THE FURTHEST HORIZON

Seventeen stories, 1950–98, arranged chronologically. First up is a classic yarn from Jack Vance's early masterpiece, The Dying Earth. Also among the early masterpieces: Brian W. Aldiss's poignant `Old Hundredth,` Frederik Pohl's eerily prophetic `Day Million,` Robert Silverberg's second fall of Rome, `Nightwings,` and Gene Wolfe's tale from the New Sun, `The Map.` The more recent entrants include Walter Jon Williams, Paul J. McAuley, and Poul Anderson's `Genesis,` whose first sentence gives you fair warning of difficulties ahead: `No human could have shaped the thoughts or uttered them.` Diverse and remarkable speculations on futures so remote as to be all but beyond conjecture.