About the Book
"Short stories have to accomplish a nearly impossible magic trick: to introduce a world often much stranger than our own and make you care about it in a matter of pages," writes R. F. Kuang in her introduction. "The most important part of this magic trick is just a willingness to get weird." The stories in The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 are brimming with bizarre and otherworldly premises. Women can't lie or fall in love. Fathers feed their children ghost preserves. Souls chase one another through animal incarnations. Yet these stories are grounded deeply in our reality. Out of these stories' weirdness emerges the cruelty of border enforcement, the horror of legislation restricting reproductive freedom, the frightening pace of AI. The result is a stunning, immersive, intensely felt experience, showing us less of what the world is, and more of what it could be.
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 includes Nathan Ballingrud - KT Bryski - Isabel Cañas - Maria Dong - Kim Fu - Theodora Goss - Alix E. Harrow - S. L. Huang - Stephen Graham Jones - Shingai Njeri Kagunda - Isabel J. Kim - Samantha Mills - MKRNYILGLD - Malka Older - Susan Palwick - Linda Raquel Nieves Pérez - Sofia Samatar - Kristina Ten - Catherynne M. Valente - Chris Willrich
About the Author :
Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.
Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.
Rebecca F. Kuang is the #1 New York Times and #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Poppy War trilogy, Babel: An Arcane History, and Yellowface. Her work has won the Nebula, Locus, Crawford, and British Book Awards. A Marshall Scholar, she has an MPhil in Chinese Studies from Cambridge and an MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies from Oxford. She is now pursuing a PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures at Yale, where she studies diaspora, contemporary Sinophone literature, and Asian American literature.
John Joseph Adams is the series editor of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and the editor of the Hugo Award-winning Lightspeed, and of more than forty anthologies, including Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms, The Far Reaches, and Out There Screaming (coedited with Jordan Peele).
John Joseph Adams is the series editor of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and the editor of the Hugo Award-winning Lightspeed, and of more than forty anthologies, including Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms, The Far Reaches, and Out There Screaming (coedited with Jordan Peele).
A lifelong actor and performer, Will Tulin has performed both on stage and in film and television. From San Diego morning show talent to horror film villain, Will's work also includes voice work for animation, performing with La Jolla Playhouse, and producing fiction podcasts. As a narrator, Will brings all of this experience to bear, while connecting with his former self; the kid who held a flashlight under the covers because he just couldn't put down a book. Katharine Chin is a Taiwanese American actor, writer, and producer based in New York. She trained as an actor at UC San Diego, Steppenwolf West, and received her MFA in acting at The New School. As a narrator, Katharine has recorded numerous titles for Harper, Macmillan, Hachette, Apple+ News, Penguin Random House, and more. Her work spans historical fiction to middle grade to scientific articles. Katharine has founded and run theater companies, earned degrees in biology and political science, worked at a Lippizaner ranch in the upper Mojave desert, gone shark diving without a cage in Fiji, and knit many, many sweaters by hand. Born in the SF Bay Area, she lived in Taiwan from 6th-10th grade and speaks Mandarin fluently. Chanté McCormick is a Los Angeles-based actress and narrator who has a bachelor's degree in speech from Northwestern University's famed theater department. She is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and the Actors Equity Association. Em Grosland (he/they/she) is a transgender, nonbinary actor and artist with over 50 books under their belt. They love giving voice to powerful trans boys and men, rebellious tomboys, nonbinary humans and fantastical creatures, sapphic folks falling in love, and any and all books that challenge late-stage capitalism or highlight the joy and strength of marginalized folks. Em was lucky enough to be read to by their mother, so they narrate from the beliefs that grown-ups and kids all benefit from storytelling and that nothing can replace the human voice. What defined humanity as being a culture instead of a pack was when the first storyteller decided to share. They love finding the very specific life of each character through subtle (and occasionally not so subtle) vocal qualities. Em truly enjoys performing a story more than simply reading it. They pay very close attention to the full arc of the story and the ways in which the character and the narrator learn and grow from the beginning to the end.
Yelena Shmulenson is an actress and Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. She emigrated to the United States with her family in 1993 from Ukraine. Her theater credits include five seasons with the Folksbiene, two seasons at the Ellis Island Theatre, Enemies: A Love Story in Russian, and The Essence: A Yiddish Theater Dim Sum. On film, she can be seen in The Good Shepherd, Romeo & Juliet in Yiddish, Fire at the Triangle, and A Serious Man.
André Santana is a NYC-based audiobook narrator on a journey to tell great stories. He's a Black, Latine, and non-binary voice actor delivering intentional and human performances. Operating with a keen sense for realistic delivery, he inevitably becomes a fan of every book he narrates and shares that joy through his performances. Mirai is a proud two-time Audie Award finalist. Her bright, youthful voice brings life to YA, chick lit, and book club fiction, especially those centering around female leads. From sweet to sarcastic, bubbly to dry, Mirai's comedic sensibility and zest for storytelling has been honed through her BFA in acting and over twenty years of experience as an actor on stage and screen, as well as behind the mic. Brought up in Japan and Singapore by Malaysian-Chinese and British parents (an author and editor!), her international background brings authenticity to global stories and accented characters. Mirai is a trained singer in Broadway styles, and can often be found acting in or directing a musical or play in the LA region. She has also worked at Universal Studios as a Studio Guide for over ten years, and is a Back to the Future expert. In her spare time, Mirai loves to knit while rewatching sitcoms and The Great British Bake Off, huddled in a cuddle with her dog and two cats.
