WAlternate Generals (2002) is a collection of alternate history short stories edited by Harry Turtledove. The novel includes 13 short stories, including Turtledove's own "Uncle Alf".
WAmbulance is a collection of short stories by the Norwegian author Johan Harstad, published in 2002. The collection contains eleven short stories, all connected to each other. The main character in one of the stories shows up as an 'extra' in the next, and several stories are told from different angles. The overall link between the short stories is an ambulance driving through an unnamed city.
Wand a body to remember with is a book of short stories by the Chilean-Canadian writer Carmen Rodríguez. It was written and published almost simultaneously in both English and Spanish. The book was short-listed for the City of Vancouver Book Award (1997) and won the City of Santiago Book Award (1998)
WAristotle and the Gun and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by American science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp. It was published in hardcover in August 2002 by the Gale Group as part of its Five Star Speculative Fiction Series.
WThe Best American Short Stories 2002, a volume in The Best American Short Stories series, was edited by Katrina Kennison and by guest editor Sue Miller.
WBeyond Flesh is a themed anthology of science fiction short works edited by American writers Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was first published in paperback by Ace Books in December 2002. It was reissued as an ebook by Baen Books in March 2013.
WThe Birthday of the World and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in March, 2002, by HarperCollins. All of the stories, except "Paradises Lost", were previously published individually elsewhere. The story which lends its name to the title of the collection was the most recent publication, in 2000. Only these two stories are not set on planets of the Ekumen.
WBlack Projects, White Knights is a collection of short stories by American writer Kage Baker, published by small-press science fiction publisher Golden Gryphon Press, assembling various short stories set in the universe of The Company series, which comprises the bulk of her published fiction. Almost all of the stories contained within this volume have been published previously in the pages of Asimov's Science Fiction, with the remainder being previously unpublished. Note: not all of the Company stories extant at the time of publishing were collected into this volume.
WThe Caprices is a short story collection by Sabina Murray. It received the 2003 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.
WThe Coming of Conan the Cimmerian is the first of a three-volume set collecting the Conan stories by author Robert E. Howard. It was originally published in 2002, first in the United Kingdom by Wandering Star Books under the title Conan of Cimmeria: Volume One (1932–1933), and the following year in the United States by Ballantine/Del Rey under the present title. The Science Fiction Book Club subsequently reprinted the complete set in hardcover; the set is noted for presenting the original, unedited versions of Howard's Conan tales. This volume includes thirteen short stories as well as miscellanea for Howard fans and enthusiasts, and is illustrated by noted comic book artist Mark Schultz.
WCounting Up, Counting Down is a collection of short stories by Harry Turtledove, most of which were first published in various fiction magazines in the 1990s. It is named after two of the stories appearing in the book, one called "Forty, Counting Down" and the other named "Twenty-One, Counting Up", which are united by the character of Justin Kloster. The story genres represented include alternate history, time travel, fantasy, straight historical fiction, and more. Two story, "The Decoy Duck" and "The Seventh Chapter," are set in the Videssos Universe, with the former story being set before any of the other stories and books in that universe. The book was originally published by Del Rey as a trade paperback in January 2002. In the same month, it was brought out as a leatherbound limited edition by Easton Press.
WThe Curious Conspiracy is a collection of mystery stories by the British thriller writer Michael Gilbert, first published in 2002 by the American company Crippen & Landru and then in England. Published to recognize Gilbert's 90th birthday, it contains 20 previously uncollected stories, as well as a brief introduction by Gilbert himself and an appendix for Sources. Gilbert, who was appointed CBE in 1980, was a founder-member of the British Crime Writers' Association. The Mystery Writers of America named him a Grand Master in 1988 and in 1990 he was presented Bouchercon's Lifetime Achievement Award. Four of the stories in this collection feature two of Gilbert's many recurring characters that he created throughout his long career of writing both novels and short stories. Gilbert's introduction says that the topics covered by the stories are "catholic", in the sense of being "of universal human interest; touching the needs, interests or sympathies of all men." The locales vary from London to a Red Sea sheikdom and the time frame from the present day back to the Peninsular War. Some of them, such as "Judith", have an unexpected grimness about them. "Michael was an exceptionally fine storyteller, but he's hard to classify," said one of his British publishers after his death. "He's not a hard-boiled writer in the classic sense, but there is a hard edge to him, a feeling within his work that not all of society is rational, that virtue is not always rewarded.".
WThe Emperor of Dreams is a collection of American fantasy author and poet Clark Ashton Smith's short tales arranged in chronological order. It was published by Gollancz in 2002 as the 26th volume of their Fantasy Masterworks series. The collection contains stories from Smith's major story cycles of Averoigne, Hyperborea, Poseidonis, and Zothique. Most of the stories originally appeared in the magazines The Fantasy Fan, Weird Tales, Overland Monthly, Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, The Magic Carpet/Oriental Stories, The Auburn Journal, Stirring Science Stories, The Arkham Sampler, Saturn and Fantastic Universe.
WThe Encyclopedia of Dragons is a 2002 book by the Romanian writer Mircea Cărtărescu, with illustrations by Tudor Banus. It focuses on dragons in Romanian folklore, and includes ten short stories about dragons. Cărtărescu groups it with his books Why We Love Women and Beautiful Strangers as a trilogy of prose with lower literary ambition.
WEverything's Eventual is a collection of 11 short stories and 3 novellas by American writer Stephen King, published in 2002.
WThe Far Side of Nowhere is a collection of fantasy and horror stories by author Nelson Bond. It was released in 2002 and was the author's second book published by Arkham House. It was published in an edition of approximately 2,500 copies. The stories originally appeared in Amazing Stories, Blue Book, Fantastic Adventures, Weird Tales and other magazines.
WFirst Meetings (2002) is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Orson Scott Card, belonging to his Ender's Game series. Tor Books republished the book in 2003 under the titles First Meetings in the Enderverse and First Meetings in Ender's Universe and included the more recent "Teacher's Pest", a story about the first meeting of Ender's parents.
WFrom Weird and Distant Shores is fantasist Caitlin R. Kiernan's second solo short-story collection, released by Subterranean Press in 2002. As with her first collection, Tales of Pain and Wonder, interior illustrations were supplied by Canadian artist Richard A. Kirk. The book includes thirteen stories, including a collaboration with Poppy Z. Brite and another with Christa Faust. As Kiernan explains in the collection's introduction, most of these stories were originally written for "'shared world' and 'theme' anthologies," books wherein the authors have been asked to write stories set in the worlds of other authors or stories pertaining to some particular subject, respectively. The collection is notable in that includes Kiernan's earliest published short story, "Persephone." Kiernan provides an afterword for each story.
WFuture Sports is a themed anthology of science fiction short works edited by American writers Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It was first published in paperback by Ace Books in June 2002. It was reissued as an ebook by Baen Books in June 2013.
WA Gift Of Dragons is a 2002 collection of short fiction by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. All four stories are set on the fictional planet Pern; the book is one of two collections in the science fiction series Dragonriders of Pern by Anne and her son Todd McCaffrey.
WThe Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest is an anthology of fantasy stories edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. It was published by Viking Books in May 2002. The anthology itself won the 2003 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology.
WImmaterial is a collection of horror stories by Australian horror writer Robert Hood. Immaterial collects fifteen tales featuring ghosts and grue in plenty, aptly demonstrating his range of concerns and effects.
WJust Disgusting! is the fifth book in the Just! series by Andy Griffiths. Some copies of the book additionally came with stickers.
WThe Last Book of Jorkens is a collection of fantasy short stories concerning the character Joseph Jorkens created by writer Lord Dunsany. First prepared for publication in early 1957, it was left unpublished on Dunsany's death later that year, and was finally issued in a limited first special edition only in 2002, and become widely available only on its inclusion, in the omnibus edition The Collected Jorkens, Volume Three, issued by Night Shade Books in April 2005.
WThe Last Defender of Camelot is a collection of short stories written by science fiction writer Roger Zelazny. It was published by Ibooks, Inc in 2002 and has an identical title to an earlier collection.
WA Life of Surprises is a Big Finish original anthology edited by Paul Cornell, featuring Bernice Summerfield, a character from the spin-off media based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who.
WThe Longest Night, published in 2002, is a novel in the form of twelve connected short stories based on the American television series Angel.
WThe Man-Kzin Wars is a series of military science fiction short story collections, as well as the eponymous conflicts between mankind and the Kzinti that they detail. They are set in Larry Niven's Known Space universe; however, Niven himself has only written a small number of the stories.
WMinority Report is a collection of science fiction stories by American writer Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Gollancz in 2002. Most of the stories had originally appeared in the magazines Fantastic Universe, Astounding, Space Science Fiction, Galaxy Science Fiction, Worlds of Tomorrow, and Fantasy and Science Fiction.
WMy Life in Heavy Metal is a short story collection by Steve Almond published in 2002 by Grove Press. The bulk of the stories are about young men, in their twenties exploring their lives.
WNebula Awards Showcase 2002 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Kim Stanley Robinson. It was first published in trade paperback by Roc/New American Library in April 2002.
WNot the End of the World is a short story collection by British writer Kate Atkinson. It is mostly set in Scotland, and is an experiment in magic realism. The collection was first published in 2002 by Doubleday.
WNuclear Dream is a collection of various works by Sergey Lukyanenko, which was published in 2002. Most of the short stories were previously published individually, either online on in various literary magazines. Along with other things, it included the novel Nuclear Dream.
WThe Ogre's Wife: Fairy Tales for Grownups is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Richard Parks. It was first published in trade paperback by Obscura Press in August 2002. A Kindle edition was issued in 2011, and a new trade paperback edition in September 2020. The collection was nominated for the 2003 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection; its title story won the SF Age Reader's Poll for short story in 1995.
WOne More for the Road is a 2002 collection of 25 short stories written by Ray Bradbury.
WPhase Space is a 2003 science fiction collection by British writer Stephen Baxter, containing twenty-three thematically linked stories, in which the human relationship with the universe is explored: whether humanity is truly alone in the universe, if there are other intelligent species, if these have turned their backs on us, or if expansion itself is destined to fail.
WThe Phobos Science Fiction Anthology Volume 1 - Empire of Dreams and Miracles (2002) is an anthology edited by Orson Scott Card and Keith Olexa. It contains twelve stories by different writers. All of them were winners of the 1st Annual Phobos Fiction Contest for new writer.
WRumpole Rests His Case is a 2002 collection of new short stories by John Mortimer about defence barrister Horace Rumpole. The stories were freshly written and not adapted from any previous scripts he had written for the Rumpole TV series (1978-1992).
WSelected Stories of Philip K. Dick is a collection of science fiction stories by Philip K. Dick. It was first published by Random House in 2002. Many of the stories had originally appeared in the magazines Planet Stories, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Imagination, Space Science Fiction, Astounding, Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Orbit, Galaxy Science Fiction, Fantastic Universe, Amazing Stories, Rolling Stone College Papers, Omni and Playboy.
WStories of Your Life and Others is a collection of short stories by American writer Ted Chiang originally published in 2002 by Tor Books. It collects Chiang's first eight stories. All of the stories except "Liking What You See: A Documentary" were previously published individually elsewhere.
WThings That Fall from the Sky is a collection of eleven short stories by American author Kevin Brockmeier.
WToast: And Other Rusted Futures is an English language collection of science fiction short stories by Charles Stross, published in 2002 by Cosmos Books. Almost all of the stories in the collection were originally published between 1990 and 2000, in the SF magazines Interzone, Spectrum SF, and Odyssey.
WThe Whore's Child and Other Stories is a collection of seven short stories by American author Richard Russo, published in 2002 by Alfred A. Knopf. It was published after Russo received the Pulitzer Prize for Empire Falls hence gained considerable attention and many, mostly favorable reviews.
WThe Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection is a science fiction anthology edited by Gardner Dozois that was published in 2002. It is the 19th in The Year's Best Science Fiction series. It received the Locus Award for best anthology in 2003.
WYear's Best SF 7 is a science fiction anthology edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer that was published in 2002. It is the seventh in the Year's Best SF series.