Early ReviewersDonna Scott

Editor Donna Scott has scoured magazines, anthologies, webzines and obscure genre corners to discover the very best science fiction stories by British and British-based authors published during 2021. Two dozen stories, varying greatly in subject matter and style, from superb technological mystery to conflict on very alien worlds, from sweet, sad stories symptomatic of the tense times we have lived through to tales optimistic for better times to come, and even a dash of wry humour here and there for good measure.

Donna Scott is a director and recent chair of the BSFA, as well as being a distinguished poet, writer, and stand-up comedian. Donna is also a free-lance editor who has worked behind the scenes for a number of major publishers over the course of several years.

Contents

Introduction – Donna Scott

Distribution – Paul Cornell

Stealthcare – Liz Williams

Down and Out Under the Tannhauser Gate – David Gullen

Me Two – Keith Brooke and Eric Brown

The Andraiad – Tim Major

Bloodbirds – Martin Sketchley

Going Home – Martin Westlake

Okamoto’s Lens – A.N. Myers

Love in the Age of Operator Errors – Ryan Vance

Stone of Sorrow – Peter Sutton

Henrietta – T.H. Dray

A History of Food Additives in 22nd Century Britain – Emma Levin

The Trip – Michael Crouch

The Ghosts of Trees – Fiona Moore

The Opaque Mirror of Your Face – Russell Hemmell

More Sea Creatures to See – Aliya Whiteley

The End of All Our Exploring – Gary Couzens

How Does My Garden Grow? – David Cleden

Girls’ Night Out – Teika Marija Smits

Bar Hopping for Astronauts – Leo X. Robertson

In Aeturnus – Phillip Irving

A Spark in a Flask – Emma Johanna Puranen

A Pall of Moondust – Nick Wood

About the Authors

Acknowledgements

Available as Kindle, epub or pdf. Twenty-six stories, selected by editor Donna Scott from disparate places, that represent some of the best SF published anywhere during 2020: stories of heroism, stories of loss, stories of wonder. In this volume you will encounter deftly crafted tales that explore such things as the progress of AI consciousness, considerations in health and social care, and the meaning of those things that are unique in their significance to mankind: the true meaning of love, and the linear nature, or not, of time. Contents: Introduction – Donna Scott War Crimes – M. R. Carey Blue and Blue and Blue and Pink – Lavie Tidhar All I Asked For – Anne Charnock The Savages – David Gullen Infinite Tea in the Demara Café – Ida Keogh Lazarus, Unbound – Liam Hogan The Cyclops – Teika Marija Smits Brave New World by Oscar Wilde – Ian Watson Chimy and Chris – Stephen Oram Mudlarking – Neil Williamson Infectious – Liz Williams Cofiwch Aberystwyth– Val Nolan Panspermia High – Eric Brown Exhibit E – L. P. Melling The Lori – Fiona Moore Wilson Dreams of Peacocks – Melanie Smith Variations on Heisenberg's Third Concerto – Eleanor R Wood The World is on Fire and You're Out of Milk – Rhiannon Grist The Turbine at the End of the World – James Rowland What Happened to 70 – C. R. Berry Rings Around Saturn – Rosie Oliver The Good Shepherd – Stewart C Hotson Pineapples Are Not the Only Bromeliad – RB Kelly Like Clocks Work – Andi Buchanan Watershed – John Gilbey Here Today – Geoff Nelder About the Authors

Twenty-two stories that represent some of the best SF 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. Best of British Science Fiction 2019 is once again edited by Donna Scott, a recent chair of the BSFA and a distinguished poet, writer, and stand-up comedian. Donna is also a free-lance editor who has worked behind the scenes for a number of major publishers over the course of several years. 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 Available as a Kindle, e-pub or pdf.

A volume of twenty-six stories from disparate places that represent some of the best SF published anywhere in 2018; dreamlike glimpses of pristine worlds that will destroy us before we destroy them; stories of work-based friendships, mistrust and isolation; of alienation and othering; stories of slavery given an acceptable face through beautiful voice and the ever-present need to keep fighting injustice; stories of bodily choice being made a crime; stories of rebellions we thought we’d already had but need to have again. We have another end to childhood. And we have the murder of story itself, involving an AI… Full contents: Introduction by Donna Scott Providence – Alastair Reynolds Talking to Ghosts at the Edge of the World – Lavie Tidhar The Miracle Lambs of Minane – Finbarr O'Reilly Territory Blank – Aliya Whiteley Throw Caution – Tim Major Golgotha – Dave Hutchinson Salvation – Dave Bradley Waterbirds – G.V. Anderson Buddy System – Mike Morgan Do No Harm – Anna Ibbotson A Change of Heart – Hannah Tougher Birnam Platoon – Natalia Theodoridou Good – Sunyi Dean Hard Times in Nuovo Genova – Chris Barnham The Escape Hatch – Matthew de Abaitua P.Q. – James Warner The Purpose of the Dodo is to be Extinct – Malcolm Devlin Cat and Mouse – David Tallerman Before They Left – Colin Greenland Harry's Shiver – Esme Carpenter The Whisperer – J.K. Fulton Death of the Grapevine – Teika Marija Smits Rainsticks – Matt Thompson The Veilonaut's Dream – Henry Szabranski Doomed Youth – Fiona Moore F Sharp 4 – Tim Pieraccini Available as a Kindle, ePub or pdf.