The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 8

by Neil Clarke

For decades, science fiction has compelled us to imagine futures both inspiring and cautionary. Whether it’s a cryptic message encountered by a survey ship, the discovery of alien life in the distant reaches of space, a window into a future Earth, or the adventures of well-meaning AI, science fiction inspires our imagination and delivers a lens through which we can view ourselves and the world around us. At the very heart of the genre is short fiction, the secret lab that has introduced many of the new ideas, techniques, and voices prominent across all other media.

In The Best Science Fiction of the Volume Eight, Hugo and Locus Award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a comprehensive year-in-review of 2022's short fiction markets and selects thirty-one of its best stories from the wealth of magazines, anthologies, podcasts, and collections that make up the field. In these pages you'll find works by both the new and established authors who are setting the pace for science fiction today and into tomorrow. Start your journey here.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies

844 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 10, 2024

About the author

Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine. Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022), three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

Additionally, Neil edits  Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, Not One of Us,  The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.

He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Méli · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better "best of 2024" anthologies I read so far. The collection seems to have been organised by a "similar vibe"-ish system, like putting animal stories one next the other, which I ended up appreciating for a pleasant reading experience.
Personal highlight was Ai Jiang's story

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This large volume (584 pages) has the kinds of strengths and weaknesses one can reasonably expect in any attempt to identify and publish "the best science fiction of the year."

While I found several gems that I REALLY enjoyed, there were a few duds, too, which simply failed to spark any interest or response in me at all. Now I don't automatically assume that this is the fault of the author, since the genre of science fiction is especially sensitive to one's tastes, I think.

Most of the stories, all told, ranged from OK and somewhat interesting to ALL RIGHT NOW, THIS IS A WORTHY DIFFERENCE!

One of the decided upsides of this kind of book is that you get exposed to many people you likely never heard of before, and there are a few of the authors I have "bookmarked" to track their more substantive novellas and novels.

[Paul Morisset · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ratings:

'Falling Off the Edge of the World' by Suzanne Palmer - 5 stars.
'Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man' by Rich Larson - 5 stars.
‘Termination Stories for the Cyberpunk Dystopia Protagonist’ by Isabel J. Kim - 4 stars.
'If We Make It Through This Alive' by A.T. Greenblatt - 4 stars.
'Mender of Sparrows' by Ray Nayler - 4 stars.
'When the Tide Rises' by Sarah Gailey - 4 stars.
'Solidity' by Greg Egan - 4 stars.
'We Built This City' by Marie Vibbert - 3 stars.
'Things to Do in Deimos When You're Dead' by Alastair Reynolds - 3 stars.
'Down and Out in Exile Park' by Tade Thompson - 3 stars.
'Nonstandard Candles' by Yoon Ha Lee - 3 stars.
'Inheritance' by Hannah Yang - 3 stars.
‘Give Me English’ by Ai Jiang - 3 stars.
'A Dream of Electric Mothers' by Wole Talabi - 2 stars.
'A Hole in the Light' by Annalee Newitz - 2 stars.
‘The Dragon Project’ by Naomi Kritzer - 2 stars.
‘In The Dream’ by Meg Elison - 2 stars.

[Shyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A super solid collection.

Among these stories, you should certainly read:
• Termination Stories for the Cyberpunk Dystopia Protagonist by Isabel J. Kim,
• The Historiography of Loss by Julianna Baggott,
• When the Tide Rises by Sarah Gailey,
• By Those Hands by Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu and translated by Judith Huang, and
• Letters to My Mother by Chinelo Onwualu.

The following are also good, but less clear-cut as recommendations from me:
• All That Burns Unseen by Premee Mohamed,
• Solidity by Greg Egan,
• A Brief History of Beinakin Disasters as Told in a Sinitic Language by Nian Yu and translated by Ru-Ping Chen, and
• A Hole in the Light by Annalee Newitz.

For some weirder tales, check out:
• Forty-Eight Minutes at the Trainview Café by M. Bennardo,
• Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man by Rich Larson, and
• Two Spacesuits by Leonard Richardson.

For cuter stories, see:
• The Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer, and
• The Ship Cat of the Suzaku Maru by S.L. Huang.

Finally, Mender of Sparrows by Ray Nayler spoke to me, and reminded me of Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

My subjective favorites:
“The Ship Cat”

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, Clarke chooses an excellent assortment of stories. While they all qualify as science fiction and not fantasy, some are stranger than others. It's a good mix. People who used to read science fiction and want to sample the waters of today's authors would do well to pick up this anthology.

[netjeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent collection of stories originally published in 2022. The best story: "The Ship Cat of the Suzaku Maru". Other favs: "Mender of Sparrows", "Falling Off the Edge of the World", "When the Tide Rises", "Quandary Aminu vs The Butterfly Man" (winner of the 2023 Eugie Award). Honorable mentions: "Forty-Eight Minutes at the Trainview Cafe", "Things To Do in Deimos When You're Dead", "Solidity", "Two Spacesuits". Unfortunately there were a few stories that were a complete miss for me, but I won't name them.

[Alex M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've started rating anthologies by rating each individual story and then getting the average when I'm done, which I saw someone else do and thought it was a brilliant solution for how to rate books like this.

This had a lot of good stories in it, but just as many that were meh for me or that I straight up DNFed. It's a little all over the place, in my opinion, but I am just one person. Your mileage may vary.

[Geoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good variety of stories here.

Some of my favourites:
“The Ship Cat of the Suzaku Maru” by S.L. Huang
“Give Me English” by Ai Jiang
“Forty-Eight Minutes at the Trainview Café” by M. Bennardo
“Things to Do in Deimos When You’re Dead” by Alastair Reynolds
“Down and Out in Exile Park” by Tade Thompson

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights:

M. Bernardo
Ray Nayler
Suzanne Palmer
Rich Larson
Leonard Richardson
Jessica Reisman

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

The usual wonderful selections - I think I find more I like in the Neil Clarke best of then any of the others.
3.5 Stars

[Niklas Braun · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's a massive collection of awesome sci fi stories. I don't think every story is 5 stars per say but there so many gems in here. I will reference back to this book in the future for sure

[Taylor Schnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would probably give it 3.5 if half stars were allowed. As is the case with any anthology I've ever read, there are winners and losers - the latter being particularly distinct within the first few stories. But the winners in this book soar. Some days I would read a 15(ish) page story and have to put the book down for a full day or two in order to sit with what I had read. I might come back and edit this someday to individually rate every story. I would gladly read more volumes in this series.