An unabridged collection spotlighting the best hard science fiction stories and novellas published in 2021 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster.-
"Light Up the Clouds" by Greg Egan
- Inhabitants in the floating forests of a gas giant that orbits a dwarf star launch a glider on an orbital trajectory to investigate unnatural asteroid-like objects that threaten their survival.-
"Striding the Blast" by
Gregory Feeley
- As a form of punishment, a thief is forced by posthumans to race on a set of wings across a cloud-covered Mercury.-
"Little Animals" by
Nancy Kress
- Using entangled quantum effects, a researcher goes back in time and unexpectedly becomes immersed in the life of the daughter of Antonj van Leeuwenhoek.-
"Flowers Like Needles" by
Derek Künsken
- A metallic crablike creature living on a planet orbiting a pulsar confronts other warriors in its quest for wisdom.-
"The Planetbreaker's Son" by Nick Mamatas
- Interstellar posthuman emigrants, on a starship the size of a football stadium, grapple with vessel maintenance and family preservation while destroying worlds.-
"Paley's Watch" by
Anil Menon
- Fishermen find a peculiar artifact in the Gulf of Alaska that is older than Earth and models the structure of the universe.-
"The Metric" by
David Moles
- A billion-year-old ship delivers a message to a far-future Earth that could mean the destruction of space and time.-
"Año Nuevo" by
Ray Nayler
- Listless aliens, resembling oversized plastic garbage bags, suddenly disappear thirty years after arriving on a California beachfront.-
"Vaccine Season" by Hannu Rajaniemi
- A boy ventures out to an island to inoculate his secluded grandfather with a transmissible vaccine in a post-pandemic.-
"Submergence" by
Arula Ratnakar
- An investigator uncovers the exploitation of an unusual marine sponge while optogenetically accessing the memories of a scientist who died unexpectedly.-
"Aptitude" by Cooper Shrivastava
- A woman from a slowly dying universe finds herself having to take a rigorous standardized exam after cheating her way into the selection process to become a universe builder.-
"The Egg Collectors" by Lavie Tidhar
- Two wild ballooners, forced to land during an ice storm, discover humming black eggs melting into the ice of Titan's Ligeia Mare.