Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2009 | 2008 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 2 | The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 5 | 2011 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 3 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2011 | 2011 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 4 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2012 | 2012 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 5 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2014 | 2013 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 6 | The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Nine | 2014 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 7 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2015 | 2015 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 8 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Novellas 2016 | 2016 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 9 | Tor.com Collection: Season 1 | 2016 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 10 | The Best of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine, Year Seven | 2016 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 11 | The Book of Swords: Part 1 | 2017 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 12 | The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories | 2017 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
| 13 | The Book of Magic: A Collection of Stories | 2018 | K.J. Parker | Buy |
K.J. Parker’s work has appeared in many of the major annual “year’s best” anthologies for science fiction and fantasy, starting in 2008 and continuing through 2018. These collections, edited by figures like Rich Horton and Jonathan Strahan, select the strongest stories published in a given year, and Parker has been a regular presence in them. His stories also appear in themed anthologies like The Book of Swords and The Book of Magic.
For readers who already enjoy Parker’s novels, these anthologies offer a way to find his short fiction alongside work by other top-tier genre writers. The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories and The Book of Magic are particularly interesting picks, as they place Parker’s dry, mechanical approach to fantasy next to very different writing styles. Each anthology can be read for Parker’s contribution alone, but the surrounding stories are often worth the time as well.