Subterranean Press is publishing Cryptic: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt in February 2009. The massive collection (592 pages, 38 stories, more than 200,000 words) has a cover by Lee Moyer. Subterranean is now taking pre-orders for the trade hardcover edition ($38) and the limited edition ($60; no other details yet) on this page.
Subterranean says of the volume: “Jack McDevitt loves a good mystery. And he enjoys baffling his readers with enigmas like why, after so many years of listening with no results, would a SETI director hear an artificial signal and keep it quiet? Why might an astronomer at a space station, facing imminent death from a solar radiation blast, send off a frantic message that he had discovered a Clyde Tombaugh Special? Tombaugh, of course, was the discoverer of Pluto.
“What really happened to Christopher Sim, the George Washington of the war against the Ashiyyur? Why had a beloved artist at the top of his profession, with everything to live for, killed himself? Why had a brilliant young biologist discovered how life got started on Earth, but neglected to tell anyone?
“And there are of course other anomalies to be encountered in McDevitt’s work: A computer threatens the literary world, while a time traveler worries the churches. One artificial intelligence runs for president, and another claims to be a Catholic and demands access to the sacraments. Two friends discover that whenever they get together, shuttles crash, wars break out, or tidal waves hammer a coastline.
“A researcher watches endless fighting on another world and finally rebels against the Academy’s hands-off doctrine. Meantime, a crewman stranded light-years from Earth, entertains himself by intercepting radio broadcasts from home, originally transmitted during World War II.
“Among other questions these tales will answer: What might happen when people in a research lab literally try to play God. Why you don’t ever, ever, want to turn out the lights at Bolton’s Tower in the Dakotas. Why someone might want to blow up a star. And why it would be a really good idea if Hatch kept his hands off the mallet. These, and twenty-three other cosmic rides, await the reader.”
The proposed table of contents is:
Table of Contents:
Part I: Unlikely Connections:
“Cryptic” (1984 Nebula nominee)
“The Fort Moxie Branch” (1989 Nebula and Hugo nominee)
“Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City” (2003 Nebula nominee)
“Tweak”
“Melville on Iapetus”
“Lighthouse” (co-written with Michael Shara)
“Cool Neighbor” (co-written with Michael Shara)
“Whistle”
“In the Tower”
Part II: Lost Treasures:
“Ignition”
“Indomitable”
“Last Contact”
“Never Despair”
“Windows”
“Dutchman”
“The Tomb”
“Promises to Keep”
“To Hell with the Stars”
“The Mission”
Part III: Out There:
“Report from the Rear”
“Black to Move”
“The Far Shore”
“Sunrise”
“Kaminsky at War”
Part IV: Touching the Infinite:
“Fifth Day”
“Deus Tex”
“Gus”
“Welcome to Valhalla (co-written with Kathryn Lance)
“Tyger”
“Auld Lang Boom”
Part V: Inventions and Fallout:
“Cruising through Deuteronomy”
“The Candidate”
“Act of God”
“Ellie”
“Time’s Arrow”
“Dead in the Water”
“Henry James, This One’s for You” (2007 Nebula nominee)
“Time Travellers Never Die” (1997 Nebula and Hugo nominee)
McDevitt won his first Nebula in 2006 for his novel Seeker. For more on Jack McDevitt, see his web page.