We’re very happy to report that the full details of THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 have now been unveiled! Following on from the success of the first volume in the series, this one is also edited by Lavie Tidhar, and is due to be published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra in the UK (October 13th) and North America (November 1st). Here’s the synopsis…

Twenty-nine new short stories representing the state of the art in international science fiction.

The second annual instalment to the ‘rare and wonderful’ (The Times) The Best of World SF Volume 1, this collection features twenty-nine stories, including eight written exclusively for this collection. This is not a retrospective of what science fiction around the world used to look like. This is a snapshot of what some of it looks like now. And it’s never been more exciting.

Navigating around the globe, The Best of World SF Volume 2 features writers from: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Bolivia, China, Czech Republic, Greece, India, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Each story has been selected by World SF expert and award-winning author Lavie Tidhar in a collection which traces the ever-changing meaning of the genre from some the most exciting voices writing today.

Here’s the full Table of Contents…

• Nadia Afifi, THE BAHRAIN UNDERGROUND BAZAAR (Bahrain)
• Lavanya Lakshminarayan, THE TEN-PERCENT THIEF (India)
• Frances Ogamba, AT DESK 9501 (Nigeria) *
• Isabel Yap, MILAGROSO (The Philippines)
• Saad Z. Hossain, BRING YOUR OWN SPOON (Bangladesh)
• Yukimi Ogawa, BLUE GREY BLUE (Japan)
• Xing He, YOUR MULTICOLORED LIFE (China), trans. Andy Dudak
• Nalo Hopkinson, THE EASTHOUND (Jamaica)
• Pan Haitian, DEAD MAN, AWAKE, SING TO THE SUN! (China), trans. Joel Martinsen *
• Jacques Barcia, SALVAGING GODS (Brazil)
• Edmundo Paz Soldán, THE NEXT MOVE (Bolivia), trans. Jessica Sequeira *
• Dilman Dila, THE CLAY CHILD (Uganda) *
• Natalia Theodoridou, TO SET AT TWILIGHT IN A LAND OF REEDS (Greece)
• Bef, THE BEAST HAS DIED (Mexico), trans. Brian L. Price
• Alberto Chimal, TWENTY ABOUT ROBOTS (Mexico), trans. Fionn Petch
• Wole Talabi, THE REGRESSION TEST (Nigeria),
• William Tham Wai Liang, KAKAK (Malaysia)
• Usman T. Malik, BEYOND THESE STARS OTHER TRIBULATIONS OF LOVE (Pakistan)
• Julie Novakova, A FLAW IN THE WORKS (Czech Republic), trans. by author *
• Cassandra Khaw, WHEN WE DIE ON MARS (Malaysia)
• Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell, THE MIGHTY SLINGER (Barbados/Grenada)
• T.L. Huchu, CORIALIS (Zimbabwe)
• Clelia Farris, THE SUBSTANCE OF IDEAS (Italy), trans. Rachel S. Cordasco
• Agnieszka Hałas, SLEEPING BEAUTIES (Poland), trans. by author *
• Samit Basu, WAKING NYDRA (India) *
• Neon Yang, BETWEEN THE FIRMAMENTS (Singapore)
• Bo-Young Kim, WHALE SNOWS DOWN (South Korea), trans. Sophie Bowman
• Hassan Blasim, THE GARDENS OF BABYLON (Iraq), trans. Jonathan Wright
• K.A. Teryna, THE FARCTORY (Russia), trans. Alex Shvartsman *

(Stories indicated with an * are original for this volume.)

Here are some of the reviews the first has volume received…

‘This handsome volume from Head of Zeus is a major step on a 45-year journey to bring global speculative fiction to Anglophone attention… The print edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF: Volume 1 is truly a thing of beauty, providing gravitas and a wider audience for the authors it collects… There are many striking stories in the collection… This anthology is just the start of a whole new game for speculative fiction authors around the world’ — LA Review of Books

‘An excellent, lovingly curated collection that is also uniformly well translated’ — Financial Times

‘Tidhar gives a cheerful, fannish introduction to the stories, drawn from 26 countries on five continents, and encompassing a dizzying range of tones and approaches’ — The Times

THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 1 is out now, available in paperback.