Author Description

Ab Terra 2024 delivers the fifth installment of an annual short story anthology that seeks to recreate the feeling of the moment when we first laid eyes on our world through stories of science fiction belonging to all, from Earth. A dozen stories from both emerging and recognized science fiction authors offer diverse cultural perspectives and provide readers with journeys that in one way or another are "from Earth," even if home is far, far away. Contents You Will Let Me Be by John Brady Bennie is an illegal "picker" who mines the minds of rich cryo-frozen individuals for information that might lead to the reclamation of their riches. It's illegal work without much of a future... until the day he meets a mind that's surprisingly well defended. The Robot Story by Aleah Worzel A scouting robot tasked with scanning a euthanized planet becomes fond of human life, changing its trajectory in good ways and bad. The Entangled Moon by John McNeil Struggling to define its own identity amid conflict between its sibling, its mentor, and the implications of its parent's death, TwoAlpha finds clarity in the theory of quantum entanglement. Of Gods and Other Mortal Failings by S. D. Campbell An ambitious astronaut seizes the opportunity to be the first to step onto the surface of Pluto, but the immortality she is rewarded with is not what she sought. The Train to Mars by Courtney Moody Agust has done everything possible to avoid the Disease. But when his sister begins reaching out from quarantine, her heavily censored letters slowly reorient his reality. Hollow Constellations by Justin Sangermano Awake after decades of cryogenic sleep, a space traveler discovers that the mission he's entrusted his life to is not what it seems. Lunar Blues by Heide R. Orleth A nostalgic diner on a lunar colony serves up bittersweet memories to one homesick colonist. The Condor by Joel Sherma