Yesterday Prime Book publisher Sean Wallace announced the Table of Contents for the ninth (ninth!) volume of Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, one of the very best of the Year’s Best volumes. Rich said this about it:

I am excited as I am every year to be able to publicly share the contents of my Best of the Year anthology. Thrilled to share the riches of our field — honored that so many wonderful writers allow me to publish their stories.

The book will be available next summer from Prime Books. And without further ado, here’s the compete TOC, sorted alphabetically by original venue.

“Seven Ways of Looking at the Sun-Worshippers of Yul-Katan” by Maggie Clark, Analog
“All that Robot Shit” by Rich Larson, Asimov’s
“Project Empathy” by Dominica Phetteplace, Asimov’s
“Lazy Dog Out” by Suzanne Palmer, Asimov’s
“The Visitor from Taured” by Ian R. MacLeod, Asimov’s
“Openness” by Alexander Weinstein, Beloit Fiction Journal
“In Skander, for a Boy” by Chaz Brenchley, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
“Laws of Night and Silk” by Seth Dickinson, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
“Blood Grains Speak Through Memories” by Jason Sanford, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
“Rager in Space” by Charlie Jane Anders, Bridging Infinity
“Ozymandias” by Karin Lowachee, Bridging Infinity

“The Bridge of Dreams” by Gregory Feeley, Clarkesworld
“Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home” by Genevieve Valentine, Clarkesworld
“Things with Beards” by Sam J. Miller, Clarkesworld
“Innumerable Glimmering Lights” by Rich Larson, Clockwork Phoenix 5
“Between Nine and Eleven” by Adam Roberts, Crises and Conflicts
“Red of Tooth and Cog” by Cat Rambo, F&SF
“The Vanishing Kind” by Lavie Tidhar, F&SF
“A Fine Balance” by Charlotte Ashley, F&SF
“Empty Planets” by Rahul Kanakia, Interzone
“Fifty Shades of Grays” by Steven Barnes, Lightspeed
“I’ve Come to Marry the Princess” by Helena Bell, Lightspeed
“RedKing” by Craig deLancey, Lightspeed
“A Non-Hero’s Guide to The Road of Monsters” by A.T. Greenblatt, Mothershipship Zeta
“Dress Rehearsal” by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Now We Are Ten
“The Plague Givers” by Kameron Hurley, Patreon
“Gorse Daughter, Sparrow Son” by Alena Indigo Anne Sullivan, Strange Horizons
“The Magical Properties of Unicorn Ivory” by Carlos Hernandez, The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria
“Something Happened Here, But We’re Not Quite Sure What It Was” by Paul McAuley, Tor.com
“That Game We Played During the War” by Carrie Vaughn, Tor.com

As usual, Rich casts his net far and wide (The Beloit Fiction Journal? And what the heck is Mothershipship Zeta?) to find the best new fiction of the year. As you’d expect though, the top industry markets dominate the list. I make the story count as follows:

Asimov’s — 4
Beneath Ceaseless Skies — 3
Clarkesworld — 3
F&SF — 3
Lightspeed — 3
Bridging Infinity — 2
Tor.com — 2
Analog — 1
Beloit Fiction Journal — 1
Interzone — 1
Strange Horizons — 1
Mothershipship Zeta — 1
Patreon — 1
Collections — 1
Other Anthologies — 3

Good to see Analog make the list, as well as two small press anthologies edited by Ian Whates, Crises and Conflicts and Now We Are Ten, both from NewCon Press. Special shout-out to our bud Carlos Hernandez, for the inclusion of an original story from his first collection, The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria.

Our coverage of previous volumes in this series includes:

Rich Horton’s Virtual Best of the Year: 2005
Rich Horton’s Virtual Best of the Year: 2006
Rich Horton’s Virtual Best of the Year — 2007
The Year’s Best SF & Fantasy 2009, edited by Rich Horton
The Year’s Best SF & Fantasy 2011, edited by Rich Horton
Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2012
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2014, edited by Rich Horton
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2015, edited by Rich Horton
The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton
Finding the Best: An Interview with Year’s Best Editors Ellen Datlow, Paula Guran, Rich Horton and Gardner Dozois, by Bryan Thomas Schmidt

The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy: 2017 will be published in trade paperback and digital formats by Prime Books next summer.