The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019

Other Notable Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories of 2018

Selected by John Joseph Adams

Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame

The Era. Friday Black (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Zimmer Land. Friday Black (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Ashby, Madeline

Tierra y Libertad. MIT Technology Review, June

Baker, Celeste Rita

De MotherJumpers. Strange Horizons, October

Banker, Ashok K.

A Love Story Written on Water. Lightspeed Magazine, December

Barnhill, Kelly

Dreadful Young Ladies. Dreadful Young Ladies and Other Stories (Algonquin)

Bear, Elizabeth

Okay, Glory. Twelve Tomorrows, ed. Wade Roush (MIT Press)

She Still Loves the Dragon. Uncanny Magazine, January/February

Bolander, Brooke

The Only Harmless Great Thing. Tor.com, January

Buckell, Tobias S.

A World to Die For. Clarkesworld Magazine, January

Cargill, C. Robert

We Are Where the Nightmares Go. We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories (Harper Voyager)

Castro, Adam-Troy

The Last to Matter. Lightspeed Magazine, September

Red Rain. Nightmare Magazine, June

Clark, P. Djèlí

Night Doctors. Eyedolon, August

Fawver, Kurt

The Gods in Their Seats, Unblinking. Vastarien, Spring

The Myth of You. The Dissolution of Small Worlds (Lethe)

Goodfellow, Cody

The Sister City. Eyedolon, November

Goss, Theodora

Queen Lily. Lightspeed Magazine, November

Greenblatt, A. T.

And Yet. Uncanny Magazine, March/April

Harn, Darby

Princess Mine. Strange Horizons, March

Harrow, Alix E.

A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies. Apex Magazine, February

Headley, Maria Dahvana

You Pretend Like You Never Met Me, and I’ll Pretend Like I Never Met You. Lightspeed Magazine, September

Hill, Joe

You Are Released. Flight or Fright, ed. Stephen King and Bev Vincent (Cemetery Dance)

Ho, Millie

Hehua. Fireside Fiction, January

Huang, S. L.

The Woman Who Destroyed Us. Twelve Tomorrows, ed. Wade Roush (MIT Press)

Iriarte, José Pablo

The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births. Lightspeed Magazine, January

Jemisin, N. K.

The Ones Who Stay and Fight. How Long ’til Black Future Month? (Orbit)

Joffre, Ruth

Nitrate Nocturnes. Lightspeed Magazine, April

Jones, Stephen Graham

Broken Record. The Devil and the Deep, ed. Ellen Datlow (Night Shade)

Kerr, Jake

Three Speeches About Billy Granger. Resist: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against, ed. Gary Whitta, Christie Yant, and Hugh Howey (Broad Reach)

La Farge, Paul

The Adventure of You. Welcome to Dystopia, ed. Gordon Van Gelder (OR Books)

LaValle, Victor

Ark of Light. Particulates, ed. Nalo Hopkinson (Dia Art Foundation)

Lee, Yoon Ha

The Starship and the Temple Cat. Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February

Le Guin, Ursula K.

Firelight. The Paris Review, Summer

Liu, Ken

Byzantine Empathy. Twelve Tomorrows, ed. Wade Roush (MIT Press)

McGuire, Seanan

Swear Not by the Moon. Infinity’s End, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris)

Miller, Sam J.

My Base Pair. Analog Science Fiction & Fact, May/June

Morris, Stephanie Malia

Bride Before You. Nightmare Magazine, May/June

Newitz, Annalee

The Blue Fairy’s Manifesto. Robots vs. Fairies, ed. Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe (Saga)

Nichols, Russell

Con Con. Terraform, September

Okorafor, Nnedi

The Heart of the Matter. Twelve Tomorrows, ed. Wade Roush (MIT Press)

Olukotun, Deji Bryce

The Levellers. Welcome to Dystopia, ed. Gordon Van Gelder (OR Books)

Owomoyela, An

The Hard Spot in the Glacier. Mechanical Animals, ed. Selena Chambers and Jason Heller (Hex)

Pinsker, Sarah

The Court Magician. Lightspeed Magazine, January

Rivera, Lilliam

Crave. Nightmare Magazine, March

Robson, Kelly

Intervention. Infinity’s End, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris)

Rolon, Nelson

Saudade. FIYAH, Autumn

Singh, Vandana

Widdam. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January/February

Vaughn, Carrie

The Huntsman and the Beast. Asimov’s Science Fiction, September/October

Where Would You Be Now? Tor.com, February

Wasserstein, Izzy

Unplaces: An Atlas of Non-Existence. Clarkesworld Magazine, March

Wilber, Rick

Today Is Today. Stonecoast Review, no. 9

Wilson, Daniel H.

Bastion. Resist: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against, ed. Gary Whitta, Christie Yant, and Hugh Howey (Broad Reach)

Blood Memory. Guardian Angels and Other Monsters (Vintage)

Wise, A. C.

In the End, It Always Turns Out the Same. The Dark, June

Wong, Alyssa

All the Time We’ve Left to Spend. Robots vs. Fairies, ed. Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe (Saga)

Olivia’s Table. A Thousand Beginnings and Endings, ed. Elsie Chapman and Ellen Oh (Greenwillow)

Yu, Charles

America: The Ride. Resist: Tales from a Future Worth Fighting Against, ed. Gary Whitta, Christie Yant, and Hugh Howey (Broad Reach)

Yu, E. Lily

Music for the Underworld. Terraform, March

The No-One Girl and the Flower of the Farther Shore. Clarkesworld Magazine, March