Near future dystopia, colonies in space, galactic empires: this collection has it all! "Almost All the Way Home From the Stars" is a collection of seven science fiction short stories by award winning writers Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. The settings range from galactic empires on distant worlds, to a dystopia in the near future warped by fundamentalism, to an alternate US where slavery was never abolished. Here a sampling: "Rivers of Eden" In a world transformed by a virus affecting faith, one lone scientist wants to set loose a cure for fanaticism."The Big Ice" On Hutchinson's World, Vega and Mox are trying to unravel the mystery of the Big Ice -- until the family responsibilities Vega has been trying to escape come back to haunt her."The Canadian Who Came Almost All the Way Home From the Stars" An NSA agent is assigned to look after a Canadian scientist whose husband has left Earth to visit the stars -- and the strange dimple in the lake that she is watching, waiting for his return.The five stories in this collection have been previously published in various online and print markets, including Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction.