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A review by arkron
The Best of World SF: Volume 1 by Lavie Tidhar
4.0
Lavie Tidhar put together 26 speculative short fictions, mostly from SF subgenre. None of the stories is from a U.S. or UK author, so you'll get some non-traditional story telling with exotic settings and cultural influences.
Tidhar is well established in the international league of authors. He's been editor of similar anthologies before, mostly as Apex Book of World SF between 2009 and 2015.
This new anthology is really excellent, featuring two five star stories "Immersion" be Aliette de Bodard, and "His Master's Voice" by Hanny Rajaniemi. There's only one bummer story written by Manickavel, contrasted by a whole series of excellent four star stories. I've been looking forward reading many of the featured authors - de Bodard and Rajaniemi, but also Han Song, Tade Thompson, Vandana Singh, Lauren Beukes, Karin Tidbeck, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and lastly Zen Cho (who will be published in just a couple of days with her novel Black Water Sister).
You'll find diversity not only in the author's genders (14 women, 12 men) and origins (21 countries, France, China, Singapore, Botswana, Nigeria, India, Japan, Italy, Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad, Spain, Mexico, Finland, Israel, Iceland, Russia, Ghana, South Africa, Sweden and Malaysia), but also in subgenres. There are robots, spaceships, time-travel, post-singularity, Space Opera, and Cyberpunk. But also a few Fantasy, Magical Realism, or weird stories.
As a German, I'm missing an author from my home country, or from one of the other German speaking countries (that's a huge market, btw). Maybe next time?
Most of the stories are reprints and available elsewhere. As usual, I've added links to those resources within the respective story's reviews.
Be aware, that I've read through the whole anthology, but sadly didn't provide a review for every story. Yes, I've been in a reviewing slump.
Nonetheless, I can fully recommend this wonderful anthology for SF readers who'd like to discover authors outside of well-trodden paths. Don't shy away from the non-SF stories, some of them are really good!
Contents (as of isfdb):
Tidhar is well established in the international league of authors. He's been editor of similar anthologies before, mostly as Apex Book of World SF between 2009 and 2015.
This new anthology is really excellent, featuring two five star stories "Immersion" be Aliette de Bodard, and "His Master's Voice" by Hanny Rajaniemi. There's only one bummer story written by Manickavel, contrasted by a whole series of excellent four star stories. I've been looking forward reading many of the featured authors - de Bodard and Rajaniemi, but also Han Song, Tade Thompson, Vandana Singh, Lauren Beukes, Karin Tidbeck, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and lastly Zen Cho (who will be published in just a couple of days with her novel Black Water Sister).
You'll find diversity not only in the author's genders (14 women, 12 men) and origins (21 countries, France, China, Singapore, Botswana, Nigeria, India, Japan, Italy, Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad, Spain, Mexico, Finland, Israel, Iceland, Russia, Ghana, South Africa, Sweden and Malaysia), but also in subgenres. There are robots, spaceships, time-travel, post-singularity, Space Opera, and Cyberpunk. But also a few Fantasy, Magical Realism, or weird stories.
As a German, I'm missing an author from my home country, or from one of the other German speaking countries (that's a huge market, btw). Maybe next time?
Most of the stories are reprints and available elsewhere. As usual, I've added links to those resources within the respective story's reviews.
Be aware, that I've read through the whole anthology, but sadly didn't provide a review for every story. Yes, I've been in a reviewing slump.
Nonetheless, I can fully recommend this wonderful anthology for SF readers who'd like to discover authors outside of well-trodden paths. Don't shy away from the non-SF stories, some of them are really good!
Contents (as of isfdb):
- 1 • ★★★★★ • France • Immersion • 2012 • SF Xuya short story by Aliette de Bodard • review
- 21 • ★★★☆☆ • China • Debtless • 2020 • Space Opera novelette by Chen Qiufan • review
- 81 • ★★★☆☆ • Singapore • Fandom for Robots • 2017 • SF short story by Vina Jie-Min Prasad • review
- 97 • ★★+☆☆☆ • Botswana • Virtual Snapshots • 2016 • short story by Tlotlo Tsamaase • review
- 107 • Nigeria • What the Dead Man Said • 2019 • short story by Chinelo Onwualu
- 125 • ★★★★☆ • India • Delhi • 2004 • Time travel short story by Vandana Singh • review
- 149 • ★★★☆☆ • China • The Wheel of Samsara • 2009 • SF short story by Han Song • review
- 159 • ★★★★☆ • Singapore • Xingzhou • 2019 • short story by Ng Yi-Sheng
- 179 • Japan • Prayer • short story by Taiyo Fujii
- 187 • Italy • The Green Ship • 2018 • short story by Francesco Verso
- 201 • ★★★★☆ • Cuba • Eyes of the Crocodile • 2020 • Post-singularity short story by Malena Salazar Maciá • review
- 211 • ★★+☆☆☆ • United Kingdom • Bootblack • 2017 • Time travel short story by Tade Thompson • review
- 223 • ★★★☆☆ • Brazil • The Emptiness in the Heart of All Things • 2018 • Magical reality novelette by Fábio Fernandes • review
- 251 • ★★★+☆☆ • Trinidad and Tobago • The Sun from Both Sides • 2019 • Space Opera novelette by R. S. A. Garcia • review
- 309 • ★★★+☆☆ • Spain • DUMP • 2018 • Cyberpunk short story by Cristina Jurado • review
- 331 • ★★☆☆☆ • Mexico • Rue Chair • 2002 • Cyberpunk short story by Gerardo Horacio Porcayo
- 339 • ★★★★★ • Finland • His Master’s Voice • 2008 • Posthuman SF short story by Hannu Rajaniemi • review
- 357 • ★★☆☆☆ • Israel • Benjamin Schneider's Little Greys • 2009 • Weird short story by Nir Yaniv • Benjamin comes every week to the hospital with strange little alien body estrangements
- 365 • ★★★★☆ • Iceland • The Cryptid • 2021 • Fantasy novelette by Emil Hjörvar Petersen • review
- 389 • ★★★☆☆ • Russia • The Bank of Burkina Faso • 2012 • Weird short story by Ekaterina Sedia • review
- 403 • ★+☆☆☆☆ • India • An Incomplete Guide to Understanding the Rose Petal Infestation Associated with EverTyphoid Patients in the Tropicool IcyLand Urban Indian Slum • 2016 • short story by Kuzhali Manickavel • rather pointless - no story, no character
- 413 • ★★★+☆☆ • Ghana • The Old Man with the Third Hand • 2017 • Weird fiction short story by Kofi Nyameye • review
- 427 • ★★★★☆ • South Africa • The Green • 2012 • Planetary Romance short story by Lauren Beukes • review
- 445 • ★★★★☆ • Sweden • The Last Voyage of Skidbladnir • 2019 • Space Opera short story by Karin Tidbeck
- 467 • ★★★+☆☆ • Mexico • Prime Meridian • 2017 • novella by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- 553 • ★★★★☆ • Malaysia • If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again • 2018 • Magical realism novelette by Zen Cho • review