I was particularly excited to discover new speculative fiction, with two anthologies dedicated to the genre. This All Come Back Now (ed. Mykaela Saunders), collects First Nations fiction by emerging and established writers, including stories by Evelyn Araluen, Karen Wyld, Alison Whittaker and Adam Thompson which range from magic realism to satire, each an essential track in what Saunders describes as ‘a burnt CD from me to you, a way for you to sample new worlds’. Unlimited Futures (eds. Rafeif Ismail and Ellen van Neerven), features First Nations and Black writers, with stories by Claire G. Coleman, Sisonke Msimang, Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi and more. The pieces shift in form, voice, genre and language, and the collection ends with a brilliant story by SJ Minniecon written over seventy years ago, bringing writers and their work together across time.

When it comes to individual authors, ‘darkly funny’ is a phrase that seems to have been (fairly) applied to many of the collections I enjoyed. In An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life, Paul Dalla Rosa presents sharp tales of modern alienation, following characters including a pancake restaurant worker, an aspiring life coach and an MFA student as they make small, spiralling decisions influenced by precarity or obsession. The stories in Katerina Gibson’s Women I Know range from realist to fabulist, occasionally playing with form—such as lists, monologues, and alternative layouts—but always building complex characters and worlds. In Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls, Anne Casey-Hardy takes the reader through narratives of baby theft, murder and other real and unreal dangers, showcasing an incredible ability to control tone and tension.