A book such as this spins not only words but also whole worlds: eighteen of them, representing the best lesbian-themed stories of the fantastic or futuristic published the prior year: An artisan who tests the skills and wares of her friends in the hope of finding the ideal housing for an idealized love. A shape-shifting sidekick ensures that the heroine, who might not even be aware of her, saves the day. The device on a young girl's wrist that counts down the years until she will meet her ...

"One of the most compelling aspects of speculative fiction is its ability to fulfill otherwise unattainable desires—whether one wants to create a magical society or travel through time, visit an alien civilization or remake history. It also satisfies more mundane reader desires, the ones it would not seem so hard to fulfill. To call a few of these out, I'll willingly step on this mine: the explosion of 'should.'"It should not be easier to find a zombie apocalypse than it is to find...

For a decade Alice Sheldon produced an extraordinary body of work under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr, until her identity was exposed in 1977. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever presents the finest of these stories and contains the Nebula Award-winning ' Love Is the Plan, the Plan Is Death', Hugo Award-winning novella 'The Girl Who Was Plugged In', 'Houston, Houston, Do You Read?' - winner of both the Hugo and Nebula - and of course the story for which she is best known: 'The Women Men Do...

Summer, 1816. Glamourists Jane and David Vincent return home to an unseasonably cold Long Parkmeade. Cooped up inside with Jane's fretful sister and father, they soon become restless, so when they receive a commission from a prominent family in London, they decide to go - taking Melody with them. Perhaps the change of scenery will brighten their moods (and Melody's marriage prospects).The capital is fizzing with talk of crop failures and unemployment riots in the north. Finding it ...

From the co-author of the viral New York Times bestseller This is How You Lose the Time War."[A] taut and unique blend of legal drama, fantasy, and noir." —Publishers Weekly, starred reviewMax Gladstone's Craft Sequence chronicles the epic struggle to build a just society in a modern fantasy world.Shadow demons plague the city reservoir, and Red King Consolidated has sent in Caleb Altemoc—casual gambler an...

ROLE-PLAY REVERSAL By Chris WestlakeEmily has joined the amateur dramatics where she plays the sort of rich spoilt housewife that every milkman longs to meet on his round. The tables are turned when Deana, the sassy ebony minx who plays her meek maid in the play, turns out to be a dominatrix with her own set of handcuffs! When Emily is licked out on stage, it seems that there could be a third role in this production .HOLY MATRIMONY By Chloe...

**Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho is a delightfully fun and compelling Regency romp filled with love, danger and a pinch of fairyland magic.'An enchanting cross between Georgette Heyer and Susanna Clarke' – Naomi Novik, author of Uprooted**In Regency London, Zacharias Wythe is England's first African Sorcerer Royal. He leads the eminent Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers, but a malicious faction seeks to remove him by fair means or foul. Meanwhile, t...

Nnedi Okorafor's Binti is the winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novella!Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University, the finest institution of higher learning in the galaxy. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or respect her customs.Knowledge comes at a cost, one th...

It began with a terrible vision of the future. Compelled by her precognitive abilities, Ia must somehow save her home galaxy long after she’s gone. Now Jean Johnson presents the long-awaited epic conclusion to her national bestselling military science fiction series…Demoralized, their ship destroyed, Ia’s Damned must fight their way out of a planet-bound blockade and back into space. But there is more happening here on Dabin than meets even Ia’s inner eye.Some of t...

From the author of the viral bestseller This is How You Lose the Time War..."Stunningly good. Stupefyingly good." —Patrick RothfussMax Gladstone's Craft Sequence chronicles the epic struggle to build a just society in a modern fantasy world.A god has died, and it's up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart....

Winner of the 2011 Nebula Award for Best NovelWinner of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best NovelStartling, unusual, and yet irresistibly readable, Jo Walton's Among Others is at once the compelling story of a young woman struggling to escape a troubled childhood, a brilliant diary of first encounters with the great novels of modern fantasy and SF, and a spellbinding tale of escape from ancient enchantment.Raised by a half-mad mothe...