Kij Johnson

A surprising and exciting new collection of speculative and experimental stories that explore animal intelligences, gender, and the nature of stories. The Privilege of the Happy Ending collects award-winning writer Kij Johnson’s speculative fiction from the last decade. The stories explore gender, animals, and the nature of stories, and range in form from classically told tales to deeply experimental works. The collection includes the World Fantasy Award-winning “The Privilege of the Happy Ending” and “The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe,” as well as two never-before published works.

A surprising and exciting new collection of speculative and experimental stories that explore animal intelligences, gender, and the nature of stories. The Privilege of the Happy Ending collects award-winning writer Kij Johnson’s speculative fiction from the last decade. The stories explore gender, animals, and the nature of stories, and range in form from classically told tales to deeply experimental works. The collection includes the World Fantasy Award-winning “The Privilege of the Happy Ending” and “The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe,” as well as two never-before published works.

This is the fifth annual edition of the Long List Anthology. Every year, supporting members of WorldCon nominate their favorite stories first published during the previous year to determine the top five in each category for the final Hugo Award ballot. This is an anthology collecting more of the stories from that nomination list to get them to more readersThe Long List Anthology Volume 5 collects 20 science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories from that nomination list, totaling over 450 pages of fiction by writers from all corners of the world. From science fiction mysteries to studying wish-granting fairies, research on haunted houses to extracting language knowledge from your brain, from sex-changing dinosaurs to survival stories in a wild alien environment. There is a wide variety of styles and types of stories here, and something for everyone. The stories included are: "Mother Tongues" by S. Qiouyi Lu"Field Biology of the Wee Fairies" by Naomi Kritzer"Meat and Salt and Sparks" by Rich Larson"Sour Milk Girls" by Erin Roberts"Asphalt, River, Mother, Child" by Isabel Yap"The Starship and the Temple Cat" by Yoon Ha Lee"Waterbirds" by G. V. Anderson"You Can Make a Dinosaur, but You Can't Help Me" by K. M. Szpara"And Yet" by A. T. Greenblatt"She Still Loves the Dragon" by Elizabeth Bear"An Agent of Utopia" by Andy Duncan"A Study in Oils" by Kelly Robson"The Substance of My Lives, the Accident of Our Births" by Jos Pablo Iriarte"No Flight Without the Shatter" by Brooke Bolander"How to Swallow the Moon" by Isabel Yap"A World to Die For" by Tobias S. Buckell"Thirty-Three Percent Joe" by Suzanne Palmer"The Privilege of the Happy Ending" by Kij Johnson"The Nearest" by Greg Egan"Umbernight" by Carolyn Ives Gilman

Professor Vellitt Boe teaches at the prestigious Ulthar Women s College. When one of her most gifted students elopes with a dreamer from the waking world, Vellitt must retrieve her. "Kij Johnson's haunting novella The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe is both a commentary on a classic H. P. Lovecraft tale and a profound reflection on a woman's life. Vellitt's quest to find a former student who may be the only person who can save her community takes her through a world governed by a seemingly arbitrary dream logic in which she occasionally glimpses an underlying but mysterious order, a world ruled by capricious gods and populated by the creatures of dreams and nightmares. Those familiar with Lovecraft's work will travel through a fantasy landscape infused with Lovecraftian images viewed from another perspective, but even readers unfamiliar with his work will be enthralled by Vellitt's quest. A remarkable accomplishment that repays rereading." Pamela Sargent, winner of the Nebula Award"

The river of Mist, an almost living organism, divides the Empire in two. A few Ferries make dangerous and treacherous journeys across the Mist when they can, trusting in good fortune and the uncanny skills of those plying the trade. *** A bridge across th

A sparkling debut collection from one of the hottest writers in science fiction: her stories have received the Nebula Award the last two years running. These stories feature cats, bees, wolves, dogs, and even that most capricious of animals, humans, and have been reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, and The Secret History of Fantasy. At the Mouth of the River of Bees26 Monkeys, Also the AbyssThe Horse RaidersSparFox MagicNames for WaterSchrodinger’s CathouseMy Wife Reincarnated as a SolitaireChenting, in the Land of the DeadThe Bitey CatThe Empress Jingu FishesWolf TrappingThe Man Who Bridged the MistPoniesThe Cat Who Walked a Thousand MilesThe Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the ChangeKij Johnson's stories have won the Sturgeon and World Fantasy awards. She has taught writing; worked at Tor, Dark Horse, and Microsoft; worked as a radio announcer; run bookstores; and waitressed in a strip bar.