Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Great Science Fiction Film Stories | 1984 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 2 | The Sixth Omni Book of Science Fiction | 1985 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 3 | The Year’s Best Fantasy: Second Annual Collection | 1989 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
| 4 | The Year’s Best Fantasy 2 / Demons and Dreams | 1990 | William Kotzwinkle | Buy |
These four anthology appearances from the mid-1980s to 1990 document Kotzwinkle’s presence in the science fiction and fantasy short fiction world during a productive period of his career. The Omni anthologies, Great Science Fiction Film Stories (1984) and The Sixth Omni Book of Science Fiction (1985), were among the most widely read genre anthologies of the era, and inclusion indicated a writer with credibility across both literary and genre audiences.
The two Year’s Best Fantasy appearances, in 1989 and 1990, reflect the quality of his short work during the period when The Hot Jazz Trio and related collections appeared. Year’s Best selections in fantasy tended to be editorially conservative in the sense of choosing fiction that demonstrated craft and durability rather than novelty, which suited Kotzwinkle’s approach to the short story well.
For readers tracking Kotzwinkle’s development as a short fiction writer, these anthologies provide additional data points alongside his own collections. They also suggest the degree to which he was regarded as a peer by genre editors, despite never being fully claimed by science fiction or fantasy as their own.