The Year's Top Tales of Space and Time 3

An unabridged collection spotlighting the best space adventures, alternate histories, and time travel stories published in 2022 by current and emerging masters of the science fiction genre, edited by Allan Kaster.

• “The Lonely Time Traveler of Kentish Town” by Nadia Afifi — A Palestinian hires a time traveler to record his grandfather’s meeting with one of Britain’s most famous historical figures.
• “The Sufficient Loss Protocol” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa — Hostile alien tech is discovered aboard a corporate spaceship.
• “Kingsbury 1944” by Michael Cassutt — A chemist recalls working with an enigmatic team of scientists at a munitions plant in Indiana during World War II.
• “Of All the New Yorks in All the Worlds” by Indrapramit Das — Long-distance relationships are hard; those across timelines even more so.
• “Boy in the Key of Forskaen” by Eric Del Carlo — An abandoned boy on an alien planet bonds with a discarded semi-organic spaceship.
• “Bishop’s Opening” by R.S.A. Garcia — The crew of a cargo spacecraft get caught up in the deadly court intrigue of a space-faring kingdom.
• “An Expression of Silence” by Beth Goder — An explorer who struggles to interact with her crew mates tries to communicate with an alien.
• “A Letter to Merlin” by Theodora Goss — Time travelers go to King Arthur’s court to repair humanity’s final timeline.
• “Proof of Concept” by Auston Habershaw — An amorphous alien has amnesia on a spaceship full of belligerent aliens.
• “The Mercy of the Sandsea” by T. L. Huchu — An old sand marine faces down an assassin on a planet with sandseas.
• “The Chronologist” by Ian R. MacLeod — A boy plots against the winds of time only to see his life unravel.
• “The Beast of Tara” by Michael Swanwick — Scientists detect residual sounds from the past at Ireland's Lia Fáil (aka the Speaking Stone).