At their best, these stories disrupt habits, overcome barriers of cultural perception to make the familiar strange through the use of speculative elements such as magic and technology. They provide glimpses of alternate realities and possible futures and pasts that provoke an ethical, social, political, environmental and biological inquiry into what it means to be human.

 

Featuring stories by Camille Alexa, Kelley Armstrong, Madeline Ashby, Peter Chiykowski, Carolyn Clink, David Livingstone Clink, Geoffrey W. Cole, Cory Doctorow, Amal El-Mohtar, Steven Erikson, Gemma Files, Neile Graham, Lisa L. Hannett, Ada Hoffman, Claire Humphrey, Susan Ioannu, Kristin Janz, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Derek Künsken, Helen Marshall, Anna Mioduchowska, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, David Nickle, Rhonda Parrish, Kelly Rose Pflug-Back, Timothy Reynolds, Ian Rogers, Robert Runté, Geoff Ryman, Rebecca M. Senese, George Swede, Peter Watts, A.C. Wise, and Rio Youers.