Worlds Long Lost

Ruocchio (the Sun Eater series) and Korsgaard bring together 14 mind-bending and often disturbing tales of ancient extraterrestrial civilizations throughout the universe. Some of these tales hinge on the discovery of disturbing artifacts: Big Pharma conspires with the government to cover up evidence of aliens in “They Only Dig at Night” by Sean Patrick Hazlett, while Jessica Cain’s epistolary “re: something strange” has its heroine turning to an ex for help regarding unexplained etchings on a stone wall. Lovecraftian horror infuses “Never Ending, Ever-Growing” by Erica Ciko, about a planet fighting back against humanity, and “The Building Will Continue” by Gray Rinehart, which introduces a super slimy alien race. Readers will also be treated with a visit to Ruocchio’s Sun Eater’s world in “Mother of Monsters” and a fun short about aliens and teenage love in Orson Scott Card’s “Giving Up on the Piano.” Full of creepy flights of imagination and thought-provoking science, this will be a hit with fans of first contact sci-fi. (Dec.)