Back in 2018 I wrote an essay for Book Riot about all the best-of-the-year annual anthologies covering science fiction. The title claimed nine, but I added two more in an update that brought the total to eleven. In 2023 that number had dwindled considerably.
Gardner Dozois died in 2018 after publishing thirty-five giant best-of-the-year science fiction anthologies. Dozois set the pace for decades. Now, it seems the market for these best of the year anthologies has been breaking up. All 35-volumes of Dozois’ annual anthologies are still on sale.
Jonathan Strahan’s last annual anthology was The Year’s Best Science Fiction Vol. 2: The Saga Anthology of Science Fiction 2021 covering the best stories from 2020. (The year in these anthology titles are generally the year following the year the stories were first published.) I’ve been told that Strahan has said online that that series is finished.
Rich Horton’s last annual anthology was The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021 Edition covering 2020. It came out as an ebook online, and it will be the last of Horton’s series.
Neil Clarke’s latest annual anthology is The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume Seven published 9/5/23 in trade paper and hardcover. It’s late, covering 2021. Volume 8 is scheduled for next month, covering 2022. Online, Clarke has said he hopes to do an ebook and audiobook edition. It sounds like Clarke’s annual is still ongoing. Volume 7 is discussed at Black Gate and lists the table of contents.
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2023 edited by John Joseph Adams and guest editor R. F. Kuang covers 2022, meaning it’s on time. It comes out October 17th in trade paper, ebook, and audiobook editions.
The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 7 edited by Allan Kaster came out in June and seems to be going strong since it collects stories from 2022. Available as an ebook and trade paperback. I don’t know if Kaster will do a fourth edition of his other series, The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories. The third edition came out in November 2022, so maybe it will.
This is sad, at least to me. Awhile back I wrote about what anthologies collected the best science fiction short stories and listed all the annuals from 1939-1999. I started a reading project to read them all, starting with 1939. I’m currently stuck on 1957. This has shown me their value in remembering short science fiction. If stories aren’t reprinted by the annuals or other anthologies, they are generally forgotten — unless the author gains enough fans to have a collection published.
I wonder what the demise of so many best-of-the-year science fiction anthologies implies? Did the market just get saturated and is now shaking out? Or, has interest in short fiction fallen off? Print magazines have had dwindling subscribers for decades. The big three of Analog, Asimov’s and F&SF are around ten thousand or fewer. At one time they had over a hundred thousand subscribers. Amazon killing off their Kindle subscriptions for these magazines is going to hurt. I hope it’s not fatal for these magazines.
Do you buy these best-of-the-year science fiction anthologies? I collect them, and own most of them in paper, ebook, and/or audiobook. And I belong to a Facebook group that discusses science fiction short stories. Even though we have 815 members, probably less than a dozen post regularly.
Long ago I wrote an essay about what was the best way to discover the greatest science fiction short stories of all time. I decided there were three approaches. Read a handful of retrospective anthologies, read all the best-of-the-year anthologies, or read all the SF magazines. I’ve taken the middle path.
I’ve wondered if best-of-the-year anthologies are dying if it’s a sign the science fiction genre is fading? Or is it a sign that science fiction publishers have been producing way too much science fiction? Are readers getting overwhelmed by all the authors and just pulling back to a few favorites?
Has our culture been oversaturated with science fiction? I’m a lifelong fan, but even I’m getting a little worn out with the genre. When I was growing up in the 1950s, westerns dominated the television screen and movie theater. Then for many decades science fiction has been extremely popular. Has interest in science fiction starting to fade?
I have a couple of other theories. Maybe short science fiction is fading because most readers prefer the novel? Or maybe many fans have lost interest in new science fiction and have turned to reading mostly old science fiction? That’s happening with me.
James Wallace Harris, 10/8/23
Classics of Science Fiction 
Yes,I love the anthologies and started collected them when I “came back”to sci-fi five or six years ago.I was frustrated that Rich Horton was only an ebook and my order for Neil Clarke vol 7…from Amazon Australia …keeps being put back..I’m 76 and loved sci-fi during Dune/Foundation days so really the old guard.But also collecting Kaster..have all 7 Hard Sci Fi and the three AI.Dont know what’s happening philosophically and prefer to stick to simplistic,can be overcome causes such as supply chain,glut of fiction,other calls on younger peoples’time.I will keep buying anthologies,even if it means rolling over my wishlist and complaining to the bots at Amazon!
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I’ve never gotten tired of science fiction or other forms of fantastic literature (fabulist, magic realism, ghost stories, etc.) I read too widely and unsystematically to keep up with any one anthology series, but I’ve always loved and had a fascination for anthologies, especially (but not exclusively) SFF anthologies. I can imagine having a library of nothing but anthologies.
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I like the “Best of the year” anthologies and I buy them regularly. The few that are left, alas! I reckon they are disappearing because they’re not selling as they used to. It’s up to us to support those that are still published, and while we’re at it, to support the magazines, especially after the Amazon Kindle subscriptions debacle.
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I’m pissed over what Amazon did to magazine subscriptions. I can actually get the SF magazines cheaper under their Kindle Unlimited service but I can’t imagine the SF magazine publishers making any money through that deal. I will probably go back to print copies even though I prefer to read digital copies.
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In hindsight it’s amazing that Dozois ran The Year’s Best SF as long as he did. Most of these anthology series stop because the publisher goes under or the money runs out (the series not selling enough), but only the grim reaper could stop Dozois.
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Yep, I buy them and read them and am quite annoyed at their diminishing ranks. I don’t have time to read the magazines (or even keep track of the multiple venues now publishing) and I need some good gatekeepers. By the way, Allan Kaster has another series you didn’t mention: THE YEAR’S TOP TALES OF SPACE AND TIME, which like the ROBOT AND AI volume you mention, was published late last year and it’s not clear whether there will be more. I haven’t seen these but will probably start picking them up if the extinction continues.
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“The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories: Fourth Annual Collection” just came out this month and is now available.
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Great. I’ll get a copy. AI and robots are the most interesting themes in SF to me right now.
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These days I’m too poor to buy much of anything–even working two jobs.
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Edited from my FB post…
I still buy as many as I can. If they contain the word “fantasy” I do not buy it.
I’ve been buying the BEST OF anthologies since the mid-70s and still have nearly all of them on my bookshelves.
Read them 100% ebook digital now since 2017.
My Kindle reader on my iPad mini I use 85% of the time, with the rest I split between my smartphone and my Windows laptop (all with Kindle readers). When I travel I always have all my reading material with me. Printed books take up too much space and weight.
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I’m slowly becoming mainly an ebook reader too. I still do all formats but my favorite is Kindle app on my iPhone. Next is iPad mini.
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For some others, Neil Hogan publishes his “Alien Dimensions” series, and there is also the “Best of British Science Fiction 2022” that was just published (first one was in 2016).
It does seem there are fewer to choose from, and I see some repeating of stories between the ones that are available. I guess it’s an age/ experience thing, but after reading almost every one I could find on Kindle Unlimited (and at least the last 25 of Dozois’ collections), I see fewer and fewer new ideas. These days it seems there are only one or two stories in an entire anthology with a fresh new idea or take on something.
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I bought Master’s Hard SciFi 8 earlier this year..excellent ..and have preordered Clarke’s 8.Discovered the wonderful Clarkesworld anthologies and have all 9-12..2’volsc each!..rest out of stock at Amazon but check regularly.
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