2024 the best american science fiction and fantasy 2023 review

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"An almost unheard-of diversity of tales absolutely sing in this superlative anthology" with stories by Samuel R. Delaney, Carmen Maria Machado and others (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

The world of science fiction and fantasy is always expanding, and today’s authors are producing work that not only pushes boundaries, but also widens the range of voices and styles. These fresh perspectives pair perfectly with the timeless love for spaceships and dragons, future technology and ancient magic.

With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and guest editor N. K. Jemisin, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of SFF today, with Jemisin bringing her lyrical, endlessly curious point of view to this edition of the acclaimed anthology series.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B078962GZL
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Mariner Books (October 2, 2018)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 2, 2018
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 7625 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 386 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1328834565
Reviewer: Cissa
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: WOW! Just- WOW!
Review: Almost all these stories were purely amazing! Great thought experiments, great satire, great commentary on aspects of modern life!The story by Delany was probably my least favorite. While I generally love stories that dump me into the world- I don't the pacing of revelation really worked; things remained obscure for too long, and it was literally hard to figure out what was going on. It did resolve- but I would have appreciated a less oblique pacing.Bucknell's story- which finished the collection- was so great! I loved every minute of it! On the surface, it was a great space-opera sort of adventure- but it brought up a lot of fascinating issues about what it means to be human, plus prejudice.There were definitely a lot of highlights- but I'll let you discover them for yourselves.One additional mention- I LOVED that the stories were so inclusive. They showed interesting people, of a variety of "races", sexes, nationalities, and genders- all as effective actors in their own stories.VERY recommended!

Reviewer: Allonah
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A Few Individual Stories Deserve 5 Stars
Review: To be honest, I didn't love every story in this anthology. Since there was talent in all of the stories, I would never admit the ones I found annoying or boring. I especially wouldn't tell what I didn't understand. I absolutely loved a few of the selections and feel my life is better for having read them.

Reviewer: Michelle Palmer
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very uneven
Review: There are several stories that are fantastic in this collection.Unfortunately there are also several that I couldn't finish.I hope you experience is better

Reviewer: Retired line cook
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Best ever
Review: Best collection read in years. I will actually look for some of the books by writers included in this. Very many different voices represented but Jemison is very perceptive and a huge talent herself.

Reviewer: SapphireSkies
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Not your typical SF&F
Review: From strange and poetic to completely bizarre, all of these stories are well-written but may or may not be to your taste. For me, the collection opened strongly with Charles Payseur's "Rivers Run Free," set in a world where some of the rivers have become embodied and are fighting enslavement by a human empire. Kate Marshall's "Destroy the City with Me Tonight" follows strongly, envisioning a virus that forms a painful map of a city on the victim's bones, induces memory issues, and more, with awful impact on the victim's lives. Other favorites of mine include Micah Dean Hicks's "Church of Birds," a fairy tale poignantly retold with no happy ending, and Maria Dahvana Headley's "The Orange Tree," in which a golem is created from the titular tree to be a man's wife, quite against the tree's will. Many others are intriguing and thought-provoking. On the other end of the spectrum, I could not grasp the peculiar world portrayed in Samuel R. Delany's "The Hermit of Houston"; the first-person character in Carmen Maria Machado's "The Resident" is oddly obsessed with pus-filled bumps and frequently becomes ill, shaping a story that is much more psychological delusion than SF or fantasy; and Caroline M. Yoachim's "Carnival Nine" is too plainly a metaphor for human life with a mundane moral. Overall, though, the anthology introduced me to many authors I hadn't read before and hope to read again.

Reviewer: Joe Gyanti
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Sci Fi
Review: Some of the short stories are a bit long

Reviewer: Andrew Moravec
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A wonderful selection
Review: The stories selected here boil down the essence of 2018 in spectacular and challenging ways, exploring every chamber of the heart through vivid acts of imagination.

Reviewer: Richard Weems
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: E. Lily Yu - the highlight
Review: My favorite story in here was “the Wretched and the Beautiful,”by E Lily Yu. While Yu takes a seemingly familiar situation of aliens coming down to ultimately convey our own prejudices, she delivers with such wonderful language that I didn’t ever look up until I was through the whole thing.

Reviewer: Loup
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I love those compilations so captivating to read you won’t regret it.

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Usually, short story collections from more than one author are an extremely mixed bag for me, but with this one I can happily attest that I liked more than half of the stories featured, which is huge!