The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 4 will be published by Skyhorse/Start under their Night Shade Books imprint in early 2019. I am presently considering all science fiction stories (short stories, novelettes, and novellas) originally published in English in 2018. (Translations are allowed as long as their first English language appearance is in 2018.) To keep things simple, I will be using the publisher’s copyright, magazine’s cover date, or posting date (primarily for online fiction) to determine eligibility. Serialized works will be considered published at the time of the final installment.

Deadlines
Print materials must be received by November 1st. Digital materials must be received by November 15th. If your project is scheduled for publication after that date, please send galleys by the above deadlines so that I will have sufficient time to consider your work.

Rights
I will require non-exclusive World anthology rights in English in print, ebook, and audio formats for stories I select for this volume.

Delivery
I will accept science fiction stories, novelettes, and novellas for consideration in the following formats:

Print – mail to:
Neil Clarke
PO Box 172
Stirling, NJ 07980 

EPUB, MOBI, and .DOC – email to:
bestsciencefiction@clarkesworldmagazine.com

I dislike reading PDFs, so please do not send me work in this format unless you don’t have any other options and have cleared it with me in advance.

Publishers: If sending a magazine/anthology/collection that also contains other fantasy/horror/other stories, please list the titles of the science fiction stories in a cover letter or email.

Authors: I will not be able to let you know whether or not your work has been submitted by your publisher. To avoid duplication, please check with your publisher before sending a story. If your work is self-published, please include the date and location (blog, website, Amazon, etc.) your work was originally published.

Stories published in the following magazines and anthologies do not need to be submitted. I already have them. UPDATED 4/10/2018

Magazines: Analog, Apex, Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Diabolical Plots, F&SF,  Fiction River, Galaxy’s Edge, IGMS, Interzone, Lightspeed, Longshot Island, Mithila Review, Mythic Delirium, Shoreline of Infinity, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, and Uncanny.

Anthologies: Welcome to Dystopia

Other: Future Tense Fiction Project

Sending a book/file/story is a one-way transaction. I will not be confirming receipt or returning materials.

Today is the official release date for The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Three. Go buy a copy and/or encourage your library to buy one. 🙂

I’ve already listed the stories that are included in this volume, but every year I have a small pile of excellent stories that I have to cut from my final list. These become the Recommended Reading section at the back of the book. I’d like to share that list with you now.

2017 Recommended Reading

• “Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue” by Charlie Jane Anders, Global Dystopias, edited by Junot Díaz.
• “Mines” by Eleanor Arnason, Infinity Wars, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
• “Pan-Humanism:
• Hope and Pragmatics” by Jess Barber and Sara Saab, Clarkesworld, September 2017.“
• Goner” by Gregory Norman Bossert, Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2017.
• “Strange Dogs” by James S. A. Corey, Orbit Books.
• “The Moon Is Not a Battlefield” by Indrapramit Das, Infinity Wars, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
• “The Dragon that Flew Out of the Sun” by Aliette de Bodard, Cosmic Powers, edited by John Joseph Adams.
• “A Game of Three Generals” by Aliette de Bodard, Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers.
• “Speechless Love” by Yilun Fan, Sunvault, edited by Phoebe Wagner and Bronte Christopher Wieland.
• “Nexus” by Michael F. Flynn, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March/April 2017.
• “Rain Ship” by Chi Hui, Clarkesworld, February 2017.
• “Canoe” by Nancy Kress, Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers.
• “Soccer Fields and Frozen Lakes” by Greg Kurzawa, Lightspeed, March 2017.
• “The Chameleon’s Gloves” by Yoon Ha Lee, Cosmic Powers, edited by John Joseph Adams.
• “The Wisdom of the Group” by Ian R. MacLeod, Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2017.
• “What We Knew Then, Before the Sky Fell Down” by Seanan McGuire, Catalysts, Explorers & Secret Keepers: Women of Science Fiction, edited by Monica Louzon, Jake Weisfeld, Heather McHale, Barbara Jasny, and Rachel Frederick.
• “Sidewalks” by Maureen McHugh, Omni, Winter 2017.
• “The Influence Machine” by Sean McMullen, Interzone, March/April 2017.
• “The Proving Ground” by Alex Nevala-Lee, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, January/February 2017.
• “Books of the Risen Sea” by Suzanne Palmer, Asimov’s Science Fiction, September/October 2017.
• “A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension” by Andrea M. Pawley, Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2017.
• “Fandom for Robots” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Uncanny, September/October 2017.
• “The Residue of Fire” by Robert Reed, Extrasolar, edited by Nick Gevers.
• “Teratology” by C. Samuel Rees, Sunvault, edited by Phoebe Wagner and Bronte Christopher Wieland.
• “Belladonna Nights” by Alastair Reynolds, The Weight of Words, edited by Dave McKean and William Schafer.
• “Night Passage” by Alastair Reynolds, Infinite Stars, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt.
• “Vanguard 2.0” by Carter Scholz, Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities, edited by Ed Finn and Joey Eschrich.
• “Eminence” by Karl Schroeder, Chasing Shadows, edited by Stephen W. Potts.
• “Little /^^^\&-” by Eric Schwitzgebel, Clarkesworld, September 2017.
• “Starlight Express” by Michael Swanwick, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2017.
• “The Road to the Sea” by Lavie Tidhar, Sunvault, edited by Phoebe Wagner and Bronte Christopher Wieland.
• “The Old Dispensation” by Lavie Tidhar, Tor.com, February 2017.
• “All Systems Red” by Martha Wells, Tor.com, May 2017.

My editor’s copies for The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3 arrived yesterday afternoon. The book should be in stores next week!