The Best of World SF: Volume 1

This excellent anthology proves editor Tidhar’s assertion that science fiction should no longer be thought of as “white, male, and American” with 26 exemplary stories from 21 countries. French author Aliette de Bodard draws on her Vietnamese heritage in the Nebula Award–winning “Immersion” to examine the strain of keeping one’s culture alive within a dominant interstellar civilization. Francesco Verso’s “The Green Ship,” translated from the Italian by Michael Colbert, sees a boatload of refugees crossing the Mediterranean from Benghazi in the near future. In the poignant “Delhi” from Indian author Vandana Singh, a young man copes with a barrage of glimpses into the past, present, and future of that ancient city. Cuban author Malena Salazar Macia shows how post-human technology can recreate the primitive past in “Eyes of the Crocodile,” translated by Toshiya Kamei. “Xingzhou” by Singaporean author Ng Yi-Sheng energetically whips mythic and literary tropes into a witty souffle. And the Hugo-winning “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” by Malaysian author Zen Cho is an amusing and moving tale of a larval dragon’s millennium-long wait to ascend to its true form. Worthwhile both as a survey of international sci-fi and on a story-by-story level, this wonderful anthology should be a hit with any sci-fi fan. (June)