Contents * ix • Introduction (Nebula Awards 21) • essay by George Zebrowski * 1 • What Was 1985 That We Were Mindful of It? • essay by Algis Budrys * 15 • Heirs of the Perisphere • (1985) • shortstory by Howard Waldrop * 35 • Out of All Them Bright Stars • (1985) • shortstory by Nancy Kress * 44 • The Fringe • [The Mormon Sea] • (1985) • novelette by Orson Scott Card * 76 • Sailing to Byzantium • (1985) • novella by Robert Silverberg * 153 • More Than the Sum of His Parts • (1985) • shortstory by Joe Haldeman * 176 • Portraits of His Children • (1985) • novelette by George R. R. Martin * 225 • For Spacers Snarled in the Hair of Comets • (1984) • poem by Bruce Boston * 226 • Letter from Caroline Herschel • (1984) • poem by Siv Cedering * 228 • The Steam-Powered Word Processor • (1986) • shortfiction by Arthur C. Clarke * 238 • Paper Dragons • (1985) • novelette by James P. Blaylock * 260 • Effing the Ineffable • (1987) • essay by Gregory Benford * 277 • Science Fiction Films of 1985 • essay by Bill Warren