Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to the free advanced digital copy of this book.

Short story collections are my favorite way to learn about new SFF authors while also being able to read from my favorite authors!

As always there are both hits and misses in this collection. If you are a fan of collections I would still recommend this, and I'm patiently waiting for 2023 to come out soon!

This was my first time reading a Best American SFF collection and it had some good ones. Not totally satisfying overall but still a good set of stories.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022 is a well curated anthology curated and edited by Rebecca Roanhorse. Released 12th Nov 2022 by HarperCollins on their Mariner imprint, it's 432 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

There are 20 stories by my count and they're from authors both familiar and new to me. The stories are varied, there were (as always) some which didn't grab me personally, but all were well written and competently plotted. They were mostly in the 3.5-4 star range with a a fair smattering of really standout stories. This is a well done anthology.

One reason I like collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging. It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting. Well written short fiction is a delight. I also love collections because if one story doesn't really grab me, there's another story just a few pages away. The guest editor for this volume provides a well written intro and commentary and, as always, the background comments are interesting and informative. I enjoyed and used the honorable mention lists included in the volume for even more good recommendations for further reading.

Four stars on average. It's a diverting and worthwhile read to be savored like a box of chocolates. This would make a good selection for public library acquisition as well as for home readers looking for a solid anthology of stories which will also likely serve as an introduction to lots of new authors to search out.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A surprisingly hit-or-miss collection this year -- some of the stories rocked my socks while others made me scratch my head. Obviously that's the constant possibility with any Best Of The Year collections but this one felt like the balance was farther off than normal. Still, there were treats to be discovered for sure!

I want to thank Netgalley and Mariner Books for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I rated this 3.75

Is a work speculative if the speculative elements are ambiguous? There were a few stories here that I wouldn't classify as speculative, so they felt out of place in the collection. There is also a fine line between what I consider beautifully expressive prose and pretentiousness. The stories in this were definitely riding that line; some landed on one side and some on the other. As a whole, I had more positive experiences than not, so I'm giving this a positive review. I found I liked the stories that were a bit more nostalgic or subtle with their messaging whereas the stories that were too blunt with their agenda felt bad.

Some of my favorite stories were: Proof by Induction - which is about a son and father relationship after death. and I Was a Teenage Space Jokey - which is a boy with a big imagination who is playing in a video game arcade (this is one that I would classify as Historical fiction rather than speculative, but it was still amazing)
My least favorite story was Colors of an Immortal Palette - which is about a woman who goes from muse to artist with the aid of vampirism. I found this to be overwritten.

2022 was really the year I embraced the short story collection so what better way to end the year than by reading a collection of the best SFF short stories from 2021, a collection that includes the Hugo and Nebula nominated “Proof by Induction” by José Pablo Iriarte and the Nebula nominated “Let All the Children Boogie” by Sam J. Miller.

In the introduction, guest editor Rebecca Roanhorse talks about how her writing grapples with “smaller” questions like identity and relationships and community and how to counter Western ideas of individual achievement above everything, which is why smaller is in quotes because in my opinion those are some pretty big questions. Each of the stories she selected for this collection try to answer questions along those lines.

While I don’t think this is a new favorite collection, I did find several new favorite stories and authors to check out. I particularly loved Sam J. Miller’s “Let All the Children Boogie”, José Pablo Iriarte’s “Proof by Induction”, Justin C. Key’s “The Algorithm Will See You Now”, and Caroline M. Yaochim’s “Colors of the Immortal Palette”.

I like knowing the works authors enjoy, so I’m always excited to pick up The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy when an author I really like is the editor. The editor for this year's edition is Rebecca Roanhorse, one of my favorite fantasy authors. Roanhorse chose a great mixture of short stories that focus on themes of human connection, family, hope, and more. Some of my favorite stories include "The Future Library" by Peng Shepherd and "Let all the Children Boogie" by Sam J. Miller.

Like most short story collections, a few stories are memorable and the rest I might never think about again, but every time I read one of these collections I leave with new authors to check out. The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy is always great to pick up if you love fantasy and sci-fi or if you're new to the genre and want to see what's out there. The collection always has a great mixture of popular and new authors that gives a well rounded view into today's best fantasy and sci-fi writing.

"The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2022" edited by John Joseph Adams and Rebecca Roanhorse is an exciting collection of stories.

Although this anthology of 20 stories is evenly split between 10 science fiction and 10 fantasy stories, many of them are surprisingly excellent examples of fiction that literally straddles the boundary between science fiction and fantasy. I write "surprisingly" since even though most of these stories are actually somewhat outside of my go-to sub-generes of hard SF and epic adventure fantasy they were much more readable and enjoyable than I would have predicted. I had read several of the stories and authors before, which I think indicates that it was a good selection of stories for me. Nearly every story made me sit back and think a bit. I found about a third of the stories to be awesome, a third to be good, and just under a third to be OK. If the choice were up to me, there are two stories I would not have chosen. Though they were all memorable and I can recommend this collection to thinkers and lovers of science fiction and fantasy.,

I thank the editors, authors, and publisher for kindly providing a temporary electronic review copy of this work.

This is one of the best editions of 'Best American SFF' I've read. That's fairly unsurprising, since Rebecca Roanhorse is a fabulous writer with fabulous taste, so her curation is fairly impeccable. Some stories worked better for me than others, of course, but overall this is a top-tier anthology.

This is a collection of twenty stories of science fiction, fantasy, and bit of horror, a Year's Best collection with John Joseph Adams as the series editor, and Rebecca Roanhorse as this year's guest editor.

It's a lively and interesting collection of stories, including the ones that are not to my taste. It includes writers of a wide variety of backgrounds, with the diverse characters you, or at least I, like to see.

Some of my favorites here:

If the Martians Have Magic, by P. Djèli Clarke--In a rather different history than ours, H.G. Wells's Martians invaded--several times. The last time, the magic practitioners of Earth united to kick them out permanently. But three Martians were left behind, and taken prisoner. A generation later, the Council that mediates all things magical and is also responsible for the Martians is caught in a conflict over what to do with. Some feel they need to be killed. Not everyone agrees, but the only real advocate they have realizes she can only win by proving the Martians have magic, too, and are protected by the same law that protects all other magic practitioners. Unfortunately, it looks like she won't have time. Several magical traditions are represented, and the Martians' advocate is from the Caribbean tradition.

Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story, by Nalo Hopkinson--Global climate change wasn't halted or even slowed down, and the waters rose much faster than expected. Many people are living on artificial, floating habitats, including our protagonist, who has just had new cyber devices inserted into her head. Being a little headstrong, she doesn't stick around on land to properly acclimate to her new enhancements before heading home. This leads to ditching in the water, and we get a closeup look at why she's been commenting on how bad things are, and the irreversibility of it. But when she washes up on a bit of land that hasn't gone under yet, she encounters something that might mean there's hope after all.

The Red Mother, by Elizabeth Bear--This is a lovely story of an aging Viking going looking for his exiled brother, to tell him he's been cleared of the murder charge that got him exiled. When he reaches the village where his tracking magic took him, he meets an old friend, who tells him his brother and others are dead, and the only way to save them is to go fight the dragon that's harassing the village. It has an unexpected ending.

The Pizza Boy, by Meg Ellison--The pizza boy is delivering pizza to ships on both sides of an interstellar way. It's very important that he have mushrooms available for certain orders, and the reason takes a while to become apparent. Intrigue and ingenuity. And mushrooms.

Those are my favorites, and there are other stories that I love in this anthology. There are also others I'm not so fond of, but they're well-written, and will be someone else's favorites. No bad picks in here.

Recommended.

I receive a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley, and am reviewing it voluntarily.

The 2022 iteration of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, guest edited by Rebecca Roanhorse, is a really strong short story collection. Although there were some I enjoyed more than others, there truly wasn't a dud in the bunch. In her introduction, Roanhorse talks about what reading offered her: an escape, a way to engage her imagination and expand her conception of what was possible, but also a conscience and way of critically thinking about our own world. These stories strike that balance beautifully, creating immersive worlds that grapple with big questions and what Roanhorse characterizes in her introduction as the smaller questions: "who are we, to ourselves and to others? How do we navigate the tricky waters of human relationship, identity, individuality, and community?"

Some of the standouts among a crowded field of excellent short stories:

"If the Martians Have Magic" by P. Djeli Clark combines magic and aliens with effortless world-building to explore politics and oppression.

"Delete Your First Memory for Free" by Kel Coleman uses a common sci trope-- memory deletion-- to tell a really sweet story about starting fresh with someone.

Nalo Hopkinson's "Broad Dutty Water: A Sunken Story" and Peng Shepherd's "The Future Library" are both set in worlds ravaged by climate change and are excellent.

"Let All the Children Boogie" by Sam J. Miller and Stephen Graham Jones's "I Was a Teenage Space Jockey" are both lovely takes on teenagehood, with nostalgia and heart.

"Skinder's Veil" by Kelly Link was just weird and fun to read.

Honestly, I want to highlight so many more, but the takeaway should be that this is a collection worth checking out. If you are a fan of sci-fi/fantasy, this is definitely a collection to check out! What a great way to find new authors and be reminded to read more by familiar authors.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Anthologies fill a necessary space in my reading history. I find short stories that feed into my favorite series and excellent stories by authors who quickly become favorites on my TBR lists. I always have at least one anthology with me wherever I go, just in case I have time to read and finish a short story. This annual contribution to my library is one I would recommend to any and everyone looking for something different.

THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY 2022 edited by John Joseph Adams and Rebecca Roanhorse (Black Sun) offers their choice of twenty outstanding science fiction and fantasy stories for the year. I was excited to sample several authors who were new to me and also to note the number of female authors who were included, like Elizabeth Bear, Meg Elison, Peng Shepherd (The Cartographers), and Maria Dong (whose forthcoming book titled Liar, Dreamer, Thief is already getting much buzz). The stories, like "I was a Teenage Space Jockey" or "The Cloud Lake Unicorn" or "Let All the Children Boogie" were entertaining and imaginative and often rather literary. If you like the science fiction genre, be sure to also look for past collections gathered by Gardner Dozois annually since the mid-1980s.

Most collections of short stories include one or two stinkers, but this is the rare one where every story included is a gem, truly one of the best stories of the year. Many, like P. Dejali Clark's "If the Martians Have Magic," have already won awards, and others, though less well-known, are equally engaging and fascinating. I don't know whether to credit editor Rebecca Roanhorse, an exceptional writer in her own right, or the series methodology, but this is the anthology I would recommend for those looking for the best scifi and fantasy stories. Personal favorites (can't really say standouts, because, as already mentioned, the selection game was strong and they're all great stories) include "Pizza Boy," about a futuristic pizza chef holding his own in a galaxy at war, and Catherine Valennte's wonderful take on Orpheus and Eurydice that asks if Eurydice actually wanted to be saved.

What a delight to have these 20 stories in one collection. What a delight to showcase these 20 American authors. Rebecca Roanhorse, herself a powerhouse of SFF, chose wisely. These stories, written or published during our COVID pandemic take us away, whether through time, space, or technology, while also asking us to examine who we are and who we want to be.

Must buy! 4/5

Its easy to tell why these stories were chosen to be part of this book. All of them had something about them that made them stick around long after reading. Some of them hit harder than others, but that may just be a personal preference and all of them were worth a read.

#TheBestAmericanScienceFictionAndFantasy2022 #NetGalley

I love these collections so much, and this collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy stories was expertly curated by John Joesph Adams and guest editor Rebecca Roanhorse. I especially loved the short story “Colors of the Immortal Palette” by Caroline M. Yoachim which stuck with me long after reading it. It has a mix of award nominees for different prizes including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. If you’re looking for a diverse collection of short stories, this is a perfect collection to pick up and explore.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a wonderful anthology this is, full of stories that would be great for anyone who doesn't normally read sci-fi, as well as those who are sci-fi aficionados. All of the stories were good, some were great, none were bad. I also discovered some new authors I hadn't read before. Highly recommended!

This is series is always a good bet. This collection is a good one. It has a nice variety and some very talented authors. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!