Category: Science fiction

I edit the Year’s Best Science Fiction anthology series for Saga Press. The first volume in the series will be published in mid-2020, and the second will appear in mid-2021.

I am currently reading for the 2020 volume and am looking for stories from all branches of science fiction — space opera to cyberpunk and beyond (pretty much, if you think it’s science fiction it is) — that were published anywhere in the world during 2019. Stories published in translation are eligible provided they appeared in English for the first time during 2019. If in doubt, please send your work.

Eligibility

This is a reprint anthology. Stories must have been published for the first time in English* between 1 January and 31 December 2019.

Deadline

The submission deadline for this year’s book is:

1 November 2019

Anything sent after this deadline will reach me too late. If a magazine, anthology, or collection you are in or that you edit is coming out before 31 December 2019 please send galleys or manuscripts so that I can consider the stories in time.

Publication date

The first volume of the series is scheduled for publication in mid-2020.

Format

Where possible, I prefer to receive book-length works in print (especially anthologies).  Books, stories etc can be sent to me via email. I prefer ePub, .mobi, .rtf or .doc files. PDFs are not accepted. I strongly suggest that authors check with their publishers that they are sending review copies out to me, as I don’t have the resources to follow-up every publisher to get material.

Postal address

When sending material please put “Year’s Best Science Fiction” on the envelope.

Jonathan Strahan
P.O. Box 544
Mt Lawley, WA 6929
Australia

Email submissions, recommendations, or information on publications can be sent to me via email at:

jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com

For publishers

I am eager to consider work you are publishing. If you produce a magazine, chapbook, collection or anthology with any original stories in it please let me know. I am happy to accept email submissions. The most important thing is to make sure that I get to consider the best science fiction and fantasy published in 2019.

If you are publishing online please email copies of stories to jonathan.strahan (at) gmail (dot) com as early as possible. This is particularly important for stories published between October and December which may otherwise be overlooked.

For writers

I do not need to receive manuscripts from authors of stories from venues that it’s likely I already receive regularly (I get Analog, Asimov’s, F&SF, Interzone, Black Static, Postscripts etc, but not many of the smaller ‘zines and publications).

Please do not send an SASE. This is not a submission, and I’m unable to return manuscripts or respond directly to stories sent to me.

Rights

If I am considering your story for inclusion in Year’s Best Science Fiction, I will be acquiring non-exclusive World anthology rights in English and foreign languages in print, audio and ebook.

News and information

I will be published an overview of science fiction in 2019 as an introduction to the volume. Please send news and information to jonathan.strahan (at) Gmail (dot) com.

I’m trying to encourage people who can afford to (and I mean afford!) to consider buying their short fiction and nonfiction when and where they can. Every outlet needs your support.

To help with this I’m going to put together a list of subscription options. The list below is just a beginning. Please pop additions/corrections in the comments and I’ll update the list. This is just a first pass, but every one of these publications offers great stuff you’re likely to enjoy!

• Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Trevor Quachri, ed.)
• Apex Magazine (Jason Sizemore ed.)
• Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (Sheila Williams ed.)
• Beneath Ceaseless Skies (Scott H. Andrews ed.)
• Clarkesworld Magazine (Neil Clarke ed.)
• Fireside Quarterly (Pablo Defendi ed.)
• Fiyah Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction (Troy L. Wiggins & DaVaun Sanders eds.)
• Interzone (Andy Cox ed.)
• Lightspeed Magazine (John Joseph Adams ed.)
• Locus (Liza Trombi ed.)
• The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (Charles Coleman Finlay ed.)
• Uncanny Magazine (Lynne Thomas & Michael Damien Thomas eds.)

 

It’s a new year and the various awards will soon be open for nominations and so on.  There is a lot of wonderful fiction out there and, having been fairly busy during 2018, I’ve been lucky enough to help what I think are some really excellent works of fiction that I think are worthy of your consideration.

It was a year when I edited two new anthologies, three novellas for Tor.com Publishing (and a bunch more in train), five stories for Tor.com, appeared on and produced 21 episodes of The Coode Street Podcast episodes, and acted as reviews editor for Locus for the 16th consecutive year.

Fiction edited in 2018

Anthologies

• Infinity’s End (Solaris)
• The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Twelve (Solaris)

As a guide, fiction in Infinity’s End is science fiction, and probably most relevant for the Hugo and Nebualas.  The novellas range from hard science fiction to weird  fantasy.

Novellas

• Time Was, Ian McDonald, Tor.com Publishing, April 2018
• Black Helicopters, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tor.com Publishing, May 2018
• The Million, Karl Schroeder, Tor.com Publishing, August 2018

Novelette

• “The Nearest”, Greg Egan (Tor.com, 19/7/18)
• “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth”, Daryl Gregory (Tor.com, 19/9/18)
• “Grace’s Family”, James Patrick Kelly (Tor.com, 16/5/18)
• “Nothing Ever Happens on Oberon”, Paul McAuley (Infinity’s End)
• “Death’s Door”, Alastair Reynolds  (Infinity’s End)
• “Foxy and Tiggs”, Justina Robson  (Infinity’s End
• “Intervention”, Kelly Robson (Infinity’s End)
• “Once on the Blue Moon”, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Infinity’s End)
• “Cloudsong”, Nick Wolven  (Infinity’s End)

Short story

• “Last Small Step”, Stephen Baxter (Infinity’s End)
• “Prophet of the Roads”, Naomi Kritzer (Infinity’s End)
• “Black Friday”, Alex Irvine (Tor.com, 13/5/18)
• “Swear Not by the Moon”, Seanan McGuire (Infinity’s End)
• “Longing for Earth”, Linda Nagata (Infinity’s End)
• “A Portrait of Salai”, Hannu Rajaniemi (Infinity’s End)
• “Talking to Ghosts at the Edge of the World”, Lavie Tidhar (Infinity’s End)
• “Yiwu”, Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com, 23/5/18)
• “Kindred”, Peter Watts (Infinity’s End)
• “The Synchronist”, Fran Wilde (Infinity’s End)

Editor, Short-Form (Hugos)/Professional Achievement (WFA)

• Jonathan Strahan (Infinity’s End, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Twelve, Black Helicopters, Time Was, The Million, Tor.com stories, Locus [reviews editor]

Best Fancast/Podcast

• The Coode Street Podcast [Episodes 320 – 340] [co-hosted with Gary K. Wolfe.]

I hope you’ll consider supporting the talented people that I’ve worked with during the year.

The first volume of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year appeared way back in 2007. There’d been talk about it coming out the year before, so I’ve probably been working on the series consistently for the thirteen years or more it’s taken to get to the volume that will be out this April from Solaris.

During that time I’ve worked with multiple editors, two publishers (four if you look back), an editing partner (Marty Greenberg), and hundreds of fabulous, talented writers. I’m grateful to each of them for every minute of it. But volume thirteen is the end of the road for the series. It’s done. Complete. I thought it would go on forever, but that’s not to be.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year will finish this April, meaning that for the first time since 2006 I don’t have a commitment to edit a series of books. Infinity wound up in July and now the best of the year. So it goes…or so it appears.

Actually, I’m not done. I can’t tell you what’s happening – I wish I could, but I want the ink dry on the contract before I do – but I will be editing a new year’s best series for 2020. It’s a change of theme for the year’s best and a move from the UK to New York for the publisher, and I’m actually delighted with this. It’s pretty huge. My editor is fabulous (in fairness, all of my editors have been), the publishing house is an exciting one, and I think the revamped series will be exciting to work on.

So, on to 2019. I’ll issue a call for stories as soon as I can, but for the moment, publishers please keep sending me work. The Year’s Best goes on…!