Contemporary Science Fiction

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Neil Clarke has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

Celeste Varick has a simple plan. Charter a plane to a remote island on Lake Michigan, hike into the woods, find the last remaining wormholes on earth, and ya know, walk into one. For reasons! Okay, maybe not quite simple, given she has no idea where she’ll land in the timeline, or what she’ll need to do to fix a past she can't move on from. Perhaps she could use a little help…

The science fiction genre has become increasingly influential in mainstream popular culture, evolving into one of the most engaging storytelling tools we use to think about technology and consider the shape of the future. Along the way, it has also become one of the major lenses we use to explore important philosophical questions. The origins of science fiction are most often thought to trace to Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, a story born from a night of spooky tale-telling by the fireside that explores scientific, moral, and ethical questions that were of great concern in the 19th century - and that continue to resonate today.

Treasure Girl, jeevan ko daanv par lagaakar apane sapane ko haasil kar lene kee kahaanee hai. Ŏkalainḍa (nyoozeelainḍa) kee rahane vaalee ek ladakee ‘chelsee’, jisakaa khvaab duniyaa kee sabase badee ŏrkiyolŏjisṭ bananaa hai. Ek roj vah sapanaa dekhatee hai ki ŏkalainḍa se hajaaron meel door, bhaarat ke praacheen shahar banaaras ke paas, ek bahut puraane mndir men ka_ii sau saal puraane sone ke sikkon kaa khajaanaa (ṭrejar) dabaa huaa hai.

The Youngbloods are a mafia-like demon family, sent as a sinister advance team to prepare Earth for an infernal invasion. But when something goes wrong, the demon invasion never comes and the Youngbloods are stuck on crappy Earth with the worst creatures in the world—each other. Petra Youngblood is the family’s hunter. Her job: to track and kill the annual human sacrifice that keeps the Youngbloods immortal. Otherwise, they will crumble to dust. But as Petra is hunting down this year’s sacrifice, a man named Killian Irons, she breaks the first demonic rule.

In a perfect world where everyone destroys everything and eats human flesh, one zombie has had enough: Buck Burger. When he rebels at the natural disorder, his marriage starts deteriorating and a doctor prescribes him an anti-depressant. Buck meets a beautiful green-haired pharmacist fairy named Fairy_26 and quickly becomes a pawn in a cold war between zombies and supernatural creatures.

Latro now finds himself in Egypt, a land of singing girls, of spiteful and conniving deities. Without his memory, his is unsure of everything, except for his desire to be free of the curse that causes him to forget. The visions Gene Wolfe conjures, of the wonders of Egypt, and of the adventures of Latro as he and his companions journey up the great Nile south into unknown or legendary territory, are unique and compelling.

The second novel of the Codex of Souls furthers explores the strange occult world first introduced in Lightbreaker. Mark Teppo’s vision of a magical underworld is a non-stop adventure that continues to bring new light to the occult origins of our history. Markham returns to Paris where he lost his love, and nearly his life. The ancient order of manipulative magicians that once cast him out is now in turmoil...a turmoil made all the greater by the swaths of destruction that Markham tried to avert.

Strange things exist on the periphery of our existence, haunting us from the darkness looming beyond our firelight. Black magic, weird cults, and worse things loom in the shadows. The Children of Old Leech have been with us from time immemorial. And they love us.... Donald Miller, geologist and academic, has walked along the edge of a chasm for most of his nearly 80 years, leading a charmed life between endearing absent-mindedness and sanity-shattering realization. Now, all things must converge.

As a mafia-like demon family trapped on Earth, the Youngbloods have seen their share of family drama...but it’s never been like this before. While they battle the secret society trying to destroy them, Petra Youngblood must choose who she loves most. Will her loyalty lie with her family or with Killian Irons, the human she’s fallen in love with, whose family is hell-bent on eradicating her own? Complicating matters further, a long-hidden secret is about to come to light. Ora Youngblood has been holding out on the clan.

The Youngbloods are a dysfunctional family from hell—literally. The mafia-like demon family got stranded on Earth during an infernal invasion gone wrong and have spent eons maintaining a fragile peace. But Petra Youngblood has strained the family bonds by breaking a cardinal rule: falling in love with a human. And not just any human: the sacrifice required to keep her family immortal. Even worse, the sacrifice, Killian Irons, is part of the secret society hell-bent on killing her family.

Tech designer Sloane Reinhart and her ten-year-old daughter, Gwyneth, were living ordinary lives outside of Milan, Italy, when an extraordinary event occurred. The sky turned to swirling hues of purplish red and blue, and a thunderclap shook the land. Then there was a blinding flash and a gale force of wind that separated Sloane and Gwyn from each other—and Earth.

A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires....

Accused of murdering a man the Southern tribes believe to be their messiah, but who is actually the slayer of Del's family, Tiger and Del flee across the deadly Punja desert, hunted by religious zealots and sword-dancer assassins. But evading death by assassins' blades is only one of the challenges they face. For Tiger's sword, Samiel, has been possessed by the spirit of the deadly sorcerer, Chosa Dei—a wizard out of legend with the power to unmake the entire world, a master of evil who seeks to mold Tiger into his ultimate weapon of destruction.

Mike Spears is a drifter, a vigilante, an expert in taking down the evil in our world one monstrous incursion at a time. He’s anonymous and low profile because he needs to be. A man with a name only whispered in legend and only spoken aloud in desperate straits. Welcome to the dark places of the modern American west—a west where mythic worlds roam the landscape like so many weather fronts. And when those fronts collide, horror often spills out. Blood-soaked ground. Vanished neighbors. Towns gutted by monstrous horrors no one dares name.

The Winter Queen of Faerie has manipulated Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden into accepting a case to solve a murder and stop a war between the courts of Summer and Winter that could have literally earth shattering consequences. His own soul is up for grabs. Dresden must dig deep to discover that at time a willingness to accept a little help from your friends, be they a cub pack of werewolves, old loves in sheep's clothing, or a battalion of pizza loving dewdrop fairies, is a very good thing.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden has had a rough couple of weeks. As the only openly practicing professional wizard in the Chicago area, he has squared off against a multitude of supernatural bad guys. Harry has won the day against demons, poltergeists, sorcerers, trolls, vampires, werewolves, and even an evil faerie godmother. You might think nothing could spook him. You would be wrong.

The Earth is dying. Humanity - over-breeding, over-consuming - is destroying the very planet they call home. Multinational corporations despoil the environment, market genetically modified crops to control the food supply, and use their wealth and influence and private armies to crush anything, and anyone, that gets in the way of their profits. Nothing human can stop them. But something unhuman might. Once they did not fear the sun. Once they could breathe the air and sleep where they chose.

A coming-of-age teen is thrown into a world of ancient secrets when he discovers a supernatural artifact that protects a weapon of mass destruction. With the help of a diverse group of friends, he embarks on a global adventure, seeking the truth about his sister’s death, and uncovers two clandestine, supernatural societies waging an epic, hidden war that threatens the future of civilization.

Once upon a time, in an alleyway in the slums of the City of Lockes, a young and somewhat lonely boy named Sam Haversford turns a group of teenage douchebags into stone completely by accident. Of course, this catches the attention of a higher power, and Sam's pulled from the only world he knows to become an apprentice to the king's wizard, Morgan of Shadows.