An award-winning visionary and true master of worlds and wonders, the man whom author David Brin calls "one of the nest prophetic writers of our times" once again demonstrates the breathtaking scope and startling power of his imagination--transporting the reader across space and time, into the heart of darkness and the soul of madness.

From the spinetingling account of an intergalactic poacher's rite of passage, to an erotic and ultimately uplifting modern fable of inner scars and otherworldly transformation, here are fifteen remarkable tales and "story poems"--featuring four HUGO and NEBULA Award-winners, including the classic novella THE HEMINGWAY HOAX. These are stories that sing with a unique and haunting voice--stories of war's monsters, of brutal art and lost stars. . .and a brief, miraculous moment called childhood, when a young girl can actually fly.