To keep up to date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more - a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious fans. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the inaugural volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a new yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy award-winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers.

The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor in chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year's writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome "sensawunda" that the genre has to offer.

Neil Clarke is the award-winning publisher and editor in chief of Clarkesworld magazine, winner of three Hugo Awards for Best Semiprozine, and the editor of the 2014 cyborg-themed original anthology Upgraded. Clarke lives in Stirling, New Jersey.

Contents:
• Introduction: A State of the Short SF Field in 2015 • essay by Neil Clarke
• Today I Am Paul • [Today I Am] • (2015) • short story by Martin L. Shoemaker
• Calved • (2015) • short story by Sam J. Miller
• Three Bodies at Mitanni • (2015) • short story by Seth Dickinson
• The Smog Society • (2015) • short story by Chen Qiufan
• In Blue Lily's Wake • [Universe of Xuya] • (2015) • novelette by Aliette de Bodard
• Hello, Hello • (2015) • short story by Seanan McGuire
• Folding Beijing • (2015) • novelette by Hao Jingfang
• Capitalism in the 22nd Century or A.I.r. • (2015) • short story by Geoff Ryman
• Hold-Time Violations • (2015) • short story by John Chu
• Wild Honey • (2015) • short story by Paul J. McAuley [as by Paul McAuley]
• So Much Cooking • (2015) • novelette by Naomi Kritzer
• Bannerless • [The Bannerless Saga] • (2015) • novelette by Carrie Vaughn
• Another Word for World • (2015) • novelette by Ann Leckie
• The Cold Inequalities • (2015) • short story by Yoon Ha Lee
• Iron Pegasus • (2015) • short story by Brenda Cooper
• The Audience • (2015) • novelette by Sean McMullen
• Empty • (2015) • novelette by Robert Reed
• Gypsy • (2015) • novella by Carter Scholz
• Violation of the TrueNet Security Act • (2015) • novelette by Taiyō Fujii
• Damage • (2015) • short story by David D. Levine
• The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss • (2015) • novelette by David Brin
• No Placeholder for You, My Love • (2015) • novelette by Nick Wolven
• Outsider • (2015) • novelette by An Owomoyela
• The Gods Have Not Died in Vain • [Maddie (Ken Liu) • 3] • (2015) • novelette by Ken Liu
• Cocoons • (2015) • novelette by Nancy Kress
• Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World • (2015) • short story by Caroline M. Yoachim
• Two-Year Man • (2015) • short story by Kelly Robson
• Cat Pictures Please • (2015) • short story by Naomi Kritzer
• Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan • (2015) • novelette by Ian McDonald
• Meshed • (2015) • short story by Rich Larson
• A Murmuration • (2015) • short story by Alastair Reynolds
• Recommended Reading (The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 1) • essay by Neil Clarke