Books Backlist Bonanza Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Speculative Anthologies Start 2026 off with some new-to-you writers! By Alex Brown | Published on January 13, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share It’s a fresh year and in the spirit of trying new things, instead of giving you five books I’m giving you five anthologies with lots of entry points to choose from. This list collects a couple dozen authors writing in a variety of genres and narrative styles, exploring a diverse collection of stories and identities. Think of this as a literary sample platter. Start 2026 off by taste testing some new-to-you writers. Maybe you’ll find your next favorite author in these five underrated science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies. His Hideous Heart: Thirteen of Edgar Allan Poe’s Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined edited by Dahlia Adler (Flatiron Books; 2019) I love a good young adult take on classic literature, I love YA speculative anthologies, and I love Edgar Allan Poe’s oeuvre, so this book might as well have come with a giant neon sign flashing “THIS IS FOR YOU, ALEX.” These stories are less a retelling and more of a remix. What I mean is they don’t just adapt Poe for a contemporary teen audience but bring in diverse voices that honor the spirit of the original tales while also seeing how the perspectives shift as the characters do. One of my favorites of the bunch is Lamar Giles’ spin on “The Oval Filter.” The authors included were all fairly well-established when this was published, but for those not already widely read in YA horror, fantasy, or thrillers, this offers a great introduction to some of the best in the age category.   Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 edited by M. E. O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi (Common Notions; 2022) The premise of this anthology is so clever and interesting. The stories are twelve fictional interviews with members of the also fictional New York Commune. We hear from people who grew up in a time before the commune and watched it fledge and people who were raised in it, people still sorting out their pre-commune ideologies and those who are more focused on building new identities. It’s a future that is dystopic, utopic, and everything in between. This is about people trying to make a world worth living. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail, but at least they’re trying. It tells the history of a possible future. Xenocultivars: Stories of Queer Growth edited by Isabela Oliveira and Jed Sabin (Speculatively Queer; 2022) If you’re still riding that Heated Rivalry high like I am, this is a great next step. It’s not a romance anthology, but it is all about queer joy and growth. It celebrates community and connection. “Queer” is more than a label or identity. It’s a political statement, a movement, a revolution. It is a way of being that rejects the “norm.” There are as many ways to be queer as there are people who identify as queer. This speculative collection has eighteen pieces that cover a wide range of identities and experiences, as well as genres and themes. When I first read this anthology, I picked Julian Stuart’s “The Aloe’s Bargain” as my favorite. I re-read it before writing this and yep, I stand by that choice. Years later and it still brings me to bittersweet tears. Many Worlds, or The Simulacra edited by Cadwell Turnbull and Josh Eure (RADIX Media; 2023) The fourteen stories in this anthology are set in the same multiverse and often feature interconnected stories. Written by authors who are well known if you read a lot of short speculative fiction (like I do), Many Worlds is a refreshing collection. With non-traditional narrative styles, exciting voices, and wholly unique stories, it’s one of those must-read books. Also worth noting that the book itself is collaborative. Not only did they share ideas with each other and get inspired by each other’s work, but they also shared profits and resources. RADIX is also a worker-owned, union print shop and publisher. It’s layers of community all the way down. Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight edited by Shelly Page and Alex Brown (Wednesday Books; 2023) I should preface this by saying I am not the Alex Brown who edited and wrote for this collection. That Alex is the author of two of my favorite YA horror comedies of the 2020s so far, Damned If You Do and Rest in Peaches. “Terror” is probably too strong a word for the thirteen stories collected herein, but overall they’re deliciously creepy and unnerving in a fun way. The stories feature queer characters of color dealing with one hell of a Halloween night. Definitely check out Maya Gittelman’s story “Leyla Mendoza and the Last House on the Lane.” We’ve been in a golden age of YA horror the last couple years, with a lot of the best of the genre coming from queer and/or BIPOC authors. Readers looking for an entry point could hardly go wrong with this one.[end-mark] The post Backlist Bonanza: 5 Underrated Speculative Anthologies appeared first on Reactor.