Hotter Than Hell gathers together a baker's dozen of today's boldest and best authors of supernatural fiction and paranormal romance in a breathtaking anthology that blends black magic with red-hot desire. From the tantalizing tale of a conflicted psychic vampire driven by a powerful, savage love to the strange saga of a Greek warrior woman battling to save the world, these are stories outside the limits, as hypnotic as the full moon . . . and hotter than the sun.

And with contributors like Poul Anderson, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Larry Niven, Kim Stanley Robinson, Bruce Sterling, and Turtledove himself, there's truly not a clunker in the bunch. All of these stories revolve around Turtledove's central beard-tugging question, but they vary wildly in style, mood, and approach. Many toy with how the future might be altered had some particular event turned out differently (what if the Confederates had won at Gettysburg, or the Enola Gay had crashed before making its fateful flight?), while others follow dimension-hoppers traveling through tangled branches of our timeline (as in Sterling's "Mozart in Mirrorshades," Anderson's "Eutopia," and Jack L. Chalker's surreal ferry ride through "Dance Band on the Titanic").

All but four of these stories were written in the last two decades of the century--before then, Turtledove suggests in part, we weren't scientifically certain about whether Martians and "oceans on Venus full of reptilian monsters" might exist, so we were satisfied by more conventional, planet-faring SF. But the ideas that the contributors wrestle with here, and that irresistible human urge to speculate about the implications of our actions (and whether our decisions matter at all), prove timeless. --Paul Hughes

On the wind-swept, Ice-covered continent of Antartica, Roger Gordian's UpLink Technologies has established a scientific research facility called Cold Corners. But its testing of potential robotic landing craft for use on Mars is disrupted when one of the rovers disappears -- along with the repair team sent out after it.

Fear of discovery has prompted a renegade consortium -- that is illegally using Antartica as a nuclear waste dump -- to wipe out the UpLink base. Now, the men and women of Cold Corners have only themselves to rely on as the consortium mounts its decisive strike against the ice station -- and the final sunset plunges them into the total darkness of a polar winter.

Chronologically, the entries range from '50s pieces like Philip K. Dick's "Second Variety" and Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority" to more modern ruminations on war like "The Scapegoat" by C.J. Cherryh and "To the Storming Gulf" by Gregory Benford. But rather than quality (all these stories are of inarguable pedigree) or even breadth, what might recommend these most to readers new to them are the ideas and other works they later inspired: Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonrider" and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game" both gave rise to phenomenally successful series, Joe W. Haldeman's "Hero" preceded The Forever War, and Philip K. Dick's "Second Variety" became the SF thriller Screamers. The collection also gives you a glimpse of what dark thoughts were rattling around the heads of prolific writers like David Drake and George R.R. Martin in the '70s. --Paul Hughes

Africa becomes the battleground of twenty-first-century war. As fiber-optic cable is laid down around the continent, two entities fight to control it. One is UpLink Communications, headed by Roger Gordian. The Pan-African fiber-optic ring is his most ambitious?and expensive?endeavor to date.

His nemesis, Harlan Devane, is penetrating the network. Devane trades in black-market commodities with terrorists and rogue states, and the cable offers him unlimited access to a most valuable product: information. To ensure his success, Devane makes his move halfway around the world. He hits Gordian where it hurts?and kidnaps his daughter.

Now, Gordian must trust his UpLink team as never before, as they fight on land and sea to save his daughter and turn the tables against Devane?once and for all.

But the launch of a shuttle carrying parts for the station is sabotaged. Mysterious guerrilla attacks occur at the manufacturing facilities in Brazil and Kazakhstan. And Gordian's deepest fears are confirmed...

The Orion project has been targeted by an international terrorist whose criminal enterprises thrive on violence and political instability. Harlan DeVane's goal is to cripple Gordian's intelligence and security team, while stowing a high-powered electromagnetic pulse generator aboard Orion -- a state-of-the-art weapon with the capacity to throw every major American city into chaos...

Greenberg, a legendary editor of fantasy anthologies, has collected 22 short stories from some of the best writers working today. Walter Jon Williams writes an achingly sad tale of love, loss, and memory; Robert Silverberg a funny tale of what happens when mythic godslayers outlive their opponents. Gregory Benford mixes space opera with astrophysics in a frenetic chase across the galaxy; Steven Brust's lone gambler goes up against an alien in a very high-stakes card game. And Jack Haldeman tells of a trouble-making fairy who's enjoying exile running a bait and beer shop somewhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Most authors include a reminiscence of Zelazny in a brief afterword; the introduction and final piece are stories about Roger from two collaborators, Fred Saberhagen and Gerald Hausman. This collection of well-written, thought-provoking tales will inspire old and new fans to read and reread his works. --Nona Vero