Today’s the launch of To Shape the Dark, an anthology of original SF stories about women scientists doing science not-as-usual, conceived, created, and edited by Athena Andreadis. To Shape the Dark is sister to The Other Half of the Sky, which won unprecedented accolades.

The anthology is coming out on May 1: Beltane, Walpurgis, Irminden, the day of blossoming. It’s fitting that this is the first book published by Candlemark & Gleam under its new astrogator.

Science-based wonder is the core of science fiction. Yet its writers mostly cast science as either triumphalism or hubris and exalted the lone (and almost invariably male) genius, neglecting such crucial attributes as cooperative labor, pride in craft, and context overlays.

For good or ill, science has shaped us and will guide our fate.  Scientists are astrogators who never sleep; and To Shape the Dark is part of that vigil. The stories in the anthology show realities of science — both agonies and ecstasies — often ignored or sentimentalized in SF. But don’t just take our word for it: check out what Analog SF has to say about it.

And then go get your own copy. As always, C&G direct purchases are DRM-free, and all paperbacks come with the digital edition free!