The Best American Science Fiction And Fantasy 2019

by Carmen Maria Machado (Editor), John Joseph Adams (Editor)

Overview

This omnivorous selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and World Fantasy Award finalist Carmen Maria Machado is a display of the most boundary-pushing, genre-blurring, stylistically singular science fiction and fantasy stories published in the last year. By sending us to alternate universes and chronicling ordinary magic, introducing us to mythical beasts and talking animals, and engaging with a wide spectrum of emotion from tenderness to fear, each of these stories challenge the way we see our place in the cosmos. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019 represents a wide range of the most accomplished voices working in science fiction and fantasy, in fiction, today—each story dazzles with ambition, striking prose, and the promise of the other and the unencountered.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328604378
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Series:	Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy Series
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	1,090,513
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and the editor of the Hugo Award–winning Lightspeed, and of more than forty anthologies, including Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms, The Far Reaches, and Out There Screaming (coedited with Jordan Peele).

Table of Contents

CARMEN MARIA MACHADO: Introduction
ADAM-TROY CASTRO. Pitcher Plant
SEANAN MCGUIRE. What Everyone Knows
N. K. JEMISIN. The Storyteller’s Replacement
SILVIA PARK. Poor Unfortunate Fools
THEODORE MCCOMBS. Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women
SOFIA SAMATAR. Hard Mary
ADA HOFFMANN. Variations on a Theme from Turandot
NANA KWAME ADJEI-BRENYAH. Through the Flash
LASHAWN M. WANAK. Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good
BRENDA PEYNADO. The Kite Maker
P. DJÈLÍ CLARK. The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington
ANNALEE NEWITZ. When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis
USMAN MALIK. Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung
SARAH GAILEY. STET
KELLY ROBSON. What Gentle Women Dare
DARYL GREGORY. Nine Last Days on Planet Earth
NINO CIPRI. Dead Air
LESLEY NNEKA ARIMAH. Skinned
MARTIN CAHILL. Godmeat
ADAM R. SHANNON. On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog
 

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/26/2019

For this fifth anthology of outstanding American genre fiction, series editor Adams is joined by guest editor Machado, who winnowed down 80 contenders into 20 finalists, 10 each from the U.S. and Canada. Machado’s selections lean toward the experimental, the literary, and the boundary-pushing. Standouts include Annalee Newitz’s “When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis,” in which a drone befriends both humans and crows to combat inner-city epidemics; LaShawn M. Wanak’s “Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good,” an alternate history piece in which singers are pressed into service against deadly spores; Sarah Gailey’s “STET,” which explores grief through the form of a scientific paper; Lesley Nneka Arimah’s “Skinned,” a provocative piece about the role of women in a patriarchal African society; Sofia Samatar’s “Hard Mary,” in which Amish-like girls adopt a broken android; and P. Djèlí Clark’s introspective history piece, “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington.” Despite the “American” label, there’s a decidedly global, multicultural feel to these pieces, which exemplify diversity and representation. As Machado says in her introduction, “Here you will find an undeniable bias towards the use of formal constraints, vibrant and muscular prose, ambitious weirdness.” In exploring the potential of the genre and challenging expectations, this anthology isn’t for everyone, but it’s a masterful showcase of what’s possible. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Every one of these 20 tales shines; there's not a lackluster one in the bunch. In her introduction, Machado declares her intention to ignore any artificial lines drawn between those stories considered "literary" and those labelled as "genre," and she says that her chief criterion in selecting these works was whether they provided her with pleasure. That doesn't mean these stories offer happy endings or simple answers. If there's one theme that unites them, it's the characters' desire to escape: from that haunted house...the restrictions of expected fictional tropes...racism and classism...misogyny and the associated bonds of social convention...and of course, foolish and dangerous preconceptions about the world that everyone holds in some measure (that's just about every story). A strong collection that will inspire, disturb, and, yes, give pleasure.” – Kirkus, STARRED review "Experimental...literary, and...boundary-pushing...there’s a decidedly global, multicultural feel to these pieces, which exemplify diversity and representation. A masterful showcase of what’s possible."  – Publishers Weekly, STARRED review "The stories selected by guest editor Machado for this acclaimed annual anthology reflect her commitment to interrogating the boundaries between literary and genre fiction, asking "what sort of pleasures does this story bring me" instead of "what category is this?" Among the many and varied pleasures of the collection are stories that share Machado's love of formal experimentation...this brilliant and beautiful collection is a must-read for those looking to enjoy the fullest range of narrative pleasure."  – Booklist, STARRED review —

From the Publisher

★ 2019-09-13
The chosen becomes the chooser: Machado, the award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties (2017) and a contributor to last year's anthology, serves as guest editor for the 2019 volume.

Every one of these 20 tales shines; there's not a lackluster one in the bunch. They cover a variety of overlapping subgenres, from haunted-house horror to speculative social fiction to alien invasion to apocalyptic fantasy, and feature some of the most notable and rising writers in these overlapping areas, including Seanan McGuire, Daryl Gregory, P. Djèlí Clark, Sofia Samatar, and last year's editor, N.K. Jemisin, among others. In her introduction, Machado declares her intention to ignore any artificial lines drawn between those stories considered "literary" and those labelled as "genre," and she says that her chief criterion in selecting these works was whether they provided her with pleasure. That doesn't mean these stories offer happy endings or simple answers. If there's one theme that unites them, it's the characters' desire to escape: from that haunted house (Adam-Troy Castro's "Pitcher Plant"), the forces of time itself (Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's "Through the Flash" and Adam R. Shannon's "On the Day You Spend Forever With Your Dog"), the restrictions of expected fictional tropes (Ada Hoffman's "Variations on a Theme From Turandot"), racism and classism (LaShawn M. Wanak's "Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good" and P. Djèlí Clark's "The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington"), misogyny and the associated bonds of social convention (Sofia Samatar's "Hard Mary," Kelly Robson's "What Gentle Women Dare," Theodore McCombs' "Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women," and Lesley Nneka Arimah's "Skinned"), and of course, foolish and dangerous preconceptions about the world that everyone holds in some measure (that's just about every story).

A strong collection that will inspire, disturb, and, yes, give pleasure.

Kirkus Reviews