The Year’s Best Science Fiction Twenty-Sixth Annual

by Gardner Dozois

  ———, “Suicide Drive,” Helix 7.

  Lou Antonelli, “The Witch of Waxahachie,” JBU, April.

  Catherine Asaro, “The Spacetime Pool,” Analog, January/February.

  Neal Asher, “Mason’s Rats: Auto Tractor,” Solaris Book of SF II.

  ———, “Mason’s Rats: Black Rat,” Solaris Book of SF II.

  ———, “Owner Space,” Galactic Empires.

  ———, “The Rhine World’s Incident,” Subterfuge.

  Paolo Bacigalupi, “Pump Six,” F&SF, September.

  Kage Baker, “Caverns of Mystery,” Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy.

  ———, “I Begyn As I Mean to Go On,” Fast Ships, Black Sails.

  ———, “Running the Snake,” Sideways in Crime.

  ———, “Speed, Speed the Cable,” Extraordinary Engines.

  Peter M. Ball, “The Last Great House of Isla Tortuga,” Dreaming Again.

  ———, “On Finding the Photographs of My Former Loves,” Fantasy, June 2.

  Tony Ballantyne, “Undermind,” Subterfuge.

  Jamie Barras, “The Endling,” Interzone, April.

  Neal Barrett Jr., “Radio Station Saint Jack,” Asimov’s, August.

  ———, “Slidin’,” Asimov’s, April/May.

  Laird Barron, “The Lagerstatte,” Del Rey Book of SF.

  William Barton, “In the Age of the Quiet Sun,” Asimov’s, September.

  Lee Battersby, “In from the Snow,” Dreaming Again.

  Stephen Baxter, “Eagle Song,” Postscripts 15.

  ———, “Fate and the Fire-Lance,” Sideways in Crime.

  ———, “The Ice War,” Asimov’s, September.

  ———, “The Jubilee Plot,” Celebrations.

  ———, “Repair Kit,” The Starry Rift.

  ———, “The Seer and the Silverman,” Galactic Empires.

  Peter S. Beagle, “King Pelles the Sure,” Strange Roads.

  ———, “The Rabbi’s Hobby,” Eclipse Two.

  ———, “The Tale of Junko and Sayur,” OSC’sIGMShow, July.

  ———, “What Tale the Enchantress Plays,” A Book of Wizards.

  Elizabeth Bear, “The Girl Who Sang Rose Madder,” Tor.com.

  ———, “Shoggoths in Bloom,” Asimov’s, March.

  ———, “Sonny Liston Takes the Fall,” Del Rey Book of SF.

  Chris Beckett, “Greenland,” Interzone 218.

  ———, “Poppyfields,” Interzone 218.

  Peter J. Bentley, “Loop,” Cosmos, February/March.

  Beth Bernobich, “Air and Angels,” Subterranean, Spring.

  ———, “The Golden Octopus,” Postscripts 15.

  Deborah Biancotti, “Watertight Lies,” 2012.

  Michael Bishop, “Vinegar Peace, or, the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage,” Asimov’s, July.

  Terry Bisson, “Captain Ordinary,” Flurb 5.

  ———, “Catch ’Em in the Act,” Del Rey Book of SF.

  ———, “Private Eye,” F&SF, October/November.

  ———, “The Stamp,” Lone Star Stories, April.

  Jenny Blackford, “Trolls’ Night Out,” Dreaming Again.

  Russell Blackford, “Manannan’s Children,” Dreaming Again.

  Moal Blaikie, “Offworld Friends Are Best, GUD, Spring.

  Jayme Lynn Blaschke, “The Whale Below,” Fast Ships, Black Sails.

  Michael Blumlein, “The Big One,” Flurb 6.

  ———, “The Roberts,” F&SF, July.

  Aliette de Bodard, “The Dragon’s Tears,” Electric Velocipede, 15/16.

  ———, “Horus Ascending,” OSC’sIGMShow, April.

  Ben Bova, “Moon Race,” JBU, December.

  ———, “Waterbot,” Analog, June.

  Richard Bowes, “AKA St. Marks Place,” Del Rey Book of SF.

  ———, “The Cinnamon Cavalier,” Fantasy, April 21.

  ———, “If Angels Fight,” F&SF, February.

  Scott Bradfield, “Dazzle Joins the Screenwriter’s Guild,” F&SF, October/November.

  Marie Brennan, “A Heretic by Degrees,” OSCIMS, December.

  ———, “A Mask of Flesh,” Clockwork Phoenix.

  David Brin, “Shoresteading,” JBU, October.

  Keith Brooke, “Hannah,” Extraordinary Engines.

  ———, “The Man Who Built Heaven,” Postscripts 15.

  Corey Brown, “Child of Scorn,” Electric Velocipede, 15/16.

  Eric Brown, “Sunworld,” Solaris Book of SF II.

  John Brown, “From the Clay of His Heart,” OSC’sIGMShow, April.

  Molly Brown, “Living with the Dead,” Celebrations.

  Simon Brown, “The Empire,” Dreaming Again.

  ———, “Oh, Rus sia,” 2012.

  Tobias S. Bucknell, “Manumission,” JBU, April.

  ———, “The People’s Machine,” Sideways in Crime.

  ———, “Resistance,” Seeds of Change.

  Mark Budz, “Faceless in Gethsemane,” Seeds of Change.

  Sue Burke, “Spiders,” Asimov’s, March.

  Pat Cadigan, “Found in Translation,” Myth-Understandings.

  ———, “Jimmy,” Del Rev Book of SF.

  ———, “The Mudlark,” JBU, October

  ———, “Tales from the Big Dark: Lie of the Land,” Subterfuge.

  ———, “Worlds of Possibilites,” Sideways in Crime.

  James L. Cambias, “The Dinosaur Train,” F&SF, July.

  Alan Campbell, “The Gadgey,” Strange Horizons, 5/5.

  Jeff Carlson, “Long Eyes,” Fast Forward II.

  Paul Carlson, “Shotgun Seat,” Analog, July/August.

  Isobelle Carmody, “Perchance to Dream,” Dreaming Again.

  Von Carr, “The Black-Iron Drum,” Fantasy, November 17.

  Paul Chafe, “The Guardian,” Transhuman.

  A. Bertram Chandler, “Grimes and the Gaijin Daimyo,” Dreaming Again.

  Robert R. Chase, “The Meme Theorist,” Analog, October.

  ———, “Not Even the Past,” Analog, January/February.

  ———, “Soldiers of the Singularity,” Asimov’s, September.

  Ted Chiang, “Exhalation,” Eclipse Two.

  Deborah Coates, “How to Hide a Heart,” Strange Horizons, 1/21.

  ———, “The Whale’s Lover,” Asimov’s, January.

  David B. Coe, “Cassie’s Story,” OSC’sIGMShow, July.

  Paul Collins, “Lure,” Dreaming Again.

  Tina Connolly, “The Bitrunners,” Helix 9.

  Brenda Cooper, “Blood Bonds,” Solaris Book of SF II.

  Constance Cooper, “Called Out to Snow Crease Farm,” Strange Horizons, 7/28.

  ———, “The Wily Thing,” Black Gate, Spring.

  Paul Cornell, “Catherine Drewe,” Fast Forward II.

  ———, “Michael Laurtis Is Drowning,” Eclipse Two.

  Gary Couzens, “Jubilee Summer,” Subterfuge.

  Albert E. Cowdrey, “Inside Story,” F&SF, October/November.

  ———, “The Overseer,” F&SF, March.

  ———, “Poison Victory,” F&SF, July.

  ———, “A Skeptical Spirit,” F&SF, December.

  ———, “Thrilling Wonder Stories,” F&SF, May.

  Ian Creasey, “Cut Loose the Bonds of Flesh and Bone,” Asimov’s, September.

  Dave Creek, “Stealing Adriana,” Analog, October.

  John Crowley, “Conversation Hearts,” Subterranean Press.

  Julie Czerneda, “The Gossamer Mage,” JBU, December.

  Don D’Ammassa, “The Natural World,” Analog, January/February.

  Tony Daniel, “Ex Cathedra,” Eclipse Two.

  Rowena Cory Daniells, “Purgatory,” Dreaming Again.

  Jack Dann, “Under the Shadow of Jonah,” Postscripts 15.

  Dennis Danvers, “The Angel’s Touch,” OSC’sIGMShow, April.

  Cecilia Dart-Thornton, “The Lanes of C
amberwell,” Dreaming Again.

  Rjurik Davidson, “Twilight in Caeli-Amur,” Dreaming Again.

  Stephen Dedman, “Lost Arts,” Dreaming Again.

  ———, “Teeth,” Clarkesworld, March.

  Bella De La Rosa, “Nora,” Fantasy, September 15.

  A. M. Dellamonica, “Five Good Things About Meghan Sheedy,” Strange Horizons, April 21–28.

  Paul Di Filippo, “iCity,” Solaris Book of SF II.

  ———, “Murder in Geektopia,” Sideways in Crime.

  ———, “Professor Fluvius’s Palace of Many Waters,” Postscripts 15.

  Cory Doctorow, “The Things That Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away,” Tor.com.

  Terry Dowling, “The Fooley,” Dreaming Again.

  ———, “Truth Window: A Tale of the Bedlam Rose,” Eclipse Two.

  Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald, “Philologos, or, Murder in Bistrita,” F&SF, February.

  Brendan DuBois, “Not Enough Stars in the Night,” Cosmos, 9 May.

  ———, “A Souvenir to Remember,” Future Americas.

  Brendan Duffy, “The Green Man,” Postscripts 16.

  Hal Duncan, “The Behold of the Eye,” Lone Star Stories, August.

  Christopher East, “Frame of Mind,” Cosmos Online, 28 August.

  Scott Edleman, “A Very Private Tour of a Very Public Museum,” Postscripts 15.

  Greg Egan, “Lost Continent,” The Starry Rift.

  Carol Emshwiller, “Master of the Road to Nowhere,” Asimov’s, March.

  ———, “Wilmer or Wesley,” Asimov’s, August.

  Gregory Feeley, “Awskonomuk,” Otherworldly Maine.

  Charles Coleman Finlay, “The Rapeworm,” Noctem Aeternus 1.

  ———and Rae Carson Finlay, “The Crystal Stair,” Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 1–3.

  Eliot Fintushel, “Uxo, Bomb Dog,” Futurismic, 3/03.

  Jason Fischer, “Undead Camels Ate Their Flesh,” Dreaming Again.

  Karen Fishler, “Africa,” Interzone 217.

  Michael F. Flynn, “Sand and Iron,” Analog, July/August.

  Jeffrey Ford, “After Moreau,” Clarkesworld, April.

  ———, “Daltharee,” Del Rey Book of SF.

  ———, “The Dismantled Invention of Fate,” The Starry Rift.

  ———, “The Dream of Reason,” Extraordinary Engines.

  ———, “The Seventh Expression of the Robot General,” Eclipse Two.

  Eugie Foster, “Daughter of Botu,” Realms of Fantasy, August.

  Ben Francisco and Chris Lynch, “This Is My Blood,” Dreaming Again.

  Stephanie Fray, “Limbo,” OSC’sIGMShow, April.

  Carl Frederick, “The Exoanthropic Principle,” Analog, July/August.

  ———, “Vita Longa,” Analog, October.

  Gregory Frost, “Late in the Day,” Realms of Fantasy, December.

  Neil Gaiman, “Orange,” The Starry Rift.

  Rivka Galchen, “The Region of Unlikeness,” The New Yorker, March 24.

  Stephen Gaskell, “Micro Expressions,” Cosmos Online, 18 September.

  Sara Genge, “Prayers for an Egg,” Asimov’s, October/November.

  ———, “The Gong,” Weird Tales, September/October.

  David Gerrold, “Spiderweb,” JBU, February.

  Carolyn Ives Gilman, “Arkfall,” F&SF, September.

  Ari Goelman, “The Annie Oakley Show,” Fantasy, September 29.

  Lisa Goldstein, “Reader’s Guide,” F&SF, July.

  Kathleen Ann Goonan, “Memory Dogs,” Asimov’s, April/May.

  ———, “Sundiver Day,” The Starry Rift.

  Steven Gould, “Shade,” Tor.com.

  John Grant, “All the Little Gods We Are,” Clockwork Phoenix.

  ———, “The City in These Pages,” PS Publishing.

  ———, “Will the Real Veronica Le Barr Please Stand Down?” Postscripts 16.

  Daryl Gregory, “Glass,” MITTechnology Review, November/December.

  Peni R. Griffin, “The Singers in the Tower,” Realms of Fantasy, February.

  Jon Courtenay Grimwood, “Chicago,” Sideways in Crime.

  ———, “The Crack Angel,” Celebration.

  Peter F. Hamilton, “The Demon Trap,” Galactic Empires.

  Richard Harland, “A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead,” Dreaming Again.

  Merrie Haskell, “An Almanac for the Alien Invaders,” Asimov’s, April/May.

  Jeff Hass, “Cacophony of the Spheres,” JBU, June.

  Samantha Henderson, “The Mermaid’s Tea Party,” Helix 9.

  Howard V. Hendrix, “Knot Your Grandfather’s Knot,” Analog, January/February.

  Karen Heuler, “The Difficulties of Evolution,” Weird Tales, July/August.

  Joe Hill, “Gunpowder,” PS Publishing.

  M. K. Hobson, “The Purple Basil,” Realms of Fantasy, October.

  Sarah A. Hoyt, “Scraps of Fog,” JBU, April.

  ———, “Whom the Gods Love,” Transhuman.

  Matthew Hughes, “The Eye of Vann,” Postscripts 15