17 tales of real women and unreal worlds.

Speculative fiction stories about female characters who are strong in many different ways. There may be futuristic or fantastic settings, but one thing remains the same: resourceful, resilient women who are committed to doing what is needed, no matter what the cost.

• Cherith Baldry, “Star Bright”
• Jenny Blackford, “The Sorrow”
• Kay Chronister, “Dustbowl”
• Stephanie Gunn, “Broken Glass”
• Kathryn Hore, “Generation Zero”
• Kathleen Jennings, “A Hedge of Yellow Roses”
• Faith Mudge, “Blueblood”
• T R Napper, “The Silica Key”
• Rivqa Rafael, “Function A:save(target.Dawn)”
• Alter S. Reiss, “Catalysis”
• Jane Routley, “Barista”
• Cat Sparks, “Veteran’s Day”
• Kyla Ward, “Cursebreaker: The Mutalibeen and the Memphite Mummies”
• Marlee Jane Ward, “Clara’s”
• Susan Wardle, “A Truck Called Remembrance”
• Janeen Webb, “A Wondrous Necessary Woman”
• Eleanor R Wood, “The Fruits of Revolution”

Sixteen tales to put the steamy back into steampunk.

• Marilag Angway, “Smuggler’s Deal”
• Cherith Baldry, “The Venetian Cat”
• Gio Clairval, “The Writing Cembalo”
• M L D Curelas, “Ironclad”
• Ray Dean, “Practically Perfect”
• Stephanie Gunn, “Escapement”
• Richard Harland, “The Kiss of Reba Maul”
• Rebecca Harwell, “Love in the Time of Clockwork Horses”
• Faith Mudge, “Descension”
• Nicole Murphy, “The Wild Colonial Clockwork Boy”
• Katrina Nicholson, “Lady Presto Magnifico and the Disappearing Glass Ceiling”
• Anthony Panegyres, “The Tic-Toc Boy of Constantinople”
• Amanda Pillar, “A Clockwork Heart”
• Angela Rega, “The Law of Love”
• Carol Ryles, “Siri and the Chaos-Maker”
• DC White, “South, to Glory”

Scheherazade’s One Thousand and One Nights stories have captured imaginations for a millennia. Fairy tales and fables abound, telling of the fantastic and mysterious, the comic and dramatic.

This anthology explores romantic Orientalism through a speculative fiction lens. You might find lost cities, magical lamps, mummies, thieves, intrepid explorers, slaves, robotic horsemen, noble queens, sorcerers, outcast princes, harems, dancers, djinn, assassins and even smart-talking camels and cats, set in exotic Persia, Egypt, Arabia, the Ottoman Empire, or a modern incarnation of these.

• Marilag Angway “Shadow Dancer”
• Cherith Baldry “The Green Rose”
• Alan Baxter “On A Crooked Leg Lightly”
• Jenny Blackford “The Quiet Realm of the Dark Queen”
• Jetse de Vries “Djinni Djinni Dream Dream”
• Thoraiya Dyer “The Saint George Hotel”
• Joshua Gage “The Dancer of Smoke”
• Richard Harland “The Tale of the Arrow Girl”
• Faith Mudge “The Oblivion Box”
• Havva Murat “Harmony Thicket and the Persian Shoes”
• Charlotte Nash “Parvaz”
• Anthony Panegyres “Oleander: An Ottoman Tale”
• Dan Rabarts “Silver, Sharp as Silk”
• Angela Rega “The Belly Dancing Crimes of Ms Sahara Desserts”
• Jenny Schwartz “The Pearl Flower Harvest”
• Barb Siples “The Sultan’s Debt”
• Pia Van Ravestein “Street Dancer”
• DC White “A Dash of Djinn and Tonic”