The Long List Anthology: More Stories from the Hugo Awards Nomination List, edited by David Steffen.

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This short story originally appeared in the anthology Once Upon a Time: New Fairy Tales (2013), edited by Paual Guran, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, September 2018. It can also be found in the anthology Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold (2016), edited by Paula Guran.

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This short story originally appeared in the anthology Meeting Infinity (2015), edited by Jonathan Strahan. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 1 (2016), edited by Neil Clarke.

"Locus Award winner Lee (Phoenix Extravagant) takes on the folktale form in a collection of 25 gorgeous, magical stories, tiny jewels of worldbuilding that tap into mythic themes to feel somehow both ancient and delightfully fresh... The result is breathtaking in its playful grace." -- Publisher's Weekly Starred Review

Enter a world of magic and myth, where foxes fall in love and robots build their own dragons. In The Fox's Tower and Other Tales, New York Times bestselling author Yoon Ha Lee crafts together short and moving stories of love, adventure, magic, and nature. With poetic language and intricate world building, readers will be whisked away to a different adventure with every new story. Full of fascinating creatures and LGBT+ romances, this flash fiction collection combines the classic with the contemporary in Yoon's captivating style.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Operation Arcana (2015), edited by John Joseph Adams. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, August 2013. It can also be found in the anthologies Space Opera (2014), edited by Rich Horton and Warrior Women (2015), edited by Paula Guran.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

This Sturgeon Award nominated short story originally appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, #244, February 2018. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume Thirteen (2019), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2019, edited by Rich Horton.

Read the full story for free at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

This novelette originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2009. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 15 (2010), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

"For the fairest." Past, present, and future. Again.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #88 January 2014. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015, edited by Rich Horton and Clarkesworld: Year Eight (2016), edited by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

A space opera adventure set in a distant future where an undercover agent has to go behind enemy lines to recover a lost ship and a possible traitor.

This story is included in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3 (2018), edited by Neil Clarke, and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2018, edtied by Rich Horton.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

An ex-Kel art thief has to save the world from a galaxy-shattering prototype weapon...

A general outnumbered eight-to-one must outsmart his opponent...

A renegade returns from seclusion to bury an old comrade...

From the incredible imagination of Hugo- and Arthur C. Clarke-nominated author Yoon Ha Lee comes a collection of stories set in the world of the best-selling Ninefox Gambit. Showcasing Lee's extraordinary imagination, this collection takes you to the very beginnings of the hexarchate's history and reveals new never-before-seen stories.

Table of Contents

• Hexarchate Timeline
• The Chameleon's Gloves (2017) – novelette
• How the Andan Court – short story
• Seven Views of the Liozh Entrance Exam – short story
• Omens – short story
• Honesty – short story
• Bunny – short story
• Black Squirrels – short story
• Silence – short story
• Extracurricular Activities (2017) – novelette
• Gloves – short story
• Hunting Trip – short story
• The Battle of Candle Arc (2012) – novelette
• Calendrical Rot (2016) – short story
• Birthdays – short story
• The Robot's Math Lessons – short story
• Sword-Shopping – short story
• Persimmons – short story
• Irriz the Assassin-Cat – short story
• Vacation – short story
• Gamer's End (2015) – short story
• Glass Cannon – novella

Novelette set in Lee's Machineries of Empire universe. It originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #73 October 2012. The story can also be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF 18 (2013), edited by David G. Hartwell and Clarkesworld: Year Seven (2015), edited by Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke. It is included in the collection Conservation of Shadows (2013).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology Cosmic Powers: The Saga Anthology of Far-Away Galaxies (2017), edited by John Joseph Adams. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Twelve (2018), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

To win an impossible war Captain Kel Cheris must awaken an ancient weapon and a despised traitor general.

Captain Kel Cheris of the hexarchate is disgraced for using unconventional methods in a battle against heretics. Kel Command gives her the opportunity to redeem herself by retaking the Fortress of Scattered Needles, a star fortress that has recently been captured by heretics. Cheris's career isn't the only thing at stake. If the fortress falls, the hexarchate itself might be next.

Cheris's best hope is to ally with the undead tactician Shuos Jedao. The good news is that Jedao has never lost a battle, and he may be the only one who can figure out how to successfully besiege the fortress.

The bad news is that Jedao went mad in his first life and massacred two armies, one of them his own. As the siege wears on, Cheris must decide how far she can trust Jedao--because she might be his next victim.

Captain Kel Cheris is possessed by a long-dead traitor general. Together they must face the rivalries of the hexarchate and a potentially devastating invasion.

When the hexarchate's gifted young captain Kel Cheris summoned the ghost of the long-dead General Shuos Jedao to help her put down a rebellion, she didn't reckon on his breaking free of centuries of imprisonment--and possessing her.

Even worse, the enemy Hafn are invading, and Jedao takes over General Kel Khiruev's fleet, which was tasked with stopping them. Only one of Khiruev's subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Kel Brezan, seems to be able to resist the influence of the brilliant but psychotic Jedao.

Jedao claims to be interested in defending the hexarchate, but can Khiruev or Brezan trust him? For that matter, will the hexarchate's masters wipe out the entire fleet to destroy the rogue general?

When Shuos Jedao wakes up for the first time, several things go wrong. His few memories tell him that he's a seventeen-year-old cadet -- but his body belongs to a man decades older. Hexarch Nirai Kujen orders Jedao to reconquer the fractured hexarchate on his behalf even though Jedao has no memory of ever being a soldier, let alone a general. Surely a knack for video games doesn't qualify you to take charge of an army?

Soon Jedao learns the situation is even worse. The Kel soldiers under his command may be compelled to obey him, but they hate him thanks to a massacre he can't remember committing. Kujen's friendliness can't hide the fact that he's a tyrant. And what's worse, Jedao and Kujen are being hunted by an enemy who knows more about Jedao and his crimes than he does himself.

Rick Riordan Presents Yoon Ha Lee's space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you'd never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min's mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times.

Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She's counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds.

When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name.

Min's quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams.

This sci-fi adventure with the underpinnings of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination.

Sebin, a young tiger spirit from the Juhwang Clan, wants nothing more than to join the Thousand World Space Forces and, like their Uncle Hwan, captain a battle cruiser someday. But when Sebin's acceptance letter finally arrives, it's accompanied by the shocking news that Hwan has been declared a traitor. Apparently, the captain abandoned his duty to steal a magical artifact, the Dragon Pearl, and his whereabouts are still unknown. Sebin hopes to help clear their hero's name and restore honour to the clan.

Nothing goes according to plan, however. As soon as Sebin arrives for orientation, they are met by a special investigator named Yi and his assistant, a girl named Min. Yi informs Sebin that they must immediately report to the ship Haetae and await further instructions. Sebin finds this highly unusual, but soon all protocol is forgotten when there's an explosion on the ship, the crew is knocked out, and the communication system goes down. It's up to Sebin, three other cadets, and Yi and Min to determine who is sabotaging the battlecruiser. When Sebin is suddenly accused of collaborating with the enemy, the cadet realizes that Min is the most dangerous foe of all...

While on a mission to cement peace between the Sun Clans and the Thousand Worlds, Min the fox spirit and her ghost brother Jun get stranded on a death planet with Haneul the dragon spirit and Sebin the tiger spirit. To survive, the young cadets will have to rely on all their wits, training, and supernatural abilities. And let's not forget the Dragon Pearl...

This thrilling conclusion of the Thousand Worlds trilogy, told in alternating points of view, will put you under a delightful spell as it transports you to worlds full of both danger and wonder.