I recently discovered the Coode Street Podcast, hosted by editor Jonathan Strahan and Chicago Tribune critic Gary K. Wolfe, and have been thoroughly enjoying it. They discuss a wide variety of topics of interest to SF and fantasy readers every week — everything from the Hugo nominations, the best debuts of the year, art in science fiction, Ursula K. Le Guin, conventions, upcoming releases, and so much more — and they’re both so articulate and knowledgeable, and so darn enthusiastic, that you can’t help coming away from each hour-long conversation with a lengthy list of brand new books you just have to check out.

I feel the same way about Jonathan Strahan’s annual Best Science Fiction of the Year. The latest volume makes it an even dozen, and each one has helped me discover a handful of delightful new authors. It’s a book I cherish every year, and this one — with stories by Samuel R. Delany, Yoon Ha Lee, Caroline M. Yoachim, Rich Larson, Indrapramit Das, Charlie Jane Anders, Linda Nagata, Theodora Goss, Greg Egan, Mary Robinette Kowal, Scott Lynch, Maureen McHugh, Alastair Reynolds, Karl Schroeder, Kai Ashante Wilson, and our very own C.S.E. Cooney — looks even more stellar than most.

It arrives in trade paperback from Solaris next week. Here’s the Table of Contents.

“The Mocking Tower,” Daniel Abraham (The Book of Swords)
“Don’t Press Charges and I Won’t Sue,” Charlie Jane Anders (Boston Review)
“Probably Still the Chosen One,” Kelly Barnhill (Lightspeed)
“My English Name,” R. S. Benedict (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
“Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance,” Tobias Buckell (Cosmic Powers)
“Though She Be But Little,” C.S.E. Cooney (Uncanny)
“The Moon is Not a Battlefield,” Indrapramit Das (Infinity Wars)
“The Hermit of Houston,” Samuel R. Delany (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
“The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine,” Greg Egan (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
“Crispin’s Model,” Max Gladstone (Tor.com)
“Come See the Living Dryad,” Theodora Goss (Tor.com)

“Bring Your Own Spoon,” Saad Z. Hossain (The Djinn Falls in Love)
“Babylon,” Dave Hutchison (2084)
“The Faerie Tree,” Kathleen Kayembe (Lightspeed)
“Fairy Tale of Wood Street,” Caitlin R Kiernan (Sirenia Digest)
“The Worshipful Society of Glovers,” Mary Robinette Kowal (Uncanny)
“An Evening with Severyn Grimes,” Rich Larson (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
“The Chameleon’s Gloves,” Yoon Ha Lee (Cosmic Powers)
“The Smoke of Gold is Glory,” Scott Lynch (The Book of Swords)
“Sidewalks,” Maureen McHugh (Omni)
“Concessions,” Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali (Strange Horizons)
“The Martian Obelisk,” Linda Nagata (Tor.com)
“The Secret Life of Bots,” Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld)
“A Series of Steaks,” Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld)
“Belladonna Nights,” Alastair Reynolds (The Weight of Words)
“Eminence,” Karl Schroeder (Chasing Shadows)
“The Lamentation of their Women,” Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com)
“Confessions of a Con Girl,” Nick Wolven (Asimov’s Science Fiction)
“Carnival Nine,” Caroline M. Yoachim (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

I’ve lost count of just how many of Jonathan’s books we’ve covered here at Black Gate. In addition to his Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, he’s also the mastermind behind the highly acclaimed Infinity anthology series (Infinity Wars, Meeting Infinity, etc.) as well as the occasional standalone tome such as Drowned Worlds. With Terry Dowling he edited the fabulous five-volume Early Jack Vance collections for Subterranean, and all on his own he produced four Best Short Novels books for the Science Fiction Book Club.

See all of our coverage of Jonathan’s books here.

This is one of ten major Year’s Best volumes we’ve covered in 2018. The others include:

The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume Three edited by Neil Clarke (Night Shade Books, April 3, 2018))
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Twelve, edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris, April 17, 2018))
The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF, Volume 4, edited by David Afsharirad (Baen, June 5, 2018)
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Ten, edited by Ellen Datlow (Night Shade, June 12, 2018)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois (St. Martin’s Griffin;, July 3, 2018)
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2018, edited by Rich Horton (Prime, August 7, 2018)
Nebula Awards Showcase 2018, edited by Jane Yolen (Pyr, August 7, 208)
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2018, edited by Paula Guran (Prime, September 11, 2018)
The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, edited by N.K. Jemisin and John Joseph Adams (Mariner Books, October 2, 2018)
The Year’s Best Weird Fiction, Volume Five, edited by Robert Shearman and Michael Kelly (October 2018)

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Twelve will be published by Solaris Books on April 17, 2018. It is 620 pages, priced at $19.99 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital edition. The cover is by Adam Tredowski.

See all our coverage of the best upcoming SF and fantasy here.