The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 9 — Ashok K. Banker

An unabridged collection spotlighting the best hard science fiction stories and novellas published in 2024 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster.Antyesti for a Dead Ganesa by Ashok K. Banker - An old-school cop is resurrected from deadsleep to solve the murder of a god clone in a future Mumbai.Places You Have Never Been by David Cleden - A city is threatened by invisible bubbles that take whatever is trapped inside them when they inexplicably collapse.The Icy Wasteland at Her Feet by Deborah L. Davitt - The sole survivor of a team of astronauts on Saturn's moon, Enceladus, struggles to keep sane.The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea by Naomi Kritzer - A contentious married couple, both scientists, move to a town overlooking Cape Cod Bay where men mysteriously disappear.Barbarians by Rich Larson - A rogue and a disembodied head are hired to take twins to explore a dead, planet-sized organism.The Dark at the End of the Tunnel by Edward M. Lerner - A graduate student investigates the disappearance of a distant galaxy.Western Approaches by Ian McDonald - A pilot is sent on a mission to explore a spinning storm approaching Scotland.Mirrorstar by Sean McMullen - A forensic pathologist investigates the death of a scientist in the focus cage of a space telescope.There's Nothing in the Attic by Faith Merino - The women in a man's life carry out physics experiments in his home.Luminous Glass, Vibrant Seeds by D.A. Xiaolin Spires - A glass artist and her bot are tasked with delivering a rare, viable seedling to its proper environ on a climate-damaged world.Encore by Wole Talabi - Twin AIs, created by now extinct humans, travel between star systems to make art for those who share its world of digital data.