Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2014 Now Available!

Posted By on Feb 16, 2016 | 0 comments


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The Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction 2014 is now available in ebook and print formats from Twelfth Planet Press, Amazon (and Amazon Australia and Amazon UK), or your favorite bookseller. This second volume in the Year’s Best YA Speculative Fiction series collects 21 stories with teen protagonists, all originally published in 2014:

“Left Foot, Right” by Nalo Hopkinson
–from Monstrous Affections, Kelly Link, editor
“Selfies” by Lavie Tidhar
–from Tor.com
“The Vitruvian Farmer” by Marcelina Vizcarra
–from Flash Fiction Online
“The Lady and the Fox” by Kelly Link
–from My True Love Gave to Me, Stephanie Perkins, editor
“Cat Calls” by Margo Lanagan
–from Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean, Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar, and Anita Roy, editors
“Walkdog” by Sofia Samatar
–from Kaleidocope, Julia Rios and Alisa Krasnostein, editors
“No Lonely Seafarer” by Sarah Pinsker
–from Lightspeed
“The Endless Sink” by Damien Ober
–from Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
“No Mercy for the Executioner” by Deborah Biancotti
  –from The Australian Review of Fiction
“The Ancestors” by Laurie Tom
–from Daily Science Fiction
“Jelly and the D-Machine” by Suzanne Church
–from Elements: A Collection of Speculative Fiction
“Kneaded” by S. G. Larner
–from Phantazein, Tehani Wessely, editor
“Resurrection Points” by Usman T. Malik
–from Strange Horizons
“Memory Lace” by Payal Dhar
–from Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean
“Collected Likenesses” by Jamey Hatley
–from Long Hidden, Rose Fox and Daniel José Older, editors
“Scout” by Will McIntosh
–from Asimovs
“Selfie” by Sandra McDonald
–from Lightspeed
“The Boy Who Grew Up” by Christopher Barzak
–from Uncanny
“Cookie Cutter Superhero” by Tansy Rayner Roberts
–from Kaleidoscope
“The Stuff We Don’t Do” by Marissa Lingen
–from Nature Futures
“Figment” by Jeri Smith-Ready
–from Grim, Christine Johnson, editor

As always, there were many stories we found worthy and notable which were not included 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, or due to not having enough of a speculative element. Others were very good but didn’t end up in our final list for various reasons including having chosen a similar story already or 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.

Acks, Rachael, “The Heart-Beat Escapement”, Crossed Genres
Argall, Liz, “Falling Leaves”, Apex
Bakutis, T. Eric, “Grieftaker”, Innacurate Realities: Magic
Bear, Elizabeth, “Madam Damnable’s Sewing Circle”, Dead Man’s Hand
Black, Holly, “Ten Rules For Being an Intergalactic Smuggler (the Successful Kind)”, Monstrous Affections
Bolekaja, Lisa, “Medu”, Long Hidden
Brennan, Sarah Rees, “Wings in the Morning”, Monstrous Affections
Burgis, Stephanie, “Clasp Hands”, Daily Science Fiction
Connolly, Tina, “See DANGEROUS EARTH-POSSIBLES!”, Lightspeed
Doyle, Aidan, “Words Beneath the Waves”, Spellbound
Gilson, Che, “Rose Meets a Gentleman”, Luna Station Quarterly
Gray, Claudia, “A Real Boy”, Grim
Greenberg, Nicki, “Backstage Pass”, Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean
Greenblatt, A. T., “I’m Still Here”, Buzzy Mag
Hall, Kate, “The Scrimshaw and the Scream”, Women Destroy Fantasy
Han, Jenny, “Polaris Is Where You’ll Find Me”, My True Love Gave to Me
Hardinge, Francis, “The Devil’s Bridge”, Fearsome Magics
Hawkins, Rachel, “The Key”, Grim
Heartfield, Kate, “Hairbrush, Socks, Pencil, Orange”, Flash Fiction Online
Heartfield, Kate, “The Semaphore Society”, Crossed Genres
Hellisen, Cat, “The Girls Who Go Below”, Fantasy and Science Fiction
Hoffman, Nina Kiriki, “Solstice Cakes”, Daily Science Fiction
Hoffmann, Ada, “How My Best Friends Rania Crashed a Party and Saved the World”, Unlikely Story
Howlett, Val, “A Skeleton Story”, Hunger Mountain
Huang, S. L., “Hunting Monsters”, The Book Smugglers
Humphrey, Claire, “Four Steps to the Perfect Smoky Eye”, Strange Horizons
Isle, Alex, “The Kind Neighbours of Hell”, Use Only As Directed
Jennings, Kathleen, “Skull and Hyssop”, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
Kim, Alice Sola, “Mothers, Lock Up Your Daughters Because They Are Terrifying”, Monstrous Affections
Klages, Ellen, “Amicae Aeternum”, Reach For Infinity
Klages, Ellen, “Hey, Presto!” Fearsome Magics
Kress, Nancy, “The Common Good”, Asimov’s
Lingen, Marissa, “A House of Gold”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Link, Kelly, “The New Boyfriend”, Monstrous Affections
Little Badger, Darcie, “Nkásht íí”, Strange Horizons
Liu, Ken, “The Gods Will Not Be Slain”, The End Is Now
Lord, Karen, “Hiraeth: A Tragedy in Four Acts”, Reach For Infinity
Miller, Catey, “Tomorrow I’ll Miss You”, YARN
Moraine, Sunny, “Cold As the Moon”, Strange Horizons
Mudge, Faith, “Twelfth”, Phantazein
Mulder, Allison, “Limited”, Visibility Fiction
Nahrung, Jason, “Watermarks”, Cosmos
Ness, Patrick, “This Whole Demoning Thing”, Monstrous Affections
Padmanabhan, Manuja, “Cool”, Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean
Perkins, Stephanie, “It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown”, My True Love Gave to Me
Rowe, Christopher, “The Dun Letter”, Fearsome Magics
Rowell, Rainbow, “Midnights”, My True Love Gave to Me
Singh, Vandana, “Arctic Light”, Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean
Sparks, Cat, “New Chronicles of Andras Thorn”, Dimension 6
St. George, Carlie, “Such Lovely Teeth”, Strange Horizons
Steffen-Wiebe, Abra, “Ekaterina and the Firebird”, Tor.com
Vo, Nghi, “Neither Witch Nor Fairy”, Long Hidden
Willis, Suzanne J., “Rag and Bone Heart”, Phantazein
Wonders, Brooke, “A Spoke in Fortune’s Wheel”, The Dark
Wong, Alyssa, “Santos de Sampaguitas”, Strange Horizons
Yap, Isabel, “Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez?”, Nightmare

Teaching materials for this volume and for the other Kaleidoscope imprint anthologies are available to download for anyone who would like to use the books in a classroom setting.