The short story “Replacement” by Rimi B. Chatterjee was published for the first time in 2020 by Future Fiction within the anthology “Avatar. Contemporary Indian Science Fiction”.

Aiyzeh Dang wishes she could be slim and willowy like her friend Supiriya, who will find a good husband for sure. Instead, she can only hope she can go to New Singapore to study medicine with the man she admires for her contribution to the overpopulation problem. Her brothers, who run the family after their father’s death, only give her permission because she won a scholarship and they don’t have the money to pay her dowry to find her a husband.

The novella “Home Is the Hangman” by Roger Zelazny was published for the first time in 1975. It won the Hugo and Nebula Awards as the best novella of the year.

A sentient android, technically called a telefactor, was programmed by its creators to make it totally autonomous in its space exploration missions. The result was too good and the telefactor went off on its own and disappeared into space. Years later, its space capsule returns to Earth and a short time later one of its creators is killed.

Determining whether the telefactor has returned to Earth to kill its creators is crucial. Regardless of the results, finding it is absolutely a priority but it’s an extremely delicate investigation. The assignment is entrusted to a person who has experience in the field of technology to the point of being able to keep his identity out of the Central Data Bank and to use false identities.

The short story “Indra’s Web” by Vandana Singh was published for the first time in 2011.

Mahua is involved in the development of Suryanet, a major project that is inspired by a myconet, a fungal network that connects the plants of the forest. The result of the project is supposed to be a revolutionary energy grid but something isn’t working properly putting the whole project at risk. As if that weren’t enough, Mahua’s thoughts are more focused on her grandmother, in the hospital after a stroke.

The short story “Communal” by Shikhandin was published for the first time in 2020 by Future Fiction within the anthology “Avatar. Contemporary Indian Science Fiction”.

After humans exploit Earth’s resources to the point of causing enormous environmental damage, plants start mutating in ways that make human life difficult. In some cases, plants seem to have a will of their own when they attack humans, and eating them becomes more difficult. Will the joint efforts of the various nations find the solution?

The novella “Slow Bullets” by Alastair Reynolds was published for the first time in 2015. It won the Locus Award as the Best Novella of the Year.

Scur fought in the war between Peripheral Systems and Central Worlds and didn’t even have time to rejoice about its end that she was captured by Orvin, a war criminal. Orvin inserts a second slow bullet into Scur’s body, a memory device that adds to the one all soldiers have but without using painkillers.

Left for dead, Scur is saved but wakes up on the spaceship Caprice. The systems onboard seem to have major problems and there are soldiers on board who fought for both sides during the war. Scur discovers that Orvin is also on board but the attempts to capture him are hampered by the ship’s problems, which can only be explained if the people on board remained hibernated for many centuries.