The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025

 

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2025 is a well curated anthology curated and edited by Dr. Nnedi Okorafor. Released 21st Oct 2025 by HarperCollins on their Mariner imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

There are 21 stories by my count and they're from authors both familiar and new to me. The stories are varied, there were (as always) some which didn't grab me personally, but all were well written and competently plotted. They were mostly in the 3.5-4 star range with a a decent smattering of really standout stories. This is a well done anthology. The book also features an interesting and erudite foreword by series editor John Joseph Adams, as well as an introduction from Dr. Okorafor. It includes a lot of additional resource lists and top choices for genre publishing which will provide many hours of further reading list building.

One reason I like collections and anthologies is that short fiction is really challenging.  It's spare and the author doesn't have a wealth of wordage to develop characters or the plotting.  Well written short fiction is a delight. I also love collections because if one story doesn't really grab me, there's another story just a few pages away. The guest editor for this volume provides a well written intro and commentary and, as always, the background comments are interesting and informative. I enjoyed and used the honorable mention lists included in the volume for even more good recommendations for further reading. 

Four stars on average. It's a diverting and worthwhile read to be savored like a box of chocolates. This would make a good selection for public library acquisition as well as for home readers looking for a solid anthology of stories which will also likely serve as an introduction to lots of new authors to search out, which is the best part of anthologies; reference hunting the contributors later.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

 

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025

 

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025 is a well curated collection of essays and articles from the world of science from 2024/25 edited by Susan Orlean. Released 21st Oct 2025 by HarperCollins on their Mariner Books imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is an interesting and very well rounded anthology full of layman accessible popular science articles. The selection is impressively broad, generally eschewing the most popular periodicals with the largest reach in favor of the lesser known and potentially overlooked authors and subjects. Although the NYT and The Atlantic have entries here, so also do Orion, STAT, and Hippocampus. 

There is a lot of content devoted (rightfully) to the dystopian loss of habitat and climate change, but I was gratified to see that not -all- the articles were strictly bad news; there are a broad selection of essays on scientific innovation and developing gene therapies and getting them to market, worms, color perception, and many more (20+ by my rough count). All of them were well written and engaging.

There is also an erudite and well written introduction by the guest editor, Ms. Orlean as well as a foreword by series editor  Jaime Green. 

Five stars. Accessible and interesting. Recommended for fans of science writing as well as a good choice for public or school library acquisition. Impressively egalitarian vetting and choice of material included. Lots of fodder for dinner table conversation to be found here... "I was reading about that just the other day...". 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

 

Love Bites - Tails from the Alpha Art Gallery #1

 

Love Bites is the first book in a sarcastic rompy paranormal romance thriller/mystery by Cynthia St. Aubin. Originally published in 2019, this reformat and re-release from Macmillan on their Tor imprint is 304 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The other books in the series are also currently available on KU. 

The author has a good grasp of "Bridget Jones" type situational girl-y comedy, and the elements of paranormal romance (exotic locations, wealthy lifestyle, mysterious but very attractive boss, art gallery with exceedingly quirky patrons and stable of artists) are all present.

There's some graphic content, both paranormal violence (body horror + physical violence), and sexual content. Nothing extreme for the subgenre, and it's not really egregious, but it is there. The action driven plot moves very quickly and it manages to surprise a giggle/snort more than rarely (along with some eye-rolls for over the top silliness and camp). 

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 8 hours 15 minutes and is read by series narrator Stella Hunter. She has a well modulated, husky alto neutral American accent in this read and does a good job of the different character voices over a range of ages and genders (and species). 

Four stars, with five books extant and a sixth due out in first quarter 2027, it would make a nice binge or buddy read, as well as a good candidate for public library acquisition. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.