Best of British Science Fiction 2019

Twenty-two stories, selected by editor Donna Scott from disparate places, that represent some of the best science fiction published anywhere in 2019: stories of heroism, stories of loss, stories of wonder. 

In this volume you will encounter tales in which creatures are cut off from their loved ones; someone is trapped with an abuser; a bird sings; weeds grow where we hope for a garden; we consider what our alternative selves might be doing; we can’t sleep; we wish we could keep things just the way they were; we drink too much… and we look to rockets blasting off into the sky and think that there lies the future; that’s hope. 

Contents

2019: An Introduction – Donna Scott 

The Anxiety Gene – Rhiannon Grist 

The Land of Grunts and Squeaks – Chris Beckett 

For Your Own Good – Ian Whates 

Neom – Lavie Tidhar 

Once You Start – Mike Morgan 

For the Wicked, Only Weeds Will Grow – G. V. Anderson 

Fat Man in the Bardo – Ken MacLeod 

Cyberstar – Val Nolan 

The Little People – Una McCormack 

The Loimaa Protocol – Robert Bagnall 

The Adaptation Point – Kate Macdonald 

The Final Ascent – Ian Creasey 

A Lady of Ganymede, a Sparrow of Io – Dafydd McKimm 

Snapshots – Leo X. Robertson 

Witch of the Weave – Henry Szabranski 

Parasite Art – David Tallerman 

Galena – Liam Hogan 

Ab Initio – Susan Boulton 

Ghosts – Emma Levin 

Concerning the Deprivation of Sleep – Tim Major 

Every Little Star – Fiona Moore 

The Minus-Four Sequence – Andrew Wallace 

About the Authors