The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection

Supplementing the stories are the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and a list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource as well as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.

Cover design by Shea M. Kornblum

Cover illustration by Stephan Martiniere

Description from back cover

Contents

xi * Acknowledgments (The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection) * (2005) * essay by Gardner Dozois

xiii * Summation: 2004 * essay by Gardner Dozois

1 * Inappropriate Behavior * (2004) * novelette by Pat Murphy

27 * Start the Clock * (2004) * shortstory by Benjamin Rosenbaum

42 * The Third Party * (2004) * novelette by David Moles

72 * The Voluntary State * (2004) * novelette by Christopher Rowe

105 * Shiva in Shadow * (2004) * novelette by Nancy Kress

153 * The People of Sand and Slag * (2004) * novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi

172 * The Clapping Hands of God * (2004) * novelette by Michael F. Flynn

214 * Tourism * (2004) * shortstory by M. John Harrison

228 * Scout's Honor * (2004) * shortstory by Terry Bisson

244 * Men Are Trouble * (2004) * novelette by James Patrick Kelly

283 * Mother Aegypt * [Company] * (2004) * novella by Kage Baker

348 * Synthetic Serendipity * (2004) * shortstory by Vernor Vinge

366 * Skin Deep * (2004) * shortstory by Mary Rosenblum

389 * Delhi * (2004) * shortstory by Vandana Singh

405 * The Tribes of Bela * [Colonel Kohn] * (2004) * novella by Albert E. Cowdrey

465 * Sitka * (2004) * shortstory by William Sanders

478 * Leviathan Wept * (2004) * shortstory by Daniel Abraham

499 * The Defenders * (2004) * shortstory by Colin P. Davies

504 * Mayflower II * [Xeelee] * (2004) * novella by Stephen Baxter

562 * Riding the White Bull * (2004) * novelette by Caitlin R. Kiernan

588 * Falling Star * (2004) * shortstory by Brendan DuBois

603 * The Dragons of Summer Gulch * (2004) * novelette by Robert Reed

628 * The Ocean of the Blind * (2004) * shortstory by James L. Cambias

649 * The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance * [Hwarhath] * (2004) * novella by Eleanor Arnason

688 * Footvote * (2004) * shortstory by Peter F. Hamilton

706 * Sisyphus and the Stranger * (2004) * shortstory by Paul Di Filippo (aka Sisyphe et l'etranger)

718 * Ten Sigmas * (2004) * shortstory by Paul Melko

726 * Investments * [Dread Empire's Fall] * (2004) * novella by Walter Jon Williams

811 * Honorable Mentions: 2004 * essay by Gardner Dozois