From a giant spider that can't be ignored in a high school classroom, to humanity facing a mutagen plague, to the last two robots witnessing the end of the universe, this comprehensive collection includes sixty-two of the best stories from James Van Pelt's fertile and wide-ranging imagination that have appeared over the last thirty years in Asimov's, Analog, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, Talebones, and numerous other science fiction and fantasy publications. Included in this collection is a Nebula finalist, a Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award Finalist, numerous stories that were recognized by Analog or Asimov's readers as among the best of the year, along with titles that were reprinted in Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction, and other year's best anthologies. Frightening or thrilling or uplifting, each of these stories is an exploration into the unknown. Take up a journey now into The Best of James Van Pelt.