Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lone Star Universe | 1976 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 2 | The Best Science Fiction of the Year 12 | 1983 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 3 | Universe 13 | 1983 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 4 | Nebula Awards 18 | 1983 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 5 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection | 1985 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 6 | The Third Omni Book of Science Fiction | 1985 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 7 | The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 12 | 1986 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 8 | Mirrorshades | 1986 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 9 | Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, May 1987 | 1987 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 10 | The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1988 | 1988 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 11 | The Seventh Omni Book of Science Fiction | 1989 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 12 | Third Annual Collection | 1989 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 13 | Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, September 1989 | 1989 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 14 | The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 14 | 1989 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 15 | Drabble II: Double Century | 1990 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 16 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection | 1990 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 17 | Semiotext SF | 1991 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 18 | Storming the Reality Studio | 1991 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 19 | The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories | 1992 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 20 | The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July 1992 | 1992 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 21 | Under African Skies | 1993 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 22 | The Ascent of Wonder | 1994 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 23 | Asimov’s Science Fiction, November 1994 | 1994 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 24 | Cthulhu 2000 | 1995 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 25 | Paragons | 1996 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 26 | Hackers | 1996 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 27 | The Science Fiction Century | 1997 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 28 | Modern Classics of Fantasy | 1997 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 29 | Year’s Best SF 2 | 1997 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 30 | Lightspeed Magazine, April 2011 | 1998 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 31 | The Good New Stuff | 1999 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 32 | Year’s Best SF 4 | 1999 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 33 | The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: The 50th Anniversary Anthology | 1999 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 34 | Genometry | 2001 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 35 | The Ultimate Cyberpunk | 2002 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 36 | Supermen | 2002 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 37 | Year’s Best SF 8 | 2003 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 38 | The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 16 | 2003 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 39 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection | 2003 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 40 | Custer’s Last Jump and Other Collaborations | 2003 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 41 | The Hard SF Renaissance | 2003 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 42 | Conversations on the Edge of the Apocalypse | 2005 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 43 | The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels | 2005 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 44 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection | 2006 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 45 | Year’s Best SF 11 | 2006 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 46 | Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection | 2006 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 47 | Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology | 2007 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 48 | Rewired | 2007 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 49 | The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 21 | 2008 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 50 | The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction | 2010 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 51 | The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5 | 2011 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 52 | Happily Ever After | 2011 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 53 | The Book of Cthulhu | 2011 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 54 | Lightspeed: Year One | 2011 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 55 | Steampunk III | 2012 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 56 | Digital Rapture | 2012 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 57 | Rock On: The Greatest Hits of Science Fiction & Fantasy | 2012 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 58 | Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 35, April 2013 | 2013 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 59 | After the End | 2013 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 60 | Twelve Tomorrows 2014 | 2014 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 61 | Hieroglyph | 2014 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 62 | Lightspeed Magazine, February 2017 | 2017 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 63 | 2001: An Odyssey in Words | 2018 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
| 64 | Love, Death and Robots: The Official Anthology: Volume Four | 2025 | Bruce Sterling | Buy |
Sterling’s work has appeared in anthologies continuously since the early 1970s, across best-of-year collections, themed compilations, academic retrospectives, and genre celebrations. The sixty-plus appearances listed here cover that full range.
The most historically significant single entry is Mirrorshades (1986), the anthology Sterling edited that gave the cyberpunk movement its name and membership. Its influence on how science fiction was understood and marketed in the late 1980s was substantial. Other notable appearances include The Hard SF Renaissance (2004) and The Wesleyan Anthology of Science Fiction (2010), which positioned his work within the academic canon.
The range of venues here — from Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine special issues to Cthulhu-themed horror anthologies to Italian fantascienza collections — reflects the breadth of Sterling’s engagement with the genre across fifty years of publishing.