Gabaldon (the Outlander series) brings together 20 stories that memorably and creatively explore genre themes. -Up From Slavery- by Victor LaValle pulls off the impressive feat of weaving Lovecraftian elements into the story of a copy editor working on a new edition of Booker T. Washington-s memoir of the same name. Charlie Jane Anders-s masterful, dystopian -The Bookstore at the End of America- looks at the U.S. political divide through the prism of a bookstore located on the border between blue and red America. The standout is Deji Bryce Olukotun-s -Between the Dark and the Dark,- a sci-fi story in which crystalline blooms appear on Earth-s mountains, triggering disastrous seismic events and forcing a desperate effort to find a new home for humanity. That venture is threatened when the crew of one vessel is discovered to have engaged in cannibalism, leading to calls for the ship-s destruction. And, though Matthew Baker-s -Life Sentence- remains vague about the details of its science-fictional conceit, it still maintains emotional engagement in its suspenseful account of a man whose memory was wiped after he committed a serious crime. The variety of styles and themes on offer here demonstrate the sustained vitality of genre fiction. (Nov.)