The Best American Science Fiction And Fantasy 2022

I love the year-end “best of” short story collections, because although I read a ton of short stories, there are inevitably things I’ve missed. Our guest editor for 2022 is Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Black Sun, and along with John Joseph Adams, they have chosen a great variety of stories, showcasing the strongest genre voices.My favorites in this collection were unexpectedly sweet. Two stories especially warmed my heart, as they were focused on teenage misfits finding friendship; Stephen Graham Jones’ I Was a Teenage Space Jockey is a gorgeous story of loss and arcade high scores, and Sam J. Miller’s Let All the Children Boogie tells of how music can establish strong bonds between people, as two awkward teens investigate strange voices from the radio. Both these stories were so beautiful. Another sweet story I recommend from this collection is Delete Your First Memory For Free, by Kel Coleman.Two of my favorites authors make well-deserved appearances; Kelly Link’s Skinder’s Veil, which was featured in the incredible Shirley Jackson tribute, When Things Get Dark, involves a house-sitting job that gets incredibly strange. And Karen Russell’s The Cloud Lake Unicorn is an incredibly moving tale of motherhood and maternity.I think the highlight of this collection is The Frankly Impossible Weight of Han, by Maria Dong. Not only is it a fascinating, entertaining story about a duplicating machine, grief, and ghosts, but the narrator’s voice is just so appealing. I am beyond excited for Dong’s debut novel next year.Other highlights include Nalo Hopkinson’s Broad Dutty Water, Rich Larson’s Tripping Through Time (I looooooved the ending of this one), Proof by Induction by José Pablo Iriarte, and The Future Library by Peng Shepherd.This is such a strong collection, and doesn’t even scratch the surface of how many awesome science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories have been published this year. Indeed, at the back of the book, there is a detailed list of “further reading”. Recommended for lifelong genre fans, as well as a gateway drug for curious readers.

This collection of science fiction and fantasy was a great way to read some new short stories of authors I'm familiar with and finding new ones to followLike any anthology style book there are stories I really enjoy and others that I may not.The story by Stephen Graham Jones was great and I have a lot of his previous works on my tbr. It was science fiction but with horror vibes.I a few others I also really enjoyed, but not limited toThe Pizza Boy By Meg Ellison, a short dystopian story about the last baker who knows for to make pizza. Providing himself safety.Cold Calculations By: Aimee Ogden, an astronaut has to make the hardest decision about a young girl stowaway as the amount of fuel was not planned for her extra weight. He needs to get back to save a planet.This group of stories will have something for everyone. Their unique and diverse. I recommend checking this one out.Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins's for this advance reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

What a delight to have these 20 stories in one collection. What a delight to showcase these 20 American authors. Rebecca Roanhorse, herself a powerhouse of SFF, chose wisely. These stories, written or published during our COVID pandemic take us away, whether through time, space, or technology, while also asking us to examine who we are and who we want to be.Must buy! 4/5

ARC provided by Mariner Books via NetGalley.I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of 20 short stories. As in any collection, some were stronger than others (and some more to my own personal taste), but there were none I disliked, and several I loved. Rebecca Roanhorse (the guest editor this year) did well in choosing and arranging the stories such that they had surprising resonances with each other. This collection is brimming with fantastic work by POC and queer authors, and some authors I’d never encountered before. My reading has been overwhelmingly focused on novels the last few years, so I’ve been missing out on the wealth of short stories out there! In looking up the sources of some of my favorites in this collection, my love for Tor.com (which has a FANTASTIC e-newsletter/articles/free monthly ebook/original short stories) has only grown, and I was made aware of Clarkesworld (a monthly magazine with 6 to 8 original pieces of fiction available for free on their website) and Apex magazine (which also has some free stories).My three favorites, in order of their appearance, are:“The Red Mother” by Elizabeth Bear (Tor.com; I’ve never read anything by her before but I will definitely be remedying that immediately. Great atmosphere and a novel’s worth of character- and worldbuilding in a small package. Iceland-esque setting, contains dragons and riddles)“Let All the Children Boogie” by Sam J. Miller (Tor.com; I read a collection of his for the first time earlier this year and think this is some of his best work. Small town New York setting, friendships forged through music, mysterious stuff happening on the radio)“Skinder’s Veil” by Kelly Link (When Things Get Dark; I am obsessed with this one and unfortunately can’t find an online version to send it to everyone I think might like it too. Link apparently has several story collections that I will be reading immediately, and also has a novel on the way—amazing. Struggling grad student, weird house-sitting gig, things that unexpectedly really creeped me out, but in a good way)Some other notes: “10 Steps to a Whole New You” (Fantasy) by Tonya Liburd and “The Cold Calculations” (Clarkesworld) by Aimee Ogden did the most with the short story form.“If the Martians Have Magic” (Uncanny) by P. Djèlí Clark, “The Algorithm Will See You Now” (Vital: The Future of Healthcare) by Jusin C. Key, “The Frankly Impossible Weight of Han” (khōréō) by Maria Dong, and “Root Rot” (Apex) by Fargo Tbakhi each have a lot to praise but I especially appreciated their interrogation of loss and trauma.“Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) by Nalo Hopkinson and “The Future Library” (Tor.com) by Peng Shepherd were the main stories dealing with climate change and the future of our planet, which seems like a small number in a collection of 20 published in the times we live in, but they really packed such a punch that it didn’t feel like the collection was lacking on the matter.Other stories not noted were still great, but I have said enough, read the collection and find out what they’re about!