Contents: Introduction / Robert Silverberg -- The Ekumen : Old music and the slave women / Ursula K. Le Guin -- The forever war : A separate war / Joe Haldeman -- The Ender series : Investment counselor / Orson Scott Card -- The uplift universe : Temptation / David Brin -- Roma eterna : Getting to know the dragon / Robert Silverberg -- The Hyperion cantos : Orphans of the helix / Dan Simmons -- The sleepless : Sleeping dogs / Nancy Kress -- Tales of the Heechee : The boy who would live forever / Frederik Pohl -- The galactic center series : A hunger for the infinite / Gregory Benford -- The ship who sang : The ship that returned / Anne McCaffrey -- The way : The way of all ghosts / Greg Bear.