Leave your preconceived notions at home as you embark on a mind-bending journey with six of today's most visionary authors. Brimming with humor and heartache, this collection of short stories maps the roads we took to get here and the paths that lie ahead. The present may be a gift, but the future and the past both come with a price. Curated by New York Times bestselling anthologist John Joseph Adams.

<p>John Scalzi is the <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author of many
novels, including <em>Redshirts</em>, <em>Old Man's War</em>, and <em>When the Moon
Hits Your Eye</em>. His works have won numerous awards, including
the Hugo, Locus, and Audie Awards, and have been translated into
more than thirty languages.</p><p>R. F. Kuang is the #1 <em>New York Times</em> and #1 <em>Sunday Times</em>
bestselling author of the <em>Poppy War</em> trilogy, <em>Babel: An Arcane
History</em>, and <em>Yellowface</em>. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus,
Crawford, and British Book Awards. She is currently pursuing a
PhD in East Asian languages and literatures at Yale.</p><p>Peng Shepherd is the nationally bestselling, award-winning author
of <em>All This and More</em>, <em>The Cartographers</em>, and <em>The Book of M</em>. Her
work has been translated into more than ten languages and optioned
for TV and film.</p><p>Kaliane Bradley is the author of <em>The Ministry of Time</em>, an instant
<em>New York Times</em> and <em>Sunday Times</em> bestseller. It was shortlisted for
the Arthur C. Clarke Award and is a finalist for the Hugo Award for
Best Novel, among other accolades. She lives in London with her
husband.</p><p>Olivie Blake is the <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author of the <em>Atlas
Six</em> trilogy, <em>Alone with You in the Ether</em>, <em>Masters of Death</em>, the short
story collection <em>Januaries</em>, and her most recent novel, <em>Girl Dinner</em>.
She also publishes young adult fiction as Alexene Farol Follmuth.</p><p>P. Djèlí Clark is the award-winning author of <em>The Dead Cat Tail
Assassins</em>, <em>Ring Shout</em>, <em>The Black God's Drums</em>, and <em>A Master of
Djinn</em>. His short stories have appeared in online publications such
as <em>Reactor</em> and in print anthologies, including <em>Black Boy Joy</em>.</p>