Life Beyond Us

<p><strong>How would first contact--on earth in space on another planet--transform our understandings of technology philosophy and what it means to be human? What kind of cognitive dissonance would society experience if we discovered a previously unrecognized sentience on Earth?</strong> </p><p>What would life be like if it originated in a frigid ocean beneath an impenetrable shell of ice? Or on a world whose haze obscures any view of the universe beyond? Or on an unfathomable scale in the depths of space? Or . . .</p><p>Life--<em>beyond</em> us.</p><p>Dive in as the European Astrobiology Institute presents fifty-four original SF Stories and Science Essays on life from microbial to macro from automatic to sagacious. Each speculative story is followed by a professional essay illuminating the scientific underpinnings of the story and providing a new window into the cutting-edge knowledge about exploration for life in the universe.</p><p><strong>SF STORIES BY:</strong> Eugen Bacon Gregory Benford Renan Bernardo Jana Bianchi Tobias S. Buckell Eric Choi Julie E. Czerneda Tessa Fisher Simone Heller Valentin D. Ivanov Mary Robinette Kowal Lisa Jenny Krieg (translated by Simone Heller) Geoffrey A. Landis Rich Larson Liu Yang (translated by Ladon Gao) Lucie Luka?ovi?ová Premee Mohamed G. David Nordley Malka Older Deji Bryce Olukotun Tomáš Petrásek Brian Rappatta Arula Ratnakar D.A. Xiaolin Spires Bogi Takács Peter Watts and B. Zelkovich.</p><p><strong>SCIENCE ESSAYS BY:</strong> Jacques Arnould William Bains José A. Caballero Dimitra Demertzi Martina Dimoska Tessa Fisher Dennis Höning Valentin D. Ivanov Fabian Klenner Nina Kopacz Geoffrey A. Landis Natuschka Lee Ania Losiak Stephen Francis Mann Connor Martini Tony Milligan Philippe Nauny Julie Nováková Erik Persson Tomáš Petrásek Joanna Piotrowska Giovanni Poggiali Amedeo Romagnolo Stefano Sandrelli Floris van der Tak Jan Toman Sheri Wells-Jensen and Raymond M. Wheeler</p><p><strong>INTRODUCTION BY:</strong> Stephen Baxter</p><p><strong>FOREWORD BY:</strong> Julie Nováková</p><p><strong>AFTERWORDS BY:</strong> Wolf D. Geppert; Lucas K. Law & Susan Forest</p><p><strong>EDITED BY:</strong> Julie Nováková Lucas K. Law & Susan Forest</p><p>Previous anthologies by Laksa Media (<em>Strangers Among Us The Sum of Us Where the Stars Rise Shades Within Us Seasons Between Us</em>) have been recommended by <em>Publishers Weekly</em> <em>Booklist</em> (American Library Association) <em>Kirkus Reviews</em> <em>Library Journal</em> <em>School Library Journal</em> <em>Locus</em> <em>Foreword Reviews</em> and <em>Quill & Quire</em>.</p>