Women of Futures Past: Classic Stories

ANTHOLOGY OF GREAT SF STORIES BY RENOWNED WOMEN SF AUTHORS! A collection of wonderful SF carefully selected by ground‑breaking editor and author, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Stories by Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey, Lois McMaster Bujold, CJ Cherryh and more.

Meet the Women of Futures Past: from Grand Master Andre Norton and the beloved Anne McCaffrey to some of the most popular SF writers today, such as Lois McMaster Bujold and CJ Cherryh. The most influential writers of multiple generations are found in these pages, delivering lost classics and foundational touchstones that shaped the field.

You'll find Northwest Smith, C.L. Moore’s famous smuggler who predates (and maybe inspired) Han Solo by four decades.  Read Leigh Brackett’s fiction and see why George Lucas chose her to write The Empire Strikes Back. Adventure tales, post‑apocalyptic visions, space opera, aliens‑among‑us, time travel—these women have delivered all this and more, some of the best science fiction ever written!

Includes stories by Leigh Brackett, Lois McMaster Bujold, Pat Cadigan, CJ Cherryh, Zenna Henderson, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, C.L. Moore, Andre Norton, James Tiptree, Jr., and Connie Willis.

Cover Art by Christine Mitzuk

Paperback

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, September 2016

Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-13: 978-1-4767-8161-7
eISBN: 978-1-62579-522-9

Copyright 2016 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
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Electronic version by Baen Books
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Story Permissions

“The Indelible Kind,” by Zenna Henderson, copyright © 1968 by Zenna Henderson, 1996 by the Estate of Zenna Henderson. First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 1968. Reprinted by permission of the Author’s Estate and the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.

“The Smallest Dragonboy,” by Anne McCaffrey, copyright © 1973, 2001 by Anne McCaffrey. First appeared in Science Fiction Tales, edited by Roger Elwood. Reprinted by permission of the Author’s Estate and the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.

“Out of All Them Bright Stars,” by Nancy Kress, copyright © 1985 by Nancy Kress. First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 1985. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Angel,” by Pat Cadigan, copyright © 1987 by Pat Cadigan. First appeared in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, June1987. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Cassandra,” by C.J. Cherryh, copyright © 1978 by C.J. Cherryh. First appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1978. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Shambleau,” by C.L. Moore, copyright © 1933 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company, renewed 1961 by C.L. Moore. First appeared in Weird Tales, November 1933. Reprinted by permission of Don Congdon Associates, Inc.

“The Last Days of Shandakor,” by Leigh Brackett copyright © 1952 by Better Publications, Inc., for Startling Stories, April, 1952. Reprinted with permission from the author's estate.

“All Cats Are Gray,” by Andre Norton, copyright © 2014 by the Andre Norton Estate. First appeared in Fantastic Universe, August/September 1953, under the name Andrew North. Reprinted by permission of the Andre Norton Estate.

“Aftermaths,” by Lois McMaster Bujold, copyright © 1986 by Lois McMaster Bujold. First appeared in Far Frontiers: The Paperback Magazine of Science Fiction and Speculative Fact, Volume V, Spring 1986 (first printing May 1986). Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Last Flight of Doctor Ain,” by James Tiptree, Jr., copyright © 1969 by James Tiptree, Jr., 1997 by Jeffrey D. Smith; first appeared in Galaxy, March 1969; reprinted by permission of Jeffrey D. Smith and the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.

“Sur,” by Ursula K. Le Guin, copyright © 1982 by Ursula K. Le Guin. First appeared in The New Yorker, February 1, 1982. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Fire Watch,” by Connie Willis, copyright © 1982 by Connie Willis. First appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, February 15, 1982. Reprinted by permission of the author.