Search Worlds Without End

Hugo Award winning and Nebula Award nominated novella.

Two telepaths investigate the newly discovered world of Shkea, where every native inhabitant, and an increasing number of human colonists, worships a mysterious and deadly parasite.

The story originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, June 1974. It can also be found in the anthologies The 1975 Annual World's Best SF, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, The Hugo Winners, Volume 3: (1970-75) (1977), edited by Isaac Asimov, and The Best of Analog (1978), edited by Ben Bova. It is included in the collections A Song for Lya and Other Stories (1976), Nightflyers (1985) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

Hugo Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, July 1975. The story can also be found in the anthology Heads to the Storm (1989), edited by Sandra Miesel and David Drake. It is included in the collections Songs of Stars and Shadows (1977), Nightflyers (1985) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

This novelette originally appeared in Cosmos Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine, November 1977. It can also be found in the anthology Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Seventh Annual Collection (1978), edited by Gardner Dozois. It can also be found in the collections Sandkings (1981) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

A whisperjewel summoned him to Worlorn, and a love he thought he'd lost. But Worlorn isn't the world Dirk t'Larien imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight, forever falling toward night. Amid this bleak landscape is a violent clash of cultures in which there is no code of honor - and the hunter and the hunted are often interchangeable.

Caught up in a dangerous triangle, Gwen is in need of Dirk's protection, and he will do anything to keep her safe, even if it means challenging the barbaric man who has claimed her - and his cunning cohort. But an impenetrable veil of secrecy surrounds them all, and it's becoming impossible for Dirk to distinguish between his allies and his enemies. While each will fight to stay alive, one is waiting for escape, one for revenge, and another for a brutal, untimely demise.

In a crumbling underground city on a dying planet, young Annelyn has lived a life of privilege. When he is humiliated at the hands of the crafty groun hunter they call the Meatbringer, he and his high-born friends plot revenge. But Annelyn's plan goes desperately awry, leading him deep into the city's ruins--and to the ugly truth about his forebears' reverence for the mythic White Worm.

This novella originally appeared in the anthology The Ides of Tomorrow: Original Science Fiction Tales of Horror (1976), edited by Terry Carr. It is included in the collections Sandkings (1981) and Songs the Dead Men Sing (1983).

Locus Award winning and Hugo Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, April 1980. The story can also be found in the anthologies The 1981 Annual World's Best SF, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, The Best Science Fiction of the Year #10 (1981), edited by Terry Carr, Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Tenth Annual Collection (1981), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Baker's Dozen: 13 Short Horror Novels (1987), edited by Charles G. Waugh and Martin H. Greenberg. It is included in the collections Songs the Dead Men Sing (1983), Nightflyers (1985) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award winning novelette.

When Simon Kress returned to his home planet of Baldur from an offworld business trip, he was amused to find that his tank of Earth piranhas had cannibalized themselves into extinction, and of the two exotic animals that roamed his estate, only one remained. Now, in search of some new pets to satisfy his cruel pursuit of amusement, Simon finds a new shop in the city where he is intrigued by a new lifeform he has never heard of before ... a collection of multi-colored sandkings. The curator explains that the insect-like animals, no larger than Simon's fingernails, are not insects, but animals with a highly-evolved hive intelligence capable of staging wars between the different colors, and even religion--in the form of worship of their owner. The curator's warning to Simon about the regularity of their feeding, unfortunately, was not taken seriously....

The story originally appeared in Omni, August 1979 and has been reprinted many times. There is a comic adaptation and the story served as the basis for an episode of the horror series Outer Limits. It can be found in the anthologies:

• The Best Science Fiction of the Year #9 (1980), edited by Terry Carr
• Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Ninth Annual Collection (1980), edited by Gardner Dozois
• Nebula Winners Fifteen (1981), edited by Frank Herbert
• The First Omni Book of Science Fiction (1984), edited by Ellen Datlow
• The Hugo Winners, Volume 5: (1980-82) (1986), edited by Isaac Asimov
• The Best of the Nebulas (1989), edited by Ben Bova
• Foundations of Fear: An Exploration of Horror (1992) edited by David G. Hartwell
• Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century (2001), edited by Orson Scott Card
• In Space No One Can Hear You Scream (2013), edited by Hank Davis
• The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016), edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer

It is included in the collections Sandkings (1981), Songs the Dead Men Sing (1983) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

It's been a lifetime and more since Cyrain has been challenged in the game of mind. When the cyborg arrives, she senses a worthy and dangerous opponent--one that's been dead for 800 years...

This short story originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, September 1986. It can also be found in the collections Portraits of His Children (1987) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology New Voices in Science Fiction (1977), edited by Martin himself. It is also included in the collections Sandkings (1981) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

A Hugo- and Locus Award-winning and Nebula-nominated short story. It first appeared in Omni, June 1979 and has been reprinted many times. It can be found in several anthologies, including The 1980 Annual World's Best SF (1980) edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Ninth Annual Collection (1980), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Fourth Omni Book of Science Fiction (1985), edited by Ellen Datlow, The Good New Stuff: Adventure SF in the Grand Tradition (1999), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Galileo's Children: Tales of Science vs. Superstition (2005), also edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections Sandkings (1981) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed Magazine.

Locus Award winning and Hugo Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, October 12, 1981. The story is included in the collections Tuf Voyaging (1986) and GRRM: A RRetrospective (2003).

Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader who likes cats. So how is it that, in competition with the worst villains the universe has to offer, he's become the proud owner of a seedship, the last remnant of Earth's legendary Ecological Engineering Corps? Never mind; just be thankful that the most powerful weapon in human space is in good hands--hands which now have the godlike ability to control the genetic material of thousands of outlandish creatures.

Armed with this unique equipment, Tuf is set to tackle the problems that human settlers have created in colonizing far-flung worlds: hosts of hostile monsters, a population hooked on procreation, a dictator who unleashes plagues to get his own way... and in every case, the only thing that stands between the colonists and disaster is Tuf's ingenuity--and his reputation as a man of integrity in a universe of rogues.