A little boy meets a stranded alien child and the two instantly strike up a fabulous friendship. They go to school, explore the neighborhood, and have lots of fun all day. However, when bedtime rolls around, the little boy must comfort his homesick new friend. This funny, heartwarming story proves that friends and family are the most important things in the universe . . . no matter who or where you are.
An alien race makes a chilling first impression in this story that “evokes difficult moral issues” from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author (SF Site). A corporate ship’s complicated business venture involves the experimental use of new technology to scoop a sample from the core of a neutron star. The discovery of a dead civilization on a nearby solar system serves as a fascinating distraction. The same can’t be said for the alien spaceship circling around them. Becoming the first expedition from Earth to encounter extraterrestrial life is not on the agenda—and the crewmembers find themselves out of their depth. Treading a fine line between diplomacy and danger, the chief executive officer of the mission—a man of Sioux ancestry—decides to open up lines of communication with the aliens. And though they may be more advanced than humanity, the aliens’ account of past actions calls to mind a dark age in human history, one that the CEO will make sure is never repeated. Not on his watch . . . “With this story, Silverberg proves he knows his science and is willing to do a story grounded in hard sf.” —MarzAat Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories “When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author “Silverberg’s creative story premises are matched by a remarkable ability to make his characters sympathetic, whether human or not.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection.” —Kirkus Reviews
Guilt is in the eye of the beholder in this futuristic crime story from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Lord Valentine’s Castle. A lot of women were wearing Marianne’s face that season, which made it hard for Loren Frazier to forget that he killed his world-famous wife’s lover. The world wouldn’t forget it either; the image of his murderous impulse was caught forever in his victim’s brain—an eyeflash picture readily recovered by law enforcement. But a man of Frazier’s money and power has options: aliases, overseas accounts, the ability to change his appearance. Heartbreak and regret are his constant companions through the continents and the years—until he can truly see what he has become . . . Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories “When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author “Silverberg’s creative story premises are matched by a remarkable ability to make his characters sympathetic, whether human or not.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The short stories in Robert Silverberg’s First-Person Singularities are inventive, sublime, and endlessly entertaining.” —Foreword Reviews “Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection.” —Kirkus Reviews
A lonely dolphin narrates this touching tale of interspecies love from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Needle in a Timestack. Meet Ishmael. He’s a bottle-nosed dolphin employed at a seawater recovery station on St. Croix. He’s the foreman of the Intake Maintenance Squad, which means he and his team clear the intake valves of obstructions like starfish or algae. He works hard for his wages of fish and is highly educated. He’s also in love—with a human. Lisabeth Calkins is a twenty-seven-year-old specialist in human-cetacean relations. Though immune to the charms of her human anatomy, Ishmael believes he has found his soulmate. She gave him his name, when he was only a number among many others. Sure, there are obstacles to their being together, just like in every other epic romance. Ishmael can see a way forward—through human interference, through biology, and even acts of sabotage. But can Lisabeth? “Time and again, Silverberg sets the bar high for himself and then clears it, as in a tale told from the perspective of an English-speaking dolphin who has developed feelings for a human woman.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories “When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author “The short stories in Robert Silverberg’s First-Person Singularities are inventive, sublime, and endlessly entertaining.” —Foreword Reviews “Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection.” —Kirkus Reviews
Thousands of newcomers are pouring into Alberta from around the globe, bringing unexpected gifts. Many are writers and storytellers. What pulls them to Canada? What happens to them on the journey? What experiences have they deliberately left behind? What treasures do they bring? How do they describe their emerging sense of place and their creative aspirations in a new home? In this moving collection of stories and poems, writers from around the world share their thoughts on creating a life in Alberta. Expressed with beauty and clarity, and sometimes translated from the writer's native tongue, these very personal accounts of joy and sadness, regret and humour, homesickness and exuberance, describe the defining moments of a departure and an arrival. Contributors to The Story That Brought Me Here include Jalal Barzanji, Edmonton's first Writers in Exile; Rita Espeschit, Thuc Cong, Mohammed Al-Nassar, Monika Igali, Sabah Tahir, Therezinha Franca Kennedy, Sangmok Lee, Sudhir Jain, Yi Li, Athiann Makuach Garang, Marsh Hoke, Tortor Maruku, Reinekke Lengelle, Brian Brennan, A.K. Rashid, June Smith-Jeffries, Magdalena Witkowsky, Anna Mioduchowska, Ikponwosa I.K. Ero and Comfort Adesuwa Ero, Wilma Rubens, Patricia Lopez de Vloothduis, Neung-jae Park Mary Cavill, Mansoor Ladha, Chantal Hitayezu and many others. With photographs by Shabnam Sukhdev.
The Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author delivers a prescient tale that “explores the inanity of conformity with a hopelessly superficial future humankind” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). He was revived, somehow, and thrust into a brand-new world, one in which humans have evolved to breathe underwater, reproduction is quite uncommon, and everyone has standardized their appearance to conform to the presently favored model. He is a rarity, a throwback, with his short legs, hairy body, lopsided face, and scars. He remembers automobiles, tax returns, a family—all the components of an imperfect world. But here and now, he is an object of fascination to be studied by doctors and politicians, and to be wanted by adventurous women. He keeps telling himself that in a country of the beautiful, the ugly man is king. If only he’d listen . . . Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories “When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author “Silverberg’s creative story premises are matched by a remarkable ability to make his characters sympathetic, whether human or not.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “The short stories in Robert Silverberg’s First-Person Singularities are inventive, sublime, and endlessly entertaining.” —Foreword Reviews “Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection.” —Kirkus Reviews
For some people, one personality is just never enough. A story of duplicity from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of Lord Valentine’s Castle. Slowly, a climate of acceptance has been growing for people with divided personalities, especially in big cities like San Francisco. There are clubs with mirrors and lights that help people to switch and double, maybe even triple. When, like Cleo, you feel your world has become stale and cramped, they’re the perfect place to meet someone. But first Cleo has to pretend that she’s a multiple, because they’re notoriously indifferent to singletons and their bland, overly simple selves. When she meets Van, she’s able to pull off her masquerade for a week of bliss with him (and Paul, and Hal, and . . .). Or so she thinks. When Cleo is caught in her lie, she attempts to bow out gracefully. But Van doesn’t want to lose her. In fact, he wants more of her. There could be a whole horde of selves inside of her—and he knows just how to get them out . . . “In the thoughtful and emotionally evocative title story, ‘Multiples,’ multiple personality ‘disorder’ is normal, and indeed a desired state, creating an effective metaphor for the loneliness experienced by socially isolated individuals.” —SF Site Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories “When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author “Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection.” —Kirkus Reviews
The double worlds of a disillusioned anthropologist collide in the Hugo–nominated story from the Science Fiction Grand Master. The world of 2083 has become a source of professional and personal frustration for superstar anthropologist Tom Schwartz. On a lecture tour, he flies across the globe in first class seats, but everywhere he travels to looks like the last place he’s been. Argentina, Papua, France, Mexico—there’s too much sameness wherever he goes. Western culture has homogenized the world. Even the people look alike. But in his mind is where the magic happens. There, he’s on a starship gliding through the interstellar depths. His fellow passengers are natives of the worlds of Capella, Arcturus, Antares, and Polaris. There are sinuous humanoids, self-contained reptilians, and even whale-like creatures who dance alongside of the ship and beckon him to join them. As Schwartz finds himself increasingly torn in two, he has a choice to make: accept the world as it is or join in the cosmic harmony of the dance . . . Praise for Robert Silverberg and his short stories “Where Silverberg goes today, the rest of science fiction will follow tomorrow!” —Isaac Asimov “When Silverberg is at the top of his form, no one is better.” —George R. R. Martin, #1 New York Times–bestselling author “Decades after being originally published, most of these stories are still just as entertaining and powerful as they were when first released. A singularly unique collection.” —Kirkus Reviews
Venus in 1887 is no paradise. Hardy colonists eke out a meager living cultivating blue Kosh root to ship back to Earth via aether transit, and traders and explorers brave the deadly foliage and even deadlier fauna of the Aphrodite continent's inner forests in search of riches. Lieutenant Albo Collins has just come to Venus straight from graduating West Point, and the young officer craves more to do than cleaning drunks off the streets of New Philadelphia. When the governor orders the First Venusian Colonial Infantry to the northern border of the colony Collins gets his wish, but as he marches into the unexplored wilderness hot on the trail of Federalist raiders, he has little idea what horrors await him, in the shade of the Ishtar trees. In the Shade of the Ishtar Trees is a 10,000 word (40 pages) steampunk novella.
A pocket atlas of Suffolk, giving comprehensive and detailed coverage of the region. The mapping is produced by the Ordnance Survey to Philip's specification and gives the user complete coverage of all urban and rural areas. The mapping is at a standard scale of 2.5 inches to one mile and is complete with postcode boundaries.
