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Despite being an awful year in many respects, 2020 did give us some wonderful SFT from all around the world, enriching the genre and introducing Anglophone readers to new authors and styles.

From German high fantasy to Romanian steampunk, and from Spanish horror to Japanese magical realism, the SFT of 2020 showed us just how dynamic and diverse the genre is many different languages. Italian and Romanian SFT, in particular, made a strong showing this year, plus MIT Press released several new editions of classic Lem stories and novels and Valancourt Books brought us a fascinating collection of world horror.

About 45% of standalone short SFT was published in Clarkesworld, Future Science Fiction Digest, and Strange Horizons. Thirty-five percent of standalone texts were translated from the Chinese, 17.5% from the Spanish (Mexico, Spain, Cuba, El Salvador), and 10.5% from the Portuguese (thanks in large part to the new magazine Eita!).

In terms of book-length SFT, novels accounted for 61% (34), collections 29.1% (16), and anthologies 9.1% (5).

The total number of short SFT texts (standalone + those included in collections/anthologies) came to 164 this year, down slightly from 2019.

Below I dive into the charts and numbers (and if you really love stats, go here to The Big SFT Spreadsheet).

 

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Standalone Short SFT

total: 57

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese- 20 (35.1%) (China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong)

published in Clarkesworld, LitHub, Chinese Literature Today, Analog, Future Science Fiction Digest, Samovar, Asimov’s

Spanish- 10 (17.5%) (Mexico, Spain, Cuba, El Salvador)

published in World Literature Today, The Future Fire, Asymptote Journal, Clarkesworld, Constelación, Strange Horizons

Portuguese- 6 (10.5%) (Brazil)

published in Nat. Brut. and Eita! Magazine

Japanese- 5 (8.8%)

published in Daily Science Fiction, Samovar, Clarkesworld, Future Science Fiction Digest

Russian, Korean- 3 each (5.3% each)

Russian published in Future Science Fiction Digest, Samovar, Galaxy’s Edge

Romanian- 2 (3.5%)

published in Aphelion and Unfit Magazine

Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, French, German, Italian, Náhuatl, Ukrainian – 1 each (1.8% each)

Arabic published in World Literature Today
Bulgarian in Compelling Science Fiction
Czech in Samovar
French in Future Science Fiction Digest
German in Three Crows Magazine
Italian in Medium
Náhuatl in Strange Horizons
Ukrainian in Three Crows Magazine

 

 

Clarkesworld– 11 (19.3%)
Future Science Fiction Digest– 9 (15.8%)
Strange Horizons– 6 (10.5%)
Samovar and Eita! Magazine– 5 each (8.8%)
Chinese Literature Today– 3 (5.3%)
World Literature Today, Three Crows Magazine– 2 each (3.5%)
Future Fire, Unfit Magazine, Analog, Aphelion, Asimov’s, Asymptote, Compelling Science Fiction, Constelación, Daily Science Fiction, Galaxy’s Edge, Korean Literature Now, LitHub, Nat. Brut., Medium– 1 each (1.8%)

 

 

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Novels, Collections, Anthologies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish- 9 (16.1%)
Chinese- 7 (12.5%)
French- 6 (10.7%)
Japanese- 5 (8.9%)
Italian, Russian- 4 each (7.1% each)
German- 3 (5.4%)
Polish, Romanian, Swedish- 2 each (3.6%)
Bengali, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Finnish, Hebrew, Indonesian, Korean, Provençal, Sierra Zapotec, Turkish, Various – 1 each (1.8%)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

novels- 34 (60.7%)

Spanish (9), Italian (3), German (3), Chinese (3), Russian (2), Swedish (2), French (2), Japanese (2), Indonesian (1), Czech (1), Hebrew (1), Finnish (1), Korean (1), Sierra Zapotec (1), Polish (1), Turkish (1)

collections- 17 (30.4%)

French (4), Chinese (3) , Japanese (3), Russian (2), Bengali (1), Provençal (1), Italian (1), Polish (1), Croatian (1)

anthologies- 5 (8.9%)

Romanian (2), Chinese (1), Bulgarian (1), various (1)

 

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Total short SFT (standalone stories + stories in collections/anthologies)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2020: 182

2019: 169

2018: 185

2017: 133

2016: 105