First published 2011
Michael Poole searches Saturn's moon Titan for signs of intelligent life that could derail humanity's plans for interstellar travel. A terraforming specialist receives a mysterious invitation to Venus from a child who controls the planet's floating cities. In post-apocalyptic North America, an orphaned boy and an uplifted elephant from the St. Louis Zoo journey south seeking safety. A Japanese aid worker hunts a renegade Christian leader who detonated a nuclear bomb in an Islamic-controlled American city. On Mars, a young man follows his father's terraforming work only to discover that more than planets have been changed. The sole survivor of an expedition to a massive alien artifact fights to reveal his discoveries against the Second Soviet Union's wishes. When Earth's alien rulers face a human rebellion, they turn to a collaborator whose own brother leads the uprising. These seven novellas showcase both established and rising voices in science fiction.
Genres: short-stories, science-fiction, space-opera
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Titan, Venus, North America, Mars
Period: post-apocalyptic, future
Audio CD · AudioText
Content warnings: death, violence