JANUARY
“The Salt in Her Kiss” by Malena Salazar Maciá, translated from the Spanish by ? (The Future Fire).
“Memoir of a Turkey” by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, translated from the Spanish by Kayla Andrews (Asymptote Journal).
In which a dead turkey’s innards yield a packet of papers, which turn out to be the turkey’s own memoir.
“The Perfect Sail” by , translated from the Korean by
A woman seeks to absorb all other versions of herself living in other dimensions in order to achieve perfection; she’s thwarted, however, by a minuscule yet courageous version who refuses to be absorbed upon the latter’s death.
“The Ancestral Temple in a Box” by , translated from the Chinese by
A father inspires his son to bring an ancient art into the future via virtual reality.
“Eleos” by Michał Sosiński, translated from the Polish by Kate Webster (Przekrój).
“The Other Woman” by Bibiana Camacho, translated from the Spanish by Cecilia Weddell (World Literature Today).
While riding the metro, a woman looks at her reflection and sees a face that isn’t her own. The chaos happening outside of her stalled train mirrors the woman’s fear and panic at this strange change to her appearance.
FEBRUARY
“Eyes of the Crocodile” by Malena Salazar Maciá, translated from the Spanish by ? (Clarkesworld Magazine).
Nanobots of various types rebel against their human hosts and one woman takes it upon herself to bring them back into line and save herself in the process.
MARCH
“The Task Lamp” by Bruce Sterling, translated from the Italian by the author (Medium).
After a plague kills off most of the world’s population, the survivors eventually learn to live without smart technology.
APRIL
“Three Expeditions” by Dennis Mombauer, translated from the German by Olivia Hofer (Three Crows Magazine).
A story of three expeditions that set out simultaneously to different places (mountain, well, and river), which all promise something, but eventually begin to blur into each other and shift as the expeditions close in on their destination.
“The Green Hills of Dimitry Totzkiy” by Eldar Safin, translated from the Russian by Alex Shvartsman (Samovar).
An allegorical tale about a man who commits suicide and turns into a demiurge who creates a new world (from which sprouts alternate worlds).
“Debtless” by Chen Qiufan, translated from the Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks (Clarkesworld Magazine).
In the future, debt has been encoded in humanity’s DNA, and a group of clones has been sent into space to mine asteroids to pay off their own debt.
MAY
“Two Moons” by Elena Pavlova, translated from the Bulgarian by Kalin M. Nenov and Elena Pavlova (Compelling Science Fiction).
A young girl struggles to survive a coming-of-age trial outside the giant extra-terrestrial organism in which she lives.
Excerpt from Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (LitHub).
“The Language Sheath” by Regina Kanyu Wang, translated from the Chinese by Emily Jin and Regina Kanyu Wang (Clarkesworld Magazine).
A language instructor works with a machine translation company to produce a “language sheath” that automatically (and impeccably) translates between English and Kemorean (a dying language). This work, though, highlights the linguistic and cultural tensions between her and her son.
JUNE
“Zoo Syndrome” by Sadaa al-Daas, translated from the Arabic by Omar Qaqish (World Literature Today).
A story reminiscent of Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis,” in which a man awakens to find that he and everyone around him have transformed into different animals.
“The Fastener” by Natsumi Tanaka, translated from the Japanese by ? (Daily Science Fiction).
“Cousin Entropy” by Michèle Laframboise, translated from the French by N. R. M. Roshak (Future Science Fiction Digest).
The universe slowly dies, only to give birth to a new one.
JULY
“Flickers of Light” by Yasumi Tsuhara, translated from the Japanese by ? (Asymptote Journal).
“The Curtain Falls, the Show Must End” by Julie Nováková, translated from the Czech by the author (Samovar).
A ghost inhabits a theatre after being summoned by one of the actors; takes place on the eve of World War Two and includes historical figures like Max Brod and Paul Eger.
“Hummingbird” by Eisuke Aikawa, translated from the Japanese by ? (Samovar).
“Floating Life” (excerpt from Beloved Wife, Part 2) by Kai-Cheung Dung, translated from the Chinese (Hong Kong) by Andrea Lingenfelter (Chinese Literature Today).
“The Affair” (the first of the Hamlet Trilogy) by Isaac (Shuntang) Hsu, translated from the Chinese (Taiwan) by Tze-lan Deborah Sang and Isaac (Shuntang) Hsu (Chinese Literature Today).
“a short story that deals with poignant questions of morality and humanity raised by the development of artificial intelligence. The underlying concept of the story strongly resonates with that of Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics.”
“Letter to My Daughter” by Cixin Liu, translated from the Chinese by Jesse Field (Chinese Literature Today).
In which the narrator imagines that his daughter is reading a letter he wrote two hundred years before, where he speculates about what the 23rd century must be like.
“Three Stories Conjured from Nothing” by ShakeSpace, translated from the Chinese by Andy Dudak (Clarkesworld).
Three micro-stories about different kinds of universes and the perceptions of their inhabitants (a computer network, winged people in a Dyson sphere, a universe in the shape of a snake).
AUGUST
“I, Crocodile” by Jacinta Escudos, translated from the Spanish by Eliana González Ugarte (Constelación, August).
A woman turns into a crocodile and back
“The Plague” by Yan Leisheng, translated from the Chinese by Andy Dudak (Clarkesworld Magazine, August).
A silicon-based virus devastates humanity, turning anyone it infects into stone; one man charged with burning the stone bodies, though, finds out that those people are still alive and just moving incredibly slowly.
SEPTEMBER
Excerpt from If We Can’t Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop, translated from the Korean by Youngjae Josephine Bae (Korean Literature Now, September).
A woman investigates the mysterious disappearance of her mother’s mind from the mind-library.
“No One Ever Leaves Port Henri” by K. A. Teryna, translated from the Russian by Alex Shvartsman (Galaxy’s Edge, September).
Set in the 1920s on a Caribbean island, this is a story of a king looking for an heir via supernatural means.
“The Book Reader” by Keishi Kajifune, translated from the Japanese by ? (Clarkesworld, September).
OCTOBER
“Express to Beijing West Railway Station” by Congyun ‘Mu Ming’ Gu, translated from the Chinese by Kiera Johnson (Samovar, October).
“20th Century Hotel” by Tomihiko Morimi, translated from the Japanese by Emily Balistrieri (Samovar, October).
A hotel is inhabited by ghosts who try to convince one man that the twentieth century will not be one of progress so much as destruction.
“All Living Creation” by Xiu Xinyu, translated from the Chinese by Elizabeth Hanlon (Clarkesworld Magazine, October).
Clones being used as human subtitutes and peoples’ genes being sold commercially
“The Post-Conscious Age” by Su Min, translated from the Chinese by Nathan Faries (Future Science Fiction Digest, October).
An unknown (alien?) lifeform hijacks people’s consciousnesses and forces them to talk endlessly about their work/discipline.
NOVEMBER
“Faith” by Sayaka Murata, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapely Takemori (Granta, November).
“An Almost Perfect Exchange” by Florin Purluca, translated from the Romanian by the author (Unfit Magazine, November).
“I Will Make You Remember Me” by H. Pueyo, translated from the Portuguese (Brazil) by the author (Nat. Brut, November).
“Lipstick” by Michael Haulică, translated from the Romanian by Adriana Mosoiu (SFT, November).
“The Recluse” by George Cornilă, translated from the Romanian by ? (Aphelion, November).
“Niuniu” by Baoshu, translated from the Chinese by Andy Dudak (Clarkesworld, November).
“Tsintatak” by Ateri Miyawatl, translated from the Spanish (Mexico) by Adam Coon (Strange Horizons, November).
“Prometheus with a Happy Face” by Daniela L. Guzmán, translated from the Spanish (Mexico) by the author (Strange Horizons, November).
“Dark Star” by Vraiux Dorós, translated by ? (Strange Horizons, November).
“Biography of Algae” by Martha Riva Palacio Obón, translated from the Spanish (Mexico) by Will Morningstar (Strange Horizons, November).
“Uroboros” by Emiliano González, translated from the Spanish (Mexico) by Emma Törzs (Strange Horizons, November).
DECEMBER
“The Gift” by Daria Bezzadina, translated from the Ukrainian by ? (Three Crows Magazine, December).
“Rœsin” by Wu Guan, translated from the Chinese by Judith Huang (Future Science Fiction Digest–East Asia Special Issue, December)
“Raising Mermaids” by Dai Da, translated from the Chinese by S. Qiouyi Lu (Future Science Fiction Digest–East Asia Special Issue, December).
“Reflection” by Gu Shi, translated from the Chinese by Ken Liu (Future Science Fiction Digest–East Asia Special Issue, December). [reprint]
“Whale Snows Down” by Kim Bo-Young, translated from the Korean by Sophie Bowman (Future Science Fiction Digest–East Asia Special Issue, December).
“Formerly Slow” by Wei Ma, translated from the Chinese by Andy Dudak (Future Science Fiction Digest–East Asia Special Issue, December).
“Just Like Migratory Birds” by Taiyo Fujii, translated from the Japanese by Emily Balistrieri (Future Science Fiction Digest–East Asia Special Issue, December).
“No Way Back” by Chi Hui, translated from the Chinese by John Chu (Clarkesworld, December).
