Think Weirder: the Year's Best Scifi Ideas
Posted2 months agoActiveabout 1 month ago
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The 'Think Weirder: The Year's Best SciFi Ideas' anthology was shared on HN, sparking discussion about its content, authors, and the publisher's decision to only offer a DRM-protected Amazon version.
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- 01Story posted
Nov 1, 2025 at 4:43 PM EDT
2 months ago
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Nov 10, 2025 at 12:23 PM EST
9d after posting
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73 comments in Days 9-10
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Nov 23, 2025 at 8:54 PM EST
about 1 month ago
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ID: 45785154Type: storyLast synced: 11/20/2025, 3:41:08 PM
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Doesn't say.
EDIT: Confirmed it is epub (bought it).
385 p
I've heard of Lance, another scientist-writer of the same mold
https://www.bayviewmagazine.com/article/2024/06/write-what-y...
None of the authors I reached out to refused to sell me reprint rights, so there was no bottleneck there.
I'm a software engineer who enjoys near-future concept-driven science fiction, so if that's not your thing then you might not agree with my choices. The stories I look for are the ones where I think "wow, this contains ideas that reflect something interesting about reality".
"Best Practices for Safe Asteroid Handling" by David W. Goodman feels like a smart, polished successor to golden age space opera, it's set in a future where the solar system is colonized, but not thousands of years out.
Grant Collier's "The Best Version of Yourself" is also not set very far into the future, but it's a kind of post-human future so it might have far-future vibes for you. This specific story is actually available free online, so you don't have to purchase the anthology to read it: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/collier_07_24/
I purchased the DRM-free epub :-)
I pay a fixed rate up-front for reprint rights, which is a one-time deal. This is mostly because pro rata royalties on an anthology are a pain (I've done this before, it involves sending out lots of tiny single-digit-dollar checks), but also because it's unlikely for me to make back the money I spend on anthology creation (science fiction short stories are a tiny market).
This is a hobby project for me, I'm obsessed with trying to get more people to read science fiction short stories. I spent about $6k creating the anthology (to pay for cover art, reprint rights, proof prints, etc), and I'll probably recoup about half of what I spent? We'll see, I'm currently testing various marketing strategies.
I likely won't get the book (space issues).
I like jumping from world to world more than the average person -- I'm happy getting that new, novel idea and then jumping to the next thing. I understand I'm atypical, but I think there's probably a higher percentage of people like me on HN than there are in the overall population.
"How will it use these memories, while simultaneously protecting its young charge, in THE LARK ASCENDING by ELEANNA CASTROIANNI?"
This is just a rhetorical device, I think it's called a 'hook question'. It's probably unclear due to the distracting colors and capitalization.
Creating a World without adverts might be a route to utopia.
I'm not an absolutist. How would you find out about new products in a world without advertising? There are ads I could do without, sure, but some do perform a useful function.
I feel HN is probably not conducive to an extended conversation about where the line lies. But, ...
I'd loved to have an extended database of well structured factual information about products.
oops. you poor poor fella. haven't we pretty much gotten to the point that if you've thought about it, someone else has also already thought it and released it? at least, that's my core belief in any thing clever I think I might have just thought.
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
Even though he makes each issue free to read online, I've been buying it Kobo every month for around a year now to help support the magazine. Too bad the platform doesn't seem to support subscriptions so I don't have to manually buy each issue.
[1] https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/thompson_11_25/
The biggest advantage of short fiction magazines over longer form is that it's a lower stakes way to try out new ideas and ways of telling stories and to expose readers to new authors.
Doing that means taking some risks and publishing some stories that won't always land with readers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_American_Nonrequired_...
Ironically, the 5th ed was required reading in my ENG 101 course. It included a collection of Onion headlines. I will never forget "CIA realizes they have been using black highlighters all these years."
SciFi art continues its strange stylistic journey.
Makes me want to look through my old SciFi art books.
Edit: The Greeble article refers to the art term diapering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diapering
I actually like the art - but I'm somewhat eclectic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year%27s_Best_Science_Fict...
https://www.diabolicalplots.com/support/books/
https://www.alibris.com/Think-Weirder-Volume-1-The-Years-Bes...
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/think-weirde...
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