Science Fiction First Contact Contemporary

A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by New York Times bestselling author of the Silo series Hugh Howey and series editor John Joseph Adams. “These are dangerous stories. The kind that warp reality and threaten to change the world” warns...

Matthew is a normal 11-year-old boy living with his parents and little sister in Surrey. He's too old and sensible to have an imaginary friend really. Yet when Matthew's parents keep finding him talking and arguing with a strange presence whom Matthew calls Chocky, that's what they believe it must be…at first. But Chocky is oddly sinister, and keeps asking Matthew all sorts of complicated questions about the world and making him behave in unusual and erratic ways. Then Matthew suddenly does something heroic, well beyond his capabilities; the media become interested and the interest in Matthew widens.

“Smart and funny, with characters so real and vulnerable, you want to send them care packages. I loved this book.” —Rainbow Rowell From debut author Mary H.K. Choi comes a compulsively readable novel that shows young love in all its awkward glory—perfect for fans of Eleanor & Park and To...

It takes a special kind of Omega to bring an Alpha to his knees. Kind. Sweet. Beautiful. With legs that go on forever, colored eyes, perky protruding nose, funny ears, and...Where was I? Ah yes, I collected one such Omega, and I’m bringing her before my king. I am Tayseer, the Collector, the Legend. And I will deliver my people the queen.

Mining ash on a remote planet where temperatures reach hellish degrees doesn't leave Kal (aka Spark) much room for dating. Lucky for this hard-working man, a new corporation, Galaxy Alien Mail-Order Brides, is ready to help him find the girl of his dreams. Does it really matter that he lied on his application and really isn’t looking for long-term but rather some fast action? Earth women better watch out. Things are about to heat up.

When alien warrior Kozien Lorrz left behind life as the heir to his planet's throne to run a team that hunts down missing things, his father swore he'd make him regret the decision. According to the king, leaving his duties behind was a mistake, and taking his brothers was an act of treason. Now, with business dwindling, Kozien is forced to send a message into the universe that his team is offering a pro-bono case—a move that could draw in new clients or alert their father to their whereabouts.

Penn and Chandelle, an older couple, rent a house in the city at a bargain price and discover that its back door opens onto an endless forest. Now they know why others were scared off. That's only the beginning of the oddities about this particular piece of realty. They decide to call in experts: their grandchildren, Lloyd and Llynn, who pitch in with a will to try to discover what and why. But it may be more of a challenge than they can handle.

Evil men conspired to have a starship destroyed to hide the evil they had done. They intended for its crew to disappear forever without a trace. They flew an unmarked ship into space docks and marked it for destruction. They thought that was the end of it, but in all of that chaos, the anoza found me. They chose me to save the Five Moons. I didn’t know any of that when I bought a ship that was never meant for sale. I didn’t know any of that when I first stepped foot upon its decks and changed everything.... But I know it now. And save the Five Moons? Damned straight I will. I am Dallas Blake, outworlder to the nines.

Fisher Palmer is an old man, working as a janitor at a Montana pharmacy, when a strange little boy presents him with a bizarre gift. It would seem that Fisher has been chosen, and the child that picked him is not actually a child at all, but something far more alien.

An errant encounter with a passing star has flung Earth away from its old Solar System into the dark and cold of deep space. With the entire atmosphere frozen as chemical snow dozens of feet deep, one last family struggles to survive. But what are they to think when they see figures moving in the city ruins? Are Earth's dead coming back to life?