In these nine stories of determination, seemingly ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary circumstances as they confront their fears and embrace their challenges on a near-future Earth or an alternate-history past or even on a far distant alien world. A single parent with a Down-syndrome daughter considers what his life and career might have been as a parent and a pro football player in some alternate reality. A young girl on an isolated Florida island discovers that her quirky grandparents are even stranger than she thought. A high-school basketball player confronts the ghosts of her past.A young woman struggles to make peace with the horrors of her forgotten childhood.An elderly woman slides into dementia even as she finds some essential truths that were lost in the hazy mists of her memory.A baseball player becomes a spy during an alternate-history version of World War II,...

Award-winning author Rick Wilber's fictional versions of famous baseball player and World War II spy Moe Berg have been entertaining readers of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine for years. In this collection of alternate-history stories, Wilber's fictional Moe Berg puts down his ball and bat and goes to work for a mysterious superspy woman as they work to save America from a German atom bomb.In worlds where the Japanese have invaded California, Erwin Rommel's panzers are sweeping through the Texas Republic, and the Hindenburg zeppelin carries a terrible weapon, it falls to Moe and the mystery woman to stop the fascists and their superbombs. All four of these stories were first published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. "Something Real" won the 2012 Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History - Short Form."Wilber is a master of historical fantasy set in this era, giving readers a clear look at the past half century through his eyes." - Locus Online"'Something Real'...

"An original, engaging, wonderfully complex alien world. Very highly recommended."—Julie E. Czerneda, author of the Web Shifter's Library series Set on a near-future Earth and on the alien homeworld of S'hudon, Rick Wilber's Alien Day explores murderous sibling rivalries, old-school mercantile colonialism, ambition, greed, and the saving strength that can emerge from reluctant heroes called to do the right thing despite the odds. Will Peter Holman rescue his sister Kait, or will she be the one to rescue him? Will Chloe Cary revive her acting career with the help of the princeling Treble, or will the insurgents take both their lives? Will Whistle or Twoclicks wind up in charge of Earth, and how will the Mother, who runs all of S'hudon, choose between them? And the most important question of all: who are the Old Ones that left all that technology behind for the S'hudonni . . . and what if they come back?"His Intricate and ingenious...

A dazzling display of history as it might have been, this impressive array of award-winning writers explores the histories that never were, from Ancient Rome to Imperial China and much more. The book features classic reprints of alternate-history stories by Karen Joy Fowler, Kathleen Goonan, Gregory Benford, Nisi Shawl, Harry Turtledove, Michael Bishop, Lisa Goldstein, Alan Smale, Louise Marley, Maureen McHugh, Michaela Roessner, Rich Larson, Sheila Finch, Ben Loory, Walter Jon Williams, Nicholas DiChario, Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn, and editor Rick Wilber. Contents Introduction by Rick Wilber “Game Night at the Fox and Goose,” by Karen Joy Fowler “The Lincoln Train,” by Maureen McHugh “Zeppelin City,” by Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn “Manassas, Again,” by Gregory Benford “Kamehameha’s Bones,” by Kathleen Goonan “P Dolce,” by Louise Marley “A Clash of Eagles,” by Alan Smale “The House That George Built,” by Harry Turtledove “Something Real,” by Rick Wilber “Vulcanization,” by Nisi Shawl “James K. Polk,” by Ben Loory “Foreign Devils,” by Walter Jon Williams “Every So Often” by Rich Larson “It’s a Wonderful Life,” by Michaela Roessner “The Winterberry,” by Nicholas DiChario “Miriam,” by Michael Bishop “If There be Cause,” by Sheila Finch “Paradise is a Walled Garden,” by Lisa Goldstein

". . . offers all the richness of character, subtlety of nuance, and devotion to storytelling that good readers always look for but all too seldom find."- Peter StraubCold . . . Cold is all that Melissa O'Malley feels, growing up in the frigid expanses of rural Minnesota. The one thing keeping her warm is the talent for sorcery she inherited from her island mother, who mysteriously left when Melissa was only five. Bright, beautiful, athletic, and talented, Melissa is raised by her father, Melchior. When he brings home a dead deer, she touches it, and with electric clarity, experiences the animal's last living moments.Melissa's childhood has been happy. She excels at academics and sports and also falls in love with Danny Finnegan, son of a local police detective. She and Danny dream of a life together after she finishes college and he completes a stint in the navy. Everything seems perfect until the news of Danny's combat death shocks the town. At Danny's funeral, a...

Peter Holman is a freelance sweeper. The year 2030 sees a new era in social media with sweepcasting, a multisensory interface that can convey every thought, touch, smell, sight, and sound, immersing the audience in another person's experience.By fate, chance, or some darker design, Peter is perfectly positioned to be the one human to document the arrival of the aliens, the S'hudonni.The S'hudonni offer advanced science in exchange for various trade goods from Earth. But nothing is as simple as it seems. Peter finds himself falling for, Heather Newsome a scientist chosen by the S'hudonni to act as their liason. Engaged to his brilliant marine biologist brother, Tom, Heather is not what she seems. But Peter has bigger problems. While he and his brother fight over long-standing family troubles, another issue looms: a secret war among the aliens, who are neither as benevolent nor as unified as they first seemed. Peter slowly learns secrets he was never meant to...

Of all the sports played across the globe, none has more curses, superstitions, or supernatural events like baseball, America's national pastime. While some of these can easily be explained, there are just as many that cannot. Field of Fantasies delves right into that superstition with short stories written by several key authors about baseball and the supernatural. Whether it's a frozen curveball, a robot pitcher, or fantasy outcomes (the Cubs winning the World Series!), these terrific stories are ones that fans of science fiction will enjoy, while fans of baseball will find strangely believable. Included in this wonderful anthology are stories from such prolific authors as: Stephen King Jack Kerouac Karen Joy Fowler Rod Serling W. P. Kinsella And many more! Never has a book combined the incredible events of baseball and science fiction like Field of Fantasies does. Whether you're a sport or science fiction fan, these stories will appeal not only to your fandom, but also to your...