2010 Aurora Award nominee The 21st Century Belongs to Canada On a per capita basis, Canada has more world-class science-fiction writers than any country on Earth. Collected here are the best recent works by Hugo Award winners Spider Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, and Robert Charles Wilson, Hugo nominees Paddy Forde, James Alan Gardner, Nalo Hopkinson, and Peter Watts, and Aurora Award winners Julie E. Czerneda and Karl Schroeder - 14 advance reports of wonders and dangers yet to come. Robert J. Sawyer is the public face of Canadian science fiction." - Quill & Quire Robert J. Sawyer - called "the Dean of Canadian Science Fiction" by the Ottawa Citizen and "Canada's answer to Michael Crichton" by the Montreal Gazette - has published 18 novels, including the Hugo Award-winning Hominids, the Nebula Award-winning The Terminal Experiment , and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award-winning Mindscan. The following is the list of contributing authors with links to a brief bio on the author: Julie E. Czerneda, Paddy Forde, James Alan Gardner, Nalo Hopkinson, Spider Robinson, Robert J. Sawyer, Karl Schroeder, Peter Watts, and Robert Charles Wilson, plus the poetry of Carolyn Clink.

Laser-sharp zingers and out-of-this-world puns pile up at an astronomical pace in this zero gravitas sci-fi spoof from the author of Witches Be Crazy. Never meddle with unidentified spying objects . . . The year is: The Future. Mars and Earth are like that divorced couple who don’t exactly like each other but have at least stopped fighting in public. Floating somewhere in between them, amid all the garbage and Gene Roddenberry’s ashes, a transport vessel called the SS Jefferson is homeward bound. Its crew might have even made it on time for once, too . . . Captain Cox is no stranger to encountering the odd pickle in space, but when a tantalizingly derelict ship crosses paths with the Jefferson, he unwittingly parks in the middle of a NASA-ty interplanetary squabble. Faced with a marauding Martian and a squad of snobby secret agents, Cox and crew embark on a mad scramble across the solar system, to save themselves from either murder-via-space rifle or imprisonment in the notorious Guantanamo Docking Bay. Maybe they’ll also get around to dealing with the biological weapon that accidentally wound up in their fridge, too. Logan J. Hunder’s Astro-Nuts in this riotously funny send-up of spaceships and space exploration. Discover adventure, love, loss, gain, losing what was gained, gaining some of it back, and all the different ways the Outer Space Treaty can be violated.

In this "impressive debut" from award-winning speculative fiction author Nalo Hopkinson, a young woman must solve the tragic mystery surrounding her family and bargain with the gods to save her city and herself. (The Washington Post) The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways -- farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.

“Stephen Kotowych writes the mythic into the realism of life in modern day, proving that myths never die; they linger on well into the future.” - SF Site Award-winning author Stephen Kotowych has been hailed as one of speculative fiction’s “talented up-and-comers” by Publisher’s Weekly, and as the author of “gloriously wild ideas” by Locus. Now, in SEVEN AGAINST TOMORROW, he brings together a collection of new and previously published short-stories, heralding his arrival as one of the most exciting new voices in SF. From a symphony played on the rings of Saturn, to a love that defies the very bonds of time; from a young girl’s destiny driven by a magic sword, to a young boy’s confrontation with the robots who raised him—here are stories of wonder and awe, imagination and humanity, that will transport you from the edge of the cosmos to the intimacy of the human heart. SEVEN AGAINST TOMORROW includes an introduction by the author, original illustrations, and behind-the-scenes commentary on the origin of each story. Now featuring a bonus 8th story! "Under the Shield": a novelette of love and murder set against the backdrop of a world torn apart by cold war and terror, all driven by the inventions of Nikola Tesla!

Science fiction and fantasy is one of the most challenging—and rewarding—genres to write. But with New York Times bestselling author Philip Athans and fantasy giant R. A. Salvatore at your side, you’ll create worlds that draw your readers in—and keep them reading! Drawing on his years of experience as one of the most acclaimed professionals in publishing, Wizards of the Coast editor Athans explains how to set your novel apart and break into this lucrative field. From devising clever plots and building complex characters to inventing original technologies and crafting alien civilizations, Athans gives you the techniques you need to write strong, saleable narratives. Athans applies all of these critical lessons together in an unprecedented deconstruction of a never-before-published tale by the one and only R. A. Salvatore! There are books on writing science fiction and fantasy, and then there’s this book—the only one you need to create strange, wonderful worlds for your own universe of readers.

Nalo Hopkinson--winner of the John W. Campbell Award, the Sunburst Award, and the World Fantasy award (among others), and lauded as one of our "most inventive and brilliant writers" (New York Post)--returns with a new work exploring the relationship between two sisters in this richly textured and deeply moving novel. We'd had to be cut free of our mother's womb. She'd never have been able to push the two-headed sport that was me and Abby out the usual way. Abby and I were fused, you see. Conjoined twins. Abby's head, torso, and left arm protruded from my chest. But here's the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn't. Far as the Family was concerned, Abby was one of them, though cursed, as I was, with the tragic flaw of mortality. Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls gave Abby a permanent limp, but left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father, the god of growing things--a highly unusual childhood that made them extremely close. Ever since Abby's magical talent began to develop, though, in the form of an unearthly singing voice, the sisters have become increasingly distant. Today, Makeda has decided it's high time to move out and make her own life among the other nonmagical, claypicken humans--after all, she's one of them. In Cheerful Rest, a run-down warehouse space, Makeda finds exactly what she's been looking for: an opportunity to live apart from Abby and begin building her own independent life. There's even a resident band, led by the charismatic (and attractive) building superintendent. But when her father goes missing, Makeda will have to discover her own talent--and reconcile with Abby--if she's to have a hope of saving him . . .

Tesseracts Nine also made the LOCUS Recommended reading list for 2006. It was included in the Locus Poll for best anthology! Many of the stories have now appeared in Year's Best Fantasy and Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies. While other stories received nominations for the Brandon, Fountain, Sturgeon and Aurora Awards. "Apparently being in T9 was a Good Thing." -- Derryl Murphy Each year Tesseract Books chooses a team of editors from amongst the best of Canada's writers, publishers and critics to select innovative and futuristic fiction and poetry from the leaders and emerging voices in Canadian speculative fiction. Tesseracts Nine expands the dimensions of speculative fiction experientially, with startling visions of the future by new and established Canadian authors. Featuring twenty-three stories and poems by: Timothy J. Anderson, Sylvie Berard, Rene Beaulieu, E. L. Chen, Candas Jane Dorsey, Pat Forde, Marg Gilks, Sandra Kasturi, Nancy Kilpatrick, Claude Lalumi re, Anthony MacDonald, Jason Mehmel, Yves Meynard, Derryl Murphy, Rhea Rose, Dan Rubin, Daniel Sernine, Steve Stanton, Jerome Stueart, Sarah Totton, Elisabeth Vonarburg, Peter Watts, Allan Weiss, Alette J. Willis and Casey June Wolf. Edited by Sunburst and World Fantasy Award winning authors Nalo Hopkinson and Geoff Ryman, Tesseracts Nine showcases the very best in Canadian speculative fiction literature (including English translations of works by French-Canadian authors).

Canadian Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror: Bridging the Solitudes exposes the limitations of the solitudes concept so often applied uncritically to the Canadian experience. This volume examines Canadian and Québécois literature of the fantastic across its genres—such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, indigenous futurism, and others—and considers how its interrogation of colonialism, nationalism, race, and gender works to bridge multiple solitudes. Utilizing a transnational lens, this volume reveals how the fantastic is ready-made for exploring, in non-literal terms, the complex and problematic nature of intercultural engagement.

"Featuring speculative fiction-writing exercises from Harlan Ellison, Piers Anthony, Ramsey Campbell, Jack Ketchum, screenwriters of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and many more. The fifth volume in the acclaimed Now Write! writing-guide series offers a full toolbox of advice and exercises for speculative fiction writers hoping to craft an engaging alternate reality, flesh out an enthralling fantasy quest, or dream up a bloodcurdling plot twist, including: -Harlan Ellison, on crafting the perfect story title -Jack Ketchum, on how economy of language helps create a truly frightening tale -Piers Antony, on making fantastical characters feel genuine and relatable This collection of storytelling secrets from top genre writers-including winners of Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Bram Stoker awards-is essential for any writer looking to take a leap beyond the ordinary"--

Essays on the writers and works of Canadian fantasy and science-fiction that have made this genre an important component of Canadian literature, one that must be considered by Canadian literary scholars. Documents the rapid development of Canadian fantasy and science-fiction from the early 1980s to the beginning of the twenty-first century.