Heiresses of Russ 2012 by Connie Wilkins; Steve Berman

In this, the second release in the annual Heiresses of Russ series, Lambda Literary Award winning editor Connie Wilkins joins Steve Berman in choosing the best of the prior year's published speculative fiction with lesbian themes. An unexplained astronomical phenomenon brings a woman and her grandfather closer while she questions the meaning of faith. African villagers are sent automatons rather than human relief workers. Mermaids devour men drawn by their song but what will happen to a steampunk submersible piloted by a woman? Two teenage girls discover that memories are held in the fine aromas of perfumes. A family of sisters in Mexico discover a fallen angel. These are tales of the strange, the wondrous, the eerie but all are richly told stories of women facing the unknown and how they are changed by the experience.