THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 Paperback Out This Week!


The paperback edition of THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 is out this week! Edited by Lavie Tidhar, it is published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra on April 13th. 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 also out now in paperback, published by AdAstra/Head of Zeus.

THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 Out Now in North America!


THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 is out now in North America! Edited by Lavie Tidhar, it is published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra (the UK edition was published back in October). 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 also out now, available in paperback.

THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 Out Now in the UK!


THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Volume 2 is out now in the UK! Edited by Lavie Tidhar, it is published by Head of Zeus/AdAstra. 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.

The collection will be published in North America on November 1st, also by Head of Zeus/AdAstra.

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 also out now, available in paperback (UK and North America).

THE BEST OF WORLD SF, Vol.2 Announced!


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.

ICYMI: The World SF StoryBundle 4 Has Launched!


The World SF StoryBundle 4 has been launched! Curated once again by Lavie Tidhar, it includes a fantastic selection of fiction from an international cast of authors…

  • Aliette de BodardON A RED STATION DRIFTING
  • Francesco VersoBLOODBUSTERS
  • Dilman DilaTHE FUTURE GOD OF LOVE
  • Xueting Ni (ed.)SINOPTICON
  • Un-Su KimTHE CABINET
  • Rokuro InuiAUTOMATIC EVE
  • Lavie TidharGOREL AND THE POT-BELLIED GOD
  • Thilde Kold HoldeNORTHERN WRATH
  • Fabio FernandesLOVE. AN ARCHAEOLOGY
  • Wole TalabiINCOMPLETE SOLUTIONS

Here’s what Lavie had to say about the new bundle

It’s hard to believe this is now the fifth annual World SF bundle I get the good fortune to curate. The first one was back in 2018!

And yet with every year it’s possible to find more great books – novels, novellas, anthologies and collections – that highlight the sheer talent and diversity of speculative fiction from around the world.

The future doesn’t need to be American anymore. Can it be Vietnamese? Italian? Nigerian? Chinese? You bet it can.

I can imagine nothing more rewarding than being able to share these books with new readers, while supporting the authors and their publishers directly through this bundle. Not to mention supporting a wonderfully worthwhile charity at the same time! So join me, if you will, into the reaches of space and deep into the South American jungles, to the distant past and to the tombs of the moon!

With writers from France, Japan, Italy, Uganda, Korea, China, Brazil, Nigeria and Denmark, you really are in for a truly international feast!

With proceeds from each bundle going to the authors and charity, this is a great way to discover great, international writing talent and also do a little bit of good.

The bundle is available for another 18 days, so make sure you check out the website for full details and to purchase the bundle!