The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection

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The twenty-eight stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our beings, to the realm of the gods, and to the moment just after now. Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including: Daniel Abraham • Eleanor Arnason • Pauolo Bacigalupi • Kage Baker • Stephen Baxter • Terry Bisson • James L. Cambias • Albert E. Cowdrey • Colin P. Davies • Paul Di Fillipo • Brendan DuBois • Michael F. Flynn • Peter F. Hamilton • M. John Harrison • James Patrick Kelly • Caitlin R. Kiernan • Nancy Kress • Paul Melko • David Moles • Pat Murphy • Robert Reed • Benjamin Rosenbaum • Mary Rosenbaum • Christopher Rowe • William Sanders • Vandana Singh • Vernor Vinge • Walter Jon Williams

Supplementing the stories are the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and a list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource as well as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.

Cover design by Shea M. Kornblum
Cover illustration by Stephan Martiniere

Description from back cover

Contents
xi • Acknowledgments • • essay by Gardner Dozois
xiii • Summation: 2004 • essay by Gardner Dozois
1 • Inappropriate Behavior • • novelette by Pat Murphy
27 • Start the Clock • • shortstory by Benjamin Rosenbaum
42 • The Third Party • • novelette by David Moles
72 • The Voluntary State • • novelette by Christopher Rowe
105 • Shiva in Shadow • • novelette by Nancy Kress
153 • The People of Sand and Slag • • novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi
172 • The Clapping Hands of God • • novelette by Michael F. Flynn
214 • Tourism • • shortstory by M. John Harrison
228 • Scout's Honor • • shortstory by Terry Bisson
244 • Men Are Trouble • • novelette by James Patrick Kelly
283 • Mother Aegypt • [Company] • • novella by Kage Baker
348 • Synthetic Serendipity • • shortstory by Vernor Vinge
366 • Skin Deep • • shortstory by Mary Rosenblum
389 • Delhi • • shortstory by Vandana Singh
405 • The Tribes of Bela • [Colonel Kohn] • • novella by Albert E. Cowdrey
465 • Sitka • • shortstory by William Sanders
478 • Leviathan Wept • • shortstory by Daniel Abraham
499 • The Defenders • • shortstory by Colin P. Davies
504 • Mayflower II • [Xeelee] • • novella by Stephen Baxter
562 • Riding the White Bull • • novelette by Caitlín R. Kiernan
588 • Falling Star • • shortstory by Brendan DuBois
603 • The Dragons of Summer Gulch • • novelette by Robert Reed
628 • The Ocean of the Blind • • shortstory by James L. Cambias
649 • The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance • [Hwarhath] • • novella by Eleanor Arnason
688 • Footvote • • shortstory by Peter F. Hamilton
706 • Sisyphus and the Stranger • • shortstory by Paul Di Filippo
718 • Ten Sigmas • • shortstory by Paul Melko
726 • Investments • [Dread Empire's Fall] • • novella by Walter Jon Williams
811 • Honorable Mentions: 2004 • essay by Gardner Dozois