The Online SciFi Strange Anthology

Note: A year ago I first noticed a new trend in science fiction which I called SciFi Strange. Since then I've been compiling a list of SciFi Strange stories. Hence this online "anthology." Please enjoy.

Introduction to SciFi Strange

SciFi Strange isn't a label. It isn't a definition.  Instead, it's an attempt to describe the science fiction being created by some of today's most exciting writers. These stories combine the literary standards and cultural understandings of the New Wave movement with the basic strangeness and sensawunda from the golden age of science fiction--all seen through the lens of today's multicultural world, where diversity and difference are the norm even as basic human values and needs still bind us together.

SciFi Strange also flirts with the boundaries of what is scientifically--and therefore realistically--possible, without being bounded by the rigid frames of the world as we know it today. But don't call SciFi Strange fantasy. This is pure science fiction. It's merely an updated version of the literature of ideas. A science fiction for a world where the frontiers of scientific possibility are almost philosophical in nature.

Writers of SciFi Strange are a diverse group. Many are new writers who first came to the genre by experiencing science fiction in film and video games--meaning they don't see the term SciFi as derogatory but instead as celebratory. A few have been writing science fiction for decades. Others mainly write fantasy, but cross over into science fiction from time to time. The more established of these authors publish their stories in Fantasy and Science Fiction and Asimov's. The newer ones frequently find homes in Interzone, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Strange Horizons.

Please understand that this is a dream anthology. Unless a publisher offers to actually publish an book along these lines, this is as far as I go. But the stories below are still well worth the read, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

The SciFi Strange Stories

• "Exhalation" (PDF) by Ted Chiang
  Published in Eclipse Two; winner of the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.
• "The Sky that Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black" by Jay Lake
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "The Gambler" by Paolo Bacigalupi
  Published in Fast Forward 2; finalist for the 2009 Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novelette.
• "Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast" by Eugie Foster
  Published in Interzone, winner of the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, finalist for the 2009 Hugo Award.
• "From the Lost Diary of TreeFrog7" by Nnedi Okorafor
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky
  Published in Tor.com, finalist for the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette.
• "Longing for Langalana" (PDF) by Mercurio D. Rivera.
  Published in Interzone; winner of the 2006 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• "Elegy for a Young Elk" by Hannu Rajaniemi
  Published in Subterranean Online.
• "Blue Ink" by Yoon Ha Lee
  Published in Clarkesworld Magazine.
• "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen By Their Rain" (PDF) by Jason Sanford
  I know, its crass of me to include my own story but since it's my dream anthology kiss off if you have a complaint. Published in Interzone, reprinted in Year's Best SF 14.
• "Spinning Out" by Jamie Barras
  Published in Strange Horizons.
• "Ack-Ack Macaque" (podcast) by Gareth L. Powell
  Published in Interzone. Winner of the 2007 Interzone Readers' Poll.
• "The Integrity of the Chain" and "The Spontaneous Knotting of an Agitated String" by Lavie Tidhar
  Both published in Fantasy Magazine, but yes, they are science fiction.
• "Jigoku no Mokushiroku" by John G. McDaid
  An older story, but definitely SciFi Strange. Originally published in Asimov's.
• "Stone Wall Truth" by Caroline M. Yoachim
  Published in Asimov's. (Note: I originally had this in the list of print-only stories I wished to include. But now that Yoachim has posted the story online, I no longer have to wish.)
• "The Shipmaker" (PDF) by Aliette de Bodard
  Published in Interzone, shortlisted for the British Science Fiction Award, and reprinted in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Eighth Annual Collection.

Stories I'd love to include in this "anthology" but which aren't online include

• "Third Day Lights" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
  Published in Interzone, reprinted in Year's Best SF 11.
• "Skinner's Room" by William Gibson
  An older story, but still one which fits with SciFi Strange. Gibson later revisited this short story in his Bridge trilogy.
• "Làzaro y Antonio" by Marta Randall
  Published in F&SF.

If you know any stories which would make a good addition to this online anthology, please add them in the comments below.