The Best Asian Speculative Fiction, edited by Rajat Chaudhuri and published by Kitaab International, brings together speculative stories that move across genres, Asian settings and diasporic perspectives. In a 2018 introduction excerpt published by Scroll.in, Chaudhuri describes a collection that ranges from supernatural and horror tales to dystopian and science-fictional work, without insisting on a single definition of speculative fiction.
What Chaudhuri means by speculative fiction
Chaudhuri’s editorial approach begins with breadth. He includes science fiction, fantasy, horror, weird and dystopian writing, along with stories that depart from realist storytelling but may not sit neatly within a familiar genre. He describes the common thread as non-mimetic writing: work that takes a tangent away from the real.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the 20th Century | $11.03 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year's Best Science Fiction | $13.45 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1: 1929-1964 | $12.55 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
101 Science Fiction Short Stories | $1.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
The Big Book of Science Fiction | $22.45 | Buy on Amazon |
That inclusive definition reflects his stated aim to make room for underrepresented voices and perspectives. Chaudhuri connects the project to the diversity and histories of Asian cultures, as well as to his own experience of speculative writing in Bengali and English literary contexts.
Stories range from mythic transformations to futures in crisis
The examples in Chaudhuri’s introduction suggest how widely the collection moves. One story features a sorcerer-librarian in ancient Korea who turns people into books. Another looks toward a future civilization remembering its ancestors on a drowned world. A time-travelling ghost appears in Hong Kong.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →#1 Best Overall
Other examples named by the editor include Eliza Victoria’s “Web,” Lopa Ghosh’s “Crow,” and Shweta Taneja’s story about a post-apocalyptic market for fertile women. He also points to Kiran Manral’s “Upon His Return,” Rohan Monteiro’s “School,” Samim Ahmed’s story of banyan spirits, and a Japanese-town horror story by Tunku Halim.
Chaudhuri additionally highlights work by Park Chan-soon, Vrinda Baliga, Soramimi Hanarejima and Bae Suah. These examples are a sampling from the collection, not a complete contents list: the editor notes that he cannot name every story in his introduction.
A collection spanning Asian and diasporic voices
Chaudhuri describes the anthology as bringing together stories from across Asia and its diasporas, with almost all written specifically for the volume. He characterizes its reach as “fifteen different peoples or countries of Asia plus the diasporas” and elsewhere as voices from “more than thirteen countries.” He also cautions that these descriptions are not a precise cartographic or numerical accounting; they are the editor’s broad characterization of the collection’s range.
The project began, in Chaudhuri’s account, after his author-friend Anu Kumar suggested proposing an Asian anthology to the publisher. Chaudhuri presents the finished collection as an effort to gather perspectives that are often underrepresented while allowing the stories to follow very different imaginative paths.
Recommended Free Tools
Rank #3
What to look for as a reader
The anthology is most usefully approached as a meeting point for genres and perspectives, rather than as a single-mode science-fiction collection. Readers can expect supernatural premises, horror, fantasy, dystopian satire and speculative futures, alongside stories that resist easy labels. The editor’s examples point to settings and concerns that range from ancient Korea and Hong Kong to a drowned future world.
For readers comparing it with another anthology, three practical questions follow from Chaudhuri’s account: how broadly the book defines speculative fiction, how it brings together Asian and diasporic voices, and how much of its material was commissioned for the collection. Those are ways to assess its scope, not proof that it is better than another anthology.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
