Contents 9 • Introduction (The Angels of Life and Death) • (2010) • essay by Eric Brown 11 • Venus Macabre • (1998) • short story by Eric Brown 25 • The Frankenberg Process • (2001) • novelette by Eric Brown 59 • Skyball • (1997) • short story by Eric Brown 79 • Bengal Blues • [Bengal Station] • (2009) • short fiction by Eric Brown 99 • The Nilakantha Scream • (1991) • short story by Eric Brown 121 • The Thallian Intervention • (1996) • short story by Eric Brown 135 • The Tapestry of Time • (2006) • short story by Eric Brown 151 • The Frozen Woman • (2003) • short story by Eric Brown 165 • Crystals • (1992) • short story by Eric Brown 183 • Saleema and the Spheretrix • short story by Eric Brown 203 • The Angels of Life and Death • (2001) • novelette by Eric Brown "The Angels of Life and Death" collects eleven science fiction stories from two times winner of the BSFA short story award, including one never before published. From cyberpunk visions of post-human futures to traditional tales of alien encounter and time travel, what connects these tales are Brown's storytelling ability and his concern for the human element. Whether he's writing about telepaths fleeing alien assassins on a vast spaceport city in the Bay of Bengal, or a woman reporter finding true love in the far, far future, Brown imbues his fictions with a concern for character and headlong narrative pace. "SF infused with a cosmopolitan and literary sensibility"-Paul McAuley "He is a masterful storyteller"-"Strange Horizons" "Eric Brown joins the ranks of Graham Joyce, Christopher Priest and Robert Holdstock as a master fabulist"-Paul di Filippo