The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 Read Online Free Page A

she-can-do-anything star, Sofia Samatar—are a mix of old hands and fresh voices. If you’ve read John Joseph Adams’s foreword, you know the deal: he read several thousand stories, whittled them down to eighty that he thought were truly remarkable, and I read through those, reducing them to twenty favorites. The authors’ names were withheld from me, and everyone here fought their way in on their own merits. When their secret identities were revealed, it gladdened me to discover I was among some old friends, and excited me to be introduced to so many remarkable new talents.
    I am also pleased that the finished collection organically arose as one of great diversity. Whatever your sexual orientation, whatever your ethnicity, whatever your age or personal experiences, it is my hope you will find a hero somewhere here you can relate to, that speaks to the world as
you
see it. Even better: there is a good chance you will find some heroes here who are deeply, fundamentally different from yourself. I don’t have much patience with readers who yearn to explore incredible worlds and mind-bending situations but grow cold at the idea of imagining their way into different political ideas, different faiths, a different gender, a different skin, a different life.
    I hesitate to reveal many specifics about the stories themselves. A description of a fireworks show is never as good as seeing one. But perhaps I can offer a few general observations.
    The apocalypse is totally happening . . . at least in the sense that it’s a popular subject in SF/F right now (as for whether the apocalypse is
happening
happening, continue to watch the Weather Channel and keep your disaster insurance up to date). There are three end-of-the-worlders in this book . . . and there were at least three others I read that were almost as good as these.
    We are increasingly anxious about our inability to look away from our ever-more-seductive screens and all too aware that what you get from your shiny new device may be very different from what was promised on the box.
    Even demon lovers and occasional ghosts are depressed by reality television and tabloid websites.
    The world needs mermaids.
    Kickstarter and Craigslist have replaced the stake and the cross as our go-to tools for dealing with the supernatural.
    Poverty is hard, even in the future.
    The natural world may not ever be done playing pranks on us talking apes.
    History is no longer just a story written by the winners.
    Most of all, we humans will always be driven to take enormous risks and perform heart-wrenching sacrifices for our friends, children, partners, or parents, regardless of our costume, be it a spacesuit or a fantastic coat with pockets full of magic.
    Â 
    And that’s enough by way of preamble from your faithful correspondent. I’ve talked myself dry, and besides . . . the hour grows late. The sun has long since set, and the first stars are out. Cricket song throbs in the high grass. Do you hear that? A bell
clank-clank-clanks
at a distant railroad crossing, although there’s no sign of a train. Whoa—
spooky.
    We’re all here on our picnic blankets on a perfect evening and it’s time for the show. Who’s ready for some fireworks? Who’s ready to watch the sky burn?
    Oh good. I’m ready, too.
    Strike the match.
    Touch the fuse.
    *!
    (bang)
    Â 
    â€”J OE H ILL

SOFIA SAMATAR
How to Get Back to the Forest
    FROM
Lightspeed Magazine
    Â 
    â€œY OU HAVE TO puke it up,” said Cee. “You have to get down there and puke it up. I mean down past where you can feel it, you know?”
    She gestured earnestly at her chest. She had this old-fashioned cotton nightgown on, lace collar brilliant under the bathroom lights. Above the collar, her skin looked gray. Cee had bones like a bird. She was so beautiful. She was completely beautiful and fucked. I mean everybody at camp was sort of a mess, we were even supposed to be