Federations(2009)

Mercedes LackeyAnne McCaffreyMargaret Ball

From Star Trek to Star Wars, from Dune to Foundation, science fiction has a rich history of exploring the idea of vast intergalactic societies, and the challenges facing those living in or trying to manage such societies. The stories in Federations will continue that tradition. What are the social/religious/environmental/technological implications of living in such a vast society? What happens when expansionist tendencies on a galactic scale come into conflict with the indigenous peoples of other planets, of other races? And what of the issue of communicating across such distances, or the problems caused by relativistic travel? These are just some of the questions and issues that the stories in Federations will take on.

Contents:
Introduction / John Joseph Adams --
Mazer in prison / Orson Scott Card --
Carthago delenda est / Genevieve Valentine --
Life-suspension / L.E. Modesitt, Jr. --
Terra-exulta / S.L. Gilbow --
Aftermaths / Lois McMaster Bujold --
Someone is stealing the great throne rooms of the galaxy / Harry Turtledove --
Prisons / Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason --
Different day / K. Tempest Bradford --
Twilight of the gods / John C. Wright --
Warship / George R.R. Martin and George Guthridge --
Swanwatch / Yoon Ha Lee --
Spirey and the queen / Alastair Reynolds --
Pardon our conquest / Alan Dean Foster --
Symbiont / Robert Silverberg --
Ship who returned / Anne McCaffrey --
My she / Mary Rosenblum --
Shoulders of giants / Robert J. Sawyer --
Culture archivist / Jeremiah Tolbert --
Other side of Jordan / Allen Steele --
Like they always been free / Georgina Li --
Eskhara / Trent Hergenrader --
One with the interstellar group consciousnesses / James Alan Gardner --
Golubash, or wine-blood-war-elegy / Catherynne M. Valente