Short novels are movie length narratives that may well be the perfect length for science fiction stories. This collection presents the best-of-the-best science fiction novellas published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of this vibrant form of storytelling, edited by Allan Kaster.

• “Wyatt Earp 2.0” by Wil McCarthy — A rough and tumble Martian mining town reconstructs Wyatt Earp to help restore order.

• “The Charge and the Storm” by An Owomoyela — An uneasy co-existence between human refugees from a crashed spaceship and the aliens who saved them is threatened by human dissidents.

• “Lazy Dog Out” by Suzanne Palmer — A spaceship pilot becomes embroiled in a sinister conspiracy that threatens a space station’s way of life and everything she holds dear.

• “The Iron Tactician” by Alastair Reynolds — Merlin hunts the galaxy for a superweapon powerful enough to destroy the berserker-like robots called Huskers.

• “Einstein’s Shadow” by Allen M. Steele — An alternate history in which an American detective becomes Albert Einstein’s bodyguard as the physicist flees the Nazis onboard an airplane the size of an ocean liner.

• “The Vanishing Kind” by Lavie Tidhar — Set in post-World War II London where Nazi Germany won the war, a lovesick, former German soldier searches for an old flame hoping to rekindle a romance in this cold, stark world.

• “The Metal Demimonde” by Nick Wolven — Amidst a world dominated by automation, a carney passionate about her carnival ride has a fling with a jobless boy who rages against those machines.