Now firmly established as the benchmark anthology series of international speculative fiction, volume 4 of The Apex Book of World SF sees debut editor Mahvesh Murad bring fresh new eyes to her selection of stories. From Spanish steampunk and Italian horror to Nigerian science fiction and subverted Japanese folktales, from love in the time of drones to teenagers at the end of the world, the stories in this volume showcase the best of contemporary speculative fiction, wherever it’s written. Cover art and design by Sarah Anne Langton. "Important to the future of not only international authors, but the entire SF community." —Strange Horizons Featuring: Vajra Chandrasekera (Sri Lanka) — "Pockets Full of Stones" Yukimi Ogawa (Japan) — "In Her Head, In Her Eyes" Zen Cho (Malaysia) — "The Four Generations of Chang E" Shimon Adaf (Israel) — "Like a Coin Entrusted in Faith" (Translated by the author) Celeste Rita Baker (Virgin Islands) — "Single Entry" Nene Ormes (Sweden) — "The Good Matter" (Translated Lisa J Isaksson and Nene Ormes) JY Yang (Singapore) — "Tiger Baby" Isabel Yap (Philippines) — "A Cup of Salt Tears" Usman T Malik (Pakistan) — "The Vaporization Enthalpy of a Peculiar Pakistani Family" Kuzhali Manickavel (India) — "Six Things We Found During the Autopsy" Elana Gomel (Israel) — "The Farm" Haralambi Markov (Bulgaria) — "The Language of Knives" Sabrina Huang (Taiwan) — "Setting Up Home" (Translated by Jeremy Tiang) Sathya Stone (Sri Lanka) — "Jinki and the Paradox" Johann Thorsson (Iceland) — "First, Bite a Finger" Dilman Dila (Uganda) — "How My Father Became a God" Swabir Silayi (Kenya) — "Colour Me Grey" Deepak Unnikrishnan (The Emirates) — "Sarama" Chinelo Onwualu (Nigeria) — "The Gift of Touch" Saad Z. Hossain (Bangaldesh) — "Djinns Live by the Sea" Bernardo Fernández (Mexico) — "The Last Hours of the Final Days" (Translated by the author) Natalia Theodoridou (Greece) — "The Eleven Holy Numbers of the Mechanical Soul" Samuel Marolla (Italy) — "Black Tea" (Translated by Andrew Tanzi) Julie Novakova (Czech Republic) — "The Symphony of Ice and Dust" Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Netherlands) — "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" (Translated by Laura Vroomen) Sese Yane (Kenya) — "The Corpse" Tang Fei — "Pepe" (Translated by John Chu) Rocío Rincón (Spain) — "The Lady of the Soler Colony" (Translated by James and Marian Womack)

"The Apex Book of SF series has proven to be an excellent way to sample the diversity of world SFF and to broaden our understanding of the genre's potentials." --Ken Liu, winner of the Hugo Award and author of The Grace of Kings These stories run the gamut from science fiction, to fantasy, to horror. Some are translations (from German, Chinese, French, Spanish, and Swedish), and some were written in English. The authors herein come from Asia and Europe, Africa and Latin America. Their stories are all wondrous and wonderful, and showcase the vitality and diversity that can be found in the field. They are a conversation, by voices that should be heart. And once again, editor Lavie Tidhar and Apex Publications are tremendously grateful for the opportunity to bring them to our readers. Table of Contents: Introduction -- Lavie Tidhar Courtship in the Country of Machine-Gods -- Benjanun Sriduangkaew (Thailand) A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight -- Xia Jia (China) Act of Faith -- Fadzilshah Johanabos (Malaysia) The Foreigner -- Uko Bendi Udo (Nigeria) The City of Silence -- Ma Boyong (China) Planetfall -- Athena Andreadis (Greece) Jungle Fever -- Zulaikha Nurain Mudzor (Malaysia) To Follow the Waves -- Amal El-Mohtar (Lebanon/Canada) Ahuizotl -- Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas (Mexico) The Rare Earth -- Biram Mboob (Gambia) Spider's Nest -- Myra Çakan (Germany) Waiting with Mortals -- Crystal Koo (Philippines) Three Little Children -- Ange (France) Brita's Holiday Village -- Karin Tidbeck (Sweden) Regressions -- Swapna Kishore (India) Dancing on the Red Planet -- Berit Ellingsen (Korea/Norway) Cover art by Sophia Tuska.

The landmark anthology series of international speculative fiction returns with volume 5 of The Apex Book of World SF. Cris Jurado joins series editor Lavie Tidhar to highlight the best speculative fiction from around the world. Cyberpunk from Spain, Singapore and Japan; mythology from Venezuela, Korea and First Nations; stories of the dead from Zimbabwe and Egypt, and space wonders from India, Germany and Bolivia. And much more. The fifth volume of the ground-breaking World SFanthology series reveals once more the uniquely international dimension of speculative fiction. Cover art and design by Sarah Anne Langton. "Important to the future of not only international authors, but the entire SF community." —Strange Horizons "The Apex Book of World SF series is an excellent primer for any sci-fi reader trying to understand the field’s global reach." —The Guardian Featuring: Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Singapore) — "A Series of Steaks" Daína Chaviano (Cuba, translated by Matthew D. Goodwin) — "Accursed Lineage" Darcie Little Badger (USA/Lipan Apache) — "Nkásht íí" T.L. Huchu (Zimbabwe) — "Ghostalker" Taiyo Fujii (Japan, translated by Jim Hubbert) — "Violation of the TrueNet Security Act" Vandana Singh (India) — "Ambiguity Machines: An Examination" Basma Abdel Aziz (Egypt, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette) — "Scenes from the Life of an Autocrat" Liliana Colanzi (Bolivia, translated by Jessica Sequeira) — "Our Dead World" Bo-young Kim (South Korea, translated by Jihyun Park & Gord Sellar) — "An Evolutionary Myth" Israel Alonso (Spain, translated by Steve Redwood) — "You Will See the Moon Rise" Sara Saab (Lebanon) — "The Barrette Girls" Chi Hui (China, translated by John Chu) — "The Calculations of Artificials" Ana Hurtado (Venezuela) — "El Cóndor del Machángara" Karla Schmidt (Germany, translated by Lara M. Harmon) — "Alone, on the Wind" Eliza Victoria (Philippines) — "The Seventh" Tochi Onyebuchi (Nigeria/USA) — "Screamers" R.S.A. Garcia (Trinidad and Tobago) — "The Bois" Giovanni De Feo (Italy) — "Ugo"

From sinister plans of xenocide to speciesists who have taken it upon themselves to Off-World those unlike them; from simulations that memorialize stories obliterated by a book-burning world to the Master Pain Merchant who is always at hand to administer a dose of long-forgotten sensations; from genetically modified Glow Girls who can kill with a touch to a droid detective actively seeking out justice - this stellar volume of cutting-edge science fiction showcases, in prose and verse, 32 of the most powerful voices in the genre from the Indian Subcontinent. Taking forward the formidable task achieved to critical acclaim by the first volume of The Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction, the present collection masterfully transports readers to worlds strangely familiar, raises crucial questions about the place of humans in the universe, and testifies to the astonishing range and power of the imaginative mind.

The Apex Book of World SF, edited by Lavie Tidhar, features award-winning science fiction and fantasy short stories from Asia, Eastern Europe and around the world. The world of speculative fiction is expansive; it covers more than one country, one continent, one culture. Collected here are sixteen stories penned by authors from Thailand, the Philippines, China, Israel, Pakistan, Serbia, Croatia, Malaysia, and other countries across the globe. Each one tells a tale breathtakingly vast and varied, whether caught in the ghosts of the past or entangled in a postmodern age. Among the spirits, technology, and deep recesses of the human mind, stories abound. Kites sail to the stars, technology transcends physics, and wheels cry out in the night. Memories come and go like fading echoes and a train carries its passengers through more than simple space and time. Dark and bright, beautiful and haunting, the stories herein represent speculative fiction from a sampling of the finest authors from around the world. Table of Contents: S.P. Somtow (Thailand) — “The Bird Catcher” Jetse de Vries (Netherlands) — “Transcendence Express” Guy Hasson (Israel) — “The Levantine Experiments” Han Song (China) — “The Wheel of Samsara” Kaaron Warren (Australia/Fiji) — “Ghost Jail” Yang Ping (China) — “Wizard World” Dean Francis Alfar (Philippines) — “L’Aquilone du Estrellas (The Kite of Stars)” Nir Yaniv (Israel) — “Cinderers” Jamil Nasir (Palestine) — “The Allah Stairs” Tunku Halim (Malaysia) — “Biggest Baddest Bomoh” Aliette de Bodard (France) — “The Lost Xuyan Bride” Kristin Mandigma (Philippines) — “Excerpt from a Letter by a Social-realist Aswang” Aleksandar Žiljak (Croatia) — “An Evening in the City Coffehouse, With Lydia on My Mind” Anil Menon (India) — “Into the Night” Mélanie Fazi (France, translated by Christopher Priest) — “Elegy” Zoran Živković (Serbia, translated by Alice Copple-Tošić) — “Compartments” Cover art and design by Sarah Anne Langton. Reviews: “From S.P. Somtow’s World Fantasy Award-winning “The Bird Catcher,” a restrained horror tale of a young boy’s friendship with Thailand’s most infamous human “monster,” to “Wizard World,” Galaxy Award winner Yang Ping’s story of high-tech gamers, this extraordinary anthology of 16 tales introduces English-speaking readers to some of the world’s best writers of sf, horror, fantasy, and metafiction. Contributors include Jamil Nasir (Palestine), Aleksandar Ziljak (Croatia), Guy Hasson (Israel), Kaaron Warren (Australia/Fiji), and Jetse de Vries (Netherlands). VERDICT This literary window into the international world of imaginative fiction, the first in a new series, is sure to appeal to adventurous sf fans and readers of fiction in translation." —Library Journal “The great thing about Tidhar’s collection is that it is full of such masterpieces. You do have to get used to having your mind warped as if by some powerful psychedelic. You’ll definitely feel that way after Zoran Zivkovic and his Godot-like explorations. Or after Guy Hassan’s thought experiment about the nature of mind and thought. But once you get used to the idea, you can settle in and enjoy the ride.” —42SciFi-Fantasy.com, Randy Lazarus "These stories deserve to be heard!" —Frederik Pohl

A remote village is determined to keep their robot teacher from being fired. A poetry-loving AI controls the wastewater treatment facility, but a series of malfunctions are beginning to cause concern. The biggest pop idol of the twenty-second century is trapped on Enceladus, and deeply alone. Latchko can talk to the banned AIs and now that his secret is out things are about to get complicated. A former child soldier is raised by a plant-like species but struggles to understand them. Ice fishing on Europa just keeps turning up rocks and things just got worse ... something is changing the world, making it better, but for whom? Short fiction is the heart of science fiction, introducing new voices, experimenting with ideas and technique, and paving the way for the future of the field. Thousands of stories are published every year in the many genre magazines, anthologies, collections, podcasts, and websites, as well as other less common venues. Each year, Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning editor Neil Clarke sifts through the myriad of offerings to select works that represent the best and the brightest, report on the state of the field, and recommend additional stories for further reading. In this volume, covering 2021, you'll find works by Aliette de Bodard, Meg Elison, Rich Larson, Ken Liu, Ray Nayler, Suzanne Palmer, Hannu Rajaniemi, Robert Reed, Karl Schroeder, Vandana Singh, Tade Thompson, and many more.

Quite possibly the GREATEST science-fiction collection of ALL TIME—past, present, and FUTURE! • "Nearly 1,200 pages of stories by the genre’s luminaries, like H. G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke and Ursula K. Le Guin, as well as lesser-known authors." —The New York Times Book Review What if life was never-ending? What if you could change your body to adapt to an alien ecology? What if the Pope was a robot? Spanning galaxies and millennia, this must-have anthology showcases classic contributions from H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, Octavia Butler, and Kurt Vonnegut alongside a century of the eccentrics, rebels, and visionaries who have inspired generations of readers. Within its pages, find beloved worlds of space opera, hard SF, cyberpunk, the new wave, and more. Learn the secret history of science fiction, from literary icons who wrote SF to authors from over 25 countries, some never before translated into English. In THE BIG BOOK OF SCIENCE FICTION, literary power couple Ann and Jeff VanderMeer transport readers from Mars to Mechanopolis, planet Earth to parts unknown. Read the genre that predicted electric cars, travel to the moon, and the modern smart phone. We’ve got the worlds if you’ve got the time. Including: · Legendary tales from Isaac Asimov and Ursula LeGuin! · An unearthed sci-fi story from W.E.B. DuBois! · The first publication of the work of cybernetic visionary David R. Bunch in 20 years! · A rare and brilliant novella by Chinese international sensation Liu Cixin! Plus: · Aliens! · Space battles! · Robots! · Technology gone wrong! · Technology gone right!