Kai Ashante Wilson, “A Taste of Honey,” Tor.com.
A. C. Wise, “A Guide to Birds (After Death),” Clockwork Phoenix 5.
______, “How Objects Behave on the Edge of a Black Hole,” Strangers Among Us.
______, “Seven Cups of Coffee,” Clarkesworld, March.
Nick Wolven, “Caspar D. Lukinbill, What Are You Going to Do?” F&SF, January/February.
______, “In the Midst of Life,” Clarkesworld, Febraury.
______, “The Metal Deminonde,” Analog, July/August.
______, “Passion Summer,” Asimov’s, February.
Peter Wood, “Academic Circles,” Asimov’s, September.
Alyssa Wong, “Natural Skin,” Lightspeed, November.
______, “You’ll Surely Drown If You Stay Here,” Uncanny 10.
Frank Wu, “In the Absense of Instructions,” Analog, November.
J. V. Yang, “Secondhand Bodies,” Lightspeed, January.
E. Lily Yu, “The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight,” Uncanny 12.
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, “e^h,” Humanity 2.0.
______, “Prayers to the Sun by a Dying Person,” This Way to the End Times.
______, “Wyslomg,” Cyber World.
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-TRAVELERS FROM ISAAC ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE
TRANSCENDENTAL TALES FROM ISAAC ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE
ISAAC ASIMOV’S ALIENS
ISAAC ASIMOV’S MARS
ISAAC ASIMOV’S SF LITE
ISAAC ASIMOV’S WAR
ROADS NOT TAKEN (with Stanley Schmidt)
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION, #1–32
FUTURE EARTHS: UNDER AFRICAN SKIES (with Mike Resnick)
FUTURE EARTHS: UNDER SOUTH AMERICAN SKIES (with Mike Resnick)
RIPPER! (with Susan Casper)
MODERN CLASSIC SHORT NOVELS OF SCIENCE FICTION
MODERN CLASSICS OF FANTASY
KILLING ME SOFTLY
DYING FOR IT
THE GOOD OLD STUFF
THE GOOD NEW STUFF
EXPLORERS
THE FURTHEST HORIZON
WORLDMAKERS
SUPERMEN
COEDITED WITH SHEILA WILLIAMS
ISAAC ASIMOV’S PLANET EARTH
ISAAC ASIMOV’S ROBOTS
ISAAC ASIMOV’S VALENTINES
ISAAC ASIMOV’S SKIN DEEP
ISAAC ASIMOV’S GHOSTS
ISAAC ASIMOV’S VAMPIRES
ISAAC ASIMOV’S MOONS
ISAAC ASIMOV’S CHRISTMAS
ISAAC ASIMOV’S CAMELOT
ISAAC ASIMOV’S WEREWOLVES
ISAAC ASIMOV’S SOLAR SYSTEM
ISAAC ASIMOV’S DETECTIVES
ISAAC ASIMOV’S CYBERDREAMS
COEDITED WITH JACK DANN
ALIENS!
UNICORNS!
MAGICATS!
MAGICATS 2!
BESTIARY!
MERMAIDS!
SORCERERS!
DEMONS!
DOGTALES!
SEASERPENTS!
DINOSAURS!
LITTLE PEOPLE!
DRAGONS!
HORSES!
UNICORNS 2
INVADERS!
ANGELS!
DINOSAURS II
HACKERS
TIMEGATES
CLONES
NANOTECH
IMMORTALS
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.
About the Editor
GARDNER DOZOIS has been working in the science fiction field for more than thirty years. For twenty years he was the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction, during which time he received the Hugo Award for Best Editor fifteen times. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
DEDICATION
PERMISSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SUMMATION: 2016
TERMINAL • Lavie Tidhar
TOURING WITH THE ALIEN • Carolyn Ives Gilman
PATIENCE LAKE • Matthew Claxton
JONAS AND THE FOX • Rich Larson
PRODIGAL • Gord Sellar
KIT: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED • Kathe Koja & Carter Scholz
VORTEX • Gregory Benford
ELVES OF ANTARCTICA • Paul McAuley
THE BABY EATERS • Ian McHugh
A SALVAGING OF GHOSTS • Aliette de Bodard
THESE SHADOWS LAUGH • Geoff Ryman
REDKING • Craig DeLancey
THINGS WITH BEARDS • Sam J. Miller
FIELDWORK • Shariann Lewitt
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF MR. COSTELLO • David Gerrold
INNUMERABLE GLIMMERING LIGHTS • Rich Larson
FIFTY SHADES OF GRAYS • Steven Barnes
SIXTEEN QUESTIONS FOR KAMALA CHATTERJEE • Alastair Reynolds
COLD COMFORT • Pat Murphy & Paul Doherty
THE ART OF SPACE TRAVEL • Nina Allan
FLIGHT FROM THE AGES • Derek Kȕsken
MY GENERATIONS SHALL PRAISE • Samantha Henderson
MARS ABIDES • Stephen Baxter
THE VISITOR FROM TAURED • Ian R. MacLeod
WHEN THE STONE EAGLE FLIES • Bill Johnson
THE VANISHING KIND • Lavie Tidhar
ONE SISTER, TWO SISTERS, THREE • James Patrick Kelly
DISPATCHES FROM THE CRADLE: THE HERMIT—FORTY-EIGHT HOURS IN THE SEA OF MASSACHUSETTS • Ken Liu
CHECKERBOARD PLANET • Eleanor Arnason
THEY HAVE ALL ONE BREATH • Karl Bunker
MIKA MODEL • Paolo Bacigalupi
THAT GAME WE PLAYED DURING THE WAR • Carrie Vaughn
BECAUSE CHANGE WAS THE OCEAN AND WE LIVED BY HER MERCY • Charlie Jane Anders
THE ONE WHO ISN’T • Ted Kosmatka
THOSE BRIGHTER STARS • Mercurio D. Rivera
A TOWER FOR THE COMING WORLD • Maggie Clark
FIRSTBORN, LASTBORN • Melissa Scott
WOMEN’S CHRISTMAS • Ian McDonald
THE IRON TACTICIAN • Alastair Reynolds
HONORABLE MENTIONS: 2016
ALSO BY GARDNER DOZOIS
ABOUT THE EDITOR
COPYRIGHT
These short stories are works of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in these stories are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL COLLECTION. Copyright © 2017 by Gardner Dozois. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover illustration by James Burns
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-11923-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-11924-7 (trade paperback)
ISBN 978-1-250-11925-4 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781250119254
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First Edition: July 2017
The Year's Best Science Fiction--Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection Page 113