The Year's Best African Speculative Fiction (2021)

"If these aren’t “your stories,” you are bound to be wonderstruck by the combined powers of Tobi Ogundirun, Tlotlo Tsamaase, Craig Laurance Gidney, Sheree Renée Thomas, T.L. Huchu, Tobias S. Buckell, ’Pemi Aguda, and the many other skilled storytellers in this book. This is an absolute “Must Have” for anyone who enjoys short fiction."—Lightspeed Magazine

"The ephemeral stories in here are some of the most magical, too. “The Friendship Bench” by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu places generational trauma under the lens of “there’s a gizmo for that!” with a totally unexpected, even darker twist at the very end. “Penultimate” by ZZ Claybourne shows what happens when someone discovers a pen that can alter the world. And Sheree Renee Thomas’s “The Parts That Make Us Monsters” seems to chronicle slave experiences and colonization from the perspective of beings worried about their own status as monsters, in a hauntingly lyrical story I couldn’t help but reread as soon as I finished. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg for this anthology, which includes past favorites of mine by C.L. Clark and Marian Denise Moore, among a host of other amazing fiction. It took far too long for a volume like this to exist, but it has staked its claim among the industry’s Best Of anthologies and set a new bar for others to reach."—Black Gate

"This is a truly excellent collection which will take you to the far future, past and inside the human heart. Prepare to take note of many new authors who you’ll want to know far more about also including tales from great authors such as Sheree Rene Thomas, Suyi Davies Okungbowa and Eugen Bacon. My dear readers you need this in your lives – go get it!"—Runalong The Shelves

"YBASF is an eclectic mix of stories from a group of talented and varied writers that will transport you to a world at once familiar but, at the same time, wonderful and new. With so many tales there are going to be some that won’t land for you, but that is to be expected. Even those that weren’t quite my cup of tea, will definitely have an audience out there. The YBASF will intrigue and delight any lover of short fiction and I would recommend it."—Ginger Nuts of Horror

"I enjoyed this collection, full of imagery from another culture that we don’t see represented enough in Western culture. Many of the stories had a musical quality, almost like poetry rather than prose, and each one deserved reprinting. Highly recommended."—The British Science Fiction Society

"If you are a fan of speculative fiction or a reader looking to expand your world, The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction is a must-read. If the names of the writers look unfamiliar, all the more reason to get this, and strap-in for a journey that makes its way through stories descended from a different literary ancestor that you’re used to, and a storytelling tradition that is at once, both contemporary and ancient. Could this anthology have been better? I think so, yes. Given that this is the very first Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction, an introduction to African speculative fiction and the choices made while putting together the book and how it came to be would have helped, especially when you consider that this anthology is possibly going to be the first African speculative fiction anthology for many readers. Another noticeable lack is the omission of Ekpeki’s 2020 Otherwise Award winning novella, “Ife-Iyoku, The Tale of Imadeyunuagbon”, also published in Dominion. These would’ve made the anthology better, but that’s not to say this lack diminishes it in anyway per se. Given everything, The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction is quite possibly the best version of itself as it stands."—Locus Magazine

"The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction Volume One is a good general representation of the state of SFF in Africa and the diaspora, worth recommending both to people familiar with African and diaspora writing, and to those who are hoping for an introduction to its current trends and concerns. The book is well put together, with a diverse range of high-quality stories by both well-known and less-familiar writers. One can certainly hope Volume Two continues this trend."—The British Science Fiction Association