The twenty-second volume in this highly respected series, this book features the best in short science fiction for 2004 as selected by Gardner Dozois. The stories are as follows:Pat Murphy: "Inappropriate Behavior"Benjamin Rosenbaum: "Start the Clock"David Moles: "The Third Party"Christopher Rowe: "The Voluntary State"Nancy Kress: "Shiva in Shadow"Paolo Bacigalupi: "The People of Sand and Slag"Michael F. Flynn: "The Clapping Hands of God"M. John Harrison: "Tourism"Terry Bisson: "Scout's Honor"James Patrick Kelly: "Men Are Trouble"Kage Baker: "Mother Aegypt"Vernor Vinge: "Synthetic Serendipity"Mary Rosenblum: "Skin Deep"Vandana Singh: "Delhi"Albert E. Cowdrey: "The Tribes of Bela"William Sanders: "Sitka"Daniel Abraham: "Leviathan Wept"Colin P. Davies: "The Defenders"Stephen Baxter: "Mayflower II"Caitlin R. Kiernan: "Riding the White Bull"Brendan DuBois: "Falling Star"Robert Reed: "The Dragons of Summer Gulch"James Cambias: "The Ocean of the Blind"Eleanor Arnason: "The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance"Peter F. Hamilton: "Footvote"Paul Di Filippo: "Sisyphus and the Stranger"Paul Melko: "Ten Sigmas"Walter Jon Williams: "Investments"