Contents (view Concise Listing)

• Winning Peace • [Jackaroo] • (2007) • novelette by Paul J. McAuley
• Night's Slow Poison • [Imperial Radch] • (2012) • short story by Ann Leckie
• All the Painted Stars • (2012) • short story by Gwendolyn Clare
• Firstborn • (2005) • novelette by Brandon Sanderson
• Riding the Crocodile • (2005) • novella by Greg Egan
• The Lost Princess Man • (2009) • novelette by John Barnes
• The Waiting Stars • [Universe of Xuya] • (2013) • novelette by Aliette de Bodard
• Alien Archaeology • [Polity Universe] • (2007) • novella by Neal Asher
• The Muse of Empires Lost • (2006) • novelette by Paul M. Berger [as by Paul Berger]
• Ghostweight • (2011) • novelette by Yoon Ha Lee
• A Cold Heart • (2014) • short story by Tobias S. Buckell
• The Colonel Returns to the Stars • (2004) • novella by Robert Silverberg
• The Impossibles • [Retrieval Artist] • (2011) • novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• Utriusque Cosmi • (2009) • novelette by Robert Charles Wilson
• Section Seven • (2003) • short story by Jack Campbell [as by John G. Hemry]
• Invisible Empire of Ascending Light • (2008) • short story by Ken Scholes
• The Man with the Golden Balloon • [The Great Ship Universe] • (2008) • novella by Robert Reed
• Looking Through Lace • [Looking Through Lace • 1] • (2003) • novella by Ruth Nestvold
• A Letter from the Emperor • (2010) • short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
• The Wayfarer's Advice • [The Imperials Saga] • (2010) • novelette by Melinda M. Snodgrass
• Seven Years from Home • (2010) • novelette by Naomi Novik
• Verthandi's Ring • (2007) • short story by Ian McDonald