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?

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 . . .

Life--beyond us.

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.

SF STORIES BY: 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 Lukacovicova, Premee Mohamed, G. David Nordley, Malka Older, Deji Bryce Olukotun, Tomas Petrasek, Brian Rappatta, Arula Ratnakar, D.A. Xiaolin Spires, Bogi Takacs, Peter Watts, and B. Zelkovich.

SCIENCE ESSAYS BY: Jacques Arnould, William Bains, Jose A. Caballero, Dimitra Demertzi, Martina Dimoska, Tessa Fisher, Dennis Hoening, Valentin D. Ivanov, Fabian Klenner, Nina Kopacz, Geoffrey A. Landis, Natuschka Lee, Ania Losiak, Stephen Francis Mann, Connor Martini, Tony Milligan, Philippe Nauny, Julie Novakova, Erik Persson, Tomas Petrasek, Joanna Piotrowska, Giovanni Poggiali, Amedeo Romagnolo, Stefano Sandrelli, Floris van der Tak, Jan Toman, Sheri Wells-Jensen, and Raymond M. Wheeler

INTRODUCTION BY: Stephen Baxter

FOREWORD BY: Julie Novakova

AFTERWORDS BY: Wolf D. Geppert; Lucas K. Law & Susan Forest

EDITED BY: Julie Novakova, Lucas K. Law & Susan Forest

Previous anthologies by Laksa Media (Strangers Among Us, The Sum of Us, Where the Stars Rise, Shades Within Us, Seasons Between Us) have been recommended by Publishers Weekly, Booklist (American Library Association), Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Locus, Foreword Reviews, and Quill & Quire.