What do you think?
Rate this book
Think Weirder Volume 2: The Year's Best Science Fiction Ideas
The year's most mind-expanding science fiction.
Think Weirder Volume 2 collects the best concept-driven science fiction of 2025: near-future stories about people interacting with technology and ideas.
This second volume features Thomas Ha's "In My Country," winner of the 2026 Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Short Story, alongside stories by Tia Tashiro, Isabel J. Kim, Rich Larson, and Peter Watts that were finalists for the Hugo, Locus, and Sturgeon Awards.
It also includes Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Human Resources," set in the same world as his Hugo-finalist novel Service Model, and Greg Egan's "Spare Parts for the Mind," a novella shortlisted for the Asimov's Readers' Award.
- A dating app tells a woman's ex-husband he's a 97% match with her clone.
- An emergent macro-intelligence arises from the connection between human brains.
- A woman who sells her gut biome for a living learns that tissue stops being yours once it leaves your body.
- A pregnancy-tracking chip interrupts a false miscarriage to offer a subscription upgrade.
- The afterlife, priced to fit your insurance budget.
- A company that has shed virtually all of its humans.
- Contracts that send information back from the future.
Contents
"The Twenty-One Second God" by Peter Watts
"Spare Parts for the Mind" by Greg Egan
"Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro
"Human Resources" by Adrian Tchaikovsky
"Wire Mother" by Isabel J. Kim
"In My Country" by Thomas Ha
"Shorted" by Alex Irvine
"The Sack of Burley Cottage" by Rich Larson
"Reality Check" by Nancy Kress
"Five Impossible Things" by Koji A. Dae
"The Wi-Fi Womb" by Avi Burton
"The Signal and the Idler" by Ted Kosmatka
"Aperture" by Alexander Jablokov
"The New Shape of Care" by Lynne Sargent
"Rust" by David D. Levine
"Hidden Achievement" by Shane Tourtellotte
"Jennifer Does Pushups" by Joseph Weber
Edited by Joe Stech.
Think Weirder Volume 2 collects the best concept-driven science fiction of 2025: near-future stories about people interacting with technology and ideas.
This second volume features Thomas Ha's "In My Country," winner of the 2026 Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Short Story, alongside stories by Tia Tashiro, Isabel J. Kim, Rich Larson, and Peter Watts that were finalists for the Hugo, Locus, and Sturgeon Awards.
It also includes Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Human Resources," set in the same world as his Hugo-finalist novel Service Model, and Greg Egan's "Spare Parts for the Mind," a novella shortlisted for the Asimov's Readers' Award.
- A dating app tells a woman's ex-husband he's a 97% match with her clone.
- An emergent macro-intelligence arises from the connection between human brains.
- A woman who sells her gut biome for a living learns that tissue stops being yours once it leaves your body.
- A pregnancy-tracking chip interrupts a false miscarriage to offer a subscription upgrade.
- The afterlife, priced to fit your insurance budget.
- A company that has shed virtually all of its humans.
- Contracts that send information back from the future.
Contents
"The Twenty-One Second God" by Peter Watts
"Spare Parts for the Mind" by Greg Egan
"Missing Helen" by Tia Tashiro
"Human Resources" by Adrian Tchaikovsky
"Wire Mother" by Isabel J. Kim
"In My Country" by Thomas Ha
"Shorted" by Alex Irvine
"The Sack of Burley Cottage" by Rich Larson
"Reality Check" by Nancy Kress
"Five Impossible Things" by Koji A. Dae
"The Wi-Fi Womb" by Avi Burton
"The Signal and the Idler" by Ted Kosmatka
"Aperture" by Alexander Jablokov
"The New Shape of Care" by Lynne Sargent
"Rust" by David D. Levine
"Hidden Achievement" by Shane Tourtellotte
"Jennifer Does Pushups" by Joseph Weber
Edited by Joe Stech.
448 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 27, 2026
About the author
Joe Stech
20 books9 followersJoe Stech has read an alarming amount of science fiction. He gravitates toward concept-driven stories that explore the emergent behaviors that surface when people interact with technology. Joe is the editor of "Think Weirder: The Year's Best Science Fiction Ideas", and the former publisher of Compelling Science Fiction magazine.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 6, 2026
Highly recommend.
In my opinion short stories are the ideal medium for speculative fiction. An idea is introduced, sufficiently developed so that (some) consequences become clear, and then the reader is left with an impetus for his own imagination.
This collection contains some of some of the finest short stories I have read in a while. Many of them tackle important questions that are relevant today and will remain so in the near future.
Disclaimer: As a reader of the first volume of Think Weirder I recieved a complimentary Advanced Review Copy of this book.
In my opinion short stories are the ideal medium for speculative fiction. An idea is introduced, sufficiently developed so that (some) consequences become clear, and then the reader is left with an impetus for his own imagination.
This collection contains some of some of the finest short stories I have read in a while. Many of them tackle important questions that are relevant today and will remain so in the near future.
Disclaimer: As a reader of the first volume of Think Weirder I recieved a complimentary Advanced Review Copy of this book.
October 30, 2026
Note: received a free copy from the author
Wide range of sci-fy stories, highly recommended for anybody enjoying a peek into a possible future. Well-developed characters, even in the 20-60 pages that most stories span. Most stories left me with that specific feeling/void of having read a 300-page novel, after half an hour session. Best enjoyed imo to read one story, let that sink for a day or 2, before starting on the next one.
Better than volume 1 in my opinion, highly recommended!
Wide range of sci-fy stories, highly recommended for anybody enjoying a peek into a possible future. Well-developed characters, even in the 20-60 pages that most stories span. Most stories left me with that specific feeling/void of having read a 300-page novel, after half an hour session. Best enjoyed imo to read one story, let that sink for a day or 2, before starting on the next one.
Better than volume 1 in my opinion, highly recommended!
October 29, 2026
I received an ARC copy from the editor. Great collection of heavy hitters and lesser known authors. A worthy successor to the first volume, looking forward to more!
November 11, 2026
5 out of 5, I love it.
It’s a selection of science fiction short stories, that discusses a variety of topics and ideas. As promised in the introduction, in majority of cases authors dive deep and reason beyond 1st level impact of a given idea.
Top stories in the order of appearance:
- 21 second God (Peter Watts delivers as usual!
- Missing Helen (a beautiful mixture of SF and human life)
- Human Resources (I felt like I read similar one before, but I liked the fatigued vibe that resonates with modern AI era)
- The Signal and the Idler (I did not check the math. I enjoyed the ride)
- Rust
It’s more than enough to give it 5 out of 5
It’s a selection of science fiction short stories, that discusses a variety of topics and ideas. As promised in the introduction, in majority of cases authors dive deep and reason beyond 1st level impact of a given idea.
Top stories in the order of appearance:
- 21 second God (Peter Watts delivers as usual!
- Missing Helen (a beautiful mixture of SF and human life)
- Human Resources (I felt like I read similar one before, but I liked the fatigued vibe that resonates with modern AI era)
- The Signal and the Idler (I did not check the math. I enjoyed the ride)
- Rust
It’s more than enough to give it 5 out of 5
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews