Bewildering Stories’
Annual Review, 2019

The launch of Mariner 2 to Venus, August 27, 1962

The Mariner Awards are named for one of the first successful interplanetary missions.

The 50 titles listed — out of 328 for the year — are the ones that the Review Board has rated most highly in 2019. They have earned Bewildering Stories’ most signal honor.

We know that all readers can cite other titles they feel belong on these lists; fair enough. Please write and tell us what else you would include and, most importantly, why. Discussions are welcome at Bewildering Stories, and we like to publish them.

Bewildering Stories was originally founded to help give new writers exposure in a field dominated by print publication. But we knew times would change, and Year 1 set a standard with a novel by a historically established author. Contributors have risen to the challenge by sending us works of high quality. And frequency of publication has made “BwS” probably the largest literary webzine on the Internet.

Submissions often run in cycles, where one genre or another predominates for a while. In the past year, poetry has tended to be either short or long. The average length of prose submissions has been gradually increasing, and flash fiction has become almost rare. The trends show every sign of continuing in the coming year.

Like the Quarterly Reviews, the Annual Review lists titles alphabetically by author and multiple titles in chronological order. The year was enlivened by thoughtful discussions. However, the Departments remain in the Quarterly Reviews and are easily accessible.

We resume regular publication with issue 838 on January 9, 2020. Meanwhile, as we like to say, “There is no story so truly Bewildering as reality.” The Crew of Bewildering Stories wishes our contributors and readers a most pleasantly Bewildering New Year!

Everything in green is a link. Links open in a new window, so you won’t lose your place.