Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2021

Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2021, edited by Veronica Roth.

This series is so very good. Of the twenty stories, my favorites were:

• “Tiger’s Feast” – KT Bryski, great hook of an opening line “Every day after school, Emmy feeds the tiger with her sin.”
• “Crawlfather” – Mel Kassel, a coming of age, family hunting tradition, horror
• “Our Language” – Yohanca Delgado, transformation story.
• “And This Is How to Stay Alive” – Shingai Njeri Kagunda, new perspective on time/story. The pasts stretch out from now. Difficult to explain.
• “The Beast Adjoins” – Ted Kosmatka, a parent tries to keep their child alive from hunting robots.
• “The Long Walk” – Kate Elliot, forty pages, bit longer than I was expecting but beautiful world building. Ends with “What if I want wings?”
• “One Time, a Reluctant Traveler” – A. T. Greenblatt…is about stories…
• “Skipping Stones in the Dark” – Amman Sabet… computer, that runs the spacecraft that has last remnants of humanity, tries to teach a teen a lesson.
• “The Plague Doctors” – Karen Lord. Title says it all.
• “Two Truths and a Lie” – Sarah Pinsker, remembering a scary TV show
• “Brother Rifle” – Daryl Gregory, marine vet deals with brain damage