The Year's Best Science Fiction, Thirty-Second Annual Collection Read online

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  permissions

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT IS MADE FOR PERMISSION TO REPRINT THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL:

  “The Fifth Dragon,” by Ian McDonald. Copyright © 2014 by Ian McDonald. First published in Reach for Infinity (Solaris), edited by Jonathan Strahan. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Rider,” by Jérôme Cigut. Copyright © 2014 by Spilogale, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September/October 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Days of the War, as Red as Blood, as Dark as Bile,” by Aliette de Bodard. Copyright © 2014 by Aliette de Bodard. First published electronically on Subterranean Magazine, Spring 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Burial of Sir John Mawe at Cassini,” by Chaz Brenchley. Copyright © 2014 by Chaz Brenchley. First published electronically on Subterranean Magazine, Spring 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Regular,” by Ken Liu. Copyright © 2014 by Ken Liu. First published in Upgraded (Wyrm Publishing), edited by Neil Clarke. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Woman from the Ocean,” by Karl Bunker. Copyright © 2014 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Shooting the Apocalypse,” by Paolo Bacigalupi. Copyright © 2014 by Paolo Bacigalupi. First published in The End Is Nigh (Broad Reach Publishing), edited by John Joseph Adams. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Weather,” by Susan Palwick. Copyright © 2014 by Susan Palwick. First published electronically on Clarkesworld, September 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Hand Is Quicker,” by Elizabeth Bear. First published in The Book of Silverberg (Subterranean Press), edited by William Schafer and Gardner Dozois. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Man Who Sold the Moon,” by Cory Doctorow. First published in Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future (William Morrow), edited by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Vladimir Chong Chooses to Die,” by Lavie Tidhar. Copyright © 2014 by Dell Magazines. First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, September 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Beside the Damned River,” by D. J. Cockburn. Copyright © 2014 by Interzone. First published in Interzone 253. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Colonel,” by Peter Watts. Copyright © 2014 by Peter Watts. First published electronically on Tor.com, July 29. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Entanglement,” by Vandana Singh. First published in Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future (William Morrow), edited by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “White Curtain,” by Pavel Amnuel. Copyright © 2014 by Spilogale, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Slipping,” by Lauren Beukes. Copyright © 2014 by Lauren Beukes. First published in Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Technology Review), edited by Bruce Sterling. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Passage of Earth,” by Michael Swanwick. Copyright © 2014 by Michael Swanwick. First published electronically on Clarkesworld, April 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Amicae Aeternum,” by Ellen Klages. Copyright © 2014 by Ellen Klages. First published in Reach for Infinity (Solaris), edited by Jonathan Strahan. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “In Babelsberg,” by Alastair Reynolds. Copyright © 2014 by Alastair Reynolds. First published in Reach for Infinity (Solaris), edited by Jonathan Strahan. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Sadness,” by Timons Esaias. Copyright © 2014 by Dell Magazines. First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “West to East,” by Jay Lake. Copyright © 2014 by Jay Lake. First published electronically on Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author’s agents and the author’s estate.

  “Grand Jeté (The Great Leap),” by Rachel Swirsky. Copyright © 2014 by Rachel Swirsky. First published electronically on Subterranean Magazine, Summer 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Covenant,” by Elizabeth Bear. First published in Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future (William Morrow), edited by Ed Finn and Kathryn Cramer. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Jubilee,” by Karl Schroeder. Copyright © 2014 by Karl Schroeder. First published electronically on Tor.com, February 26. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Los Piratas del Mar de Plastico (Pirates of the Plastic Ocean),” by Paul Graham Raven. Copyright © 2014 by Paul Graham Raven. First published in Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Technology Review), edited by Bruce Sterling. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Red Lights, and Rain,” by Gareth L. Powell. Copyright © 2014 by Gareth L. Powell. First published in Solaris Rising 3: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (Solaris Books), edited by Ian Whates. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Coma Kings,” by Jessica Barber. Copyright © 2014 by Jessica Barber. First published in Lightspeed, February 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Prodigal Son,” by Allen M. Steele. Copyright © 2014 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “God Decay,” by Rich Larson. Copyright © 2014 by Rich Larson. First published in Upgraded (Wyrm Publishing), edited by Neil Clarke. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Blood Wedding,” by Robert Reed. Copyright © 2014 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, July 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Long Haul, from the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009,” by Ken Liu. Copyright © 2014 by Ken Liu. First published electronically on Clarkesworld, November 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Shadow Flock,” by Greg Egan. Copyright © 2014 by Greg Egan. First published in Coming Soon Enough (IEEE Spectrum), edited by Stephen Cass. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Thing and Sick,” by Adam Roberts. Copyright © 2014 by Adam Roberts. First published in Solaris Rising 3: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction (Solaris Books), edited by Ian Whates. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Communion,” by Mary Anne Mohanraj. Copyright © 2014 by Mary Anne Mohanraj. First published electronically on Clarkesworld, June 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Someday,” by James Patrick Kelly. Copyright © 2014 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April/May 2014. Reprinted by permission of the author.
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  “Yesterday’s Kin,” by Nancy Kress. Copyright © 2014 by Nancy Kress. First published in Yesterday’s Kin (Tachyon Press). Reprinted by permission of the author.

  acknowledgments

  The editor would like to thank the following people for their help and support: Susan Casper, Jonathan Strahan, Sean Wallace, Neil Clarke, Gordon Van Gelder, Andy Cox, John Joseph Adams, Ellen Datlow, Sheila Williams, Trevor Quachri, Peter Crowther, William Shaffer, Ian Whates, Paula Guran, Tony Daniel, Liza Trombi, Robert Wexler, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Joseph Eschrich, Kathryn Cramer, Jonathan Oliver, Stephen Cass, Lynne M. Thomas, Dario Ciriello, Paul Stevens, Jennifer Jackson, Mary Elizabeth Lake, Anatoly Bellovsky, Gavin Grant, Kelly Link, Derek Kunsken, Gord Sellar, Fred Coppersmith, Katie Cord, Eileen Wiedbrank, Ian Redman, David Lee Summers, Wendy S. Delmater, Beth Wodzinski, E. Catherine Tobler, Katie Cord, Edward O’Connell, An Owomeyela, Alexander Irvine, Anaea Lay, Benjanun Sriduanokaew, Yoon Ha Lee, Kathleen Ann Goonan, David Sweeney, Bud Webster, Niall Harrison, Carl Rafala, Emily Hockaday, Edmund R. Schubert, C. C. Finlay, A. C. Wise, Jennifer Parsons, Christopher Barzak, Jerimy Colbert, Mike Resnick, Tim Pratt, Tony Daniel, William Ledbetter, Wendy S. Delmater, Jed Hartman, Rich Horton, Mark R. Kelly, Tehani Wessely, Elizabeth Bear, Aliette de Bodard, Lavie Tidhar, Adam Roberts, Robert Reed, Vandana Singh, Alastair Reynolds, Ken Liu, James Patrick Kelly, Nancy Kress, Ian McDonald, Jérôme Cigut, Chaz Brenchley, Ken Liu, Karl Bunker, Paolo Bacigalupi, Susan Palwick, Cory Doctorow, Peter Watts, D. J. Cockburn, Pavel Amnuel, Lauren Beukes, Michael Swanwick, Ellen Klages, Timon Esaias, Rachel Swirsky, Karl Schroeder, Paul Graham Raven, Gareth L. Powell, Jessica Barber, Allen M. Steele, Rich Larson, Greg Egan, Mary Anne Mohanraj, John O’Neill, Vaughne Lee Hansen, Mark Watson, Katherine Canfield, Jaime Coyne, and special thanks to my own editor, Marc Resnick.

  Thanks are also due to the late, lamented Charles N. Brown, and to all his staff, whose magazine Locus [Locus Publications, P.O. Box 13305, Oakland, CA 94661. $63 in the U.S. for a one-year subscription (twelve issues) via periodical mail; $76 for a one-year (twelve issues) via first-class credit card orders, (510) 339-9198] was used as an invaluable reference source throughout the Summation; Locus Online (www.locusmag.com), edited by Mark R. Kelly, has also become a key reference source.

  summation: 2014

  Please note that some of the links referenced in this work may no longer be active.

  It was a relatively quiet year in the SF publishing world. The big story, rumbling in the background throughout most of the year, was the battle between online retailer Amazon and publisher Hachette Book Group over the pricing of e-books, which got very public and very nasty, and drew authors and author organizations into it on one side or the other before the dispute was finally settled on November 13. Amazon also finally settled similar disputes with publishers Macmillan and Simon & Schuster.

  Digital books, e-books, and physical print books continued to coexist, without either driving the other out of the marketplace, as some commentators have been predicting either gloomily or gleefully (depending on what side they were on; some digital enthusiasts have seemed downright happy about the idea that e-books were going to drive print books into extinction) for several years now. Instead, some kind of equilibrium seems to be being reached, with many readers buying both e-books and print books, choosing one format or the other to purchase depending on their needs and the circumstances; some readers even buy both e-book and print editions of the same title, something that almost nobody saw coming. Nor have online sellers like Amazon driven physical brick-and-mortar bookstores out of existence, another frequently heard prophecy during the last few years—a study released by Nielsen Market Research indicates that most books are still purchased in physical stores, especially chain stores, with online retailers accounting for just 41 percent of all new book sales. Physical brick-and-mortar bookstores also remain an important part of the process whereby readers discover new titles they’d like to purchase, with 12 percent of buyers surveyed saying that they learned about particular titles from seeing bookstore displays (another 10 percent heard about books via word of mouth, while 8 percent found books by browsing online).

  Mass-market paperbacks were the sector hardest hit by the advent of e-books, but even they haven’t been driven into extinction; although sales of mass-market paperbacks dropped by more than 50 percent from 2010 to 2013, the decline slowed to only 11 percent from 2013 to 2014, with sales actually remaining flat in some week-to-week comparisons, so it looks as if the mass-market sector is stabilizing, and probably will not be driven off the shelves, as some feared it would be. There are still plenty of people who prefer the inexpensive, easy-to-carry format, especially those who don’t read e-books.

  Although nobody can deny that ebooks have become an important part of the market, and will remain so, print isn’t dead yet—nor is it likely to die, in my opinion.

  Perhaps the most encouraging news of the year comes from a new Pew survey which shows that Americans in the sixteen to twenty-nine age group are reading more than older Americans. The report reveals that 88 percent of Americans under thirty read at least one book in the past year, compared to 79 percent for those over thirty. Younger teens read the most, with 46 percent of those aged sixteen to seventeen reporting that they read books (in both print and digital formats) on a daily basis. Compared to 40 percent of readers above age thirty, 43 percent of those eighteen to nineteen report reading books daily.

  No information is available for non-Americans, but I’m willing to bet that those results are duplicated if not surpassed in many if not most other countries. So it turns out that the prophecy that the Internet was going to destroy literacy and the assertion that kids aren’t interested in reading anymore has been pretty much disproved as well (although the immense sales of the Harry Potter books should have disproved it a long time ago); if anything, widespread use of the Internet and easy availability of books (in all formats) in places where they were hard to find before seems to have increased literacy, and it looks like more people of all ages are reading more than they ever have before. That can only be hopeful news for those of us who work in the literary world, or for anybody who loves books and reading, for that matter.

  In other news: Tor Books formed new SF imprint Tor.com, with Lee Harris, former editor of Angry Robot, as senior editor, Fritz Foy as publisher, and Irene Gallo as associate publisher. Simon & Schuster started a new SF imprint, Saga Press. Parent company Osprey Publishing Group discontinued YA imprint Strange Chemistry and crime-mystery imprint Exhibit A, and then sold SF imprint Angry Robot to American entrepreneur Etan Ilfeld. HarperCollins bought romance imprint Harlequin. Hodder & Stoughton bought Quercus, the independent UK publisher that includes SF/fantasy imprint Jo Fletcher Books. Open Road Integrated Media acquired e-publisher E-Reads. Lou Anders stepped down as editorial director and art director of Pyr, being replaced by Rene Sears. Paul Stevens left Tor and joined Quirk Books as an acquisitions editor. Gillian Redfearn was promoted to publishing director of Gollancz, with Jon Wood becoming managing director as well as Orion Group publisher. Sarah Shumway joined Bloomsbury Children’s Books as a senior editor. Jonathan Jao joined HarperCollins as vice-president and executive editor. Michael P. Huseby was named chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Vanessa Mobley was made executive editor at Little, Brown. Suzanne Donahue left her position as vice-president and associate publisher at Simon & Schuster.

  After years of sometimes precipitous decline, it was another fairly stable year in the professional magazine market. Sales of electronic subscriptions to the magazines are continuing to creep up, as well as sales of individual electronic copies of each issue, and this is making a big difference to profitability.

  Asimov’s Science Fiction had a somewhat weaker year than it had the year before, but still published good work by Allen M. Steele, Karl Bunker, Robert Reed, James Patrick Kelly, Derek Kunsken, Gord Sellar, Kara Dalkey, Jay O’Connell, Tim Sullivan, and others. As usual, their SF was considerab
ly stronger than their fantasy, the reverse of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Asimov’s Science Fiction registered a 12.5 percent loss in overall circulation, down to 20, 282 from 2013’s 23,192. Subscriptions were 17,987, down from 20,327; of that total, 9,347 were print subscriptions, while 8,640 were digital subscriptions, almost half the total, which shows how important digital subscriptions have become to these magazines. Newsstand sales were down to 2,295 copies from 2013’s 2,385. Sell-through fell from 39 percent to 35 percent. Sheila Williams completed her eleventh year as Asimov’s editor.

  Analog Science Fiction and Fact had good work (and some of it somewhat atypical stuff for Analog; it’s encouraging to see new editor Trevor Quachri being bold enough to set his stamp on a long-running magazine). Lavie Tidhar, Timons Esaias, Michael F. Flynn, Alec Nevala-Lee, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Tony Ballantyne, Ken Liu, Craig DeLancey, C. W. Johnson, David D. Levine, and others all published good work. Analog registered a 9.3 percent loss in overall circulation, down to 24,709 from 2013’s 27,248. There were 21,456 subscriptions, down slightly from 2013’s 23,630; of this total, 15,282 were print subscriptions, while 6,174 were digital subscriptions. Newsstand sales were up slightly to 3,253 from 2013’s 3,235. Sell-through held steady at 41 percent. New editor Trevor Quachri completed his first full year as editor and 2014 marked the magazine’s eighty-fourth anniversary.

  Once again, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction was almost exactly the reverse of Asimov’s, with the fantasy published there being stronger than the science fiction—which there wasn’t a lot of this year. F&SF also had a weaker year than last year, but still published good work by Jérôme Cigut, Pavel Amnuel, Matthew Hughes, Robert Reed, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Paul M. Berger, Alex Irvine, Sandra McDonald, and others. F&SF registered a welcome 10.3 rise in overall circulation from 10,678 to 11,910. Subscriptions rose from 7,762 to 8,994; digital sales figures were not available. Newsstand sales stayed steady at 2,916. Sell-through rose from 23 percent to 28 percent. Gordon Van Gelder was in his eighteenth year as editor, and fourteenth year as owner and publisher in 2014. In early 2015, it was announced that writer Charles Coleman Finlay was taking over as F&SF’s active acquisitions editor, starting with the March/April 2015 issue. Van Gelder remains as publisher.