Twenty thrilling science fiction tales from authors old and new exploring how other planets could be shaped to support human life.

"A varied, interesting, and worthy examination of human characters whose need to change their environment is inextricably linked to their need to change themselves." — Kirkus Reviews

When mankind moves out to the stars, the colonists of the future will remake the worlds they inhabit in their image. Included here are twenty stories from the most imaginative writers in the field:

Poul Anderson * Cordwainer Smith * Arthur C. Clarke *Richard McKenna * Roger Zelazny * John Varley * Gregory Benford * Ian McDonald * Bruce Sterling * Charles Sheffield * Robert Reed * G. David Nordley * Joe Haldeman * Phillip C. Jennings * Geoffrey A. Landis * Stephen Baxter * William H. Keith, Jr. * Kim Stanley Robinson * Pamela Sargent * Laura J. Mixon

These are the stories of the explorers and pioneers who transform their destinations in the image of their distant home—exciting tales of alien landscapes and the struggle to make them suit human desires.