The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection

by Gardner Dozois

  Jane Yolen, “Sister Emily’s Lightship,” Starlight 1.

  ———, “Sphinx Song,” Realms of Fantasy, June.

  Sarah Zettel, “Under Pressure,” Analog, April.

  ALSO BY GARDNER DOZOIS

  ANTHOLOGIES

  A Day in the Life

  Another World

  Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year #6–10

  The Best of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

  Time-Travellers from Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

  Transcendental Tales from Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine

  Isaac Asimov’s Aliens

  Isaac Asimov’s SF Lite

  Isaac Asimov’s Mars

  Isaac Asimov’s War

  Isaac Asimov’s Planet Earth (with Sheila Williams)

  Isaac Asimov’s Robots (with Sheila Williams)

  Isaac Asimov’s Cyberdreams (with Sheila Williams)

  Isaac Asimov’s Skin Deep (with Sheila Williams)

  Isaac Asimov’s Ghosts (with Sheila Williams)

  Isaac Asimov’s Vampires (with Sheila Williams)

  The Year’s Best Science Fiction, #1–13

  Future Earths: Under African Skies (with Mike Resnick)

  Future Earths: Under South American Skies (with Mike Resnick)

  Future Power (with Jack Dann)

  Unicorns! (with Jack Dann)

  Magicats 2 (with Jack Dann)

  Mermaids! (with Jack Dann)

  Demons! (with Jack Dann)

  Ripper! (with Susan Casper)

  Dinosaurs! (with Jack Dann)

  Dragons! (with Jack Dann)

  Unicorns 2 (with Jack Dann)

  Angels! (with Jack Dann)

  Hackers (with Jack Dann)

  Aliens! (with Jack Dann)

  Magicats! (with Jack Dann)

  Bestiary! (with Jack Dann)

  Sorcerers! (with Jack Dann)

  Dogtales! (with Jack Dann)

  Seaserpents! (with Jack Dann)

  Little People! (with Jack Dann)

  Horses! (with Jack Dann)

  Invaders! (with Jack Dann)

  Dinosaurs II (with Jack Dann)

  Timegates (with Jack Dann)

  Modern Classics of Science Fiction

  Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction

  Modern Classics of Fantasy

  Killing Me Softly

  FICTION

  Strangers

  The Visible Man (collection)

  Nightmare Blue (with George Alec Effinger)

  Slow Dancing Through Time (with Jack Dann, Michael Swanwick, Susan Casper, and Jack C. Haldeman II)

  The Peacemaker

  Geodesic Dreams (collection)

  NONFICTION

  The Fiction of James Tiptree, Jr.

  Acknowledgment is made for permission to print the following material:

  “Immersion,” by Gregory Benford. Copyright © 1995 by Abbenford Associates. First published in Science Fiction Age, March 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Dead,” by Michael Swanwick. Copyright © 1996 by Michael Swanwick. First published in Starlight 1, edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Flowers of Aulit Prison,” by Nancy Kress. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “A Dry, Quiet War,” by Tony Daniel. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Thirteen Phantasms,” by James P. Blaylock. Copyright © by James P. Blaylock. First published electronically on Omni Online, October 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Primrose and Thorn,” by Bud Sparhawk. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, May 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Miracle of Ivar Avenue,” by John Kessel. Copyright © 1996 by John Kessel. First published in Intersections, edited by John Kessel, Mark L. Van Name, and Richard Butner (Tor Books). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Last Homosexual,” by Paul Park. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Recording Angel,” by Ian McDonald. Copyright © 1996 by Interzone. First published in Interzone, February 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Death Do Us Part,” by Robert Silverberg. Copyright © 1996 by Agberg Ltd. First published electronically on Omni Online, December 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Spade of Reason,” by Jim Cowan. Copyright © 1996 by Jim Cowan. First published in Century 4. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Cost to Be Wise,” by Maureen F. McHugh. Copyright © 1996 by Maureen F. McHugh. First published in Starlight 1, edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Bicycle Repairman,” by Bruce Sterling. Copyright © 1996 by Bruce Sterling. First published in Intersections, edited by John Kessel, Mark L. Van Name, and Richard Butner (Tor Books). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Weighing of Ayre,” by Gregory Feeley. Copyright © 1996 by Gregory Feeley. First published in Starlight 1, edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Longer Voyage,” by Michael Cassutt. Copyright © 1996 by Mercury Press, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Land of Nod,” by Mike Resnick. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Red Sonja and Lessingham in Dreamland,” by Gwyneth Jones. Copyright © 1996 by Gwyneth Jones. First published in Off Limits: More Tales of Alien Sex, edited by Ellen Datlow (St. Martin’s Press). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Lady Vanishes,” by Charles Sheffield. Copyright © 1996 by Charles Sheffield. First published in Science Fiction Age, November 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Chrysalis,” by Robert Reed. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Wind over the World,” by Steven Utley. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Changes,” by William Barton. Copyright © 1996 by William Barton. First published in Aboriginal Science Fiction, Summer 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Counting Cats in Zanzibar,” by Gene Wolfe. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, Virginia Kidd.

  “How We Got in Town and out Again,” by Jonathan Lethem. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Dr. Tilmann’s Consultant: A Scientific Romance,” by Cherry Wilder. Copyright © 1996 by Cherry Wilder. First published electronically on Omni Online, November 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Schrödinger’s Dog,” by Damien Broderick. Copyright © 1996 by Eidolon Publications. First appeared in Eidolon 22/23. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Foreign Devils,” by Walter Jon Williams. Copyright © 1996 by Walter Jon Williams. First published in War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, edited by Kevin J. Anderson (Bantam Spectra). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “In the MSOB,” by Stephen Baxter. Copyright © 1996 by Interzone. First published in Interzone, March 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, The Maggie Noach Agency.

  “The Robot’s Twilight Companion,” by Tony Danie
l. Copyright © 1996 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, August 1996. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: FOURTEENTH ANNUAL COLLECTION. Copyright © 1997 by Gardner Dozois. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  Edited by Gordon Van Gelder

  ISBN 0-312-15702-9

  eISBN 9781466829534

  First eBook edition: September 2012