Sheila Williams

Twenty essays on writing science fiction and fantasy by leading speculative fiction writers. An enjoyable and informative read. On the Writing of Speculative Fiction - Robert A. Heinlein Living the Future: You Are What You Eat - Gardner Dozois Plotting - Isaac Asimov Dialog - Isaac Asimov You and Your Characters - James Patrick Kelly Seeing Your Way to Better Stories - Stanley Schmidt Turtles All the Way Down - Jane Yolen Learning to Write Comedy or Why It's Impossible and How to Do It - Connie Willis Good Writing is Not Enough - Stanley Schmidt The Creation of Imaginary Worlds: The World Builder's Handbook and Pocket Companion - Poul Anderson The Creation of Imaginary Beings - Hal Clement How to Build a Future - John Barnes Building a Starfaring Age - Norman Spinrad The Ideas That Wouldn't Die - Stanley Schmidt The Mechanics of Submission - Sheila Williams Revisions - Isaac Asimov Writing for Young People - Isaac Asimov New Writers - Isaac Asimov Authors vs. Editors - Stanley Schmidt Market Resources - Ian Randal Strock

Introduction - essay by Isaac Asimov Robot Dreams - short story by Isaac Asimov Fault-Intolerant - short story by Isaac Asimov Christmas Without Rodney - short story by Isaac Asimov The Smile of the Chipper - short story by Isaac Asimov Too Bad! - short story by Isaac Asimov Dilemma - short story by Connie Willis Zelle's Thursday - short story by Tanith Lee Praxis - short story by Karen Joy Fowler One-Trick Dog - short story by Bruce Boston Old Robots Are the Worst - poem by Bruce Boston Kronos - short story by Marc Laidlaw Gerda and the Wizard - novelette by Rob Chilson Pages from Cold Harbor - novelette by Richard Grant Simulation Six - novelette by Steven Gould Blue Heart - short story by Stephanie A. Smith For No Reason - short story by Patricia Anthony Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - novelette by Neal Barrett, Jr.

Beloved author Sheila Williams beautifully captures the bittersweet humor and vivid adventures of women who survive the worst life can toss at them--and fight back to claim their right to be free, to be themselves, and to live in . . . The courage to change doesn't come easy. When Opal Sullivan walks out on an abusive husband after fifteen years, she has only her dreams in her pocket. Her new beginning starts in Appalachian River country, where she sees a bit of herself in a graceful but dilapidated house. Like Opal, the house is worn-out and somewhat beaten up, but it still stands proudly and deserves a second chance.So Opal opens her doors--and her heart--to a parade of unforgettable characters. There's sassy Bette Smith with her cantaloupe-colored hair and four-inch heels; short-tempered Gloria and her devilish son, Troy; the mysterious Dana, who dresses in black and keeps exclusively nocturnal hours; a dog named "Bear" who is afraid of his own shadow; and Jack, who doesn't mind hanging out with an OBBWA (old black broad with an attitude). It is Jack who helps Opal understand a funny thing about life: You can't move forward if you keep looking back. . . .From the Trade Paperback edition.

Air raid / John Varley, writing as Herb Boehm (1977) -- The time of the burning / Robert Silverberg (1982) -- Speech sounds / Octavia E. Butler (1983) -- Dinner in Audoghast / Bruce Sterling (1985) -- Robot dreams / Isaac Asimov (1986) -- Glacier / Kim Stanley Robinson (1988) -- Cibola / Connie Willis (1990) -- The happy man / Jonathan Lethem (1991) -- Over there / Mike Resnick (1991) -- Ether, OR / Ursula K. Le Guin (1995) -- Flying lessons / Kelly Link (1996) -- Itsy bitsy spider / James Patrick Kelly (1997) -- Ancient engines / Michael Swanwick (1999) -- Lobsters / Charles Stross (2001) -- Only partly here / Lucius Shepard (2003) -- The children of time / Stephen Baxter (2005) -- Eight episodes / Robert Reed (2006).

Interviews, life history, and theoretical discussions of the first years and later developments of the theory of the Social Construction of Technology in STS, with Trevor Pinch, one of the founding fathers of SCOT--

Glacier - novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson And Who Would Pity a Swan? - short story by Connie Willis The Tryouts - short story by Barry B. Longyear Still Time - short story by James Patrick Kelly The White Babe - novelette by Jane Yolen The Homesick Chicken - short story by Edward D. Hoch Empire State - novelette by Keith Minnion Profession - novella by Isaac Asimov The Band from the Planet Zoom - short story by Andrew Weiner The Web Dancer - novelette by S. P. Somtow [as by Somtow Sucharitkul] The Hob - novelette by Judith Moffett Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers - short story by Lawrence Watt-Evans

Each story was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction and/or Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazines.

Waging Good - novelette by Robert Reed The Shadow Knows - novelette by Terry Bisson A Walk in the Sun - short story by Geoffrey A. Landis The Lunatics - novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson John Harper Wilson - short story by Allen Steele Life on the Moon - short story by Tony Daniel Werewolves of Luna - novella by R. Garcia y Robertson

The Barbie Murders - novelette by John Varley Cocoon - novelette by Greg Egan The Gorgon Field - novella by Kate Wilhelm Rites of Spring - short story by Lisa Goldstein The Backward Look - short story by Isaac Asimov Fault Lines - novella by Nancy Kress

At forty-one, Juanita Lewis is running away from home, courtesy of a one-way ticket to Montana, a place that seems about as far away from the violence and poverty of the Columbus, Ohio, projects as the moon. She wants adventure and excitement--if such things exist for a pre-menopausal African American woman with three grown, deadbeat children.Juanita's new life in Paper Moon, Montana, begins at a local diner where a culinary face-off with chef and owner Jess Gardiner finds Juanita in front of Jess's stove serving up home cookin' that lures the townsfolk like a magic spell. And suddenly Juanita, who was just passin' through, now has a job by popular demand.Out here in this wide-open space, Juanita's heart can no longer hide, especially when she sees herself through the eyes of the wonderful and eccentric people of this down-to-earth town. She's happy in Paper Moon; she's found a home, but can she stay? And then there's Jess. She has always dreamed of romance, but she never planned on falling in love.From the Trade Paperback edition.