The line between SF and fantasy is blurry; but what these stories have in common is they leave you with a feeling, an emotional oomph that stays with you after you turn the page. If this is a survey of the best of 2014/2015 then I like what I see.

I like the way the stories were chosen, with the finalists having the authors' names removed. That way, when I see a story by Neil Gaiman or Jo Walton, I'm sure it was chosen on merit and not the author's celebrity status.

I was going to go through the stories I liked best, one by one, and tell you about them, but no. I think you'll be better served if I simply let you know that, while not all of the stories worked equally well for me, almost all of them were excellent and excellently written, with style and verve and depth. The stories connect, and they offer a journey into a new place from which you are likely to return somewhat changed, with a new perspective on your life.

What else can you ask from a collection of the best short stories of the year?

A very strong anthology, focusing on a number of new writers who have not been featured in year's-best anthologies in the past. An especially strong showing by online sf magazine _Lightspeed_ (of which John Joseph Adams is the editor). The only thing that kept me from giving a 5-star rating is that some of the stories toward the end of the volume tapered off a little in quality (at least to my mind) but this is more than made up for by some of the stunning stories at the beginning. A special shout out to "How to Get Back to the Forest” by Sofia Samatar, which completely blew me away, and "Tortoise Shell Cats are not Refundable" by Cat Rambo. And there's a special treat for Neil Gaiman fans, "How the Marquis got his Coat Back", a London Below story. Recommended.

The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015

I was very excited to read this anthology as I am a huge fan of John Joseph Adams’ theme anthologies such as The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Federations, and Help Fund My Robot Army!!! Unfortunately, I did not find this collection as enjoyable as his other work. While I found several of the selections to be outstanding I was disappointed in many others. Overall the twenty stories in the anthology averaged a bit over 3.5 on my personal five point scale.

By no means do I in this or any other review feel that I am passing judgment on the worthiness of a text. I can only offer my personal evaluation of whether I enjoyed the work. This collection was in places not SF enough for me, I can be forgiven I think for my personal preference leaning more towards the work of the Golden Age of SF than some of the new literary fiction showcased in this volume. Again, I do not judge the intrinsic value of these stories but express only my own preferences. Now to the stories!

How to Get Back to the Forest by Sofia Samatar

This story was originally published in Lightspeed Magazine and is well written and atmospheric and, well. . . not especially enjoyable. This is one of the stories where I am just not certain that the story is SF to me (obviously, series editor Adams and volume editor Joe Hill disagree with me). 2/5

Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead by Carmen Maria Machado

I had read this short before in Help Fund My Robot Army!!! and enjoyed it then as well. The story is structured around the updates common to crowd funding campaigns on sites like GoFundMe or Kickstarter along with a couple of e-mail messages. The story follows the efforts of Ursula who needs to retrieve her sister Olive from the “land of the dead.” Machado does an excellent job of capturing the tone of such a personal fund raising campaign and paces things perfectly. The twist at the end is especially well done. 4/5

Tortoiseshell Cats Are Not Refundable by Cat Rambo

This story was originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine and a sensitive look at cloning and the grief one feels after losing a loved one. Widower, Antony, briefly comes out of mourning to order a cloning kit from the television to clone his mother’s recently deceased cat. What follows, while perhaps easily guessed, is handled so deftly by Rambo that you eagerly follow the story to the end. 5/5

The Bad Graft by Karen Russell

In “The Bad Graft”, originally published in the New Yorker, two impulsive lovers hit the road to escape their lives with no intention of ever putting down roots again. Andy and Angie are both restless sorts and heaven to them seems to be the freedom to move from place to place with no permanent attachments. Subsequent events complicate their plans. 4/5

A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i by Alaya Dawn Johnson

This story is set in a post vampire takeover Hawaii where small numbers of humans are retained to serve as a food source for the vampire rulers. The tale centers around the relationship of one human, Key, and the vampire, Tetsuo, who she met on the day they invaded her home. 4/5

Each to Each by Seanan McGuire

“Each to Each” explores the introduction of all female submarine crews into the navy.Not only are the crews all female but they are modified over time through various surgeries and treartments to become literal mermaids. McGuire explores the psychological impacts of these treatments. 3/5

Ogres of East Africa by Sofia Samatar

This story is written in the form of a zoological or anthropological investigative log. The data is obtained from the testimony of a woman named Mary. She describes the different ogres that she knows about. Are they real? Is she crazy? I am not certain but there is little to no story in this story. 1/5

Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology by Theodora Goss

Can mere thought or ideas create reality? Can it create a physical reality that brings a new nation into being complete with a history, complicated sets of mores, and a living, breathing royal family? It appears that the answer is yes when a small group of American graduate students publish a series of articles in the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology. 4/5

Sleeper by Jo Walton

Biographer Essie has programmed a self-aware simulation of her deceased subject, Matthew Corley. Matthew was an influential BBC director with many secrets in his past. The simulation was built by inputting everything known about the subject into the system and allows for the biographer to interview the subject. There are strict rules about making these programs self-aware and Essie may have exceeded the limit in this case. 3/5

How the Marquis Got His Coat Back by Neil Gaiman

The Marquis de Carabas is on a quest. The quest is to recover his magnificent coat which was stolen from him while he was recently dead. The setting is a dark, magical, Victorian London underground full of strange and wonderful characters. 5/5

Windows by Susan Palwick

Windows tells the story of Vangie, a poor mother of two on her way to see her son in prison on his birthday. The story is quite short but powerful. Unfortunately, there is only one small SF’nal plot point in the story which could easily have been replaced with a mundane substitute and you would lose nothing from the tale. A good SF story should have SF elements that are essential to the story. 2/5

The Thing About Shapes to Come by Adam-Troy Castro

More absurdist fiction than SF, in this story babies have begun to be born in various geometric shapes. Why? No idea. The way that people react to these spherical, pyramidal, or cubic children is explored but to my mind this is neither fantasy or SF. 2/5

We Are the Cloud by Sam J. Miller

This story is about a couple of teen boys living in a shelter who sell a portion of their brains as cloud storage. This is an interesting concept though it is secondary to the emotional and sexual relationship between the boys. A little more time exploring the implications of the technology and a little less time at the porn studio would have improved this story. 2/5

The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever by Daniel H. Wilson

This story revolves around the relationship between a single, physicist father and his young daughter. His wife left due to his being too logical and mechanical – accusing him of not expressing his feelings. This is belied by the sweet bedtime ritual he has with his daughter and how desperately he tries to hold onto her in the face of a disaster. 3/5

Skullpocket by Nathan Ballingrud

“Skullpocket” is a well told story of a town that has come to accept an undead being into their midst. Jonathan Wormcake is a ghoul and after seventy years in the town he is dying. The story tells the tale of his life in the town. This is reminiscent of a Gaiman short story. 4/5

I Can See Right Through You by Kelly Link

An actor, the “demon lover”, seeks to reconnect with an old flame after years spent apart. They meet up and explore their past together with much of the story told in flashbacks from the demon lover’s perspective. The SF angle is tied up in the question of whether he is the demon lover due to his acting role as a vampire known by that name or if he is the entity who influenced a Ouija board in his lover’s childhood. 3/5

The Empties by Jess Row

“The Empties” is a moody, depressing vignette of a post-apocalyptic future. It is well imagined but feels more like a sketch of the setting for a good story than anything else. 2/5

The One They Took Before by Kelly Sandoval

A former abductee (abducted by aliens, demons, who knows) deals with being back home and the mixed emotions of being free yet knowing someone else was taken in her place and at the same time missing being there. The author sets the mood nicely but nothing ever happens. 2/5

The Relive Box by T. C. Boyle

The relive box is a device that allows the user to fully experience any of their previous memories. The story deals with the dangers of such an immersive technology and the risk that one might live completely in the past. The experiences of a single father and his daughter, both of which spend too much time in the box, is used to illustrate the risks. 4/5

How to Become a Robot in 12 Easy Steps by A. Merc Rustad

Tesla has a dilemma. She is in love with a robot. Not a fully humanoid, android like robot but the espresso machine robot at the local coffee shop. How will she make it work? 4/5

I read this edition of the 9 book series the very last. In part, this was because the cover picture looked similar to one I had read. Anyway, I read all of the stories. I was impressed by every story and loved most of them. I read Karen Russell's story a second time because it is in another book I read before this one. I wouldn't have taken the time to read it a second time if it hadn't been really interesting to me.

The selected short stories are all well written and keep the reader's attention. There was a nice variety of themes and the pace of each story was on the mark. I read the book while commuting to and from work. This is the perfect book for that type of reading.

Stephen King's boy Joe has done a great job of editing the 2015 edition of THE BEST AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, and as you would expect from the author of the horror novels NOS4A2 and HEART-SHAPED BOX, these tales lean toward the darker edges of science fiction and fantasy. While you will find full-on tech tales of robots and mad genetics, the fantasy here tends toward horror. The darkest of the tales, I believe is Nathan Ballingrud's delightfully twisted story about the gothically strange Wormcake family and their yearly, um, celebration that is reminiscent of a Tim Burton film. There are a number of dystopian tales, and even Neil Gaiman's confection, "How the Marquis Got His Coat Back", is a bit bleaker than his usual fare. As a fan of dark fantasy I am certainly not complaining--I loved this collection. However, if you are looking for sword and sorcery or blithe fairytales, better to look elsewhere. Included here is Kelly Link's multiple award-winning story, "I Can See Right Through You", a beautifully written modern ode to the demon lover, which is truly one of the best stories of this or any year.

The book was a good overview of science fiction and fantasy writing. Some of the stories were very enjoyable, while I struggled to get through others -- though everything was well-written. It was a cool way to discover new authors and explore more of their works.

Some great stories in here along with some mediocre ones. Not the best Best of collection I've read, but far from the worst. Loved the Kelly Link story especially.

Good buy.

great reading!