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Silvariah Frandelle, a brilliant and beautiful business woman, falls from wealth and success into exile and poverty, indentured - barely one step above slavery - as an off-world laborer to escape prison. Her last calculated risk as a free woman, paid for with years of service, becomes the key to surviving hostile environments. Space, gravity, and Mars wastelands were expected. Intrusive AIs, obscure experiments, and shadowy foes were not.

Few writers have successful blended hard science and speculation with fully realized characters as Gregory Benford has in his critically acclaimed novels. Now he draws us into a vortex of mystery and danger at the heart of the galaxy in his dazzling epic drama, Furious Gulf.

Sierra Kane—who has bounced from one foster family to another—faces an uncertain future when she receives an unapplied-for scholarship to Barnard College specifically designed for orphans whose academic records are merely above average. A second unexpected boon comes her way when another recipient of that somewhat mysterious scholarship offers her a part-time courier job. Soon, Sierra is caught up in a whirl of espionage and murder, with a new boyfriend who may or may not be part of a plot, a college mentor with a possible agenda of her own, and an FBI agent who rebuffs Sierra’s plea for help.

A ghostly presence in “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” desires revenge against a tyrannical husband. In “Mr. Jones”, Lady Jane Lynke inherits an estate unexpectedly, and can’t make sense of how to manage the servants - especially since the caretaker has been dead for decades, but keeps giving orders. Meanwhile, in “Afterward”, a newly wealthy American couple moves into a large, isolated house in southern England complete with a ghost...and the mysteries surrounding the husband’s business are slowly uncovered.

When three-year-old Joshua Gortler and his family were forced from their hometown in Poland during World War II, they scrambled for safety across border after border, finding refuge at last in Europe’s Displaced Persons Camps. Undocumented and unschooled, Gortler spent his adolescence learning to survive. When his family eventually relocated to the US, Gortler found himself starting over, and after teaching himself English, Gortler managed to complete high school in three years, earn an MSW, and begin what would become a distinguished career in the field of eldercare.

Here are six stories from the January and February 2003 issues of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, at once more current and more human than today's headlines.

When popular podcaster Nicole Chatterton wants an interview for Killers Caught, true-crime author Vivian Borne is overjoyed. Finally, some recognition for the sleuthing skills the septuagenarian antiques dealer and her daughter Brandy have demonstrated, solving countless crimes in their small hometown of Serenity, Iowa! Dolled up and dressed to the nines, Vivian figures the interview is going swimmingly … until Nicole turns the tables, accusing the mother/daughter duo of committing the very crimes they solved.

The six stories that represent Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine's March and April 2003 issues exhibit an unusual diversity of almost familiar worlds.

From Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, here are the best stories of 2002, written by four of the most respected writers of our day: Robert Silverberg, James Patrick Kelly, Ian Watson, and Gregory Benford. Also try The Best of Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine and The Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine 2002.

To the Lighthouse chronicles the lives of the Ramsay family and their close friends, from the tranquil and motherly Mrs. Ramsay to the tragic and eccentric Mr. Ramsay, and their eight children and varied guests. Woolf uses the three movements of the novel to capture their complex family allegiances and the tensions between men and women at the time. Centered around their visits to the Isle of Skye between 1910 and 1920, the novel is an examination of the quiet, seemingly trivial moments of everyday life.

Frontiers can be found in all directions - frontiers of timeand space, as well as frontiers of courage, devotion, love, hate, and the outer limits of the human spirit. This outstanding collection of stories by one of science fiction's premier talents spans the length and breadth of history and the universe while exploring thought-provoking new ideas and dilemmas.

Sixteen-year-old Claire wants her father back. His death left her only memories and an empty locket. After six difficult years in foster care, her vocabulary no longer includes "hope" and "trust". But everything changes dramatically when she encounters Justin, a Spirit Knight restlessly hunting dangerous ghosts that devour the living, who rides into her path on his magical horse and takes her under his wing. When an evil spirit threatens Claire's life, she'll need Justin's help to survive.

Fall 1942. When her Hollywood private detective daddy is called back to uniform, Fancy Anders is issued orders of her own - answer the phone, make referrals, and keep the place dusted. But the 24-year-old Barnard grad - whose hobbies include shooting, flying, and jujitsu - isn’t having any. At Amalgamated Aircraft, a young female worker chosen to pose for patriotic photos and posters has met with a suspicious “accidental death”. Fancy takes the victim’s place on the swing shift, fitting in well with coworkers very much not from high society circles.

Searching for the source of Zero, a highly addictive drug that threatens Rhadaz society, Chris finds a lethal dose of the untreatable drug in his own veins and turns to Ariadne, a reluctant sword-master, for help.

Dwellers of the Deep embraces the pulse-pounding action that the Harbinger of Doom Saga is known for, with battles so real, so immersive, you will find yourself reaching for your sword. Expansive in scope, this book transforms the saga into truly epic fantasy, and drops the listener into the Byzantine web of political intrigue that swirls about the Kingdom of Lomion.

Violet Cleveland opens a private security firm but struggles when trouble comes to town. She knows about her secret sister, but the other young woman has no clue. The Mother’s Threat is a fast-paced thriller full of drama and family secrets. Karina Walker promises her dying grandmother she’ll take over the old café and read a red journal. When the little book disappears, she must track it down and discover secrets that will change her forever. Secrets at the Café is a gripping mystery and novel of suspense.

Hooking up, marriage, childbirth, infidelity, divorce, menopause, widowhood - women's lives have many stages, changes, and challenges. A prevailing question on women's minds as they age is, "How do I handle the shifts in my sexuality caused by these transitions?" In Sex After…, veteran journalist and New York Times best-selling author Iris Krasnow tackles this question head-on. Krasnow traveled the country, interviewing over 150 women, from waitresses to CEOs, ages 20 to 88. Here she shares their varied stories.

As the early years of detective fiction gave way to two separate golden ages - of hard-boiled tales in America and intricately-plotted, so-called “cozy” murders in Britain - the legacy of Sherlock Holmes, with his fierce devotion to science and logic, gave way to street smarts on the one hand and social insight on the other, but even though these new sub-genres went their own ways, their detectives still required intelligence and clear-sightedness as characterized the earliest works of detective fiction: the trademarks of Sherlock Holmes, and of all the detectives featured here.

Thirty original stories - each inspired by a Janis Ian song - from some of the biggest names in science fiction and fantasy, including: Tad Williams, Harry Turtledove, Orson Scott Card, Joe Haldeman, John Varley, Mercedes Lackey, Judith Tarr, Janis Ian, and others.

A miracle-working Africa nun in conflict with her own Church becomes the first female pope. What forces were at work when the unthinkable became a reality? She rises amid the powder keg of a near-future world fraught with tensions between East and West, beset by terrorism, and haunted by prophecies of a world-destroying “Great Heretic.” Indeed, demonic-looking symbols begin appearing around the Vatican upon her arrival, the Church breaks apart under her papacy, and the United States and Iran are poised to engage in a nuclear war.