A girl raised by feral librarians takes her first steps into the world beyond the stacks; a teenaged boy faces truly stellar relationship problems; an artificially intelligent row-boat debates Asimov's Three Laws with an uplifted coral reef; a witch has to deal with the problems caused by her stupid younger brother Marvyn; a group of the faithful go out into the wilderness determined to make sure that the world meets their faith; in a colony orbiting Saturn a rebellious teenager faces deletion at the hands of her parents; in a small Southern town the locals harvest some very strange fruit; in a near future Bangkok a poverty-stricken businessman takes brutal measures to rescue his own future; and in Thailand the daughter of a mass murderer is faced with the ghosts of her father's past.
The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.
Jonathan Strahan has edited more than twenty anthologies and collections, including The Locus Awards, The New Space Opera, The Jack Vance Treasury, and a number of year's best annuals. He has won the Ditmar, William J. Atheling Jr. and Peter McNamara Awards for his work as an anthologist, and is the reviews editor for Locus.
Contents:
* Introduction - Jonathan Strahan
* How To Talk To Girls At Parties - Neil Gaiman
* El Regalo - Peter S. Beagle
* I, Row-boat - Cory Doctorow
* In The House Of The Seven Librarians - Ellen Klages
* Another Word For Map Is Faith - Christopher Rowe
* Under Hell, Over Heaven - Margo Lanagan
* Incarnation Day - Walter Jon Williams
* The Night Whiskey - Jeffrey Ford
* A Seige Of Cranes - Benjamin Rosenbaum
* Halfway House - Frances Hardinge
* The Bible Repairman - Tim Powers
* Yellow Card Man - Paolo Bacigalupi
* Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy) - Geoff Ryman
* The American Dead - Jay Lake
* The Cartesian Theater - Robert Charles Wilson
* Journey Into The Kingdom - M Rickert
* Eight Episodes - Robert Reed
* The Wizards Of Perfil - Kelly Link
* The Saffron Gatherers - Elizabeth Hand
* D.A. - Connie Willis
* Femaville 29 - Paul Di Filippo
* Sob In The Silence - Gene Wolfe
* The House Beyond Your Sky - Benjamin Rosenbaum
* The Djinn's Wife - Ian McDonald
