Category: year’s best Page 1 of 5

I’m disappointed to announce that The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Six is the latest victim of the industry-wide delays that have been impacting book production since the start of the pandemic. It’s particularly bad at the moment, with paper shortages impacting the schedules at many publishing houses. In this case, our late November publication date has become a late January publication date.

It feels wrong that the volume covering 2020 won’t be available until 2022. I’m also concerned that this will impact sales. We’re going to miss out on the holiday shopping season and it wouldn’t surprise me if the book ended up with a shorter shelf life at brick and mortar stores since volume seven is also scheduled for 2022. (We don’t have a solid date for volume seven, but normally, I’d assume July. We may see that pushed back to give volume six a bit more breathing room. I should know for sure sometime in the next month.) Add to all this that delayed books often end up with canceled or reduced orders from booksellers.

And I’m not alone… This is happening to a lot of books. So what can be done? A few things come to mind: (and these are good for any book, delayed or on-time)

1. Encourage your local library to put those books on order and check them out when they come in. (If no one checks out the book, that could be a problem for their future ones at that library.)
2. Preorder wherever you normally buy books. Online or at your local bookstore. It doesn’t matter. (And get the book when it comes out, don’t leave them stuck with it, it just gets returned and that’s worse than not having ordered it. Distributors charge fees on returns and the books are often damaged.)  Preorders demonstrate that their customers are interested in a title and that in turn discourages bookstores from canceling or reducing orders. It might even get them to order more.
3. When the book does come out, review it. Doesn’t have to be an essay. Just toss it whatever stars you think it deserves at whatever online site you use. At Amazon, for example, a book that gets more reviews gets higher visibility. That helps more than you probably think. Even Tweeting, Instagramming, or Facebooking “hey look what I got” book photos draws in some potential readers.
4. And, of course, the usual tell a friend…

The Best Science Fiction of the Year – Volume 6

Night Shade Books – November 2021
ISBN-10: 1949102521 (hardcover), 194910253X (trade paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1949102529 (hardcover), 978-1949102536 (trade paperback)

The sixth volume in my year’s best series. This book will feature science fiction short stories/novelettes/novellas originally published in 2020.

Available from:

• Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.jp, Amazon.com.mx, Amazon.com.br (ebook, trade paperback, hardcover)
• Barnes & Noble (ebook, trade paperback, hardcover)
• Book Depository (trade paperback)
• Books-a-Million (ebook, trade paperback, hardcover)
• Booktopia (trade paperback, hardcover)
• Indiebound (trade paperback, hardcover)
• Powells (trade paperback, hardcover)

Table of Contents

• “Scar Tissue by Tobias S. Buckell (Future Tense Fiction, May 30, 2020)
• “Eyes of the Forest by Ray Nayler (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2020)
• “Sinew and Steel and What They Told by Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com, February 26, 2020)
• “An Important Failure by Rebecca Campbell (Clarkesworld Magazine, August 2020)
• “The Long Iapetan Night by Julie Novakova (Asimov’s Science Fiction, November/December 2020)
• “AirBody by Sameem Siddiqui (Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2020)
• “The Bahrain Underground Bazaar by Nadia Afifi (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November/December 2020)
• “Lone Puppeteer of a Sleeping City by Arula Ratnakar (Clarkesworld Magazine, September 2020)
• “Your Boyfriend Experience by James Patrick Kelly (Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends, edited by Sheila Williams)
• “Beyond the Tattered Veil of Stars by Mercurio D. Rivera (Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2020)
• “The 1st Interspecies Solidarity Fair and Parade by Bogi Takács (Rebuilding Tomorrow, edited by Tsana Dolichva)
• “Oannes, From The Flood by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Avatars, Inc., edited by Ann VanderMeer)
• “Yellow and the Perception of Reality by Maureen McHugh (Tor.com, July 22, 2020)
• “Exile’s End by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Tor.com, August 12, 2020)
• “Invisible People by Nancy Kress (Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends, edited by Sheila Williams)
• “Red_Bati by Dilman Dila (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, edited by Zelda Knight and Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki)
• “Textbooks in the Attic by S.B. Divya (Rebuilding Tomorrow, edited by Tsana Dolichva)
• “Seeding the Mountain by M. L. Clark (Analog Science Fiction & Fact, September/October 2020)
• “Knock Knock Said the Ship by Rati Mehrotra (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2020)
• “Still You Linger, Like Soot in the Air by Matthew Kressel (Lightspeed Magazine, August 2020)
• “Tunnels by Eleanor Arnason (Asimov’s Science Fiction, May/June 2020)
• “Test 4 Echo by Peter Watts (Made to Order, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• “Uma by Ken Liu (Avatars, Inc., edited by Ann VanderMeer)
• “Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love by Usman T. Malik (Wired, December 11, 2020)
• “The Translator, at Low Tide by Vajra Chandrasekera (Clarkesworld Magazine, May 2020)
• “Fairy Tales for Robots by Sofia Samatar (Made to Order, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• “This World is Made for Monsters by M. Rickert (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2020)
• “Elsewhere by James S. A. Corey (Avatars, Inc., edited by Ann VanderMeer)
• “Salvage by Andy Dudak (Interzone, January/February 2020)
• “The Long Tail by Aliette de Bodard (Wired, November 30, 2020)
• “Rhizome, by Starlight by Fran Wilde (Rebuilding Tomorrow, edited by Tsana Dolichva)
• “How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobučar by Rich Larson (Tor.com, January 15, 2020)

Cover art: “FOSS_STATION77” by Pascal Blanché.

Cover art by Pascal Blanche.

Table of contents and ordering information here.

 
Volume 5 (covering 2019) of my Best Science Fiction of the Year series will be published later this year by Night Shade Books. The cover (art and names) you might see on some sites is just a placeholder. I’ll unveil the final one when I have a finished copy. Preorders for the hardcover (isbn: 978-1949102239) and trade paperback (isbn: 978-1949102222) are now available from most booksellers. I’m not sure why, but the ebook edition still isn’t listed. I’ll post updates as I get further information.

Table of Contents

• “The Painter of Trees” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld Magazine, June 2019)
• “Emergency Skin” by N.K. Jemisin (Amazon Original Stories, September 17, 2019)
• “In the Stillness Between the Stars” by Mercurio D. Rivera (Asimov’s Science Fiction, September/October 2019)
• “Sympathizer” by Karin Lowachee (Do Not Go Quietly, edited by Jason Sizemore and Lesley Connor)
• “Knit Three, Save Four” by Marie Vibbert (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November/December 2019)
• “Moonlight” by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu (Broken Stars, edited by Ken Liu)
• “By The Warmth of Their Calculus” by Tobias S. Buckell (Mission Critical, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• “Deriving Life” by Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com, January 31, 2019)
• “The Little Shepherdess” by Gwyneth Jones (Current Futures, edited by Ann VanderMeer)
• “Such Thoughts Are Unproductive” by Rebecca Campbell (Clarkesworld Magazine, December 2019)
• “The River of Blood and Wine” by Kali Wallace (Asimov’s Science Fiction, November/December 2019)
• “One Thousand Beetles in a Jumpsuit” by Dominica Phetteplace (Lightspeed Magazine, August 2019)
• “Permafrost” by Alastair Reynolds (Tor.com Publishing)
• “The Work of Wolves” by Tegan Moore (Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2019)
• “Song Xiuyun” by A Que, translated by Emily Jin (Clarkesworld Magazine, October 2019)
• “Mother Ocean” by Vandana Singh (Current Futures, edited by Ann VanderMeer)
• “Cratered” by Karen Osborne (Future Science Fiction Digest, June 2019)
• “The Justified” by Ann Leckie (The Mythic Dream, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
• “Old Media” by Annalee Newitz (Tor.com, February 20, 2019)
• “At the Fall” by Alec Nevala-Lee (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May/June 2019)
• “The Ocean Between the Leaves” by Ray Nayler (Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2019)
• “Rescue Party” by Aliette de Bodard (Mission Critical, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• “Close Enough for Jazz” by John Chu (The Mythic Dream, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
• “On the Shores of Ligeia” by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Lightspeed Magazine, March 2019)
• “The Empty Gun” by Yoon Ha Lee (Mission Critical, edited by Jonathan Strahan)
• “Kali_Na” by Indrapramit Das (The Mythic Dream, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)
• “Painless” by Rich Larson (Tor.com, April 10, 2019)
• “Give the Family My Love” by A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld Magazine, February 2019)

When I’m selecting stories for The Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies, there are always more amazing stories than I can possibly fit in the anthology. Towards the end, the calls can be very difficult and sometimes influenced by the amount of space left in the book or the availability of the work itself. (Believe it or not, sometimes a story is contractually prevented from being reprinted in a year’s best anthology.)

Here are the stories that I couldn’t include and instead listed in the Recommended Reading section of The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Four:

• “You will see the moon rise” by Israel Alonso, translated by Steve Redwood, Apex Book of World SF 5, edited by Cristina Jurado.
• “Work Shadow/Shadow Work” by Madeline Ashby, Robots vs. Fairies, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe.
• “Dandelion” by Elly Bangs, Clarkesworld Magazine, September 2018.
• “Breakwater” by Simon Bestwick, Tor.com, February 28, 2018.
• “The Only Harmless Great Thing” by Brooke Bolander, Published by Tor.com Books.
• “Life from the Sky” by Sue Burke, Asimov’s Science Fiction, May/June 2018.
• “The Independence Patch” by Bryan Camp, Lightspeed Magazine, March 2018.
• “The Counting of Vermillon Beads” by Aliette de Bodard, A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, edited by Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman.
• The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard, Published by Subterranean Press/JABberwocky Ebooks.
• “Loss of Signal” by S.B. Divya, Tor.com, August 1, 2018.
• “Phoresis” by Greg Egan, Published by Subterranean Press.
• “The Nearest” by Greg Egan, Tor.com, July 19, 2018.
• “Logistics” by A.J. Fitzwater, Clarkesworld Magazine, April 2018.
• “Icefall” by Stephanie Gunn, Published by Twelfth Planet Press.
• “Inscribed on Dark Water” by Gregor Hartmann, Interzone, September/October 2018.
• “Fluxless” by Mike Jansen, Samovar, December 3, 2018.
• “Cuisine des Mémoires” by N.K. Jemisin, How Long ’til Black Future Month.
• “Every Single Wonderful Detail” by Stephen Graham Jones, Mechanical Animals, edited by Selena Chambers and Jason Heller.
• “Grace’s Family” by James Patrick Kelly, Tor.com, May 16, 2018.
• “In Event of Moon Disaster” by Rich Larson, Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2018.
• “Porque el Girasol Se Llama el Girasol” by Rich Larson, Shades Within Us: Tales of Migrations and Fractured Borders, edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law.
• “Broken Wings” by William Ledbetter, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August 2018.
• “Vespers” by J. M. Ledgard, Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Wade Roush.
• “Left to Take the Lead” by Marissa Lingen, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2018.
• “Cosmic Spring” by Ken Liu, Lightspeed Magazine, March 2018.
• “Chine Life” by Paul McAuley, Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Wade Roush.
• Time Was by Ian McDonald, Published by Tor.com Books.
• “Mother, Mother, Will You Play With Me?” by Seanan McGuire, Mother of Invention, edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts.
• “Longing For Earth” by Linda Nagata, Infinity’s End, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
• “The Miracle Lambs of Minane” by Finbarr O’Reilly, Clarkesworld Magazine, November 2018.
• “The Heart of the Matter” by Nnedi Okorafor, Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Wade Roush.
• “The Hard Spot in the Glacier” by An Owomoyela, Mechanical Animals, edited by Selena Chambers and Jason Heller.
• “The Streaming Man” by Suzanne Palmer, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March/April 2018.
• “Stones in the Water, Cottage on the Mountain” by Suzanne Palmer, Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2018.
• “Love Songs for the Very Awful” by Robert Reed, Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2018.
• “Death’s Door” by Alastair Reynolds, Infinity’s End, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
• “A Study in Oils” by Kelly Robson, Clarkesworld Magazine, September 2018.
• Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson, Published by Tor.com Books.
• “Maximum Outflow” by Adam Rogers, Wired, December 17, 2018.
• “Joyride” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Asimov’s Science Fiction, November/December 2018.
• “The Wait is Longer Than You Think” by Adrian Simmons, GigaNotoSaurus, May 2018.
• “Widdam” by Vandana Singh, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February 2018.
• “Overvalued” by Mark Stasenko, Slate, November 27, 2018.
• “Starship Mountain” by Allen M. Steele, Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2018.
• “An Errant Holy Spark” by Bogi Takacs, Mother of Invention, edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts.
• “The Persistence of Blood” by Juliette Wade, Clarkesworld Magazine, March 2018.
• “Kindred” by Peter Watts, Infinity’s End, edited by Jonathan Strahan.
• “The Freeze-Frame Revolution” by Peter Watts, Published by Tachyon Publications.
• Artificial Condition by Martha Wells, Published by Tor.com Books.
• Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells, Published by Tor.com Books.
• Exit Strategy by Martha Wells, Published by Tor.com Books.
• “Compulsory” by Martha Wells, Wired, December 17, 2018.
• “In the God-Fields” by Liz Williams, Women Invent the Future, edited by Doteveryone.
• “The Clockwork Penguin Dreamed of Stars” by Caroline M. Yoachim, Mechanical Animals, edited by Selena Chambers and Jason Heller.

The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Four can be ordered from:

• Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.es, Amazon.fr, Amazon.jp, Amazon.cn, Amazon.com.mx, Amazon.com.br (ebook, trade paperback, hardcover)
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million (ebook, trade paperback, hardcover)
• Booktopia (trade paperback)
• Indiebound (trade paperback)
• Kobo (ebook)
• Powells (trade paperback, hardcover)
• Wordery (trade paperback, hardcover)

The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 5 will be published in mid-2020 and select from science fiction stories (short stories, novelettes, and novellas) originally published in English in 2019.

Translations are allowed as long as their first English language appearance is in 2019. 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 strongly dislike reading PDFs, so please do not send me work in this format unless you have no other options.

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 your 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 (or will receive) them. UPDATED 2/18/2019

Magazines: Analog, Apex, Asimov’s, Better Worlds (The Verge), Clarkesworld, Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores, Diabolical Plots, Escape Pod, F&SF,  Fiction River, Future Tense Fiction (Slate), Galaxy’s Edge, GigaNotoSaurus,  Interzone, Lightspeed, Samovar, Shoreline of Infinity, Strange Horizons, Tor.com, Uncanny, and Wired.

Anthologies: Readymade Bodhisattva, The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction, A People’s Future of the United States, The Weight of Light

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

Notes on publication dates:

• Magazines: It is traditional for magazine cover date to be used to determine year of publication, however, if a story from a January issue is published on the website of that publication in December of the prior year, that will be considered the first publication date. This is considered an intentional publication by the publisher in the earlier year.
• Anthologies: If the ebook or an e-Arc of an anthology is made available for purchase (and delivery, preorders don’t count) in the year prior to the official copyright year, the earlier year will be ignored when determining eligibility.  If the print edition happens to ship a few days earlier than the official publication date, causing it to drift into the prior year, the copyright date will be used. Unlike the digital publication dates, this is something that tends to be outside the publisher’s control. This is why they are treated differently.