The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025

Nnedi Okorafor · John Joseph Adams

Oct 2025 · Mariner Books · Narrated by Zach Villa, Cary Hite, Liz Femi, Eunice Wong, and Rebecca Stern

About this audiobook

Of science fiction and fantasy, guest editor Nnedi Okorafor writes, “There are times when it feels like a box, but within it, technically, you can expect anything.” The twenty stories in this collection simultaneously fulfill and defy expectations of genre, showcasing boundary-pushing authors at their best. In this year’s Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, a robot will struggle to make friends, a team of auditors determines the financial value of a lifetime, an alien species will teach you how to read, and maybe, just maybe, someone will finally do something about the kid in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Omelas hole. From the joyous to the terrifying, to the heart wrenching and the absurd, these stories encourage you to open your mind and, as Okorafor promises: “Watch your world expand.”              

THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY 2025 INCLUDES: 'PEMI AGUDA • KIJ JOHNSON • TANANARIVE DUE • S.L. HUANG • JOE HILL • ISABEL J. KIM • T.J. KLUNE • OLIVIE BLAKE • CAROLINE M. YOACHIM • AND OTHERS

Ratings and reviews

I didn’t enjoy all the stories, but I appreciated the diverse voices & styles in this anthology of 20 speculative fiction short stories published in 2024. Some of the stories deal with violence, discrimination, & other injustices, & some were either too dark for my taste or just didn’t grab me. I was delighted to find that many of the stories were told with tenderness, humor, & optimism. I really appreciated the Contributors’ Notes section at the end. Each story had a single narrator, all good.

About the author

Nnedi Okorafor is the author of multiple award-winning and New York Times bestsellers, including Death of the Author, the Binti trilogy, Who Fears Death, and Lagoon, currently in development at Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment. She has won every major prize in speculative fiction, including the World Fantasy, Nebula, and Eisner Awards; multiple Hugo Awards; and the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa. Born in Cincinnati to Igbo Nigerian immigrant parents, she now resides in Phoenix, Arizona, with her daughter, Anyaugo.

John Joseph Adams is the series editor of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and the editor of the Hugo Award–winning Lightspeed, and of more than forty anthologies, including Lost Worlds & Mythological Kingdoms, The Far Reaches, and Out There Screaming (coedited with Jordan Peele).