The best stories of the year: here is a collection of the best science fiction prose written in 2006, by some of the genre's greatest authors, and selected by Rich Horton, a contributing reviewer to many of the field's most respected magazines.

Note: This edition is no longer available.

Canadian historian Abigail Leclaire´s discovery of an enigmatic medieval poem leads to a menacing visit from ICE, a branch of America´s Homeland Security. But how can medieval religious fanatics, the Assassins of Alamut, have any possible connection with present day terrorism? Abigail´s intense curiosity, and her refusal to be cowed, leads her to a reckless and exciting jaunt across hazardous Middle Eastern lands in company with a charismatic Syrian professor. Meanwhile, back in the 12th century, a Syrian doctor of genius is obsessed with understanding the nature of the deadly plague known today as the Black Death, the "seeds" of which he risks his life to discover amid tribal warfare deep in the forests of Ethiopia.

When she was a young girl Lucky belonged to a space-going mining commune which came upon an asteroid whose caves concealed the bones of serpentine aliens and humanoids. It was Lucky who discovered that the rock was an Ukko, a mysterious entity which would respond to stories told to it. Centuries later Lucky, altered by the Ukko, is still alive, though capricious and sometimes crazy. By mating with her, her consort Bertel has had his life prolonged for centuries, as will the men who first bed her daughters - Lucky's harvest

First edition hardcover with unclipped dust jacket, in very good condition. Light shelf wear to the jacket, and page block is tanned. Pages and text are clear and unmarked throughout. LW

Although no one knows whether the Kybers are machines or living beings, Dr. Keiko Takihashi, ship's linguist, is determined to save some of them from the approaching nova of one of their planet's suns

The scriptwriter of Steven Spielberg's AI spins another subtle, daring, and brilliant tale about a very special child. When a young Russian boy disappears from a top-secret research establishment, and turns up in Tokyo, he presents a major problem for American security officials. The youth appears to be part of a sophisticated experiment--and to have the mind of a supposedly dead astronaut perfectly imprinted on his own. And, the boy claims the tests have been extended to a whale. As these strange events unfold, other cataclysmic events begin to occur too: a groundbreaking Nobel Prize winner proves that what we perceive as the universe is nothing more than a ghost of the real thing. Then the whales begin singing their death-mantra throughout the world's oceans.

London experimenters condition a group of completely segregated orphans with an artificially implanted language, an Amazon Indian tribe employs hallucinatory powers against an American-Brazilian dam project, and the extraterrestrial Sp'thra seek to maintain their endangered communications systems

Every short story in this wonderfully varied collection has one thing in each features some alteration in history, some divergence from historical reality, which results in a world very different from the one we know today. As well as original stories specially commissioned from bestselling writers such as James Morrow, Stephen Baxter and Ken MacLeod, there are genre classics such as Kim Stanley Robinson's story of how World War II atomic bomber the Enola Gay, having crashed on a training flight, is replaced by the Lucky Strike with profoundly different consequences. Praise for the 'Mr Watson wreaks havoc with what is accepted - and acceptable.' The Times. 'One of Britain's consistently finest science fiction writers.' New Scientist.

Inquisition War #1 - Inquisitor Softcover Novel