More than twenty tales, varying in style from stories not out of place in One Thousand and One Nights , to the completely bemusing. Discover mirrors that predict the immediate future and museums where your personal future life is exhibited in the kind of ephemeral objects that might normally find their way into a dustbin. Meet tadpoles, lazy assassins, and assiduous poisoners; observe deals with the devil, and workplace stress taken to its logical conclusion. Heroes, villains, and animals - anything and anyone could provide the twist in the tale - cursed travellers, persistent dreamers, aliens, robots and even ice might be the object, or source, of love.
A collection of some of the best original science fiction and fantasy short fiction published on Tor.com in 2021. Includes stories by: 'Pemi Aguda G. V. Anderson Elizabeth Bear Kate Elliott Aliza Greenblatt Glen Hirshberg Elsie Kathleen Jennings Cheri Kamei Jasmin Kirkbride Matthew Kressel Usman T. Malik Sam J. Miller Annalee Newitz noc Sarah Pinsker Daniel Polansky Peng Shepherd Cooper Shrivastava Lavie Tidhar Catherynne M. Valente Carrie Vaughn E. Lily Yu At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.