Call for stories I might have missed by Joe Stech

2026-02-18
I'm deep into the process of finalizing the table of contents for Think Weirder Volume 2, and I want to make sure I'm finding as many of the short stories published in 2025 as possible that fit the thinkweirder.com brief. If you know of any short stories from 2025 that you think I should consider, please email me at joe@thinkweirder.com. For this series I'm looking for the best concept-driven, near-future ideas about people interacting with technology — i.e. where the core science fiction concept is inextricable from the story (as opposed to stories where the science fiction is just the setting). This is an intentionally vague brief so that I don't miss anything, but for this anthology I'm explicitly not looking for fantasy or exclusively character-driven stories. The ideal Think Weirder story is one that makes you think "wow, that's a novel concept".
I already read every story published in 2025 in these magazines, so no need to send me anything from them:
  • Clarkesworld
  • Lightspeed
  • Analog
  • Asimov's
  • Reactor
  • Nature Futures
What I'm especially interested in are stories that may have appeared in one-off anthologies, less SF-focused magazines, or smaller publications that fly under the radar. Those are the ones that are hardest for me to find (in the limited time I have after my kids go to sleep).
I'm also now on Bluesky at Joe Stech. If you could share this post over there it would be a huge help in making sure Think Weirder Volume 2 covers all of the year's best concept-driven SF short stories. Thanks!
Joe

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