A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by Olivie Blake, author of the bestselling Atlas Series, and series editor John Joseph Adams.The Best American series, launched in 1915, is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction and nonfiction, and it is the most respected—and most popular—of its kind.
Olivie Blake selects twenty pieces that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year and explores the ever-expanding and changing world of science fiction and fantasy today.
Of science fiction and fantasy, guest editor Olivie Blake writes, “It’s hard to look upon these genres and not see tools of life preservation.” The characters in these pages embody this sentiment as they choose to forge ahead despite the most daunting obstacles. An inscrutable woman imprisons a monster in her bathtub, a sentient spaceship carries 10,000 frozen human embryos to a distant space colony, a memory tailor alters memories for customers seeking a different past, and a girl goes to great lengths to attend a prestigious magical university. From dystopian resistance to utopian deceit, these stories acknowledge the helplessness, anger, and despair so prevalent in the world. But, as Blake reassures us, they also convince us that ultimately “faith, persisting and unshakable, will be enough to win.”
THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY 2026 INCLUDES: SARAH LANGAN • THOMAS HA • ALIX E. HARROW • ALEX IRVINE • NAOMI KANAKIA • ISABEL J. KIM • RICH LARSON • RAY NAYLER • P.C. VERRONE • AND OTHERS
