Award-winning anthologists Jane Yolen and Patrick Nielsen Hayden have combed through a year's worth of books and magazines and websites to find the most outstanding fantasy and science fiction stories of 2004--and collected them into a single volume aimed specifically at teens and young adults.

Many of today's most popular authors are represented here, including:

* Garth Nix, author of "Sabriel, " "Lirael, " and "Abhorsen, " who presents an unforgettable tale of two swords, two daughters, and two endings....

* S. M. Stirling, author of "Island in the Sea of Time, " sends a likeable young barbarian across the Channel to Alba, for a confrontation with a wizard from faraway Nantucket that will change his life forever...

* David Gerrold, creator of "The Trouble with Tribbles, " who takes you to a remote countryside surrounded by a mysterious darkness, whose secret has yet to be revealed...