These fourteen stories, among other things, contain robots, alien planets, genetic manipulation and virtual reality, but their centre focuses on individuals rather than technology, and they deal with love and loneliness, authenticity and illusion, and what it really means to be human.

With an introduction from Alastair Reynolds, author of the Revelation Space series.

Contents:
The Turing Test (2002)
The Warrior Half-and-Half (1995)
Monsters (2003)
The Gates of Troy (2000)
The Perimeter (2005)
Valour (1999)
Snapshots of Apirania (2000)
Piccadilly Circus (2005)
Jazamine in the Green Wood (1994)
Dark Eden (2006)
We Could Be Sisters (2004)
La Macchina (1991)
Karel's Prayer (2006)
The Marriage of Sky and Sea (2000)