
Mankind comes face to face with extraterrestrial life in this short fiction reprint anthology from Clarkesworld publisher Neil Clarke.
They Are Strangers from Far Lands . . .
Science fiction writers have been using aliens as a metaphor for the other for over one hundred years. Superman has otherworldly origins, and his struggles to blend in on our planet are a clear metaphor for immigration. Earth’s adopted son is just one example of this “Alien Among Us” narrative.
There are stories of assimilation, or the failure to do so. Stories of resistance to the forces of naturalization. Stories told from the alien viewpoint. Stories that use aliens as a manifestation of the fears and worries of specific places and eras. Stories that transcend location and time, speaking to universal issues of group identity and its relationship to the Other.
Nearly thirty authors in this reprint anthology grapple both the best and worst aspects of human nature, and they do so in utterly compelling and entertaining ways. Not One of Us is a collection of stories that aren’t afraid to tackle thorny and often controversial issues of race, nationalism, religion, political ideology, and other ways in which humanity divides itself.

This is the journal of Tammy Maheswaran, a reclusive roboticist living with undiagnosed autism, who subconsciously externalizes her issues with touch and isolation via Mariimo, the world’s most advanced developmental robotics project. Upon the machine’s activation, Tammy slowly begins to realize than in the act of constructing Mariimo, she’s been unknowingly deconstructing herself.

Someone has just released a virus capable of infecting the most advanced computer of all -- the human brain. Fortunately, it has been discovered by a brilliant hacker. Unfortunately, that hacker is Eddy Pending.
Eddy isn't your typical criminal with a dark personal past. He's far more messed up than that. Eddy's past a maze of madness, bizarre family members, and truly terrible life choices. So, when the Men in Rose Coloured Glasses show up at his door armed with business cards that can kill, Eddy knows the right thing to do - run! Unfortunately for Eddy, that's just not going to work. So he might just have to fight back instead.
Spyware is a unique dark and light mix of Kurt Vonnegut, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 28 Days Later, a neuro-philosophical discourse on consciousness (Daniel Dennett, Stephen Pinker), and Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's also a a very real, wrenching account of a small boy's struggle to understand his mother suffering from clinical depression. A skillfully woven blend that Kirkus Reviews called "...gleefully intricate..."