Welcome to the East Asia Special issue of the Future Science Fiction digest. In this oversized issue we’ve collected stories from the established masters as well as some exciting up-and-comers in China, Japan, and South Korea.

From machine societies to ocean depths, from interstellar migrations to genetically engineered mermaids, these tales envision very different, often dark, but always fascinating futures.

We’ve also held an open submissions call, asking writers from around the world to envision positive futures of the region. The winning entry is “Butterfly Blue” by the Argentine author Gustavo Bondoni, a tale of the fledgling Mongolian space program.

Overall, there are nearly forty-two thousand words of fiction collected within these pages. The cover art for this issue is by the Japanese internet sensation MonoKubo.

As we enter into our third year of publication, Future SF would like to thank our authors, translators, and staff, our generous sponsor the Future Affairs Administration, and our Patreon backers—without whose contributions and hard work we would not have survived the tumultuous year of 2020. As it is, we’re looking forward to sharing a lot more international fiction with you in the coming year.