Award-winning science fiction editor Jonathan Strahan (The Best Science Fiction of the Year series) presents this quintessential guide to the New Space Opera, showcasing short stories from fifteen of acclaimed speculative fiction authors, including Charlie Jane Anders, Alastair Reynolds, Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Ann Leckie, Sam J. Miller, and more.

In 'Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance', a cloud-based contractor finds a human war criminal clinging to the hull of the ship. The clones of 'All the Colours You Thought Were Kings', about to attend their coming-of-age ceremony, are also plotting treason. During 'A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime', two outlaws go on the run after stealing a device from a space cult.

Take a faster-than-light trip to the future. Discover where memes rise and fall in moments. Here are the new, adventurous, and extremely efficient takes on interstellar battles, sentient spaceships, and galactic intrigue. The future is sooner than you think, and there's only so much time to visit.