Upending and recombining familiar genres with fearless abandon, Nick Mamatas is known for his wicked satires in which Horror rides shotgun with SF as they power through Fantasy’s rush-hour traffic. Lanes are crossed, speed limits exceeded, and minds often blown. Our title piece, original to this volume, is something entirely new. Trust me. “The Planetbreaker’s Son” is a starship novella in which interstellar emigrants maintain their stadium-sized vessel with dreams and play. On the fly. Think Pinocchio meets Ender’s Game. “Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring, Ring” is a cautionary tale about the perilous interface between ancient wizardry and modern ringtones. And it’s for you. “The Term Paper Artist” is Nick’s celebrated and hilarious how-to on embellishing the academic establishment with equal parts imitation and duct tape. Based on a true story of lies. And Featuring: of course, our casually candid Outspoken Interview, in which Greek sailors, Japanese manga mavens, Doc Martens, Lovecraft, Grandma, and Kerouac mingle and mix. Care to dance?

"We are in deep trouble," writes Sharif Abdullah. "We live a world that works for only a few." The problem, Abdullah asserts, is exlusivity: "I am separate." By practicing exclusivity, he maintains, we have created a soul-starved society. We suffer, both personally and as a society, from complex, interlocking so intense that they create a deep sense of emptiness in all of us. But there is hope. Abdullah shows how we can change our world by changing our consciousness. We can actually put an end these complex problems if we reject exclusivity in favor of inclusivity. We must turn from a mentality that disconnects us and instead embrace the goals of restoring balance to the earth and building community with all other people. In Creating a World That Works for All, Abdullah provides a practical blueprint for that change. Abdullah makes it clear that there are no bad guys to blame: we are all equally responsible for the current state of our world. We each have created it, and we each have equal power to change it. Abdullah offers three criteria for creating a world that works for all: 1. The Criteria of Enoughness: Everyone has enough, even though not everyone shares resources equally 2. The Criteria of Exchangeability: Trading places would be okay 3. The Criteria of Common Benefit: The system is designed and intended to benefit all In order to meet these criteria, Abdullah shows us how to let go of old theories and ideas, so we can clearly see our current problems and possible solutions. And he shows us how to create new stories that explain and define the new behaviors that make cultural changes possible.

Mixing satire, farce, and dystopia, the stories in John Kessel's The Presidential Papers deconstruct the character and politics of five imagined presidents, some of whom bear striking resemblance to individuals who have occupied the Oval Office over the last thirty years. Who are these men and what makes them so funny, when they are not terrifying? How damaged does a person need to be to seek such power, why do we vote for them, and what do they think about the 1959 Washington Senators? In "The Franchise," aging career minor leaguer George H.W. Bush faces ace New York Giants pitcher Fidel Castro in the 1959 World Series. "The Last American" outlines the career of the final president of the United States and his thirty-three years in office. Can the megalomaniac President of the Solar System evade the consequences of his moronic rule in the original play "A Brief History of the War with Venus"? In our Outspoken Interview we learn about crossing Mary Shelley with Jane Austen, about having classic SF writer James Gunn as a mentor, about being a spy in the English department, and about industrial capitalism, immigrants, and Buffalo, New York.

A fresh post-apocalyptic anthology: the end of the world seen through the salvage and ruins. Featuring Emily St John Mandel, Carmen Maria Machado and more. WHAT WOULD YOU SAVE FROM THE FIRE? In the moments when it all comes crashing down, what will we value the most, and how will we save it? Digging through the layers of ruined cities beneath your feet, living in the bombed-out husk of a city, hiding from the monsters on the other side of the wall, can we turn the cataclysm into an opportunity? Featuring new and exclusive stories, as well as classics of the genre, Grassmann takes us through the fall and beyond, to the things that are created after. Calling on the finest traditions of post-apocalyptic fiction, this anthology asks us what makes us human, and who we will be when we emerge out of the ruins? Featuring work from China Miéville, Emily St John Mandel, Clive Barker, Carmen Maria Machado, Charlie Jane Anders, Samuel R. Delaney, Ramsey Campbell, Lavie Tidhar, Kaaron Warrern, Anna Tambour, Nina Allan, Jeffrey Thomas, Paul Di Filippo, Ron Drummond, Nikhil Singh, John Skipp, Autumn Christian, Chris Kelso, Rumi Kaneko, Nick Mamatas and D.R.G. Sugawara.

James Patrick Kelly is known for finding the future unnervingly nearby, and he enters with his deep empathy and dry humor at the ready. A longtime favorite of SF readers is at the top of his game here. In the title story, a college acid trip becomes a window into an unexpected and apparently unavoidable future. In “Itsy Bitsy Spider” a disappointed woman’s robotic girlhood takes her by the hand and leads her back to the destiny that eluded her. Two short plays render alien invasion terrifyingly mundane and death annoyingly impermanent. “The Best Christmas Ever” is celebrated by sims and droids instead of the usual jolly elves. Our Outspoken Interview and a bibliography round out this long-awaited new collection.

When the United States and China clash, the world will never be the same, especially when forces beyond reality threaten to intervene. What if the United States went to war with the People’s Republic of China? How would these rivals fight for supremacy on land, sea, air, and across the stochastic streams of time? What wonder weapons would be unleashed? What horrors would emerge from the eradiated sludge of the South China Sea? What heroes would rise and forever change the course of history? Tread into the deepest and darkest dimensions of the multiverse, gaze through a kaleidoscope of fractured realities, and bear witness to the disturbing visions of World War III from today’s greatest minds in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Stories by: Larry Correia, Steve Diamond, David Drake, Nick Mamatas, Brian Trent, Martin L. Shoemaker, Blaine L. Pardoe, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Julian Michael Carver, D.J. Butler, David J. West, Sean Patrick Hazlett, Deborah A. Wolf, Stephen Lawson, Erica L. Satifka, Rob McMonigal, Brenda Clough, Kevin Ikenberry, Brad R. Torgersen, T.C. McCarthy, Nadia Bulkin, Freddy Costello, and Michael Z. Williamson.

Wry, dark humor burnishes visionary SF in these often prophetic, sometimes troubling, but always fascinating tales that combine and masterfully conflate the disparate worlds of corporate tech and literary art. “After the Thaw” is a hi-tech take on an ancient idea: immortality. “Terrible Trudy on the Lam” based on actual events, is a modern fable about a zoo escape, a private eye, a vaudeville act and keeping your mouth shut. “Night Shift at NanoGobblers,” written for a NASA website, is about asteroid-altering AIs and their world-weary earthbound handlers. “Transitions” deals with jet lag when your flight is decades late. Gunn’s long-awaited third collection is rounded out by incisive and affectionate portraits of her SF colleagues, mentors, and friends, beginning with Ursula Le Guin. All illuminated of course by our artfully intimate interview.

“Arctic Sky” tells of a young climate activist who discovers her own courage in the frozen depths of a Russian prison. “Palimpsest” is set on a bionic (living)space station that launches explorers into the farthest reaches of Time and Space. In “The Room on the Roof” an ancient culture meets modern mysteries with unexpected results. Our non-fiction title piece, “Utopias of the Third Kind,” is a first look at actual utopias that are responding to our looming dystopian nightmare. “Hunger” is a short story that finds both understanding and forgiveness for humankind’s original sin. Our Outspoken Interview and a bibliography round out this new collection.

Having stormed mainstream literature from the outskirts, Lethem has won a readership both wide and deep, all of whom appreciate his literary excellence, his mordant but compassionate humor, and the cultish attentiveness of his SF origins. He has earned the right to tread anywhere, and his many admirers are ready to follow. This collection compiles his intensely personal thoughts on the most interesting and deplorable topics in post-postmodern America. It moves from original new fiction to insights on popular culture, cult and canonical authors, and problematic people. Plus… “David Bowman and the Furry-Girl School of American Fiction” is a personal true adventure, as Lethem tries (with the help of a seeming expert) to elbow his way into literary respectability. “The Collapsing Frontier” and “In Mugwump Four” are fictions mapping ominous new realms. “Calvino’s 'Lightness' and the Feral Child of History” is an intimate encounter with a legendary author. In “My Year of Reading Lemmishly” and “Snowden in the Labyrinth” he explores courage, art, and the search for truth, with wildly different results. And Featuring: Our usual Outspoken Interview, in which Lethem reveals the secret subtext of his books, how he spent his MacArthur award money, and how a Toyota he owned was used in the robbery of a fast-food restaurant.

“Elison offers a troubling yet hopeful vision of the future.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “A strikingly powerful story of one woman’s physical and emotional resourcefulness under the most dire of circumstances. An apocalyptic page-turner that picks up where Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale left off.” —Jackie Hatton, Tor.com “I could talk about female empowerment, body positivity, and gender flexibility. But those terms are wholly inadequate for Meg Elison’s clear-eyed satire in the guise of fantasy and science fiction. Powered by rage, incandescent with a deep understanding of injustice, angry for all the right reasons, yet still essentially optimistic, these are the stories I need to keep me warm through the long dark night. Compelling and fierce and unstoppable.” —Pat Murphy, World Fantasy Award winner “Meg Elison’s stories will raise blisters on your conscience. Her politics are smart, her prose is like a razor, and her characters will break your heart. Read at your own risk.” —Annalee Newitz, author of Autonomous “Meg Elison’s work is visceral and compelling. A voice that doesn’t so much demand attention as it 100 percent deserves every ounce of it.” —Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Hugo-winning writer and editor