Once again, the finest short-form sf offerings of the year have been collected in a single volume. With Year’s Best SF 17, acclaimed, award-winning editors and anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer demonstrate the amazing depth and power of contemporary speculative fiction, showcasing astonishing stories from some of the genre’s most respected names as well as exciting new writers to watch. Prepare to travel light years from the ordinary into a tomorrow at once breathtaking, frightening, and possible, with tales of wonder from: Elizabeth Bear Gregory Benford Neil Gaiman Nancy Kress Michael Swanwick and others. **Contents** xi • Introduction (Year’s Best SF 17) • essay by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer 1 • The Best Science Fiction of the Year Three • (2011) • shortfiction by Ken MacLeod 16 • Dolly • (2011) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear 34 • Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer • (2011) • shortstory by Ken Liu 48 • Tethered • (2011) • shortfiction by Mercurio D. Rivera 73 • Wahala • (2011) • shortfiction by Nnedi Okorafor 96 • Laika’s Ghost • (2011) • novelette by Karl Schroeder 128 • Ragnarok • (2011) • poem by Paul Park 140 • Six Months, Three Days • (2011) • novelette by Charlie Anders [as by Charlie Jane Anders ] 163 • And Weep Like Alexander • (2011) • shortfiction by Neil Gaiman 169 • The Middle of Somewhere • (2011) • shortfiction by Judith Moffett 195 • Mercies • (2011) • novelette by Gregory Benford 220 • The Education of Junior Number 12 • [Machine Dynasties] • (2011) • shortfiction by Madeline Ashby 246 • Our Candidate • (2011) • shortstory by Robert Reed 261 • Thick Water • (2011) • shortfiction by Karen Heuler 281 • The War Artist • (2011) • shortstory by Tony Ballantyne 294 • The Master of the Aviary • (2011) • shortfiction by Bruce Sterling 323 • Home Sweet Bi’ome • (2011) • novelette by Pat MacEwen 346 • For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again • (2011) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick 364 • The Ki-anna • (2011) • novelette by Gwyneth Jones 388 • Eliot Wrote • (2011) • shortstory by Nancy Kress 403 • The Nearest Thing • (2011) • novelette by Genevieve Valentine 430 • A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel • (2011) • shortstory by Yoon Ha Lee 438 • The Ice Owl • (2011) • novella by Carolyn Ives Gilman