Very pleased that my short story “Journey to Anasta” was selected for inclusion in Amazing Stories: Best of 2025. I’m quite proud of this story, which is my most reprinted one (five times).

Here’s the press release for the new anthology, and then a sneak peek at my story.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Amazing Stories Announces Amazing Stories: Best of 2025

New anthology celebrates the year’s most imaginative science fiction—featuring a classic cover illustration by legendary artist Kelly Freas

For over a century, Amazing Stories has stood at the forefront of science fiction, introducing readers to bold ideas, visionary storytelling, and unforgettable journeys beyond the known. Now Amazing Stories: Best of 2025 gathers the magazine’s most exciting stories of the past year into a single dynamic collection.

Edited by Lloyd Penney, Amazing Stories: Best of 2025 showcases a diverse range of authors and perspectives, from emerging voices to established storytellers. These tales explore alien encounters, daring space exploration, unexpected technological breakthroughs, and the complex human stories that unfold when imagination pushes beyond the limits of the present.

From distant star systems to the fragile future of Earth, the stories in this collection capture the wonder, excitement, and thought-provoking speculation that define modern science fiction. Each story offers a different vision of tomorrow—sometimes thrilling, sometimes mysterious, sometimes deeply human—but always driven by the spirit of discovery that has fueled the genre for generations.

The collection is further distinguished by a striking cover illustration by the legendary Kelly Freas, one of the most celebrated artists in the history of science fiction. Freas’ iconic artwork helped define the visual identity of science fiction magazines for decades, and his cover brings a classic sense of cosmic wonder to this new anthology.

Together, the stories and artwork in Amazing Stories: Best of 2025 celebrate both the rich legacy and the vibrant future of science fiction.

Amazing Stories: Best of 2025 is available in trade paperback and ebook formats wherever books are sold.

Readers who enjoy bold ideas, thrilling adventures, and imaginative visions of the future will find this collection an exciting showcase of science fiction at its best.

About Amazing Stories
Founded in 1926, Amazing Stories was the first magazine devoted entirely to science fiction. Over the past century it has introduced generations of readers to visionary storytelling and has played a pivotal role in shaping the development of the genre.

Media Contact:
Steve Davidson
steve@amazingstories.com

Journey to Anasta

by Karl El-Koura

Aboard the space station Invictus, Maria Petrova stood at the back of the main control room, surrounded by some of the highest officials of the Solarian Fleet. She felt desperately out of place among these gray-haired men and women in their space-black uniforms, the coats weighed down by shining arrays of medals. But she’d fought for a command-side view of the mission, and whether because she was the wife of one of the co-pilots about to make history, or because she was one of the fleet’s top pilots herself, she’d been granted membership to this exclusive group.

The large viewscreen at the front of the room, looming above the orchestra pit of analysts and engineers, showed Mercury on the right and the Talarian, the experimental wormdrive ship carrying her husband and his co-pilot Rasha Pion, approaching from the left. As she watched, the flared solar sails folded back around the ship, like a Siamese fighting fish relaxing its fins.

The view switched to the feed from the cockpit as Sander activated his microphone and said, “All systems normal. Dropping into orbit around Mercury.”

At the sound of his voice, their baby fluttered in Maria’s belly. She resisted the urge to place her hand there.

Then, of course, Sander had to add a joke: “Anyone write us something clever to say before we become the first people to travel faster than light?”

A wave of laughter went through the control room.

The mucky-muck standing next to her chuckled, then turned and said, “World’s about to change, isn’t it?”

She nodded but didn’t say anything. Nearly instantaneous travel between the colonies, spread from Mars to the stations orbiting Neptune–would that change things? Yes, she thought, just like the invention of the wheel had changed a few things.

Because of what Sander and Rasha were about to do, the universe would become a lot smaller. One day soon the strawberries that grew on Neptune’s stations could be shipped to Luna City in a few minutes, without having to flash-freeze them. One day humanity might even leave the solar system without also having to be flash-frozen in giant freezer ships and thawed thousands of years later.

“Those brave captains will be time travelers, won’t they?” the admiral asked with another little chuckle. “We’ll be growing older and they’ll skip right ahead into the future. Isn’t that a thing?”

Maria wanted to focus on the screen, to remember every moment leading up to her husband’s historic spaceflight. She didn’t owe this curious person, unconnected to the wormdrive project and granted this access due to his status, but she still couldn’t bring herself to leave him with his misconceptions. “In a way, yes,” she said, “but time dilation isn’t really a factor with this trip. It’s just a few jumps from Mercury to Pluto. The differential depends on the number of jumps, rather than the distance traveled. Two days will pass for us, but not quite a minute for them.”

The admiral whistled. “Mercury to Pluto in not quite a minute!”

On the screen, the Talarian had almost completed charging its wormdrive, leveraging the tiny planet’s gravitational field. In a few moments it would break orbit and enter a hole in the folded-up fabric of spacetime, and Sander and Rasha would be the first human beings ever to travel–

Maria stepped forward, a vague feeling of unease erupting into heart-pounding urgency. Something was wrong. The ship was shaking.

A buzz of activity was sweeping through the pit. Commodore Damac leapt to his feet, demanding updates from each station in quick succession.

“What’s happening?” the admiral asked, but she ignored him, her eyes darting from the commodore to the capcom to the screen.

“Call it,” she whispered. What were they waiting for? Unable to restrain herself, she flew down the stairs, aimed at the commodore like a torpedo. But before she could reach him, he turned to the capcom and nodded.

“Abort mission,” the capcom said calmly. “I repeat, abort mission.”

But on the screen the Talarian disappeared.

Keep reading by buying your copy of Amazing Stories: Best of 2025.