This science fiction anthology contains 9 of the best short novels published in 2003. From the dust jacket description: In "The Green Leopard Plague," Walter Jon Williams tells of a philosopher who develops a way to make human skin photosynthetic--ending starvation as a tool of oppression. But his breakthrough has unforeseen repercussions . . . . John C. Wright describes life in a distant future after the sun has gone out and true humans are confined to a single giant pyramid in "Awake in the Night." William Barton sends a science fiction-loving teen "Off on a Starship"--an automated probe that carries him across space to a world where he's all alone, except for a robot that becomes increasingly . . . female. And in "Just Like the Ones We Used to Know," Connie Willis imagines the ultimate global warming effect: a freak snowstorm that effectively shuts down North America. From a distant future where both beer and rebellion brew in a tavern on Mars to an alternate WWII where the cutting-edge science is quantum biology . . . from a haunting story of a bizarre prison without guards or rules to a Bradbury-esque tale of small-town America, Best Short Novels: 2004 is a landmark collection of some of the finest short works in science fiction.