The novella is, in the words of Gardner Dozois, "a perfect length for a science fiction story: long enough to enable you to flesh out the details of a strange alien world or a bizarre future society...and yet, still short enough for the story to pack a real punch." The thirteen masterpieces assembled in Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction travel to the farthest reaches of the imagination, through realms of immortality, along alternate paths of time and across vast galaxies to explore the best of all imaginable worlds.

Brian Aldiss William Gibson R.A. Lafferty Ursula K. Le Guin Lucius Shepard Bruce Sterling Theodore Sturgeon Howard Waldrop Connie Willis Gene Wolfe Roger Zelazny "The best stories are timeless. Long years from now the stories here may still touch someone, cause that person to blink, and put the book down for a second, and stare off through the hallow air, and shirver in wonder."

Here are 25 stories of science fiction that push the envelope, by the biggest names in an emerging new crop of high-tech futuristic SF - including Charles Stross, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Peter Hamilton and Neal Asher. High-tech SF has made a significant comeback in the last decade, as bestselling authors successfully blend the super-science of 'hard science fiction' with real characters in an understandable scenario. It is perhaps a reflection of how technologically controlled our world is that readers increasingly look for science fiction that considers the fates of mankind as a result of increasing scientific domination. This anthology brings together the most extreme examples of the new high-tech, far-future science fiction, pushing the limits way beyond normal boundaries. The stories include: "A Perpetual War Fought Within a Cosmic String", "A Weapon That Could Destroy the Universe", "A Machine That Detects Alternate Worlds and Creates a Choice of Christs", "An Immortal Dead Man Sent To The End of the Universe", "Murder in Virtual Reality", "A Spaceship So Large That There is An Entire Planetary System Within It", and "An Analytical Engine At The End of Time", and "Encountering the Untouchable."

David Seed examines how science fiction has emerged as a popular genre of literature in the 20th century, and discusses it in relation to themes such as science and technology, space, aliens, utopias, and gender. Looking at some of the most influential writers of the genre he also considers the wider social and political issues it raises.

This collection is the second installment in the popular and long-running "The Year's Best Science Fiction" series: Fantastic Science Fiction! The Year's Best -- And Biggest Collection Here's the cream of the crop: short stories, novelettes, novellas by science fiction writers already famous and awarded for their high-quality work in science fiction. Writers like: Robert Silverberg Lucius Shepard Jack McDevitt Octavia E. Butler Connie Willis Richard Cowper John Varley Gene Wolfe

For more than 100 years, science fiction writers have told tales of alien encounters and fascinating technologies and warned of the dangers of dystopian governments. From Victorians experimenting with time travel to pioneers exploring the depths of space, the stories collected here are a tribute to the imagination of the inventors of the modern science fiction genre. Some tales are filled with boundless optimism for the ingenuity of humanity while others provide fearful warnings of the risks of war and the dangers of technology. In the late 19th century, writers across the world began looking to the future. In France, Jules Verne explored the possibilities of future technology and the wonders of exploration in his novels Journey to the Centre of the Earthand Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. In England, H. G. Wells established himself as one of the founders of science fiction with his novels The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. They were both also prolific short story writers. Others followed suit. In Bengal, the feminist Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain used her fiction to advance women's rights and education. In the United States, Jack London found science fiction the perfect way to express some of his unique political ideas. By the end of World War I, science fiction had established itself as a major genre. With the birth of the pulp magazine came a slew of accomplished writers - authors such as George Griffith, John Ulrich Giesy, Homer Eon Flint, Cyril G. Wates and others excelled at the short story, able to experiment and create a sense of wonder in their fascinating tales. This collection includes stories by: Grant Allen Stephen Vincent Benét Miles J. Breuer Thornton DeKy Francis Flagg Homer Eon Flint John Ulrich Giesy George Griffith Austin Hall Will Harben Nathaniel Hawthorne Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain Rudyard Kipling Jack London Edward Page Mitchell Garrett P. Serviss Charles B. Stilson Jules Verne Cyril G. Wates Stanley G. Weinbaum H. G. Wells

Collects nine classic science fiction novels from 1953 to 1958.

The Golden Age of Science Fiction, from the early 1940s through the 1950s, saw an explosion of talent in SF writing, including authors such as Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke. Their writing helped science fiction gain wide public attention, and left a lasting impression upon society. The same writers formed the mold for the next three decades of science fiction, and much of their writing remains as fresh today as it was then.

10 short stories by some of the early writers of science fiction.