Best of British Science Fiction 2019 — Ken MacLeod

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