The Year's Best SF 31 was marked by the inclusion of an unprecedented three stories from The Other Half of the Sky, a 2013 anthology of original short stories edited by scientist, author and editor Athena Andreadis - in her very first outing with an anthology published by swashbuckling micro-press Candlemark & Gleam.
"The point of the antho was to have best-of-breed writers sculpt evolved space opera that combines original concepts with literary quality prose, animated by women protagonists. The reviews of the antho as a whole (which routinely used terms like "fearless" and "reconstructing the genre") have been incredibly fulfilling but it's equally rewarding to have the authors' craft recognized," said Andreadis. Of the 16 original stories in the The Other Half of the Sky, curated by Andreadis and co-editor Kay Holt of Crossed Genres, the three selected for inclusion were "Finders" by Melissa Scott, "Bad Day on Boscobel" by Alexander Jablokov and "The Waiting Stars" by Aliette de Bodard. The three stories constitute 9 percent of The Year's Best SF 31's table of contents, an achievement not matched in memory. The stream of recognition did not stop there. A fourth story, C. W. Johnson's "Exit, Interrupted" was chosen for inclusion in The Year's Top Ten SF Tales 6. The anthology appeared on the coveted Locus recommended list. And just today, the anthology contributors discovered that Aliette de Bodard's "The Waiting Stars" has been nominated for a Nebula Award, an accolade given by genre professionals to their peers.Videos