The following is a list of stories we found worthy for the Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2013, but didn’t include in our final selection. Some of them were discounted due to being more middle grade or adult than YA according to our definition of YA. Others were very good but didn’t end up in our final list for various reasons including having chosen a similar story already to wanting to select stories from a wide variety of fiction venues. The honourable mentions list is in alphabetical order according to author’s last name.
Ahmed, Saladin, “Without Faith, Without Law, Without Joy”, Rags and Bones
Alering, Alisa, “Everything You Have Seen”, Writers of the Future
Alexa, Camille, “Over It”, Futuredaze
Amundsen, Erik, “Live Arcade”, Strange Horizons
Bell, Helena, “In Light of Recent Events I Have Reconsidered the Wisdom of Your Space Elevator”, Shimmer
Black, Holly, “Millcara”, Rags and Bones
Burgis, Ben, “Contains Multitudes”, Tor.com
Caine, Rachel, “The Cold Girl”, Carniepunk
Fleming, Sam, “What the Water Gave Her”, Fish
Gaiman, Neil, “The Sleeper and the Spindle”, Rags and Bones
Gonzales, E. K., “Frozen Delight”, Horror: Filipino Fiction For Young Adults
Goss, Theodora, “Estella Saves the Village”, Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells
Howey, Hugh, “Deep Blood Kettle”, Lightspeed
Jeffers, Alex, “You Deserve”, Bad Seeds, Evil Progeny
Jones, Stephen Graham, “Thirteen”, Halloween
Kanakia, Rahul, “Another Prison”, Futuredaze
Kornher-Stace, Nicole, “On the Leitmotif of the Trickster Constellation in Northern Hemispheric Star Charts, Post Apocalypse”, Clockwork Phoenix 4
Kress, Nancy, “… And Other Stories”, Shadows of the New Sun: Stories for Gene Wolfe
Large, Chris, “Girl Finds Key”, Next
Lay, Anaea, “Hiding on the Red Sands of Mars”, Strange Horizons
Lee, Yoon Ha, “The Coin of Heart’s Desire”, Once Upon A Time
Lien, Henry, “Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters”, Asimov’s
Lingen, Marissa, “Things We Have in the House for No Reason”, Analog
Liu, Ken, “Ghost Days”, Lightspeed
Liu, Ken, “The MSG Golem”, UFO 2
Loenen-Ruiz, Rochita, “Of Alternate Adventures and Memory”, Clarkesworld
Marino, Andy, “The Oregon Trail Diary of Willa Porter”, Tor.com
Mastura, Kelly, “The Banshee’s Initiation”, Visibility Fiction
Mok, D. K., “Morning Star”, One Small Step, an anthology of discoveries
Moraine, Sunny, “Event Horizon”, Strange Horizons
Ogawa, Yukimi, “Icicle”, Clockwork Phoenix 4
Okorafor, Nnedi, “House of Deformities”, Kabu Kabu
Okorafor, Nnedi, “How Inyang Got Her Wings”, Kabu Kabu
Olley, Kirstie, “Short Circuit”, Oomph!
Olley, Kirstie, “Stolen Hearts”, Redlitzer Anthology
Pike, Aprilynne, “Nature”, Defy the Dark
Elyss G. Punsalan, “The Running Girl”, Horror: Filipino Fiction For Young Adults
Ratnayake, N.A., “The Parched Lands”, Crossed Genres
Revis, Beth, “Night Swimming”, Defy the Dark
Shawl, Nisi, “Lupine”, Once Upon A Time
Shvartsman, Alex, “Things We Leave Behind”, Daily Science Fiction
Silva, Michael Ben III, “Suits and Hammers”, Crossed Genres
Skerry, Cory, “Castle of Masks”, Once Upon A Time
Sklar, David, “Flap”, Mythic Delirium
Tan, Charles, “A Yellow Brick Road Valentine”, Horror: Filipino Fiction For Young Adults
Thomas, Leah, “Rubbernecking”, Ideomancer
Tobler, E. Catherine, “Artificial Nocturne”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
White, Jen, “The Family is Gathering”, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
Wilde, Fran, “A Moment of Gravity, Circumscribed”, Impossible Futures
Yu, E. Lily, “Ilse Who Saw Clearly”, Apex
Our goal is to uncover the best young adult short fiction of the year published in the anthologies dedicated to the form, the occasional special edition of a magazine, and individual pieces appearing in otherwise “adult” anthologies and magazines, and bring them together in one accessible collection.
Fans of Kaleidoscope will find more tales of wonder, adventure, diversity, and variety in this collection devoted to stories with teen protagonists.
The Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2013 is available now – purchase it online here.