To keep up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more—a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a new yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy award–winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers. The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor in chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine... Views: 18
Three brothers caught up in a whirlwind week of love, blackmail, and betrayal that culminates in an assassination plot, set against the dramatic backdrop of 1930s New York.June 1939. With Europe on the brink of another World War, Francis Dempsey and his deaf-mute and shell-shocked brother, Michael, are en route to New York City, masquerading as minor British nobles aboard a luxury ocean liner, having absconded with a small fortune stolen from the IRA. Their destination is the house of their older brother, Martin, a jazz musician. But when Tom Cronin, a retired henchman seeking redemption through a final job, tracks the brothers down, Francis must capitulate to blackmail or have his family suffer fatal consequences. New York, meanwhile, is suffused with an electric feeling of hope, caught up in the fervor of the World's Fair that will host King George and Queen Elizabeth, the first time in history a reigning British monarch has set foot on American soil. Over the... Views: 18
Since he was a small child Andre has been treated like a monster because of his mechanical parts—scorned and reviled by children and adults alike. He's learned to hide himself away from people. Arabella, an airship engineer in training, doesn't believe he's a monster at all. But can she convince him of that? When she's forced to join him on his airship, The Rose, on a flight through the winter skies it's an opportunity to teach him that love is for everyone and humanity is more than just flesh and blood. Views: 18
The United States is dead and the Democratic Unity killed it.
After catastrophic wars and the Meltdown, The Unity rules from its East Coast citadel, leaving the outlands to savages and its strangely altered plants. Providing free health care, employment, and ThiZ (the drug of any really civilized life), the Unity mandates retirement at forty before fatigue and error contaminate a culture of youth, innovation and vigor.
With liberating body implants, history’s finest democracy supervises every citizen for her/his/its own and the nation’s welfare. Seventeen-year-old Lieutenant Malila Chiu, is a veteran officer who, despite well-earned fame, finds her career in tatters. Vandalism at a distant station triggers her demotion. Facing denunciation … or worse, Malila’s one option is to enter the outlands to repair the station herself. At first, the repairs go well.
Dropping from fatigue, she wakes to find a hideously ancient savage has murdered her platoon and now holds a knife at her throat, making her the … Outland Exile.
“A powerful blend of post-apocalyptic fiction, science fiction and brass-knuckle social commentary … Outland Exile … is a towering tour de force of a novel …
“Relentlessly visionary, thematically profound and impeccably edited, it is one of those rare stories that both entertains and enlightens.”– Blue Ink Reviews
“(T)his unique and entertaining dystopian adventure is full of well-drawn characters … Boutwell has created his own version of the future …” – James Burt of Forward Clarion
“Boutwell’s prose is sharp and efficient… creat(ing) an immersive world where provocative ideas propel a darkly satisfying adventure.” -- Kirkus Review Views: 18
