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