Before you dismiss THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY as “yet another annual anthology” of the genre’s best short fiction, take a closer look. This is actually the debut SF/F anthology published by the folks who for years have presented the annual BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES and several other annual fiction and nonfiction anthologies. That makes it something rather distinctive and well worth your while (and possibly something of a collector’s item).

In his foreword, series editor (and longtime genre anthologist) John Joseph Adams presents a historical overview of the various forms and influences science fiction and fantasy have exerted over the past centuries, as well as the process for selecting the stories presented here (all published during 2014). Author Joe Hill, the first in what promises to be a series of noteworthy guest editors, explains why he loves these kinds of stories.

Following the tradition set by its predecessors, the selected authors are varied and distinguished, the sources equally varied (everything from the stalwart Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction to original anthologies and a few online publications as well), and each author is featured with a brief credit listing and notes on the story’s origin in the Contributor’s Notes toward the end of the book.

Of the 20 total stories presented, one author – Sofia Samatar – scored two entries. In “How to Get Back to the Forest” the futuristic narrator recalls her time at the Camp every teenager attends to learn Life Skills and prepare for their designated careers. The narrator recalls one particularly rebellious friend and wonders about the friend’s mysterious and unfortunate fate. “Ogres of East Africa” presents a speculative catalog of various fantastic beasts found in an area of Kenya in 1907. But the compiler also includes margin notes tracing his precarious relationship with his employer and the other humans in his life.

One of the many surprising pleasures are the stories by authors not usually associated with SF/F. One notable example is “The Relive Box” by popular and prolific mainstream author T. C. Boyle. Boyle admits, however, in the Contributor’s Notes that his early influences were stories of magic realism and speculative fiction. He proves himself worthy of the task in this unsettling and cautionary story of how the life of a single father falls apart due to his addiction to his Relive Box – a futuristic gaming devise that allows you to fully recall personal memories.

The most recognizable contributor to this debut anthology is undoubtedly Neil Gaiman. His “How the Marquis Got his Coat Back” returns us to the London Below setting of Gaiman’s 1997 novel NEVERWHERE, and follows the Marquis de Carabas as he searches for his coat sold before the Marquis was returned from the dead.

Science fiction novelist Jo Walton contributes a rare work of short fiction with “Sleeper,” a haunting tale of a character brought back to life by his biographer to replay his role in history.

Additional contributions include stories by Kelly Link, Daniel H. Wilson, Cat Rambo, and several other authors. Those stories that didn’t make the final cut are acknowledged in the listing of “Notable Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories of 2014” at the very end of the book – again following the tradition of the series.

Neither Adams nor Hill tackle the nagging question of why it took so many years for this well-established anthology series to finally acknowledge science fiction and fantasy. Perhaps a more appropriate time for this debut would have been in the midst of the explosive and game-changing era of development and growth of the genres in the 1960s and 1970s, known then and now as the “New Wave” (with possible contributions by such authors as Harlan Ellison, Ursula K. LeGuin, Barry M. Malzburg, Robert Silverberg, and many others).

But rather than quibble about what might have been, let’s instead celebrate the better-late-than-never addition of science fiction and fantasy to these annual publications, and show our appreciation by adding this new and highly recommended story gathering to our bookshelves. —Alan Cranis

Get it at Amazon.