Worldmakers Book

When mankind moves out to the stars, the colonists of the future will remake the worlds they inhabit in their image. Included here are twenty stories from the most imaginative writers in the field, including: Poul Anderson * Stephen Baxter * Gregory Benford * Arthur C. Clarke * Greg Egan * Joe Haldeman * Philip Jennings * William H. Kieth * Geoffrey A. Landis * Ian McDonald * Richard McKenna * Laura Mixon * G. David Nordley * Robert Reed * Kim Stanley Robinson * Pamela Sargent * Cordwainer Smith * Bruce Sterling * John Varley * Roger Zelazny These are the stories of the explorers and pioneers who transform their destinations in the image of their distant home--exciting tales of alien landscapes and the struggle to make them suit human desires. Contents ix • Preface (Worldmakers: SF Adventures in Terraforming) • essay by Gardner Dozois 1 • The Big Rain • [Psychotechnic League] • (1954) • novella by Poul Anderson 50 • When the People Fell • [The Instrumentality of Mankind] • (1959) • shortstory by Cordwainer Smith 60 • Before Eden • (1961) • shortstory by Arthur C. Clarke 69 • Hunter, Come Home • (1963) • novelette by Richard McKenna 99 • The Keys to December • (1966) • novelette by Roger Zelazny 118 • Retrograde Summer • [Eight Worlds] • (1975) • novelette by John Varley 134 • Shall We Take a Little Walk? • (1981) • novelette by Gregory Benford 150 • The Catharine Wheel • (1984) • novelette by Ian McDonald (aka The Catharine Wheel (Our Lady of Tharsis)) 166 • Sunken Gardens • [Shaper/Mechanist] • (1984) • shortstory by Bruce Sterling 179 • Out of Copyright • (1989) • shortstory by Charles Sheffield 193 • A Place with Shade • [The Remarkables] • (1995) • novelette by Robert Reed 221 • Dawn Venus • (1995) • novelette by G. David Nordley 245 • For White Hill • (1995) • novella by Joe Haldeman 277 • The Road to Reality • (1996) • novelette by Phillip C. Jennings 311 • Ecopoiesis • (1997) • novella by Geoffrey A. Landis 342 • People Came from Earth • (1999) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter 352 • Fossils • (1999) • novelette by William H. Keith, Jr. 379 • A Martian Romance • (1999) • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson 394 • Dream of Venus • (2000) • novelette by Pamela Sargent 417 • At Tide’s Turning • (2001) • novelette by Laura J. Mixon