The Best of World SF: Volume 2

Twenty-nine new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.

The second annual instalment to the ‘rare and wonderful’ (The Times) The Best of World SF Volume 1, this collection of twenty-nine stories, including eight original and exclusive additions, represents the state of the art in international science fiction.

Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Greece, Grenada, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, The Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar. Taking us into space – Mars at first, then the stars – and then back to a strange, transformed Earth via AI, gods, aliens and the undead, the collection traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some of the most exciting voices writing today.

This is not a retrospective of what science fiction around the world used to look like. This is a snapshot of what some of it looks like now. And it’s never been more exciting.

Table of Contents:

  • 1 Nadia Afifi, The Bahrain Underground Bazaar
  • 2 Lavanya Lakshminarayan, The Ten-Percent Thief
  • 3 Frances Ogamba, At Desk 9501 (Original)
  • 4 Isabel Yap, Milagroso
  • 5 Saad Z. Hossain, Bring Your Own Spoon
  • 6 Yukimi Ogawa, Blue Grey Blue
  • 7 Xing He, Your Multicolored Life, trans. Andy Dudak
  • 8 Nalo Hopkinson, The Easthound
  • 9 Pan Haitian, Dead Man, Awake, Sing to the Sun!, trans. Joel Martinsen (Original)
  • 10 Jacques Barcia, Salvaging Gods
  • 11 Edmundo Paz Soldán, The Next Move, trans. Jessica Sequeira (Original)
  • 12 Dilman Dila, The Clay Child (Original)
  • 13 Natalia Theodoridou, To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds
  • 14 Bef, The Beast Has Died, trans. Brian L. Price
  • 15 Alberto Chimal, Twenty About Robots, trans. Fionn Petch
  • 16 Wole Talabi, The Regression Test
  • 17 William Tham Wai Liang, Kakak
  • 18 Usman T. Malik, Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love
  • 19 Julie Novakova, A Flaw In The Works, trans. by author (Original)
  • 20 Cassandra Khaw, When We Die On Mars
  • 21 Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell, The Mighty Slinger
  • 22 T.L. Huchu, Corialis
  • 23 Clelia Farris, The Substance of Ideas, trans. Rachel S. Cordasco
  • 24 Agnieszka Hałas, Sleeping Beauties, trans. by author (Original)
  • 25 Samit Basu, Waking Nydra (Original)
  • 26 Neon Yang, Between The Firmaments
  • 27 Bo-Young Kim, Whale Snows Down, trans. Sophie Bowman
  • 28 Hassan Blasim, The Gardens of Babylon, trans. Jonathan Wright
  • 29 K.A. Teryna, The Farctory, trans.  Alex Shvartsman (Original)

REVIEWS

“World Fantasy Award winner Tidhar brings together another outstanding assortment of international sci-fi shorts, showcasing 29 thought-provoking stories written during the past 10 years. His claim that these tales represent the “cutting edge of science fiction” rings true throughout, in selections that range from the near to the far future and cover a wide swath of subgenres… This sweeping survey rewards the time it demands of its readers with a bold and powerful argument for non-Anglophone SF’s potential to push the genre’s boundaries.” – Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2022 BY HEAD OF ZEUS