Book and anthology editor John Joseph Adams launched this annual series in 2015 (for works published in 2014) using the structure and format of the publisher's analogous series of
Best American Short Stories and
Best American Essays (and another publisher's very long-running series of
O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies) -- Adams is the series editor, while each volume is edited by a more prominent name, usually a famous author. In practice this means the Adams reads all the published stories in each year and selects 80, half SF and half fantasy, as recommendations for the book editor; that editor chooses 20 stories, 10 SF and 10 fantasy, for inclusion in the published volume. Each volume lists "other notable" stories at the end, i.e. the other 60 stories identified by Adams but not chosen by the volume's final editor.
Most often chosen authors: Sofia Samatar (4), then Charlie Jane Anders, Dale Bailey, Adam-Troy Castro, Maria Dahvana Headley, A. Merc Rustad, Caroline M. Yoachim, and E. Lily Yu, with 3 each. (updated Dec. 2021)
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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, Joe Hill & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner, 2015)
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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, Karen Joy Fowler & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner, 2016)
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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017, Charles Yu & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner, 2017)
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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018, N. K. Jemisin & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner, 2018)
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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019, Carmen Mar�a Machado & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner, 2019)
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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020, Diana Gabaldon & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner, 2020)
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The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021, Vernoica Roth & John Joseph Adams, eds. (Mariner Books, 2021)
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Combined Contents by Author and Title
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Through the Flash
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Senaa Ahmad
Let's Play Dead
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Charlie Jane Anders
The Bookstore at the End of America
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Don't Press Charges and I Won't Sue
(Global Dystopias, 2017)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Rat Catcher's Yellows
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Lesley Nneka Arimah
Skinned
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Dale Bailey
I Was a Teenage Werewolf
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Lightning Jack's Last Ride
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Teenagers from Outer Space
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Celeste Rita Baker
Glass Bottle Dancer
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Matthew Baker
Life Sentence
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Nathan Ballingrud
Skullpocket
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Leigh Bardugo
Head, Scales, Tongue, Tail
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Kelly Barnhill
Thirty-Three Wicked Daughters
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Peter S. Beagle
The Story of Kao Yu
(Tor.com 7 Dec 2016)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Elizabeth Bear
Bullet Point
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Erase, Erase, Erase
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Helena Bell
I've Come to Marry the Princess
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
T. Coraghessan Boyle
The Relive Box
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
K. T. Bryski
Tiger's Feast
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Tobias S. Buckell
The Galactic Tourist Industrial Complex
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance
(Cosmic Powers, 2017)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Martin Cahill
Godmeat
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Christopher Caldwell
Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Adam-Troy Castro
Pitcher Plant
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Sacrid's Pod
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
The Thing About Shapes to Come
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Ted Chiang
The Great Silence
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Nino Cipri
Dead Air
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Gwendolyn Clare
Tasting Notes on the Varietals of the Southern Coast
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
P. Dj�l� Clark
The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Samuel R. Delany
The Hermit of Houston
(F&SF Sep/Oct 2017)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Yohanca Delgado
Our Language
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
The Rat
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Seth Dickinson
Three Bodies at Mitanni
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Gene Doucette
Schr�dinger's Catastrophe
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Meg Elison
The Pill
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Kate Elliott
The Long Walk
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Brian Evenson
Smear
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Sarah Gailey
STET
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Neil Gaiman
How the Marquis Got His Coat Back
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Jaymee Goh
The Freedom of the Shifting Sea
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
The Last Cheng Beng Gift
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Theodora Goss
Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
A. T. Greenblatt
One Time, a Reluctant Traveler
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Daryl Gregory
Brother Rifle
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Nine Last Days on Planet Earth
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Maria Dahvana Headley
Black Powder
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
The Orange Tree
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
The Thirteen Mercies
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Micah Dean Hicks
Church of Birds
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Joseph Allen Hill
The Venus Effect
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Ada Hoffmann
Variations on a Theme from Turandot
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
S. L. Huang
By Degrees and Dilatory Time
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
N. K. Jemisin
The City Born Great
(Tor.com 28 Sep 2016)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
The Storyteller's Replacement
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Adam Johnson
Interesting Facts
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Alaya Dawn Johnson
A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i
(F&SF Jul/Aug 2014)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Kij Johnson
The Apartment Dweller's Bestiary
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Rachael K. Jones
The Greatest One-Star Restaurant in the Whole Quadrant
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Shingai Kagunda
And This Is How to Stay Alive
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Mel Kassel
Crawfather
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Will Kaufman
Things You Can Buy for a Penny
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Kathleen Kayembe
You Will Always Have Family: A Triptych
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Alice Sola Kim
Successor, Usurper, Replacement
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Gwendolyn Kiste
The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra's Diary)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Ted Kosmatka
The Beast Adjoins
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Victor LaValle
Up from Slavery
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Yoon Ha Lee
Beyond the Dragon's Gate
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Kelly Link
The Game of Smash and Recovery
(Strange Horizons 17 Oct 2015)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
I Can See Right Through You
(McSweeney's #48)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Ken Liu
The Cleaners
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Thoughts and Prayers
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Karen Lord
The Plague Doctors
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Karin Lowachee
Survival Guide
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Carmen Maria Machado
Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
The Resident
(Her Body and Other Parties, 2017)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Usman T. Malik
Dead Lovers on Each Blade, Hung
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Kate Alice Marshall
Destroy the City with Me Tonight
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Theodore McCombs
Six Hangings in the Land of Unkillable Women
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Seanan McGuire
Each to Each
(Lightspeed Jun 2014)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
What Everyone Knows
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Maureen F. McHugh
Cannibal Acts
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Anil Menon
The Robots of Eden
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Sam J. Miller
The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History
(Uncanny Jan/Feb 2015)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
We Are the Cloud
(Lightspeed Sep 2014)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Annalee Newitz
When Robot and Crow Saved East St. Louis
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Deji Bryce Olukotun
Between the Dark and the Dark
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Tochi Onyebuchi
How to Pay Reparations: A Documentary
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Dexter Palmer
The Daydreamer by Proxy
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Susan Palwick
Windows
(Asimov's Sep 2014)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Silvia Park
Poor Unfortunate Fools
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Charles Payseur
Rivers Run Free
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Brenda Peynado
The Kite Maker
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Sarah Pinsker
Two Truths and a Lie
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Lettie Prell
Justice Systems in Quantum Parallel Probabilities
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Cat Rambo
Tortoiseshell Cats Are Not Refundable
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Rebecca Roanhorse
A Brief Lesson in Native American Astronomy
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Kelly Robson
What Gentle Women Dare
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Jess Row
The Empties
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Salman Rushdie
The Duniaz�t
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Karen Russell
The Bad Graft
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
A. Merc Rustad
Brightened Star, Ascending Dawn
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
How to Become a Robot in 12 Easy Steps
(Scigentasy Mar 2014)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
This Is Not a Wardrobe Door
(Fireside Jan 2016)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Amman Sabet
Skipping Stones in the Dark
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2021
Sofia Samatar
Hard Mary
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
How to Get Back to the Forest
(Lightspeed Mar 2014)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Meet Me in Iram
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Ogres of East Africa
(Long Hidden, 2014)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Kelly Sandoval
The One They Took Before
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Rion Amilcar Scott
Shape-Ups at Delilah's
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Nibedita Sen
Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Adam R. Shannon
On the Day You Spend Forever with Your Dog
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Nisi Shawl
Vulcanization
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Vandana Singh
Ambiguity Machines: An Examination
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Julian Mortimer Smith
Headshot
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
S. P. Somtow
Another Avatar
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Rachel Swirsky
Tea Time
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Jeremiah Tolbert
Not by Wardrobe, Tornado, or Looking Glass
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Cadwell Turnbull
Loneliness Is in Your Blood
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Debbie Urbanski
When They Came to Us
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Catherynne M. Valente
The Future is Blue
(Drowned Worlds, 2016)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Planet Lion
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Genevieve Valentine
Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Greg van Eekhout
On the Fringes of the Fractal
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Jo Walton
Sleeper
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
LaShawn M. Wanak
Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Memphis Minnie Sing the Stumps Down Good
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2019
Peter Watts
ZeroS
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Alexander Weinstein
Openness
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
Daniel H. Wilson
The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015
Nick Wolven
Caspar D. Luckinbill, What Are You Going to Do?
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
No Placeholder for You, My Love
(Asimov's Aug 2015)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Caroline M. Yoachim
The Archronology of Love
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
Carnival Nine
(Beneath Ceaseless Skies 11 May 2017)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0
(Lightspeed Mar 2016)
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
E. Lily Yu
The Time Invariance of Snow
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020
The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017
The Wretched and the Beautiful
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2018
Liz Ziemska
The Mushroom Queen
-- The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016