ECO25: The Year's Best Speculative Ecofiction

Release Date: November 17th, 2026

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A must-read annual showcase of the best nature-based science fiction and fantasy short stories published around the world every year.

Description

ECO: The Year’s Best Speculative Ecofiction, the first-ever annual showcase of the best nature-based science fiction and fantasy published around the world, presents a new collection of short stories by some of the finest writers in the field. 

Featuring both established names and rising stars, this series explores humanity’s deep relationships with other species and our communal fears, grief, and passion as we try to protect our natural world—all told through the lens of the fantastic. 

Crossing over with a range of other subgenres, from literary science fiction to fantasy and magical realism, each anthology forms a unique snapshot of how some of the most imaginative writers on the planet are engaging with this extraordinary time in Earth’s natural history. 

The finalists featured in ECO25 were selected by a team of passionate ecofiction judges who read hundreds of nominations from anthologies, magazines and journals around the world to find only the very best. This second edition of the series showcases some of the most vibrant, emotionally impactful, and imaginative stories published about our living planet last year.

Table of Contents

"Antigone, But With Spiders" — Syr Hayati Beker
"When the Fox-Bells Ring" — Ally Wilkes
"Lolo's Last Run" — E.M. Kerkman
"A Hole Cut in the Wall of the World - 29" — Rebecca Campbell
"Kindling" — Somto Ihezue
"Banded Iron" — T.K. Rex
"All the World is Fog" — DaVaun Sanders
"We Will Not Dream of Coral" — Mário Coelho
"MALO MALO MALO MALO" — Louis Inglis Hall
"The Oneiromantic Sheep" — Frank Baird Hughes
"Abatement" — Max Wheeler
"Invasive Species" — Mary Kuryla
"Exhibition" — Lu Xu
"greasy luck" — Samir Sirk Morató
"The Iceberg" — Michael Capobianco
"Butterfly Pavilion" — G. Willow Wilson
"We Used to Wake to Song" — Leah Ning
"Herdhunters" — Mike Robinson
"All That Means or Mourns" — Ruthanna Emrys
"Mothership Comes to the Heart of the Ocean" — Gu Shi, translated by Ken Liu
"The Piano Player Has Eight Arms" — Íde Hennessy
"Our Continuity, Each of Us Raindrops" — Parker M. O'Neill
"The Endstate of History" — Bernie Jean Schiebeling 
"The Order of Soil" — Tara Labovich

About the Editor

Marissa van Uden grew up in New Zealand and now lives in Vermont, in a little cabin in the woods. She loves wild things, night hikes, and eerie forests. Her anthology credits include the Strange Microfiction series and The Off-Season: An Anthology of Coastal New Weird. Her short stories have appeared in Vastarian Literary Journal, Dark Matter Magazine, Zero Dark Thirty, and Los Suelos. She can sometimes be found at @marissavu.bsky.social or IG (@marissa.vu and @violetlichenbooks).