I love short fiction, so I was absolutely thrilled to receive an ARC of this anthology highlighting some of the best and brightest science fiction and fantasy short stories published during the 2023 calendar year. This anthology series has been going on for several years, and after reading this one, I can certainly see why. The selected stories covered a broad range of styles, authors, and original publications, and read as a whole, I thought it was well-curated, and an excellent snapshot of the year in speculative short fiction. As is always true for me with anthologies, there were some stories I loved, a lot of stories that I liked, and a few that I disliked, but overall the hit rate was quite good. With the stories I disliked, I know it’s a matter of my own tastes; those stories were lauded and celebrated by a lot of other readers and editors, but just didn’t work for me personally.
I especially appreciated the extra touches in this anthology, which give the reader a broader glimpse of the SFF short fiction world. Series editor John Joseph Adams provided a helpful explanation of how stories were sourced, chosen for initial consideration, and then given to guest editor Hugh Howey, who read them anonymously, without any bylines or information about where they first appeared, and then made the final selections. Adams also shared information about all the periodicals, anthologies and collections where the stories originally appeared, as well as a list of the eighty stories that were considered. Along with author biographies, the book also included contributor notes for each story. I really enjoyed hearing from the authors themselves about the inspirations and experiences that led to the creation of their story.
I used to always be a year or two behind on new SFF short stories, but now I try to keep up on them in order to nominate and vote for the Hugo Awards. From that perspective this anthology is very successful. I had only heard of about half of the stories included, which just shows how much fantastic SFF fiction is out there, and I had only read 6. Several of my own favorites were represented, either in the anthology itself or in the “top eighty” list that was included. While I might quibble with some of the specific choices made by the editors, that’s based on my own personal reading preferences. Overall, the included stories average out to a 4 star rating, but the experience of reading the anthology as a whole was an easy 5 stars.

Story highlights:

- Zeta-Epsilon by Isabel J. Kim
- How it Unfolds by James S.A. Corey
- The Long Game by Ann Leckie
- Bruised-Eye Dusk by Jonathan Louis Duckworth
- Window Boy by Thomas Ha

Thank you to John Joseph Adams, Hugh Howey, Mariner Books, and NetGalley for generously providing an ARC for review!

This collection was the best of the 2024 series and the strongest writing was Rebecca Roanhorse’s two short stories.

I especially liked "How it Unfolds" by Corey. I felt that a couple of the stories were derivative. They sounded too much like other current media. I felt that the first story was the most prescient.