By request, this is an expanded edition of “Collated Contents of the Big Year’s Bests (2017 Stories, with Links!).” That post collates and links to the stories selected by Clarke, Dozois, Horton, and Strahan. This adds Afsharirad, Datlow, Guran, Jemisin (BASFF), and Shearman/Kelly. (As in the other list, I’ve also noted whether I’ve read them and, if so, whether they got an honorable mention, a recommendation, or were recommendations which made my Web’s Best Science Fiction or Web’s Best Fantasy.)
After more than eight months, this post is finally, fundamentally done, though it will continue to be updated if I find links to more stories or if wonderful people tell me about them. (See the end of the post for the full ChangeLog/Credits.)
Latest change: 2018-08-21: Added Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, Jemisin, ed. (Thanks to johnjosephadams.com.) Also removed all references to “unread” stories, making everything consistently “unread unless otherwise noted.”
Four Annuals: Afsharirad, Clarke, Horton, Strahan
- “The Secret Life of Bots”, Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld) [read]
Four Annuals: Clarke, Dozois, Horton, Strahan
- “The Martian Obelisk”, Linda Nagata (Tor.com) [Web’s Best Science Fiction]
Four Annuals: Clarke, Dozois, Jemisin, Strahan
- “Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance”, Tobias Buckell (Cosmic Powers) [honorable mention late]
Three Annuals: Clarke, Dozois, Strahan
- “An Evening with Severyn Grimes”, Rich Larson (Asimov’s Science Fiction) [recommended late]
- “A Series of Steaks”, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld) [Web’s Best Science Fiction]
Three Annuals: Clarke, Horton, Jemisin
- “ZeroS”, Peter Watts (Infinity Wars) [recommended]
Three Annuals: Dozois, Horton, Strahan
- “Sidewalks”, Maureen McHugh (Omni) [read late]
Three Annuals: Horton, Jemisin, Strahan
- “Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue”, Charlie Jane Anders (Boston Review) [read late]
- “The Hermit of Houston”, Samuel R. Delany (F&SF) [read]
Two Annuals: Clarke, Dozois
- “Death on Mars“, Madeline Ashby (Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities) [recommended late]
- “The Worldless“, Indrapramit Das (Lightspeed) [read]
- “Uncanny Valley“, Greg Egan (Tor.com) [Web’s Best Science Fiction]
- “The Last Boat-Builder in Ballyvoloon“, Finbarr O’Reilly (Clarkesworld) [read]
- “We Who Live in the Heart“, Kelly Robson (Clarkesworld) [read]
Two Annuals: Clarke, Horton
- “The Tale of the Alcubierre Horse”, Kathleen Ann Goonan (Extrasolar)
- “Extracurricular Activities”, Yoon Ha Lee (Tor.com) [read]
Two Annuals: Dozois, Horton
- “Winter Timeshare”, Ray Nayler (Asimov’s Science Fiction) [read]
- “Starlight Express”, Michael Swanwick (F&SF) [recommended]
Two Annuals: Dozois, Strahan
- “My English Name”, R. S. Benedict (F&SF)
- “The Moon is Not a Battlefield”, Indrapramit Das (Infinity Wars) [read]
Two Annuals: Guran, Horton
- “Red Bark and Ambergris“, Kate Marshall (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) [read]
Two Annuals: Guran, Shearman/Kelly
- “Skins Smooth as Plantain, Hearts Soft as Mango“, Ian Muneshwar (The Dark)
Two Annuals: Guran, Strahan
- “The Lamentation of their Women”, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com) [read]
Two Annuals: Horton, Strahan
- “Though She Be But Little”, C.S.E. Cooney (Uncanny) [Web’s Best Fantasy]
Two Annuals: Jemisin, Shearman/Kelly
- “You Will Always Have Family: A Triptych“, Kathleen Kayembe (Nightmare) [honorable mention]
Two Annuals: Jemisin, Strahan
- “Carnival Nine”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) [read]
One Annual: The Year’s Best Military & Adventure SF, Volume 4, Afsharirad, ed.
- “Hope Springs”, Lindsay Buroker (Beyond the Stars)
- “Lovers”, Tony Daniel (Forged in Blood)
- “Family Over Blood”, Kacey Ezell (Forged in Blood)
- “A Man They Didn’t Know”, David Hardy (Rocket’s Red Glare)
- “SWARM“, Sean Patrick Hazlett (Terraform) [read]
- “The Ghost Ship Anastasia”, Rich Larson (Clarkesworld) [recommended]
- “The Snatchers”, Edward McDermott (Analog)
- “You Can Always Change The Past”, George Nikolopoulos (Galaxy’s Edge)
- “By The Red Giant’s Light”, Larry Niven (F&SF)
- “Imperium Imposter”, Jody Lynn Nye (Infinite Stars)
- “A Hamal In Hollywood”, Martin L. Shoemaker (Rocket’s Red Glare)
- “Orphans Of Aries”, Brad R. Torgersen (Rocket’s Red Glare)
- “A Thousand Deaths Through Flesh And Stone”, Brian Trent (F&SF)
- “Our Sacred Honor”, David Weber (Infinite Stars)
One Annual: The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3, Clarke, ed.
- “Shadows of Eternity”, Gregory Benford (Extrasolar)
- “In Everlasting Wisdom”, Aliette de Bodard (Infinity Wars) [recommended]
- “Belly Up”, Maggie Clark (Analog)
- “Every Hour of Light and Dark”, Nancy Kress (Omni)
- “The Last Novelist, or a Dead Lizard in the Yard”, Matthew Kressel (Tor.com) [recommended]
- “Meridian”, Karin Lowachee (Where the Stars Rise)
- “Regarding the Robot Raccoons Attached to the Hull of My Ship”, Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali (Diabolical Plots) [read]
- “Wind Will Rove”, Sarah Pinsker (Asimov’s Science Fiction) [read late]
- “The Speed of Belief”, Robert Reed (Asimov’s Science Fiction) [recommended]
- “Holdfast”, Alastair Reynolds (Extrasolar)
- “Focus”, Gord Sellar (Analog)
- “Shikasta”, Vandana Singh (Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities) [read late]
- “A Catalogue of Sunlight at the End of the World”, A.C. Wise (Sunvault)
One Annual: The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Ten, Datlow, ed.
- “Liquid Air”, Inna Effress (Nightscript III)
- “The Starry Crown”, Marc E. Fitch (Horror Library: Volume 6)
- “Fail-Safe”, Philip Fracassi (Behold the Void)
- “Shepherd’s Business”, Stephen Gallagher (New Fears)
- “You Can Stay All Day”, Mira Grant (Nights of the Living Dead)
- “The Granfalloon”, Orrin Grey (Darker Companions)
- “West of Matamoros, North of Hell”, Brian Hodge (Dark Screams: Volume Seven)
- “Better You Believe”, Carole Johnstone (Horror Library: Volume 6)
- “Lost in the Dark”, John Langan (Haunted Nights)
- “Dark Warm Heart“, Rich Larson (Tor.com) [read]
- “Where’s the Harm?”, Rebecca Lloyd (Seven Strange Stories)
- “There and Back Again”, Carmen Maria Machado (Mixed Up)
- “Eqalussuaq”, Tim Major (Not One of Us)
- “Alligator Point”, S. P. Miskowski (Looming Low: Volume I)
- “Holiday Romance”, Mark Morris (Black Static)
- “Whatever Comes After Calcutta”, David Erik Nelson (F&SF)
- “Endoskeletal”, Sarah Read (Black Static)
- “A Human Stain“, Kelly Robson (Tor.com) [honorable mention]
- “Furtherest”, Kaaron Warren (Dark Screams: Volume Seven)
- “Harvest Song, Gathering Song“, A. C. Wise (The Dark)
- “The Stories We Tell about Ghosts“, A. C. Wise (Looming Low: Volume I)
One Annual: The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty–Fifth Annual Collection, Dozois, ed.
- “Mines”, Eleanor Arnason (Infinity Wars) [read]
- “Pan-Humanism: Hope and Pragmatics“, Jessica Barber and Sara Saab (Clarkesworld) [read]
- “The Dragon That Flew Out of the Sun”, Aliette de Bodard (Cosmic Powers)
- “The Hunger After You’re Fed“, James S.A. Corey (Wired) [read late]
- The Martian Job, Jaine Fenn
- “Nexus“, Michael F. Flynn (Analog)
- “The History of the Invasion Told in Five Dogs”, Kelly Jennings (F&SF)
- “Whending My Way Back Home”, Bill Johnson (Analog) [honorable mention]
- “Canoe”, Nancy Kress (Extrasolar)
- “Dear Sarah”, Nancy Kress (Infinity Wars) [read]
- “Waiting Out the End of the World in Patty’s Place Cafe“, Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld) [read]
- “There Used to Be Olive Trees”, Rich Larson (F&SF)
- “Triceratops”, Ian McHugh (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
- “The Influence Machine”, Sean McMullen (Interzone)
- Prime Meridian, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- “The Proving Ground”, Alec Nevala-Lee (Analog) [read]
- “Number Thirty-Nine Skink“, Suzanne Palmer (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
- “The Residue of Fire”, Robert Reed (Extrasolar)
- “Night Passage”, Alastair Reynolds (Infinite Stars)
- “Vanguard 2.0“, Carter Scholz (Visions, Ventures, Escape Velocities) [read late]
- “Assassins“, Jack Skillingstead and Burt Courtier (Clarkesworld) [read]
- “Elephant on Table”, Bruce Sterling (Chasing Shadows)
- “The Road to the Sea”, Lavie Tidhar (Sunvault)
- “Zigeuner”, Harry Turtledove (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
One Annual: Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2018, Guran, ed.
- “Sunflower Junction”, Simon Avery (Black Static) [recommended]
- “Swift to Chase”, Laird Barron (Adam’s Ladder: An Anthology of Dark Science Fiction)
- “Fallow“, Ashley Blooms (Shimmer) [honorable mention]
- “Children of Thorns, Children of Water“, Aliette de Bodard (exclusive for The House of Binding Thorns preorders/Uncanny)
- “On Highway 18”, Rebecca Campbell (F&SF) [read]
- “Witch Hazel”, Jeffrey Ford (Haunted Nights)
- “The Bride in Sea-Green Velvet”, Robin Furth (F&SF)
- “Little Digs“, Lisa L. Hannett (The Dark)
- “The Thule Stowaway“, Maria Dahvana Headley (Uncanny) [honorable mention]
- “The Eyes Are White and Quiet”, Carole Johnstone (New Fears)
- Mapping the Interior, Stephen Graham Jones (Tor.com Publishing)
- “Don’t Turn on the Lights“, Cassandra Khaw (Nightmare)
- “The Dinosaur Tourist”, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Sirenia Digest)
- “Survival Strategies”, Helen Marshall (Black Static)
- “Everything Beautiful Is Terrifying”, M. Rickert (Shadows and Tall Trees, Vol. 7)
- “Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™“, Rebecca Roanhorse (Apex) [read]
- “Graverobbing Negress Seeks Employment”, Eden Royce (Fiyah)
- “Moon Blood-Red, Tide Turning”, Mark Samuels (Terror Tales of Cornwall)
- “The Crow Palace“, Priya Sharma (Black Feathers)
- “The Swimming Pool Party”, Robert Shearman (Shadows and Tall Trees, Vol. 7)
- “The Little Mermaid, in Passing”, Angela Slatter (Review of Australian Fiction)
- “Secret Keeper“, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Nightmare)
- “The Long Fade into Evening”, Steve Rasnic Tem (Darker Companions)
- “Moon and Memory and Muchness”, Katherine Vaz (Mad Hatters and March Hares)
- “Exceeding Bitter”, Kaaron Warren (Evil Is a Matter of Perspective)
- “Succulents”, Conrad Williams (New Fears)
One Annual: The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2018 Edition, Horton, ed.
- “Shoggoths in Traffic“, Tobias S. Buckell (Patreon) [honorable mention late]
- “Marley and Marley”, J. R. Dawson (F&SF)
- “Ugo“, Giovanni de Feo (Lightspeed) [honorable mention]
- “Persephone of the Crows“, Karen Joy Fowler (Asimov’s) [read late]
- “Rings”, Nina Kiriki Hoffman (F&SF)
- “Time Travel is Only for the Poor“, S. L. Huang (Analog)
- “The Fisherman and the Pig“, Kameron Hurley (Patreon) [read]
- “The Sacrifice of the Hanged Monkey“, Minsoo Kang (Fantastic) [honorable mention late]
- “One Hour, Every Seven Years”, Alice Sola Kim (McSweeney’s)
- “Love Engine Optimization“, Matthew Kressel (Lightspeed) [read]
- “Cupido”, Rich Larson (Asimov’s)
- “This Is for You“, Bruce McAllister (Lightspeed) [Web’s Best Science Fiction]
- “Soulmates.com“, Will McIntosh (Asimov’s)
- “And Then There Were (N-One)“, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny) [read]
- “Fandom for Robots“, Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Uncanny) [recommended]
- “Emergency Protocol”, Lettie Prell (Analog)
- “Montreal, 2014”, Madeline Ray (Mothership Zeta)
- “The Significance of Significance“, Robert Reed (Clarkesworld) [honorable mention]
- “Whatever Knight Comes“, Ryan Row (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) [read]
- “An Account of the Land of Witches“, Sofia Samatar (Tender)
- “Hexagrammaton“, Hanus Seiner (Tor.com)
- “Utopia LOL?”, Jamie Wahls (Strange Horizons) [honorable mention]
One Annual: Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, Jemisin, ed.
- “Tasting Notes on the Varietals of the Southern Coast”, Gwendolyn Clare (F&SF) [read]
- “The Last Cheng Beng Gift“, Jaymee Goh (Lightspeed) [read]
- “Black Powder”, Maria Dahvana Headley (The Djinn Falls in Love)
- “The Orange Tree”, Maria Dahvana Headley (The Weight of Words)
- “Church of Birds”, Micah Dean Hicks (Kenyon Review)
- “The Greatest One-Star Restaurant in the Whole Quadrant“, Rachael K. Jones (Lightspeed) [read]
- “The Resident”, Carmen Maria Machado (Her Body and Other Parties)
- “Destroy the City with Me Tonight”, Kate Marshall (Behind the Mask)
- “Cannibal Acts”, Maureen F. McHugh (Boston Review: Global Dystopias)
- “Rivers Run Free“, Charles Payseur (Beneath Ceaseless Skies) [read]
- “Justice Systems in Quantum Parallel Probabilities“, Lettie Prell (Clarkesworld) [read]
- “Brightened Star, Ascending Dawn“, A. Merc Rustad (Humans Wanted)
- “Loneliness Is in Your Blood“, Cadwell Turnbull (Nightmare) [read]
- “The Wretched and the Beautiful“, E. Lily Yu (Terraform) [read]
One Annual: Year’s Best Weird Fiction: Volume Five, Shearman/Kelly, eds.
- “Live Through This”, Nadia Bulkin (Looming Low: Volume I)
- “Flotsam”, Daniel Carpenter (The Shadow Booth)
- “The Narrow Escape of Zipper-Girl“, Adam-Troy Castro (Nightmare) )
- “The Unwish”, Claire Dean (The Unwish)
- “Worship Only What She Bleeds”, Kristi DeMeester (Everything That’s Underneath)
- “The Second Door”, Brian Evenson (Looming Low: Volume I)
- “When Words Change the Molecular Composition of Water“, Jenni Fagan (Somesuch Stories)
- “The Convexity of Our Youth”, Kurt Fawver (Looming Low: Volume I)
- “Corzo“, Brenna Gomez (Prairie Schooner)
- “The Mouse Queen”, Camilla Grudova (The Doll’s Alphabet)
- “The Anteater“, Joshua King (The Matador Review)
- “Curb Day”, Rebecca Kuder (Shadows And Tall Trees 7)
- “The Entertainment Arrives”, Alison Littlewood (Darker Companions)
- “The Rock Eater“, Ben Loory (Taste)
- “Eight Bites“, Carmen Maria Machado (Gulf Coast)
- “The Way She Is with Strangers”, Helen Marshall (Dark Cities)
- “The Possession”, Michael Mirolla (The Photographer in Search of Death)
- “House of Abjection”, David Peak (Nightscript III)
- “Disappearer”, K. L. Pereira (A Dream Between Two Rivers)
- “Red Hood“, Eric Schaller (Nightmare) [read]
- “Something About Birds”, Paul Tremblay (Black Feathers)
- “Take the Way Home That Leads Back to Sullivan Street”, Chavisa Woods (Things to Do When You’re Goth in the Country and Other Stories)
One Annual: The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Volume 12, Strahan, ed.
- “The Mocking Tower”, Daniel Abraham (The Book of Swords)
- “Probably Still the Chosen One”, Kelly Barnhill (Lightspeed) [honorable mention]
- “The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine”, Greg Egan (Asimov’s Science Fiction) [recommended late]
- “Crispin’s Model”, Max Gladstone (Tor.com) [honorable mention]
- “Come See the Living Dryad”, Theodora Goss (Tor.com) [recommended]
- “Bring Your Own Spoon”, Saad Z. Hossain (The Djinn Falls in Love)
- “Babylon”, Dave Hutchison, 2084
- “The Faerie Tree”, Kathleen Kayembe (Lightspeed) [honorable mention]
- “Fairy Tale of Wood Street”, Caitlin R Kiernan (Sirenia Digest)
- “The Worshipful Society of Glovers”, Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny) [read]
- “The Chameleon’s Gloves”, Yoon Ha Lee (Cosmic Powers)
- “The Smoke of Gold is Glory”, Scott Lynch (The Book of Swords)
- “Concessions”, Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali (Strange Horizons) [read]
- “Belladonna Nights”, Alastair Reynolds (The Weight of Words)
- “Eminence”, Karl Schroeder (Chasing Shadows)
- “Confessions of a Con Girl”, Nick Wolven (Asimov’s Science Fiction) [read late]
Changelog/Credits:
- 2017-12-15: Jonathan Strahan announced the contents of The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Volume 12. (Thanks to dolphintornsea at the F&SF forums.)
- 2017-12-16: found and added links to the stories from Boston Review and Omni.
- 2017-12-24 (updated the 26th): Gardner Dozois announced the contents of The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty–Fifth Annual Collection. Thanks to Roger Silverstein for the tip and Lavie Tidhar for posting it for the Facebook-challenged and showing up in the search engine.
- 2018-01-23: Neil Clarke announced the contents of The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3.
- 2018-02-01: added link to Buckell’s “Zen” reprint.
- 2018-02-07: moved this stuff to the bottom in a Changelog because it was pushing the stories down too far. 😉
- 2018-02-07: added links to four Asimov’s stories (“Grimes,” “Wind,” “Turing,” “Confessions”). Thanks to RSR.
- 2018-02-09: added contents of Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2018 Edition. Thanks to dolphintornsea at the F&SF forums for alerting me and to Horton for posting the full contents.
- 2018-02-10: added neglected link to Fowler’s Asimov’s story. (Thanks to Laura.)
- 2018-02-14: added link to Watts’ “ZeroS.” (Thanks to Laura, and a belated thanks to Roger Silverstein, whose tip I missed.)
- 2018-02-16: added link to Samatar’s “Account.” (Thanks to Laura.)
- 2018-02-22: Added Datlow’s table of contents for The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Ten. Thanks to C. C. Finlay at the F&SF forum for linking to Datlow’s announcement (all titles unique).
- 2018-02-23: Added links to “Soulmates.com,” “Number Thirty-Nine Skink,” and “The Speed of Belief” from the Asimov’s Reader’s Awards finalists, Thanks to File 770.
- 2018-03-02: Added links to “Focus,” “Nexus,” and “Time Travel Is Only for the Poor” from the Analog Reader’s Award finalists. Thanks to Laura.
- 2018-05-20: Added Year’s Best Weird Fiction: Volume Five, Shearman/Kelly, eds. Thanks to File 770 for the titles (all unique).
- 2018-05-22: Added source for the Pereira story. Thanks to Roger Silverstein.
- 2018-05-27: Added The Year’s Best Military & Adventure SF, Volume 4, Afsharirad, ed. Thanks to Black Gate for the titles (all unique except for “Bots”).
- 2018-07-11: Added Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2018, Guran, ed. Thanks to paulaguran.com.
- 2018-08-17: Added link to “The Stories We Tell About Ghosts.” Thanks to Roger Silverstein.
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