Editor: Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Cover Artist: Mitchell Davidson Bentley
Released: August 2013
Publisher: Fairwood Press
ISBN: 978-1-933846-38-5
Buy: Amazon • Barnes & Noble • Baen • Fairwood Press • IndieBound • Goodreads
Colonists take to the stars to discover new planets, new sentient beings, and build new lives for themselves and their families. Some travel years to find their destination, while others travel a year or less. Some discover a planet that just might be paradise, while others find nothing but unwelcoming aliens and terrain. It’s not just a struggle for territory but a struggle for understanding as cultures clash, disasters occur, danger lurks and lives are at risk.
Eighteen stories of space colonists by both leading and up and coming science fiction writers of today. Mike Resnick spins a tale of aliens who find Earth future diverse and surprising as they plan an invasion. Grandmaster Robert Silverberg examines what happens when Jews tired of fighting for their homeland start over on a planet then must deal with a dybbuk (spirit) and aliens who wish to convert to Judaism. Autumn Rachel Dryden has colonists threatened by alien animals which burst out of shells on the ground like piranhas ready to feed on flesh. Jason Sanford has Amish colonists on New Amsterdam finding their settlement and way of life threatened by a comet and the English settlers who want to evacuate them. And a new story from Hugo and Nebula-winner Nancy Kress.
Praise for Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s Beyond The Sun:
“Jack Williamson used to say that spaceflight was to science fiction what the Trojan war was to the Greeks. In recent years, myth is being replaced by the pragmatic, and this insightful anthology demonstrates that truth.” —James Gunn, SFWA Grandmaster
“Beyond the Sun mixes courage, redemption, and stark terror in tales of distant worlds. Buckle in.” —Jack McDevitt, author of Firebird
“BEYOND THE SUN’s stories involve intriguing characters and plots. Some made me cry, others laugh out loud, and I’ve found myself thinking about the tales long after I’ve finished reading…they also address timeless questions that will continue to be asked for as long as humans live and breathe.” —Functional Nerds
“Thomas Wolfe said, ‘You can’t go home again,’ but in this thoughtful, exciting collection of stories about mankind’s push to the stars, we see that we take the attributes with us that make us human. Wonderful space-faring stories that reminds us that all we can depend on when we explore the universe is the unexpected.” —James Van Pelt, author of Summer of the Apocalypse
“This is science fiction doing what only science fiction can do—pushing us out past the warm envelope of our biosphere, exploring our ultimate destiny as a species. A truly phenomenal collection.” —Ted Kosmatka, author of The Prophet of Bones
“Bryan Thomas Schmidt has assembled an anthology of mostly original tales (three reprints) of what it will be like to be a colonist on, or explorer of, other worlds…18 of them…many were as good as anything you’d find published in the major short fiction venues…There are major names included here (Rusch, Resnick, Silverberg, Kress) along with a number of up and coming authors. There really wasn’t any discernible difference between the two groups. All of the tales contained herein are polished, professional work….” —Amazing Stories
“I imagine that most people connect the idea of science fiction with space travel more than with any other subset of the genre. This is a collection of new and reprint stories about space travel, with a wide variety of themes, plots, and styles. There are no bad stories … I’m a sucker for visits to other planets – the possibilities and mysteries of other worlds were what attracted me to the genre originally. Theme anthologies have pretty much swept the field in recent years, but this one has a theme broad enough.” —Critical Mass
“This excellent new anthology mixes seasoned science fiction veterans with new authors, and provivides mostly new stories with a smattering of reprints. The Kristine Kathryn Rusch story and the humorous Mike Resnick worked well as did those of rising stars Brad Torgerson and Cat Rambo. This is a selection of real science fiction in a field increasingly swamped with fantasy stories and romance masquerading as SF. I look forward to more anthologies from Schmidt, who seems to have found a niche as an editor.” —NYC Reader via Amazon
Table of Contents:
“Flipping the Switch” by Jamie Todd Rubin
“Migration” by Nancy Kress
“The Bricks of Eta Cassiopeiae” by Brad R. Torgersen
“Respite” by Autumn Rachel Dryden
“Parker’s Paradise” by Jean Johnson
“Rumspringa” by Jason Sanford
“The Far Side of the Wilderness” by Alex Shvartsman
“Elsewhere, Within, Elsewhen” by Cat Rambo
“Inner Sphere Blues” by Simon C. Larter
“Dust Angels” by Jennifer Brozek
“Voice of the Martyrs” by Maurice Broaddus
“One Way Ticket” by Jaleta Clegg
“The Gambrels of the Sky” by Erin Hoffman
“The Dybbyk of Mazel Tov IV” by Robert Silverberg
“Chasing Satellites” by Anthony R. Cardno
“A Soaring Pillar of Brightness” by Nancy Fulda
“The Hanging Judge” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Observation Post” by Mike Resnick