JANUARY
“Beyond Everything” by Wang Yanzhong, translated from the Chinese by Stella Jiayue Zhu (Clarkesworld)
An explorer is sent through dimensional portals that have been scattered around the Earth to other worlds (composed of earth, air, fire, and water) to learn about the beings that live there and report back to his superiors. What he learns just might help stop the wars raging across Earth itself.
“A Small Extinction, Parts 1 & 2” by Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur (Words Without Borders)
Sang tries to convince her sister not to become a transhuman machine, but her sister claims that it’s the only way to thrive in the world. Alien entities then take over the neural network that connects all transhumans on Earth and inform the rest of humanity that it must also transition eventually. Sang, though, refuses to give in, especially because now she must raise her sister’s baby.
FEBRUARY
“Hotel California” by Hsin-Hui Lin, translated from the Chinese (Taiwan) by Ye Odelia Lu (Samovar)
A young man finds himself dropped off by a self-driving car at a place called the Hotel California where…that’s right…he can never leave. Eventually he starts to wonder if he himself is an artificial being, since he can’t remember anything about his past.
“Flying in the Dark Night” by Mayumi Inaba, translated from the Japanese by Yui Kajita (Samovar)
A story about a woman drawn to the darkness outside, who then transforms into a giant black bird and flies around, only to return to her human form and her family for another day.
“The Hanging Tower of Babel” by Wang Zhenzhen, translated from the Chinese by Carmen Yiling Yan (Clarkesworld)
A young man confronts the dismantling of a space elevator that his father was instrumental in building and maintaining, even as his father succumbs to Alzheimer’s, likely brought on by continuous exposure to cosmic radiation.
“Bodyhoppers” by Rocío Vega, translated from the Spanish (Spain) by Sue Burke (Clarkesworld)
In a world where people can move their consciousnesses into other bodies, some get stuck in a virtual nursery when they can’t pay to return to their own. Here, two lovers do what they have to–bodyhop–in order to return to the real world and be together, even if it’s not in their original bodies.
MARCH
“Pollen” by Anna Burdenko, translated from the Russian by Alex Shvartsman (Clarkesworld)
A family of researchers lands on an alien planet, only to be assailed by an aggressive pollen with psychedelic properties.
“The Sound of the Star” by Ren Zeyu, translated from the Chinese by Jay Zhang (Clarkesworld)
An interstellar traveler visits three planets on which sound and communication differ radically from that on Earth and also from one another.
“Musical Brushstrokes” by César Aira, translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Chris Andrews (Amulet)
A painter’s wife appears to him from beyond the grave…
“Legs” by Evgenia Nekrasova, translated from the Russian Marianna Suleymanova (khōréō, 2025).
A young paramedic flees to the woods to escape military service and undergoes a strange transformation.
APRIL
“Still Water” by Zhang Ran, translated from the Chinese by Andy Dudak (Clarkesworld)
A young man who comes down with ALS undergoes an experimental treatment.
“Melonpan” by Sachiko Kishimoto, translated from the Japanese by Yui Kajita (Asymptote)
People secrete a jelly that then absorbs their dreams, which are then processed into a variety of objects.
“Zephyr” by Sofia Rhei, translated from the Spanish (Spain) by Marian Womack (Samovar)
A witch builds an artificial son so she can have someone to torment but then realizes that she cares about him…
MAY
“Proxima One” by Carryanna Reuven, translated from the Spanish (Spain) by Sue Burke (Clarkesworld)
A highly-advanced probe travels the galaxy for centuries searching for other intelligent civilizations.
JUNE
JULY
“Serpent Carriers” by K. A. Teryna, translated from the Russia by Alex Shvartsman (Clarkesworld)
A lyrical novelette about empire, space travel, family, collective consciousness and the passage of time.
“Cephalomorphs” by Luis Carlos Barragán Castro, translated from the Spanish (Colombia) by isaac dwyer (Asymptote)
An outbreak of humanoid fungi turns a man’s life upside down.
“Anthropocene” by Carolina Brown, translated from the Spanish (Chile) by Jessica Powell (Asymptote)
A zombie attacks a research team studying penguins in Antarctica.
“Oppressed” by Sakyajit Bhattacharya, translated from the Bengali by Rituparna Mukherjee (Samovar)
“Cuca” by Alfonsina Storni, translated from the Spanish (Argentina) by Alina Lazar and Anna Evelyn White (Samovar)
An elegant young woman looks human, but the narrator senses that this isn’t the whole story.
AUGUST
“Sea of Fertility” by Bella Han, translated from the Chinese (China) by the author (Clarkesworld)
SEPTEMBER
“Mordovian Cross” by Evgenia Nekrasova, translated from the Russian (Russia) by Marianna Suleymanova (Words Without Borders)
OCTOBER
“Giant Grandmother” by Liu Maijia, translated from the Chinese (China) by Blake Stone-Banks (Clarkesworld)
“Liecraft” by Anita Moskát, translated from the Hungarian by Austin Wagner (Apex Magazine)
“The Heart of the Forest” by Ágnes Gaura, translated from the Hungarian by Vivien Urban (Samovar)
“Elasticity” by Andrés González Galante, translated from the Spanish (Colombia) by Lucy Corrie-Tannen (Samovar Magazine)
NOVEMBER
“Threehearts and Me” by Clelia Farris, translated from the Italian by Rachel Cordasco (Bourbon Penn)
“Trees at Night” by Ramiro Sanchiz, translated from the Spanish (Uruguay) by Sue Burke (Clarkesworld)
