The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020

by Diana Gabaldon (Editor), John Joseph Adams (Series Editor)

The best science fiction and fantasy stories from 2019, guest-edited by author of the mega-best-selling Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon.

Today’s readers of science fiction and fantasy have an appetite for stories that address a wide variety of voices, perspectives, and styles. There is an openness to experiment and pushing boundaries, combined with the classic desire to read about spaceships and dragons, future technology and ancient magic, and the places where they intersect. Contemporary science fiction and fantasy looks to accomplish the same goal as ever—to illuminate what it means to be human. With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and Diana Gabaldon, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of SFF today.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 3, 2020

About the author

Diana Jean Gabaldon Watkins grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona and is of Hispanic and English descent (with a dash of Native American and Sephardic Jew). She has earned three degrees: a B.S. in Zoology, a M.S. in Marine Biology, and a Ph.D in Ecology, plus an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Glasgow, for services to Scottish Literature.

She currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona .

Reviews

[Brooke (Books are my Favorite!!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple 5 star stories in this collection, thought-provoking and worth the read!

Matthew Baker: Life Sentence 3*
S.P. Somtow: Another Avatar 5*
Deji Bryce Olukotun: Between the Dark and the Dark 4*
Kelly Barnhill: Thirty-Three Wicked Daughters 5*
Elizabeth Bear: Bullet Point 4*
Gwendolyn Kiste: The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra's Diary 5*
Caroline M. Joachim: The Archronology of Love 4*
Ryan Amilcar Scott: Shape ups at Delilah's4*
Charlie Jane Anders: The Bookstore at the End of America 4*
Nibeta Sen: Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island4.5*
Jaymee Goh: The Freedom of the Shifting Sea Lots of sea themes
Adam-Troy Castro: Sacrid's Pod Interconnecting themes 4.5*
Christopher Caldwell: Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan 4.5*
Ken Liu: Thoughts and Prayers4.5*
E. Lily Yu: The Time Invariance of Snow
Anil Menon: The Robots of Eden
Elizabeth Bear: Erase, Erase, Erase 5 stars
Rebecca Roanhorse: A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy
Victor Lavalle: Up From Slavery starts with train wreck survivor. Anti-racism, dense 4*

[John Devlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I’d forgotten the fun of fiction shorts—thrust into an opaque world, trying to figure out what’s going on, and hey if the story sucks it’s gone in 40 pages and you’re on to the next.

First, having a guest editor who admittedly doesn’t know the field is weak sauce…there’s a story from the New Yorker here.

I read all 35 annuals of Gardner Dozois best science fiction shorts and now I’ve read few of these compilations and there’s no comparison…Dozois are far better.

There’s a few stories here that resonate and remain: a matrix like punishment overseen by AIs, a bookstore bifurcated between California and America, a haunting tale of loss and the degradation of social media, but most is meh or surprisingly lackluster…
Reading the bios of the writers points to at least part of the reasons for the decline. So many are strewn with bonafides that orbit around their LGBTQ status..
Hmm so yeah, that story that’s like moby dick that has the bi- racial gay relationship at its center or the female hair cutter in the ghetto that have almost zero fantasy suddenly make sense…

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt about this one the way I felt about the Karen Joy Fowler one: picking a guest editor who is not necessarily known for their deep engagement with speculative fiction can lead to some interesting inclusions. While I truly loved about ten of the stories in here and found another four or so to be admirable, this collection had the highest rate of stories I very much did not enjoy in any BASFF so far.

There were a bunch of new authors to me, which was exciting, but I also find myself growing a little weary of JJA's editorial hand on the project. His taste is still sharp but because he functions as an editor on so many other projects, I find it oddly harder to trust that he's bringing an unbiased eye to the 80 stories that he's collecting for the guest editor to then choose from. I realize that this is meant to be the best stories of the year and so it's understandable that we'd expect to see Charlie Jane Anders and E. Lily Yu and N.K. Jemisin (whose story actually didn't make the final cut but was an "Other Notable" this year) and so forth -- but damned if I don't feel like I'm starting to see trends crop up in the stories that are being selected that favor the better-known. I also find it hard to trust a collections' "best" moniker when it doesn't have the big winners of the year included. I realize it's all personal taste and that's part of the bag with Best American and don't get me wrong I'll keep coming back.....

I don't know, I feel like this was just a rough one for me as a reader and maybe that's all it was. Highlights include the CJA, the Victor LaValle, the Matthew Baker, the Rion Amilcar Scott, the Caroline M. Yoachim, the Anil Menon, the Rebecca Roanhorse.

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3 or a 3.5, but the stories I actually enjoyed were so good that I bumped it up a star. Diana Gabaldon was a bizarre choice for guest editor and I found myself questioning a lot of her choices. There's way more emphasis on fairy tales and fantasy-adjacent stories than previous anthologies in this series, as well as authors primarily known for children's work. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it definitely impacted the tone in a way I didn't care for. I also didn't like that Gabaldon explicitly mentioned that she was including no "ghost stories or horror." Horror is one of my favorite genres, so I'm a bit biased, but in years past some of the absolute best stories have been darker or horrific in nature. Combined with everything else, it made it seem like the goal was to be tamer than the previous editions. Again, biased, but that shouldn't be the outcome of a genre that is supposed to be subversive.

Usually I only highlight my favorites but I tend to forget what my thoughts are as a whole, or what stories were in what volume, so I'm going to briefly cover my opinions on each story. This is mostly for my own reference, although my favorites are asterisked. Enjoy my rambles.

1. Life Sentence by Matthew Baker* -- What a start to the anthology. Part of my disappointment comes from the fact that it started off so strong. This story stuck with me through the whole reading, and continues to do so now that I've finished. It imagines a world post-prison industrial complex in a way that is both cold and haunting. I would have loved a whole novel or short series in this setting. It smoothly combines elements of current cultural discourse and science fiction; the ending chilled me to the bone. 5/5 stars

2. Another Avatar by S.P. Somtow -- Aaaand my excitement already started to decline. The writing wasn't terrible, but it was sarcastic and glib about some things I didn't care for. It was also trying to cram way to much into a ~20 page short story. Maybe it could've worked better as a novel or novella, but as is, it was overcrowded and hard to follow. 2/5 stars

3. Between the Dark and the Dark by Deji Bryce Olukotun -- This one didn't leave a ton of impression. I liked what it was trying to do with the themes of "what is the value of human life" and where do outsiders draw the line with respecting others' culture when it could be harmful. Ultimately the writing just wasn't my thing. 3/5 stars

4. Thirty-Three Wicked Daughters by Kelly Barnhill -- This is the first of the overt fairy tales. I read one of Barnhill's 's middle grade books, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, a few years ago and had similar feelings of disappointment. I love the feminist ideas, but the storytelling is way too blunt and simple for my taste. 2/5 stars

5. Bullet Point by Elizabeth Bear -- This story is a really fun take on the "last person alive at the end of the world" trope. I didn't love everything (the main character asserted her toughness and self-reliability too much; it's great to have strong female characters, but they do also need to show some emotion, especially during the rapture), but the world building is great. I was super invested and had a great time. 4/5 stars

6. The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra's Diary) by Gwendolyn Kiste -- This is a Dracula retelling, and while it's perfectly serviceable, it just wasn't my thing. (This is becoming a common thread lol.) It was a bit hard to follow if you're not intimately familiar with the source material. 2/5 stars

7. The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim -- Although not one of my favorites, it's one of the more compelling of the stories. It was harder sci fi than I usually gravitate towards, but the time manipulation stuff was cool and the theme of love lasting beyond our concept of time was sweet. Bonus points for gay and (I think?) casual poly rep. 3/5 stars

8. Shape-ups at Delilah's by Rion Amilcar Scott* -- I'm fairly certain there were references here that I didn't get, but I loved it anyway. This is basically a fantasy about magical female barbers and the power of storytelling through black hair culture and I'm here for it. 5/5 stars

9. The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias S. Buckell* -- Working class protagonist making a living in a far-future New York City? Airspace navigation? Space capitalism? Giant squid aliens tripping balls? Sign me tf up. 5/5 stars

10. The Bookstore at the End of America by Charlie Jane Anders* -- CJA is a national treasure. 5/5 stars

11. Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island by Nibedita Sen -- This was a super weird one. It gets points for the nontraditional execution. Part of the reason why I enjoy these anthologies so much is to get outside my comfort zone and this did the trick. 4/5 stars

12. The Freedom of the Shifting Sea by Jaymee Goh* -- A feminist love story between a Muslim woman and a genderless merperson/bobbit worm. Hello. Hi. Hello. 5/5 stars

13. Sacrid's Pod by Adam-Troy Castro* -- I always like stories about humanity in the face of an unfeeling technology. This was both funny and empowering. 4/5 stars

14. Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan by Christopher Caldwell -- Plus points for adorable, spicy gay interracial relationship, minus points because I couldn't figure out what the hell was going on half the time. 3/5 stars

15. Thoughts and Prayers by Ken Liu -- yeah... I get what this was trying to do. To me, it was heavy-handed enough to be uncomfortable. I admire the effort, but I did not have a good time. 2/5 stars

16. The Time Invariance of Snow by E. Lily Yu -- This is a #MeToo retelling of the Snow Queen, which should be awesome. However, again, the simplistic fairy-tale writing and the really heavy-handed metaphor made this one of my least favorite. The title is awesome though. 1/5 stars

17. The Robots of Eden by Amil Menon -- This is the only story in the book that I didn't finish. I'm sure it's fine, but the writing grated on my nerves and all the elements of the story 5ish pages in were some of my least favorite. It mostly shakes down to personal preference. 1/5 stars

18. Erase, Erase, Erase by Elizabeth Bear -- I think I was just annoyed by the last several stories, but I didn't care much for this one either. The body horror imagery is fantastic, but it does that thing where it tries to speak vaguely so the reader can fill in the blanks and the result is confusion. I *think* I know what was going on? Maybe? Idk. 2/5 stars

19. A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy by Rebecca Roanhorse -- This is also folktale retelling, but done way better. It's updated enough that it stands on its own. Bonus points for more body-horror goodness. 4/5 stars

20. Up From Slavery by Victor LaValle --This has a similar problem as the Somtow story of trying to fit a bit too much into one short story. However, this one was way more enjoyable. There's some really powerful imagery at work here. The connections to the Booker T. Washington autobiography work phenomenally. I kinda wanted this to be a graphic series. 4/5 stars

[Edvard · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this is the best America has to offer then I feel bad for the country, its literary tradition, and its science fiction fanbase. I pride myself on always finishing a book, regardless of whether or not I enjoy it, because a part of me believes that there might still be some redeeming quality nestled away somewhere. Not in this case! It was the first time I had to skip full sections of a book (stories in this case) because they were so unbearable. Any redeeming qualities would have come at the cost of my own sanity.

There were two stories in this collection that I thought were gems. I won't mention which ones, so that if an author ever reads this review (unlikely) they can imagine that it was their story. But hint, it wasn't any of the fantasy stories...

I will admit that I have a bias as a fan of "harder" sci fi. What I look for is: interesting, and if possible, realistic depictions of technology; moral, ethical, and physical challenges faced by the human race in the future; just generally creative and unique world building. Now of course in a short story it's difficult to lay the groundwork for a really deep premise, and I am taking that into account. But even so, I felt like most of the stories here were just completely devoid of creativity. There was no exploration of the future, It's as if many of the writers just took current political issues and dressed them up in a space suit and called it science fiction. Some of the stories I wouldn't even call sci-fi, as they were just thinly veiled opinion pieces on contemporary society. Where is the forward looking imagination that is supposed to characterize the genre?? It's lazy to just depict the future as the present, and it's arrogant to think that aliens would behave anything like us.

Is it the editor's fault? Maybe the poor quality of this volume can be excused by Covid? Perhaps all the good writers were sick or so preoccupied with staying alive that they decided not to write anything in 2020.

[Squirrel · Rating 1 out of 5]

My expectations for a Best of anthology are simple - the story is SO good, so well written, cleverly conceived, you're happy every time you encounter it. This collection, however, reads more like filler - as if having resigned itself to being just an installment, put together to fulfill an obligation.

Many selections in this effort hit me as uninspired rewrites of old tropes, many with characters I would hope never to meet. Most of the selections were pieces I had decided were not worth a re-read, the first time I encountered them.

Even clever setups, e.g. the setup for "Between the Dark and the Dark" were executed awkwardly - e.g. competent but heavy handed writing.

There were nice surprises - "Thirty-Three Wicked Daughters" for example, worth a read, thoughtful, but 'best of'? The writer doesn't engage the reader in the fun bits of this tale, in fact, the reader has to surmise much of the action, so not exceptional.

Some of my favorite modern authors appear in this collection, yet the pieces chosen do not fall into my definition of 'best' - which would be a piece with some combination of funny-interesting-thoughtful-novel-well written, that is so compelling that I start looking for anyone to share it with. "Read this!" "Let me read this to you." "Have you seen .. ?" "Have you heard of ... ?"

This combination of cannibal-fascination and gay sex, pedantic approaches, disaffected narrators and down-and-out antiheroes left me flat. As a collection this seems like a high-school teacher's overly optimistic idea of 'modern literature' rather than a fan's take on the Best of the Year. Notice also, the contents are almost all "Horror" genre rather than Science Fiction or Fantasy.

[Pearse Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ate this shit up, some great work here, with some inclusions I skipped over/didn't connect with. Gabaldon tended to focus on historical fantasy and soft sci-fi, covering topics from haircutting to cannibalism. Great contributor's notes as always.

Fav pieces here: Thirty-Three Wicked Daughters by Kelly Barnhill, The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias S. Buckell, Between the Dark and the Dark by Deji Bryce Olukotun, Life Sentence by Matthew Baker, Shape-ups at Delilah’s by Rion Amilcar Scott

Pieces I didn't link as much: this collection had a slump at the 75% mark, with the Yu, Menon, and Bear stories IMO. Generally an anthology that filled me with happiness. 7/10ish

[James Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, a mixed bag, as I suppose nearly any short story collection tends to be. Sacrid's Pod was my favorite - the story of a young woman in a prison cell that gives her everything that she could ever want... except her freedom. Would we make that trade?
Many of the stories were just meh. There was also a strong trend of stories wherein there was not a single redeemable male character. I am a fan of feminist literature, and I will even go so far as to say that I think women are, as a whole, better people than men (just look at the numbers in violent felons, etc.), but it was so consistent a theme in these stories as to be annoying, even ridiculous.

[Timons Esaias · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology made for an odd reading experience, and I'm puzzled as to how to describe that experience. First, I should say that for decades I've been reading the various "Year's Best SF" anthologies, and though I have bought some volumes of the newer "Year's Best SF & F" anthologies, I haven't read more than one of them, so the shifting back and forth in the genres is a new-ish experience for me.

I note that there are two Elizabeth Bear pieces in this anthology, and I count that as a plus. That is often a wise move for annual anthologies.

I was pleased to see a number of Asian and Asian-American authors represented in the table of contents, since that is an actual trend that is worth noting and following.

I can't remember reading an SF or SF/F "Best Of" anthology with this high a percentage of stories in which sex partners and preferences were part of the story. It was a notable theme, even if purely accidental.

I also haven't read an anthology that had so many "political" pieces. There are some clear satires and clear metaphor/fable pieces regarding current world politics. This has always been a viable subset of SF/F (I'm a satirist, so I've done such pieces myself, and will do so again), but it felt disproportionate in this collection. I could feel the axes grinding. They were almost entirely axes I feel need grinding, but still.

There was also one entry that I would have rejected out of hand as an editor, because it makes no sense at all. I will leave it unnamed, but almost every scientific detail is incorrect, and the piece doesn't seem to be satire or surreal (though it is very political). The characterization is interesting, the conundrum would be effective if it made the slightest sense, but the bottom line is It Makes No Sense At All, None, And Why Is It Even In Print???

But there is more good reading than bad, and some very interesting work. Bear's "Bullet Point" is a common premise written in an uncommon way, which made it fresh. Her "Erase, Erase, Erase" is interesting, but the genre element is vanishingly small -- beyond slipstream.

I gave a double-exclam to "The Bookstore at the End of America" by Charlie Jane Anders. Political, but well done. I gave exclams to S. M. Somtow's "Another Avatar," Rion Amilcar Scott's "Shape-ups at Delilah's," Tobias Buckell's "The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex," Nibedita Sen's "Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island," and Jamie Goh's "The Freedom of the Shifting Sea" (along with the notation "Weird").

Adam-Troy Castro's piece is an interesting use of second person. Anil Menon's "The Robots of Eden" is clever and interesting, but seemed shapeless near the end, and the actual ending felt like a violation of the premise.

I found Victor LaValle's "Up from Slavery" to be both clever and solidly grounded in actual history. It's political, but also has a strong thread of timelessness. It wouldn't surprise me to see this one reappearing in anthologies for years to come.

As a science fiction writer, I would have expected to lean toward the SF stories in this collection. Checking the numbers, my tastes leaned toward the Fantasy. Surprise.

In sum, an odd selection, but recommended.

[Dea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites:

Bullet Point by Elizabeth Bear – I would love a whole survivalist series like this story.

The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt From Lucy Westenra’s Diary) by Gwendolyn Kiste – good twist on the old story, would love to follow the protagonist's future adventures

Shape-Ups At Delilah’s by Rion Amilcar Scott – this one was both uncomfortable and funny. Light musings over society's demands, expectations, and restrictions.

Canst Thou Draw Out The Leviathan by Christopher Caldwell – I enjoyed the subversion of the tropes. Had to blink away tears on more than one occasion.

Thoughts And Prayers by Ken Liu – the reason I quit most of social media.

The Time Invariance Of Snow by E. Lily Yu – I cannot even articulate what the story is about, and I don't want to try for fear of loosing all the feels.

Erase, Erase, Erase by Elizabeth Bear – Victim-hood and self hate. Self erasure via rewriting history.

Up From Slavery by Victor Lavalle – I would read the whole series. Taking back the power from the masters, the eldritch abominations.

[Steve Visel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly interesting. A handful of okay stories surrounded by mostly swill. Not much actual science fiction for a "Best of" collection, but lots of standard woke tropes including lesbian mermaids and gay whalers. What on earth were they thinking by letting Diana Gabaldon edit?

[Leili V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not your usual choices in a compilation and I only mildly wasn’t interested in one of them.

[Philip Baumbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad set of stories. A persistent theme is that women are good and clever, while men are either sly and devious or just not very bright. That must be difficult for male youths.

I looked at goodreads reviews on each story and found it surprising how peoples' views varied from mine.
I give my opinions for each story.

Life sentence- an interesting method of punishment or rehabilitation 4/5

Another Avatar
Ok. A slow start and good story but an abrupt ending 3.5/5

Between the dark and the dark.
Spaceships looking for new planets.
An interesting concept 4/5

33 Wicked Daughters
Quite a delightful story which I would have given 5/5 but the ending was a little odd. 4.5/5.

Bullet Point
Not much story 2/5

Eight People Who Murdered Me
I just didn't get it. 2/5

The Anchronology of Love
Not bad, but I only partly understood it.
The Chronicle was a bit of a mystery. 4/5.

Shape-ups at Delilah's
A story about barbers. Several other Goodreads reviewers thought this was excellent. I was really disappointed. It was dull and neither science fiction nor fantasy. I got the biblical references but perhaps I was missing something. 2/5.

The Galctic Tourist Industria Complex
Not a bad futuristic story. It was very easy to miss details but enjoyable. 4/5

The Bookstore at the End of America
Set in a USA where California has become independent. 4/5

Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island.
Curious 4/5

The Freedom of the Shifting Sea
A very unusual story about a sea creature mermaid. 4/5

Sacrid's pod
An excellent story about an artificial intelligence talking to a spirited young woman incarcerated in a pod.
My favourite. 5/5

Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan
A story set on an old whaling ship. 3/5.

Thoughts and Prayers
A story about death bereavement and future social media. Powerful but really depressing, hence 2/5.

The Time Invariance of Snow
I really didn't see the point of this. 2/5

The Robots of Eden
A story where many people are enhanced ie they have a brain implant to control emotions. It took some time to work out who all the characters were. 3/5

Erase, erase, erase.
I really didn't understand this and it wasn't explained. 2/5

A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy
A rather frightening view of the future where a person's being can be simulated after death. 3.5/5

Up from Slavery
An unusual story about a man who is left a house by his father whom he never knew. Some supernatural events too 3/5

[Susan June · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this as part of a reading challenge to move outside of my comfort zone of usual genres. I picked this anthology mainly because Diana Gabaldon, famous for her "Outlander" series, was the guest editor making the final selections for this compendium.
There are twenty stories in this volume averaging 20 pages each, ten of each genre - sci-fi or fantasy, but quite frankly I was so out of my comfort zone that I quite often couldn't tell which genre was which.
Of the 20 stories there were two that I could not read (an element of cannibalism is beyond beyond my comfort zone!), but I did read completely the remaining 18 selections. Of those, there were five stories that I actually liked and I just might pursue other works by Kelly Barnhill, Charlie Jane Anders, Adam-Troy Castro, Rebecca Roanhorse, and Victor LaValle.

[Dan Trefethen · Rating 4 out of 5]

These particular 'best of' anthologies are fun because the guest editor receives a shortlist of stories stripped of the authors' names, so he or she doesn't know who wrote them or where they were published. This means that sometimes it happens that an author has two stories in the book; this year it's Elizabeth Bear. It also means that sometimes a published source is heavily represented: when Carmen Maria Machado was guest editor it was 'Nightmare' magazine, this year it's the 'New Suns' anthology edited by Nisi Shawl, with three stories, and 'Lightspeed' with four.

Guest editor Diana Gabaldon seems to like stories that subvert old tropes, and she doesn't shy away from horror. There are few stories that are funny, although 'Shape-ups at Delilah's' by Rion Amilcar Scott is an exception.

It will be interesting to see how many of these stories make the awards lists this year.

[Andria Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The writing was good, and I loved the introduction by Diana Gabaldon but I just didn't connect with any of the stories. Good but nothing memorable.

[John Mendenhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strategic diversion from the space operas, and I love good short fiction. A palette cleanser between novels. Great writers write great short stories.

[Toshiro Paliama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great concept. Ik hope many more editions will follow. My favourite stories:
Life Sentence; Between The Dark And The Dark; Thirty-Three Wicked Daughters; Thoughts And Prayers; Up From Slavery

[Andrew Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great anthology! Some very good inclusions.

[Patrick Casebeer · Rating 1 out of 5]

After reading this I realized short stories consisting of 15-20 pages can be very bad. I mean, that’s a lot of suck to put in a few pages.

[(╯`▭´）╯︵ ǝɔnɒꓷ · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5*

[Lost Lare · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a whole I found this collection to be worthwhile there were some stories I loved and a few I disliked or even hated, but I feel I got a lot out of it. Here are my thoughts on the individual stories.

---

"Life Sentence" by: Matthew Baker

In a world where felons have memories erased instead of being sent to prison, Washington returns home after "serving" a life sentence (i.e having his lifetime of memories erased). He has no knowledge of what he did, the kind of man he was, just basic knowledge of what things are. This story could be seen as a commentary on what it is like for long-term prisoners to return home, but I think it is more a question of what is it that makes us the people we are. Is it our memories or something different (nature v nurture)? I like to view this story as a kind of monster story. Is Washington going to make a new fresh start with his family or is he going to discover old habits and slowly become the monster he might have been before?

"Another Avatar" by: S.P. Somtow

No. No. No. Nope. This cannot just be a short story. Not allowed. Needs to be a full novel. This is a story about an orphan boy, Krit, living in Bangkok who learns he is an avatar for god and is destined to save the universe. I loved it. Not a great deal happens, but the way the world, story, and adventures are put forth sound so wonderous and magical.

"Between the Dark and the Dark" by: Deji Bryce Olukotun

Earth is dying and humanity has sent out 200 ships out into the universe to settle and grow (like dandelion seeds). The ships are still tied to Earth sending information of their survival and findings one of which sending a clip of a woman eating a severed finger. It becomes a question do the stewards of Earth retire (ie destroy) the ship because it lost its humanity or try to understand what and how the culture could have changed to get to that point. At the start, I had trouble following this story because it had two narrators, but when I caught up I got pretty into it. A little bit of a slow boil.

"Thirty-Three Wicked Daughters" by: Kelly Barnhill

This story was a treat an absolute treat. I do not want to reveal a thing about it, so I will give the barest of bones summary. This is a story that takes place in a fairy tale land with a soft-hearted king who has thirty-three daughters. The daughters are capable and wish to help the kingdom, but are hampered with obstacles posed by other groups in power that cannot accept daughters can do anything. One may argue that this story is a bit man-hating. The only good man in the story is the king and he is a bit of a doof and the others we read about are kind of monsters. But, as someone who has read countless fairy tales where the men are pure and the women are tokens of reward I found this story to be an absolute delight. I love the daughters, they are really a symbol of the possibility of womanhood and, well, the men in this are the symbols of the patriarchy. I know two wrongs don't make a right, but......

"Bullet Point" by: Elizabeth Bear

Isabella is living in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. It appears all of humanity has disappeared and she needs to find a way out of the desert and come up with a survival plan. Throughout the story, she has an ongoing bullet point list of things that do not exist anymore. A bit of a funny story with very real horror mixed in.

"The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra's Diary)" by: Gwendolyn Kiste

Lucy dies a slow withering death at the hands of an unnamed person. The story is written like a letter/diary of her death written to this person. Very powerful. Can be considered the lack of voice women had in Victorian times. I didn't realize until I read Kiste's commentary at the end of the book this is off Lucy from the book Dracula (it has been ages since I've read the book).

"The Archronology of Love" by: Caroline M. Yoachim

A story about an archeologist (archronologist?) named Saki who, with a team of researchers use the Chronicle to discover what happened to a colony that was wiped out by a plague. A colony that included her lifelove M.J. I truly had such a hard time following this one. The story is dependent on discovery through the Chronicle, but it was very very confusing what the Chronicle actually was and how it functioned even though there were some really interesting concepts in there. It also began to feel near the end of the story that details and information were info dumped and hand-fed more than happening organically. Did not enjoy. The loss of her love did tug at the heartstrings.

"Shape-Ups at Delilah's" by: Rion Amilcar Scott

Tiny has an almost magical talent for cutting hair as Cross River is going through a hair crisis. Despite the fact that she and her other baberesses are the only people in town that can do a good haircut there are protests and opposition from people who say only men can give haircuts. I enjoyed the story and I liked the thoughts on men versus women. However, the biblical references that I think are a big part of the story went straight over my head.

"The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex" by: Tobias S. Buckell

This is a story that takes place on a future Earth that has become a tourist destination. We follow Tavi who is a Manhattan taxi driver. This story was just so clever and I think it says so much about how the tourism industry affects the local populous.

"The Bookstore at the End of America" by: Charlie Jane Anders

Molly owns a huge sprawling bookstore, First and Last Page, that sits on the border of the two countries of conservative America and liberal California. To be clear in this California is its own country, which does not get along with America (the feeling is mutual). Honestly, this story is a little too close to home with the whole party system in the US and what is happening with Russia and Ukraine (at the time of this review). It had interesting thoughts on unity and I like how in some ways the adults seem to act more like children than the teenagers do.

"The Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island" by: Nibedita Sen

Wow, two stories so far tackling cannibalism and cultures of foreign countries. The story is what the title says it is written in little excerpts on Ratnabar island starting with British colonialists and ending with talking about the diaspora of the children that were captured by the Bristish. A good conversation on colonialism and how narratives can change over political climates.

"The Freedom of the Shifting Sea" by: Jaymee Goh

Salmah has a summer romance with a mermaid Mayang. Not the half-fish kind, but the half-centipede kind. I don't have much to say about this one. It has female x female sex scenes (just saying, in case you have trouble reading sex scenes). It is interesting how ancient Mayang is compared to how young the Salmah is and how short long spans of time look to the mermaid.

"Sacrid's Pod" by: Adam-Troy Castro

Sacrid has been sent to a confinement pod. The pod is run by AI which can do anything to simulate life. The only thing it cannot do is let Sacrid go. The story works through her plot to escape. This story was powerful, I love the voice (it is entirely written in the AI's dialog and responses) and it had some very deep thoughts on reality v simulation.

"Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan" by: Christopher Caldwell

Gay romance on a whaling ship? Yes, please. This story is at its core about the foreboding warnings John Wood, the ship's carpenter, receives as the ship Gracie-Ella kills whale after whale. The story combines this with themes of religion, homosexuality in the 1800s, race, morality of whaling and the slave trade. There is a bit to unpack in this one. I liked the romance, but I have never been a fan of high seas ship stories, so I did not enjoy it as much as I could have. I will say it is interesting how Caldwell reveals bits of information in piecemeal so that major facts we would have noticed immediately if it were a film are details that are almost big reveals in the near end of the story.

"Thoughts and Prayers" by: Ken Liu

This is a story of a family who lost a college-age daughter to a mass shooting in a music festival and the mother (Abigale) decides to use her image and memory to promote gun control. The story is told through different accounts between family members. I kinda hated this one? I found the message, in the end, to be really just cruel and depressing, even more than the inciting incident. I also found the writing, while beautiful, somewhat unrealistic. None of the voices were different from each other and I have a very hard time seeing any teenager using such lyrical descriptions as "The black tupelos lining the hockey pitch had turned bright red, like a trail of bloody footprints left by a giant. " (Liu 280). Don't get me wrong that is darn pretty, and I more than likely would not be able to write so pretty (great foreshadowing), but it seemed all the characters spoke in this manner.

"The Time Invariance of Snow" by: E. Lilly Yu

I do not even know where to start with this one. It is just so abstract that I think you need to read it many times to make head or tales of it. It starts with the devil and the spread of a kind of darkness that is in the form of shards of a mirror and a lady's modern fairytale-like journey. There were some very mind blowing-ly beautiful lines in this and I thought the ending was just fantastic, especially the last few lines.

"The Robots of Eden" by: Anil Menon

The lead character (I am having trouble finding his name) speaks of his meeting and friendship with Sallozzo his ex-wife's future husband? Lover? They have philosophical conversations arguing whether fiction is even necessary as people are now enhanced. This story was a bit difficult to get through and hard to summarize. It takes about half the story to realize the "wrongness" in the writing is intentional. That whenever something felt off or wrong it was not the writing that is wrong, but the core of the characters. It is really what is missing in the story that is telling the story.

"Erase, Erase, Erase" by: Elizabeth Bear

The narrator is actively erasing themselves. They are fading from existence piece by piece and have burned all their journals and memories to escape to horrible things done to them and by them. That is until they hear about bombings across the United States. They know they knew something. Something that can catch the bomber they just need to remember. I think there is something very poetic and human about the want and need to disappear in this story. I also feel it does get a little repetitive in the second half and I wish it was just a tad shorter.

"A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy" by: Rebecca Roanhorse

Dez Hunter is an A-list celebrity who unexpectedly lost the love of his life. He is given an "engram" of his wife by executives hoping to get him back to work. Against any health recommendations, he injects the pure essence of his partner's memories into his brain summoning her back as if she was still alive. This story moves from anger, to sad, to funny, to plain tragic. This is truly what I think the horror genre is for. There is no warm fuzzies to be felt here. Also, can I say that I think this is a very clever title since it is about a Native American movie star (well she don't say it, but knowing Roanhorse and the hints she laid I'm pretty sure he is Native American). In the commentary Roanhorse lets us know this is a retelling of the classic Tewa story, "Deer Hunter and the White Corn Maiden."

"Up From Slavery" by: Victor LaValle

The story follows Simon Dust as he sells his absent father's estate while copy-editing a new edition of Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery. This story starts with the mundane (ignoring the train crash in the very beginning) and seems to be a normal realistic fiction story. The voice is quite nice, the commentary on race and his past growing up in foster homes interesting then the story suddenly takes a crazy turn with Lovecraftian horror. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, but the parallels with Washington and slavery are very cool and as a whole, I really did like the story.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

As usual, my likes lean toward the sci-fi side of the collection. Favorites:

Between the Dark and the Dark by Deji Bryce Olukotun, about how culture evolves on a generation ship and how those left behind on Earth are quick to condemn what they view as the ultimate taboo

Sacrid's Pod by Adam-Troy Castro, in which a women is sent to an AI-operated prison by her family because she rebelled against their oppressive religious culture. Sacrid's AI liaison explains how inescapable her pod is, but also tells her exactly 159 other prisoners have escaped. As she probes the limits of her captivity, the AI attempts to understand why a comfortable, even rich, life in imprisonment is not enough for some humans.

Thoughts and Prayers by Ken Liu, in which follows the aftermath of a mass shooting for one family. Advances in communication have led to advances in trolling. "RIP-trolling has a long and proud history, and our target has always been inauthenticity. Grief should be private, personal, hidden. Can't you see how horrible it was for that mother to turn her dead daughter into a symbol, to wield it as a political tool? A public life is an inauthentic one. Anyone who enters the arena must be prepared for the consequences."

Erase, Erase, Erase, by Elizabeth Bear, in which a woman tries to both recover memories that she believes hold information that can help avert a terrorist attack and stay alive and solidly corporeal as she appears to be slipping way. "A broken heart is like a cracked bathtub. Nobody's going to make a full-price offer for a property with annoying repair problems like that hanging around."

A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy by Rebecca Roanhorse, which cleverly updates the Tewa legend of Deer Hunter and White Corn Woman in a future in which obsessive grief can be fed by a drug-like infusion of the lost loved one...that can leave you with a permanent haunting when not taken as directed.

[Zugz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literal trash.

[some guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

read for eng 368 speculative lit. most of these stories aren’t great unfortunately

[Lyn Sweetapple · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories were all over the place. Most were romance-ish.

[Groucho42 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not even close to matching the title. I should have known as soon as I saw so many that were originally published in Lightspeed. I've tried collections from them twice, and they were lousy both times.

The first story is SF and is so simple and dull as to be embarrassing. Many years ago, a Harrison Ford movie covered the same subject, without the SF, in just as dull and boring a way. We didn't need it again.

The second story is fantasy that's also nothing interesting or new. An orphan in Thailand is the center of this overwritten, vapid piece.

The third went back to SF and generation ships that seem to have forgotten everything by they time they left the solar system.

At that point, I'd had enough.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer to anyone reading this: these are my quick notes with some spoilers to come back to for a speculative fiction unit for my classes next year.

Life sentence: * built from this hypothetical: what if technology allowed you to abolish prisons? You'd still deprive and isolate by taking away memory of the past as time served. 

Another avatar p 26-63
Thai boy in orphanage called to adventure who is versed in the tropes. Tension of class and language with mentor.  Cliffhanger is annoying. 

Between the dark and the dark p. 64-96 *
Nice touches of lore with right amount of sprinkling of history, systems of power, and future tech.  At its heart it's about what it means to be human and jumps between a "steward" and a passengers log aboard the furthest ship from a slowly doomed earth. 

33 wicked daughters p. 97-123
Meh. Idea itself is good but that's it.  Essentialy fairytale with Odysseus vibes that layers the story through a feminist lens of a patriarchal society.  Theres also a secondary commentary on the cyclops as a brute.

Bullet point p.125-139**
Good one! Short and good unique structure that fits apocalypse and type A organized stream of consciousness.  The gist: domestic abuse survivor who gave up her life to restart seems to be the only one left after rapture. She has survival instincts and meets a man.  Trust issues but let's guard down.  Even in apocalypse his dominance and taken for granted of owning space is great social commentary.  Throw in his racism and warning bells are going off.

8 people who murdered me... p.140-148
Feminist twist on Dracula.  Meh.

Archronology of love p. 150-172 **
Alien artifacts and a projection of the past to study,  a good one!

Shape-ups At Delilah's p.173-190
Anti- magic story that pushes gender roles in interesting ways

The galactic tourist industrial complex p.192-202 ***
Beurecracy and tourist traps. Throw in a hint of the mentality of 3rd world countries but earth as a 3rd world.  People as expendable commodities like hustle economy now.  Throw in tension of taxi cabs we see with razor thin margins (thinking of uber and lyft impacts today). Then shifts fully into great social commentary on colonialism/imperialism and 3rd world treatment


The bookstore at the end of America p.204-221
Interesting premise but story didn't quite hit for me.  Idea of how we live in our bubbles and it forms our reality.  Take that to the literal of a bookstore straddling the border of a broken United States.  One side has more progressive titles one leans more conservative but in the future anything online can be "fake" with original source manipulated and changed. So printed text is more reliable.  Each country has their propaganda of the "other" but wouldn't even venture to the other half of the store to find out.

Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island p.223-226
Unique structure.  Not sure what to make of it after all.  Speaking deep themes of duality and changing coverage over time?

The Freedom of the Shifting Sea p.227-241
Only one I've skipped so far.  Half centipede sea creature story.

Sacrid’s Pod p. 242-264.
Starts like a Sci-fi take with "Johnny got his gun" vibes.
Fun one!  What if A.I. wasn't the bad guy but simply trying to understand human condition especially around freedom and hope. Touches of reality intersperse a prisoner trying to figure out if escape is possible and purpose of life in the meantime. 

Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan p.265-278
Didn't like this one (to be fair I'm more interested in the sci-fi stories than any elements of fantasy as I'm reading). Freed carpenter has a promiscuous gay relationship with a white man aboard a doomed whaling ship.

Thoughts and prayers p. 280-294***
Wow... this was a hard one to read (and I mean that as a compliment to the author). As someone who has legitimately considered moving out of the U.S. since my sons were born and gun violence one of the motivations behind that consideration,  this one was a challenge because it is just all too believable that into the future we'd still be politically paralyzed to make any change around mass shootings and its normalcy in our society even as technology takes over more of our lives.  Even right from the title you know what's coming.  I tend to gravitate lately to effective and more explicit social commentary and this hits that.  The switching of character perspectives with interviews also worked well structurally. 


The Time Invariance of Snow p. 296-304
I'm missing something here but I like this.  Has a "13 ways of looking at a blackbird" vibe with some of its structure even though it's still telling more of a story and also uses footnotes like a scientific paper to advance plot.  The modern commentary/ allegory on gender roles is especially effective. 

The robots of eden p. 306
Starts slow but the blind spot of the narrator embedded as the social commentary on connection, empathy, and technology build up more and more.  Still thinking through the ending.

Erase Erase erase p. 323
Struggled with this one and did not finish.

A brief history in native American astronomy p.348
Solid story about loss and grief with future technology comforting and harming further. 

Up from slavery p. 360
Had potential but didn't quite "hit right". The use of Booker T worked quite well at times but... meh. Maybe my annoyance is that the supernatural element felt rushed to push in? This one felt like a pitch for a book, which might work, but left me annoyed to see it squished and presented as a short story.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just so-so

If this is the best American Science fiction, things have gone downhill. A few of the stories were mildly interesting, but the others got to a point where I began rapidly flipping pages to the next one in hopes of finding one I liked. YMMV

[Kari · Rating 3 out of 5]

The two best stories: “Life Sentence,” and “Sacrid’s Pod.”