Year's Best SF 17

Once again, the finest short-form sf offerings of the year have been collected in a single volume. With "Year's Best SF 17, " acclaimed, award-winning editors and anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer demonstrate the amazing depth and power of contemporary speculative fiction, showcasing astonishing stories from some of the genre's most respected names as well as exciting new writers to watch. Prepare to travel light years from the ordinary into a tomorrow at once breathtaking, frightening, and possible, with tales of wonder from: Elizabeth Bear

Gregory Benford

Neil Gaiman

Nancy Kress

Michael Swanwick

and others.

Contents

xi • Introduction (Year's Best SF 17) • essay by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer

1 • The Best Science Fiction of the Year Three • (2011) • shortfiction by Ken MacLeod

16 • Dolly • (2011) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear

34 • Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer • (2011) • shortstory by Ken Liu

48 • Tethered • (2011) • shortfiction by Mercurio D. Rivera

73 • Wahala • (2011) • shortfiction by Nnedi Okorafor

96 • Laika's Ghost • (2011) • novelette by Karl Schroeder

128 • Ragnarok • (2011) • poem by Paul Park

140 • Six Months, Three Days • (2011) • novelette by Charlie Anders [as by Charlie Jane Anders ]

163 • "And Weep Like Alexander" • (2011) • shortfiction by Neil Gaiman

169 • The Middle of Somewhere • (2011) • shortfiction by Judith Moffett

195 • Mercies • (2011) • novelette by Gregory Benford

220 • The Education of Junior Number 12 • [Machine Dynasties] • (2011) • shortfiction by Madeline Ashby

246 • Our Candidate • (2011) • shortstory by Robert Reed

261 • Thick Water • (2011) • shortfiction by Karen Heuler

281 • The War Artist • (2011) • shortstory by Tony Ballantyne

294 • The Master of the Aviary • (2011) • shortfiction by Bruce Sterling

323 • Home Sweet Bi'ome • (2011) • novelette by Pat MacEwen

346 • For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I'll Not Be Back Again • (2011) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick

364 • The Ki-anna • (2011) • novelette by Gwyneth Jones

388 • Eliot Wrote • (2011) • shortstory by Nancy Kress

403 • The Nearest Thing • (2011) • novelette by Genevieve Valentine

430 • A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel • (2011) • shortstory by Yoon Ha Lee

438 • The Ice Owl • (2011) • novella by Carolyn Ives Gilman