The Spacetime Pool

A collection that includes the Nebula Award–winning titular novella and “Light and Shadow,” the story that begins the Saga of the Skolian Empire series.

In “The Spacetime Pool,” recent MIT grad Janelle Aulair is hiking through the Great Smoky Mountains when a man appears out of nowhere to request her help. Shaken by his impossible appearance, she steps away—and falls through a portal onto a beach in another universe.

That’s when Dominick, the man who waylaid Janelle, reveals she is part of ...