Extreme Planets — David Conyers

Two decades ago astronomers confirmed the existence of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. Today more than 800 such worlds have been identified, and scientists now estimate that at least 160 billion star-bound planets are to be found in the Milky Way Galaxy alone. But more surprising is just how diverse and bizarre those worlds are.
 
Extreme Planets is a science fiction anthology of stories set on alien worlds that push the limits of what we once believed possible in a planetary environment. Visit the bizarre moons, dwarf planets and asteroids of our own Solar Systems, and in the deeper reaches of space encounter super-Earths with extreme gravity fields, carbon planets featuring mountain ranges of pure diamond, and ocean worlds shrouded by seas hundreds of kilometres thick. The challenges these environments present to the humans that explore and colonise them are many, and are the subject matter of these tales.
 
Cover illustration by Paul Drummond. The anthology features 15 tales from leading science fiction authors and rising stars in the genre:

• "Banner of the Angels" by David Brin and Gregory Benford
• "Brood" by Stephen Gaskell
• "Haumea" by G. David Nordley
• "A Perfect Day off the Farm" by Patty Jansen
• "Daybreak" by Jeff Hecht
• "Giants" by Peter Watts
• "Maelstrom" by Kevin Ikenberry
• "Murder on Centauri" by Robert J. Mendenhall
• "The Flight of the Salamander" by Violet Addison and David Smith
• "Petrochemical Skies" by David Conyers and David Kernot
• "The Hyphal Layer" by Meryl Ferguson
• "Colloidal Suspension" by Geoff Nelder
• "Super-Earth Mother" by Guy Immega
• "Lightime" by Jay Caselberg
• "The Seventh Generation" by Brian Stableford