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.

 

• “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).