Swords and Spaceships for May 28

Tara is a student at a rigorous prep school by grace of a scholarship. At the beginning of her junior year, NASA intercepts a message from an alternate Earth, one where an alternate Tara might be living a better, less stressed-out life. This new Earth is called Terra Nova and the knowledge of its existence begins to change Tara’s life in ways both large and small, ways that no one could have predicted.

A collection of nine SFF short stories from award-winning author Ted Chiang. For more of his short stories, also check out Stories of Your Life and Others.

James Griffin-Mars is a chronman, an ultimately expendable employee sent back in time from a toxic, dying Earth to retrieve resources and other treasures that might help humanity survive just a little longer. But the stress of time travel is killing him, and James is ready to get out. He’s got one final mission if he wants to retire, and he screws it up by bringing someone fated to have died in the past back with him. Now he’s on the run with her through a poisoned earth, and their troubles are only just beginning.

The island of Kekon runs on Jade, a resource that is traded, stolen, and paid for in blood. Its greatest power is that it enhances magic and powers the warriors who once protected the land from invasion. Now with seemingly no battles left to fight, the Kaul family battles for control of Kekon… but their infighting is interrupted by the emergence of a new drug that allows even foreigners to wield jade.

Kin was once a time-traveling secret agent; now, he’s stayed in the past to be an IT schlub trying desperately to keep his marriage together. When his “rescue” team arrives eighteen years too late, their mission is to return him to a family in the future he can’t remember… and erase the family in the past that he’s built.

Xifeng is a beautiful young woman, and destined for greatness–to become empress, as a matter of fact. But the price of that greatness is to embrace the darkness within her, to spurn the young man who loves her, and to use the wicked sorcery that is hers by blood and powered by the hearts of those recently killed.

Rhee is a crown princess in hiding, the sole survivor of a dynasty. Aly is a war refugee turned dashing vid star, who is falsely accused of her murder. Together, they must confront the madman who stole Rhee’s throne and may well destroy the entire galaxy.

Kira is the only woman in the king’s army, set triply apart by her striking yellow eyes and her profession of demon slaying. Assigned as the prince’s bodyguard, she must go on the run with her charge after the king is murdered and traitors point to a new invasion by demons–with only a cryptic prophecy as her guide.

After decades, the emperor’s magic, and therefore his rule, is faltering. The bone shard magic-powered constructs he uses to maintain law are failing and a revolution begins to burn through the land. His daughter, Lin, seeks to master this magic and win the approval and official recognition he has always withheld. But when rebels are knocking at the gates, she must choose between her people and her birthright.

In a near future where America is a surveillance state half under water, the Netted have jobs and the Surplus try to survive in swampland or ever-deepening water. Gwen, the daughter of a Surplus couple, is born with a talent for baseball. She finds herself playing ball with the netted even as her mother battles them in court.