num_pages: 457
description: The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.A Baghdad merchant encounters an alchemist who may have conquered time; a socialite a miniature elephant and a butler attempt to survive a coup masquerading as a wild soiree; a pair of scientists their species altered in order that they may perform research on an alien world find themselves embroiled in an interplanetary conflict; a young man begins to question his faith in God when he encounters the remains of a race of tool-using hominids; a warrior treads a grisly path as he strives to stop a rogue wizard's influence; a woman born with her heart outside her body finds solace in the arms of a heartless man; the messiah returns to earth with disappointing news about the afterlife; figures out of myth and legend do battle with an enemy armed with a frightening weapon...the ability to steal away language itself; a girl and her fortune-teller mother travel the countryside collecting ghosts.
language: English
title: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 2
publisher: Night Shade