I’ve been hearing about Robert Reed’s Greatship stories for a very long time. The tales of a vast spaceship relic that is larger than worlds, and which contains thousands of alien species, the Greatship stories appeared first in F&SF and Asimov’s Science Fiction in the mid-90s, and were frequently reprinted in Best of the Year anthologies.

By the last decade Reed was producing ambitious novellas in his Greatship universe, and they were appearing primarily in anthologies — especially the novella-friendly anthologies from the Science Fiction Book Club — such as “Camouflage” (in Down These Dark Spaceways, May 2005), “Rococo” (Forbidden Planets, May 2006), “The Man with the Golden Balloon” (Galactic Empires, February 2008), and “Alone” (Godlike Machines, September 2010). There was also at least one standalone chapbook, Mere, from Golden Gryphon Press, and three novels: Marrow (2000), The Well of Stars (2005), and A Memory of Sky (2014).

Three years ago, Argo-Navis press produced the first collection, The Greatship, which gathered a dozen short stories and novellas written over the past 20 years (including Mere and all four novellas mentioned above), along with additional connecting material and an introduction. At $31.99 in trade paperback it’s a bit pricey, but it’s well worth it to have so much great material in one place.

[Click the images for bigger versions.]

Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

Introduction
Prologue
“Alone” (Godlike Machines, September 2010)
“Bridge One”
“Hoop-of-Benzene” (The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction, May 2006)
“Bridge Two”
“Mere” (Mere, Golden Gryphon Press chapbook, September 2004)
“Bridge Three”
“The Remoras” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 1994)
“Bridge Four”
“Rococo” (Forbidden Planets, May 2006)
“Bridge Five”
“River of the Queen” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February 2004)
“Bridge Six”
“Night of Time” (The Silver Gryphon, May 2003)
“Bridge Seven”
“Aeon’s Child” (Asimov’s Science Fiction, November 1995)
“Bridge Eight”
“The Caldera of Good Fortune” (Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 2007)
“Bridge Nine”
“Camouflage” (Down These Dark Spaceways, May 2005)
” Bridge Ten”
“The Man with the Golden Balloon” (Galactic Empires, February 2008)
“Bridge Eleven”
“Hatch” (The New Space Opera, June 2007)

The Greatship was published by Argo-Navis on November 12, 2013. It is 625 pages, priced at $31.99 in trade paperback. There is no digital edition.

See all of our recent New Treasures here.