From Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, here are the best stories of 2002, written by four of the most respected writers of our day and edited by Sheila Williams and Gardner Dozois.

Gregory Benford, an undisputed master of "hard" science fiction, provides the opening story, "The Clear Blue Seas of Luna," examining some of the technical and political implications of terraforming the moon.

Ian Watson, most recently notable as the writer of the screenplay for Stephen Spielberg's AI, depicts an ocean world covered in wood, where ships sail in search of leaves, and fortunes are to be made and lost. Watch for a new twist on the AI theme in Watson's "Speaker for the Woodland Sea."

James Patrick Kelly's hip prose and state of the art storytelling are well represented by "Candy Art," a romantic sitcom about what happens when your deceased parents move in with you and your boyfriend.

Finally, "With Caesar in the Underworld" is Robert Silverberg's latest installment in his alternate history of the Roman Empire, the underworld in question being the vast bazaar of questionable products and services literally under the streets of the eternal city.