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kieralesley's review against another edition
5.0
It’s a tough thing to edit an anthology – finding stories that match the anthology theme, making sure the stories are varied enough that readers will enjoy most of the offerings and hopefully find new writers to follow, and somehow keeping it all sequenced to showcase the individual offerings.
Hannu Rajaniemi, too, as an author is, for me, right out on the edge of the current generation of hard scifi writers – technical, fiercely explorative and vibrant – so I was excited to see what he selected. The result is a good range of contemporary and diverse scifi voices and stories: robots, climate change, time travel, progressive gender and familial dynamics, new diasporas and cultural shifts.
I was familiar with some of the stories here already (not uncommon, very good pieces often get reprinted in multiple anthologies and I read a fair number of them each year) but I was pleased that some of my recent favourites were included: Sarah Pinsker’s Our Lady of the Open Road, Mother Tongues by S. Qiouyi Lu, and Openness by Alexander Weinstein.
Of those new to me my favourites were: The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer, Tender Loving Plastics by Amman Sabet, and Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ by Rebecca Roanhorse.
My only gripe was with the ‘new’ part. This is likely subjective, but a lot of these authors have won Hugos for their work, have been writing for almost a decade, have been collected in ‘years best anthologies’ or are otherwise established short fiction writers. It’s a minor thing and doesn’t take away from the strength of the stories collected here, but the title does imply the collection will be casting further afield or finding cutting edge, emerging writers.
If you want a great roundup of what this generation’s scifi looks like – the topics and dilemmas it’s grappling with and the breadth of voices and experiences being included and portrayed, this is well worth your time.
An advance copy of this book was kindly provided by Tachyon Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you liked this collection, you may also be interested in the companion volume published in 2017: The Best New Voices of Fantasy.
Hannu Rajaniemi, too, as an author is, for me, right out on the edge of the current generation of hard scifi writers – technical, fiercely explorative and vibrant – so I was excited to see what he selected. The result is a good range of contemporary and diverse scifi voices and stories: robots, climate change, time travel, progressive gender and familial dynamics, new diasporas and cultural shifts.
I was familiar with some of the stories here already (not uncommon, very good pieces often get reprinted in multiple anthologies and I read a fair number of them each year) but I was pleased that some of my recent favourites were included: Sarah Pinsker’s Our Lady of the Open Road, Mother Tongues by S. Qiouyi Lu, and Openness by Alexander Weinstein.
Of those new to me my favourites were: The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer, Tender Loving Plastics by Amman Sabet, and Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ by Rebecca Roanhorse.
My only gripe was with the ‘new’ part. This is likely subjective, but a lot of these authors have won Hugos for their work, have been writing for almost a decade, have been collected in ‘years best anthologies’ or are otherwise established short fiction writers. It’s a minor thing and doesn’t take away from the strength of the stories collected here, but the title does imply the collection will be casting further afield or finding cutting edge, emerging writers.
If you want a great roundup of what this generation’s scifi looks like – the topics and dilemmas it’s grappling with and the breadth of voices and experiences being included and portrayed, this is well worth your time.
An advance copy of this book was kindly provided by Tachyon Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you liked this collection, you may also be interested in the companion volume published in 2017: The Best New Voices of Fantasy.
talvinovels's review against another edition
4.0
I'll admit the first story almost made me DNF this entire anthology because I was worried they would all be that boring, but I'm glad I stuck with it because I ended up liking many stories in here a lot! I've only properly gotten into sci-fi this year and this was such a nice way for me to explore different sci-fi concepts.
Some of my favorites:
A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Toppers by Jason Sanford
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ by Rebecca Roanhorse
Strange Waters by Samantha Mills
Madeleine by Amal El-Mohtar (this was my most favorite for sure!)
Some of my favorites:
A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
Toppers by Jason Sanford
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ by Rebecca Roanhorse
Strange Waters by Samantha Mills
Madeleine by Amal El-Mohtar (this was my most favorite for sure!)
xaol's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
bibliogeekgirl's review against another edition
4.0
A collection of short stories written by newer (but not any less amazing) authors in Science Fiction. There are time travel, bots gone wild, and coming of age stories included. One of the biggest standouts in favor of this collection of short stories is its diversity. It is so refreshing to disappear over and over into worlds where there are multiple ethnic backgrounds, gender and sexual orientations represented and heteronormative whiteness is not assumed. I enjoyed each story selected and believe they all have great re-read potential. However, if you read nothing else form this anthology, give Strange Waters by Samantha Mills a go for some somber unintentional time travel. And, The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri for somber intentional time travel through a familial line. Did I mention there was time travel?
havelock's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
A mixed bag.
carolined314's review
challenging
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Like many anthologies, some were standout stories I'll recall in my dreams, while others were ho-hum. Two that stood out to me were “In the Sharing Place” by David Erik Nelson and “The Doing and Undoing of Jacob E. Mwangi” by E. Lily Yu. Also - “Tender Loving Plastics” by Amman Sabet and “A Series of Steaks” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad .
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
I started this ARC while I was waiting at the doctor's (always a good place to read) and I was so engrossed reading the I nearly missed my turn.
It's a great anthology that features tons of great authors new to me.
I loved theirs stories, the different approaches and genres and all of them are well crafted and fascinating.
Back home I started to search books by the authors I read and I hope I will be able to read some of their works.
It was a great reading experience, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
It's a great anthology that features tons of great authors new to me.
I loved theirs stories, the different approaches and genres and all of them are well crafted and fascinating.
Back home I started to search books by the authors I read and I hope I will be able to read some of their works.
It was a great reading experience, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
gaylien420's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars!!
It started off meh with "openness": 3/5 stars ~ what's the point of this story?? I don't understand what it's trying to tell us
"The shape of my name": 4/5 stars
"Utopia, LOL?": 4/5
"Mother tongues": 5/5! Important story, it almost made me cry.
"In the sharing place": 4.5/5 ~ this was so weird and creepy, but I loved it?!
"A series of steaks": 4/5 ~ sometimes hard to understand, but a sweet read
"The secret life of bots": 3/5
"Ice": 2.5/5 ~ whales terrify me
"One hour, every seven years" 2.5/5 ~ interesting, but confusing
"Toppers": 4/5
"Tender loving plastics": 4/5 ~ Interesting concept
"Welcome to your authentic Indian experience": 4/5 ~ I'm not sure I understood this one properly (maybe it just isn't meant for me), it was still a good story
"Strange waters": 5/5 ~ Made me cry, I love it!!!
"Calved": 3/5 ~ Saw the twist coming immediately, unfortunately another sci-fi story where being a POC and being gay still gets you bullied... I know it was necessary for the plot, but still... Eh
"The need for air": 3.5/5 ~ Loved the concept, I'd read a whole book about this. Was a bit flat as a short story tho
"Robo-liopleurodon!": 3.5/5 ~ This was very short and cute. I couldn't enjoy it quite as much, because I'm scared of underwater animals and open water, so the entire setting was really unsettling for me. But that's just a really personal thing, I feel like the story was very interesting.
"The doing and undoing of Jacob e. Mwangi": 4.5/5 ~ Nice to have a story with a different setting: Kenya, if I remember right. It's a nice little story about a gamer chasing a dream. The character, Jacob, reminds me a little of myself. it's a sweet little story, I would read a whole book about this character and his friendships!
"Madeleine": 5/5!!! ~ Perfect, lovely, amazing, I'm in love!!! AHHHHHHHH I teared up, its so beautiful
"Our Lady of the open road": 4.5/5 ~ This is a very realistic, near-future story. I liked it, the characters are pretty cool, I love the road tripping punk band setting.
"A study in oils": 4/5 ~ a little confusing at first, but satisfying wrap up for this anthology
It started off meh with "openness": 3/5 stars ~ what's the point of this story?? I don't understand what it's trying to tell us
"The shape of my name": 4/5 stars
"Utopia, LOL?": 4/5
"Mother tongues": 5/5! Important story, it almost made me cry.
"In the sharing place": 4.5/5 ~ this was so weird and creepy, but I loved it?!
"A series of steaks": 4/5 ~ sometimes hard to understand, but a sweet read
"The secret life of bots": 3/5
"Ice": 2.5/5 ~ whales terrify me
"One hour, every seven years" 2.5/5 ~ interesting, but confusing
"Toppers": 4/5
"Tender loving plastics": 4/5 ~ Interesting concept
"Welcome to your authentic Indian experience": 4/5 ~ I'm not sure I understood this one properly (maybe it just isn't meant for me), it was still a good story
"Strange waters": 5/5 ~ Made me cry, I love it!!!
"Calved": 3/5 ~ Saw the twist coming immediately, unfortunately another sci-fi story where being a POC and being gay still gets you bullied... I know it was necessary for the plot, but still... Eh
"The need for air": 3.5/5 ~ Loved the concept, I'd read a whole book about this. Was a bit flat as a short story tho
"Robo-liopleurodon!": 3.5/5 ~ This was very short and cute. I couldn't enjoy it quite as much, because I'm scared of underwater animals and open water, so the entire setting was really unsettling for me. But that's just a really personal thing, I feel like the story was very interesting.
"The doing and undoing of Jacob e. Mwangi": 4.5/5 ~ Nice to have a story with a different setting: Kenya, if I remember right. It's a nice little story about a gamer chasing a dream. The character, Jacob, reminds me a little of myself. it's a sweet little story, I would read a whole book about this character and his friendships!
"Madeleine": 5/5!!! ~ Perfect, lovely, amazing, I'm in love!!! AHHHHHHHH I teared up, its so beautiful
"Our Lady of the open road": 4.5/5 ~ This is a very realistic, near-future story. I liked it, the characters are pretty cool, I love the road tripping punk band setting.
"A study in oils": 4/5 ~ a little confusing at first, but satisfying wrap up for this anthology
atroskity's review
5.0
If these are the voices of the future of science fiction, then the future is bright!
It's rare that I find a collection where I enjoy every single story but this one brought it, and then some. Diverse, challenging, creative, heartfelt, wondrous. Most of the stories are small-scale, character-driven pieces that get to the heart of why science fiction is so immensely flexible and has so much potential to be truly inclusive and wide-ranging. When we let these voices tell their stories, everyone wins.
I plan on reading the books written by every single author in this anthology.
It's rare that I find a collection where I enjoy every single story but this one brought it, and then some. Diverse, challenging, creative, heartfelt, wondrous. Most of the stories are small-scale, character-driven pieces that get to the heart of why science fiction is so immensely flexible and has so much potential to be truly inclusive and wide-ranging. When we let these voices tell their stories, everyone wins.
I plan on reading the books written by every single author in this anthology.
dreesreads's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent collection of 20 short stories by new authors. Every one was good, and now I have many new authors to explore the works of!
My favorites:
The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri: A trans man from a family of female time-travelers
Mother Tongues by S Qiouyi Lu: A woman sells her fluent Mandarin to send her daughter to college
A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad: Helena and Lily, steak forgers
The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palma: an old retired bot is brought back into use due to desperate times
Strange Waters by Samantha Mills: Mika, a fisherwoman in time, is trying to get home
But really, every story was good, and every author in this anthology writes interesting stuff.
———
Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon for the egalley
My favorites:
The Shape of My Name by Nino Cipri: A trans man from a family of female time-travelers
Mother Tongues by S Qiouyi Lu: A woman sells her fluent Mandarin to send her daughter to college
A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad: Helena and Lily, steak forgers
The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palma: an old retired bot is brought back into use due to desperate times
Strange Waters by Samantha Mills: Mika, a fisherwoman in time, is trying to get home
But really, every story was good, and every author in this anthology writes interesting stuff.
———
Thanks to NetGalley and Tachyon for the egalley