The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 1

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over: https://margaretmcgaffeyfisk.com/category/reviews/

Anthologies can be hit or miss depending on the editor’s vision. I picked this one up on NetGalley hoping to see a glimpse of the current short fiction world. What I didn’t expect was how many of the twenty-eight stories would win me over. These stories provide a diversity of voices and narrative styles, along with authors from many nations and/or ethnicities. The theme celebrates diversity and the impact of culture. Rather than attempting to constrain speculative fiction into a narrow definition, Strahan aims to reveal how the genre can be both timely and interesting.

My favorites:

Kali_Na by Indrapramit Das
While I appreciated other stories, in Kali_Na I found my first favorite. It’s hard to articulate why without spoilers, so I’ll say only this: When Internet trolls come out in force to greet a newborn AI version of the Goddess Durga, the caste system might not be the only tradition to survive to modern day. It’s a cyberpunk-like vision of future India seen from the bottom looking up.

Sturdy Lantern and Ladders by Malka Older
I usually tidy my notes for the review, but here’s a direct quote: “Okay, wow. This is just wow.” I love this story for how it begins, because I’m sympathetic, then it takes us somewhere fascinating and new. Besides, it stars an octopus. I’d say more, but better you experience it on your own.

Soft Edges by Elizabeth Bear
This is a beautiful story about philosophy and human nature running alongside a police procedural. It shows how to respect people’s choices and contrary positions without compromising the bigger picture. It also demonstrates how personal pronouns can become part of a normal introduction without awkwardness or stopping the narrative. Nicely done.

The Archronology of Love by Caroline M. Yoachim
This story is right in my sweet spot. It mixes alien contact with neat technology while still making the characters approachable. It’s both personal and immense with real learning and change.

The below stories all had something about them I enjoyed, and/or which made them stand out.

The Bookstore at the End of America by Charlie Jane Anders
The Bookstore at the End of America begins this volume with a glimpse down the path America is currently walking. The story has an almost magical realism tone. It looks at bias and the consequences of same, but more in raising questions than forcing answers on the reader. I like how it makes me think about these questions while reminding me of reading about a real-world library that exists on the U.S./Canadian border. I hope that library never faces what Charlie Jane Anders’ one does.

The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex by Tobias S. Buckell
As you might have guessed from the title, this short story offers a quick glimpse of a future where alien tourism wins. It’s something we’ve seen in smaller scales on our planet, but this is planetwide. But how our world has changed because of this commerce is only part of the story. Seen through the eyes of a taxi driver, the struggle to anticipate alien demands is both compelling and thought provoking.

Song of the Birds by Saleem Haddad
This story didn’t speak to me in part because of the focus on suicide. However, the strong imagery was compelling enough to warrant a mention. Nor is it the only story to include suicide as an aspect.

The Painter of Trees by Suzanne Palmer
This is an odd story, but a powerful one about ambition, arrogance, and claiming what is not your own. The author plays on the anonymity of first person, shared with a third person point of view (POV), to create a sense of mystery. There were enough clues to give me the answer before the reveal, but I still needed confirmation. It’s not only the mixed POV that makes this story stand out, however. I found the first-person narrator unsympathetic to the point of arguing with the page. In terms of engagement, this story earns a place, and I appreciate the questions it raises for all the method leaves me frustrated.

The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir by Karin Tidbeck
This story doesn’t have a firm plot, which is bizarre in a lot of ways since it’s a spaceship passenger vessel and has many of the older tropes mentioned. Instead, it’s beautiful for what it says and shows for both the speaking characters and those without a voice. The story didn’t go quite where I expected, but living ships and mechanically inclined, fix-it characters are some of my favorites.

Contagion’s Eve at the House Noctambulous by Rich Larson
The story sucked me into the moment with its sensory detail, so I accepted the strange happenings around me without question. And what’s happening is strange beyond question. This is the first one I’d classify as horror, and I don’t read horror because of the ability to be sucked in rather than despite it. I can safely say this is a strong horror offering, in part because it had the possibility of being something different had it made another choice.

Submarines by Han Song Translated by Ken Liu
As an example of the diversity within these pages, this story has two names attached, the author and the translator. It’s another odd story of unknowns and unknowables told through the perspective of an ignorant narrator. There are no answers to the many questions raised, and as a reader, I’m left trying to find meaning where none is offered. I don’t know whether this makes it more powerful a story or less. The imagery lingers, as does the tantalizing possibility of answers far beyond the life of our narrator.

As the Last I May Know by S. L. Huang
This is a powerful story of understanding war. It asks the same question covered in the movie War Games but puts it into more personal terms. The practice that serves as the story’s backbone is horrific, but that very quality makes it the best and possibly only way. The story offers a deep dive into another culture and the conflict between old and new ways. It plays with the reader’s emotions and pushes us to ask what we would do in the same situation.

A Catalog of Storms by Fran Wilde
This is a neat, surreal concept. It turns a story of lists into something emotional that plays with the reader’s sympathies tangibly. I enjoyed the imagery, the concept, and ultimately the question between desire and cost.

Dune Song by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
The narrative voice in this story is powerful and the description strong. I found the story to turn on belief and choice. Nata is trying to find her mother and find other civilizations. She rejects the ways of her village, choosing to reach for freedom rather than huddle in the dark and let fear swallow their voices whole. This makes it powerful.

Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin
This is a strange story with an odd but perfect narrator. It’s mostly told sideways from the collective voice embedded in the main character’s head as it tries to explain away everything the character encounters as a false narrative. The meaning and plot are obvious from the start but that doesn’t matter. A fun read with deeper implications.

Thoughts and Prayers by Ken Liu
This story focuses more on the timely and less on the speculative element, though when it appears, the element is critical. The tale explores the problematic nature of media consumption on the internet through the window of gun violence. Thought provoking, the story is painful in its circumstances. The narration cleverly mirrors the characters’ progress through the story.

At the Fall by Alec Nevala-Lee
This story grew on me as I read it. I found the narration through an advanced research vehicle (?) creature (?) fascinating. The plot itself was predictable first in the cause and then by design as the narrator undergoes a long, dangerous journey. Her method of experiencing space and memory informs her discovery path, but the reader knows little and not much happens actively. It’s a gentle story, an odd adjective considering the circumstances she faces, but one I learned to appreciate.

Reunion by Vandana Singh
This is a story of becoming rather than doing. While the main character accomplished a lot in her attempt to restore the planet, it is her growth in connection and understanding that form the foundation. This is a fresh approach to the theme of climate repair and one that speaks to me. I enjoyed the vision she has of humans as part of the world, not controlling it. But the small glimpses of her interactions with people and the frailty of her own body made this story work for me.

Secret Stories of Doors by Sofia Rhei
The beginning of this story didn’t grab me, but I’m glad I kept going. In a surreal narrative, this tale takes the premise of “history is written by the victors” a step further. It offers a warped future with more twists to discover.

And there you have it. I clearly found many stories to enjoy. This anthology tackles questions we face in modern times through the lens of speculative fiction. Most fell into the science fiction category, though often near future, and didn’t shy away from the more painful topics of suicide, rape, and gun violence either. Climate reconstruction seems the most common element taken on. The differing proposals spoke not just to the science but also to the underlying cultural and social elements, much to my delight.

I’m happy I plucked this anthology from the list and plan to track down more by authors I “met” or was reminded of here.

P.S. I received this Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.