Book Description
In the heart of the new millennium, worlds beyond our imagination have opened up, blurring the line between life and art. Embracing the challenges and possibilities of cyberspace, genetics, the universe, and beyond, the world of science fiction has become a porthole into the realities of tomorrow. In The Year's Best Science Fiction Twenty-third Annual Collection, our very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world with such compelling stories as: 'Beyond the Aquila Rift': Critically acclaimed author Alastair Reynolds takes readers to the edge of the universe, where no voyager has dared to travel before---or so we think. 'Comber': Our world is an ever-changing one, and award-winning author Gene Wolfe explores the darker side of our planet's fluidity in his own beautiful and inimitable style. 'Audubon in Atlantis': In a world not quite like our own, bestselling author Harry Turtledove shows us that there are reasons some species have become extinct. The twenty-nine stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our beings, to the realm of the gods, and the moment just after now. Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including:Neal Asher, Paolo Bacigalupi, Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Chris Beckett, Dominic Green, Daryl Gregory, Joe Haldeman, Gwyneth Jones, James Patrick Kelley, Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold, Ken MacLeod, Ian McDonald, Vonda N. McIntyre, David Moles, Derryl Murphy, Steven Popkes, Hannu Rajaniemi, Alastair Reynolds, Robert Reed, Chris Roberson, Mary Rosenblum, William Sanders, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, Harry Turtledove, Peter Watts, Liz Williams, and Gene Wolfe. Supplementing the stories are the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and a lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book both a valuable resource and the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.
Customer Reviews:
Great book - Just didn't like the font.......2007-05-14
As I said in the title...a really nice collection of SF; different types
and styles, all good. Lots of stuff for a great price. I just didn't like
the typeface they used; that is obviously a personal preference.
As usual, Amazon service is tops.
Dozois' Usual Suspects .......2006-09-27
Dozois prefers the long short story or what might be called the condensed novel, and most of these stories are in that vein. Very few stories here are short. Dozois also prefers stories that are more about millieu and atmosphere rather than stories filled with metaphor or operate on some kind of ironic level (as did the stories in the old Wollheim/Carr anthologies). Perhaps this is due to the kind of science fiction being written today: it's mostly about predictable futures or predictable alien cultures, long on atmosphere and short on story. Many stories, in fact, don't really get going (the McDonald, the Reed, the Gerrold, the Turtledove) for several pages. (I was halfway through the McDonald before I had any understanding what the story was about, let alone what its conflict was--the story had almost no dramatic tension).
And there are a lot of lost opportunities. Robert Reed's story involves a ship larger than several worlds, but ends up becoming a mere - and unexciting - detective story. The trope or conceit of living in a HUGE space ship is lost both on Reed and the protagonist. What would human life be like if one were traveling the rim of the galaxy in a giant spaceship? Wouldn't that DO something to you? Well, apparently not. The story becomes just another murder mystery that needs to be solved. The same is true of the David Gerrold story. It's a time travel story involving "timequakes" in the L.A. region (brilliantly realized by a man who's lived there all his life) but becomes devolves into a rather sordid homoerotic detective story in the end (with an ending that's so cliched that I'm surprised Gerrold let himself get away with it). And some of the stories are plain unpleasant, such as the Vonda McIntyre story. How it ended up here I have no idea. Another odd choice is the Alastair Reynolds story, "Along the Aquila Rift". I'm surprised that ANY editor published it: imagine a story told in the first person where, in the end, the person forgets what he has just told you. As a creative writing teacher, I would NEVER have a student tell a story in the 1st person and have it end: "And then I died" or "And then I was given amnesia". One can justifiably wonder how the heck the story got written down in the first place. How did it appear on the printed page? (Alan Brennert, an otherwise notable writer, won a Nebula years ago by writing a story told by a ghost. I guess fantasy and science fiction writers can do things that mainstream writers cannot. Or perhaps everyone's taking their cues from John Gardner's GRENDEL wherein the monster, telling his tale, is, as we all know, killed in the end. I would let Gardner get away with the conceit, not so Mr. Reynolds. I want my money back!)
This anthology really is a collection of stories that Dozois would have published had he seen them all for Asimov's Science Fiction. To his credit, he has culled many of these from internet and other non-traditional publishing sources. But mostly these stories weren't a lot of fun, and most took a lot of patience to wade through. I did like the Wolfe story; but, again, the conceit of the story gets lost in a twist ending that can only be appreciated if one has endured a bad marriage and suffered inklings of spousal revenge. I miss Donald Wollheim and Terry Carr and Judith Merrill and Frederick Pohl and Groff Conklin. What happened to stories that were fun? Where is the sense of wonder here? Yes, there are dazzling depictions of India in the future and the wonders of genetic engineering and nanotechnology, but, really, who cares? What is present in this volume are stories written by the very best we have. But they're like weightlifters with these enormous muscles lifting really tiny weights. Is it because they have to crank out two stories a month and three novels a year in order to make a living? Find an old anthology edited by Damon Knight called THE DARK SIDE. It's out there somewhere. It's far better than these anthologies--collections that suggest a paucity of imagination in our field that's been around now for about twenty years. These people, and this editor, can do MUCH better than this.
The Preeminent Science Fiction Anthology.......2006-09-04
I was especially anxious for this year's volume because I recently read Mr. Dozois' Amazon Short in which he describes how he goes about preparing his annual best-of volume and in which he recommends that the volume be read cover to cover without skipping through the various stories. In this my twentieth year of reading Mr. Dozois' annual volume, I found that it truly does make a difference to read the stories sequentially as it gave the volume a much more powerful impact.
But let me take a stab at why the book represents more than the sum of its parts: Following Mr. Dozois' absolutely encyclopedic summary of events in the science-fiction world, we first encounter a story by Ian McDonald that treats some timely themes of Artificial Intelligence and the effects of governmental limitations on technology that mirror current attempts to limit internet access. This story has an upbeat and hopeful ending. The theme of the triumph of good over bad continues with Paolo Bacigalupi's story of a dystopic future in which farming is controlled by multi-national corporations--again, a type and shadow of fears concerning control of technological development by virtue of intellectual property rights.
Dozois follows two clearly thematically chosen stories with a first-rate Alastair Reynolds story about a future sailor who gets a bit more than he bargained for that is just excellent science fiction. It is followed by Daryl Gregory's piece about the effects of a future designer drug, an excellent piece of technological extrapolation.
Next are four stories that are surprisingly similar in that they primarily focus on the impact of events upon an individual character: Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold's superbly rendered story of an eccentric billionaire who develops star travel on his own with fateful consequences to his wife is followed by a Michael Swanwick story about time manipulation and its effect upon the person who understands the ultimate fate of his timeline. Robert Reed's story of a character making his way across the galaxy in a gigantic ship has much to say about the power of one individual to do good. The next story likewise presents Ken MacLeod's tale of a missionary who desires to bring Christianity to an alien lifeform.
Bruce Sterling's story of the Blemmye brings a new perspective to the crusades and thoughfully explores the question of whether our history is everything we believe it to be is followed by a dystopic future-vision of a world destroying itself; William Sanders' Amba. Just as Amba deals with unforseen consequences, so too does Mary Rosenblum's story about a world in which any information is available for a price, Chris Beckett's vision of a world that turns inward to the ultimate rejection of all that is corporeal, and David Gerrold's exploration of the unintended environmental impacts of time travel in Southern California.
He changes gears with a solid work by Stephen Baxter, who has the audacity to present a story of humanity spanning the very life of our Earth but which subtly highlights the interconnection between our civilzation and our environment--albeit on a geologic level. This is followed by a unique future vision by Vonda McIntyre in which humanity exists in a symbiotic relationship with its own technology. Dozois then turns to alternative histories--Gene Wolfe's world adrift and Harry Turtledove's portrayal of Audubon's search for unique birds on a unique continent. These are followed by an utterly unique story by Hannu Rajaniemi about ultimate power and a similar story by Steven Popkes about how the health benefits bestowed by nanobots may come with a price that is not entirely welcome.
Dozois is obviously a believer in saving the best for last because he then throws in two stories that were my personal favorites: Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck by Neal Asher--a story about a hunting expedition gone awry and Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds which was in my estimation worth the entire volume just by itself, a story about what is truly important. Unfortunately, anything that followed these two stories was bound to suffer by comparison: David Moles' story about a planet where males inexplicably die yet the women are doing just fine; Dominic Green's sobering tale of high technology gone wrong in Africa; Chris Robertson's alternate history in which China is the superpower; and Gwyneth Jones unnecessarily profane and graphic story about space travel.
Peter Watts and Darryl Murphy offer a story about the unintended consequences of creating a conscious program that has a searing ending followed by a likewise emotional story by Elizabeth Bear about the power of expression. The volume ends with a James Patrick Kelly novella that harkens back to Thoreau and asks whether it might be better to live simply and to forego the benefits of modern technology.
I'm convinced that the best way to experience Mr. Dozois' efforts is to start at the beginning and read straight through--despite the fact that the volume presents many different stories and styles, there is an impact carefully designed by the editor that requires this approach. Highly recommended.
looks good, but has stories included in other collections.......2006-08-22
This books looks real good, it is very large and weighty. I ordered it specifically to get the Alastair Reynolds story in it, after reading about the story online. Only to find out a day after a received it, that the story was already in another SF Best of book that I already had, but did not read yet, until after getting this one. Anyways, it looks good and I would recommend it to others with interest in such material.
Not One of the Best, But a Few Gems.......2006-08-06
The Little Goddess, by Ian McDonald. Rich atmosphere adds weight to thin plot as artificial intelligence complicates life in 2034 India. C
The Calorie Man, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Even when Earth's energy sources are reduced to plants, Big Business casts its sinister shadow--is all hope lost? Superb speculation with a timely message. A
Beyond the Aquila Rift, by Alastair Reynolds. Humans use abandoned alien technology to comb the Milky Way, but as one ship captain learns the hard way, what they really need is an operator's manual. A
Second Person, Present Tense, by Daryl Gregory. A family tries to heal after the daughter's strange drug overdose, but astounding issues of self-identity and consciousness get in the way. Heartrending and mind bending! A+
The Canadian Who Came ... by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. An anomaly at the bottom of a remote British Columbia lake suggests a missing space explorer may still be around. B
Triceratops Summer, by Michael Swanick. Dinosaurs cause trouble for humans, but not in the usual way. C
Camouflage, by Robert Reed. Snappily written but routine whodunit aboard an immense space ship full of immortals. C
A Case of Consilience, by Ken MacLeod. Courageous or crazy? A space reverend makes first contact with sentient mud. C
The Blemmye's Strategem, by Bruce Sterling. A monstrous master of the occult stirs up Hell during the Crusades. Dank, Medieval characters and atmosphere. B
Amba, by William Sanders. Against the dismal backdrop of global warming, adventurers live by their wits in sunny Siberia. Near-future speculation seems too true to be good. B
Search Engine, by Mary Rosenblum. When computers record your every move, tracking a suspect is easy. Figuring out what to do with him--a bit harder. C
Piccadilly Circus, by Chris Beckett. A poignant story set in a desolate future London where virtual reality is more real than reality, except for a few lingering old souls. B
In the Quake Zone, by David Gerrold. Brokeback Chinatown. Sexual politics under cover of fiction. D
La Malcontenta, by Liz Williams. The maids on a mystical medieval Mars are merrily minus men, mostly. C
The Children of Time, by Stephen Baxter. Bold predictions about the fate of man over the next seven hundred million years are made stirringly immediate and personal. A
Little Faces, by Vonda N. McIntyre. Another all female society, this one aboard organic ships, grim, and feuding. C
Comber, by Gene Wolfe. Pithy tale of a man who sees trouble ahead, literally, for his geologically unstable city. A
Audubon in Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove. In a barely alternate world, the famed naturalist combs Atlantis for a rare and most peculiar bird. B
Deus Ex Homine, by Hannu Rajaniemi. This one is about artificial intelligence implants, but I need one myself to make sense of it. NR
The Great Caruso, by Steven Popkes. Puff piece about an old woman who smokes her way to stardom, thanks to a cigarette SNAFU. Finally, some (much needed) humor in this collection! A
Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck, by Neal Asher. Unsavory adventure seekers hunt off-limits prey--and their guide--on an exotic planet where danger lurks everywhere. Fast paced and exciting. A+
Zima Blue, by Alistair Reynolds. In the far future, a mysterious artist reveals his secrets to a spunky journalist. One of the most memorable characters I can remember, plus fresh thinking on the meaning of work, art, and self. A+
Planet of the Amazon Women, by David Moles. I'm neither smart nor schooled enough to make heads or tails of this one. NR
The Clockwork Atom Bomb, by Dominic Green. Weapons of mass destruction hijinx in a politically complex future Africa. C
Gold Mountain, by Chris Roberson. Zzz.
The Fulcrum, by Gwyneth Jones. Zzzz.
Mayfly, by Peter Watts and Derryl Murphy. Zzzzz.
Two Dreams on Trains, By Elizabeth Bear. In a submerged and subdued future New Orleans, a poor boy sandwiched between a rock and a hard place tries to make his mark. B
Angel of Light, by Joe Haldeman. Slice of life about a man in the new Chrislam world order who discovers an odd cultural relic in his basement. B
Burn, by James Patrick. Struggles of a young firefighter on planet Walden, where men fight with mixed success for the simple life in a remote corner of a culturally and technologically complex galaxy. C
Amazon.com
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror annuals are always a treat; read this one and The Year's Best Science Fiction Sixteenth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois and you'll have a fairly complete overview of speculative fiction from 1998 as well as hours of great reading.
Datlow and Windling, renowned for crossing genre boundaries, gather stories and poems from mainstream magazines, literary journals, and Internet zines. There are vampires, a Lovecraft homage, enchanted birds and animals, shapeshifters, adult fairy tales, ghosts, and even a hunted muse. The best are Byatt's sensuous, enchanting "Cold"--about an ice princess who marries a glass-blowing desert prince--and Straub's novella, "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff" (which won the Stoker award for Best Long Fiction in 1999), a black comedy of revenge gone awry. The reference material includes each editor's review of the year's best novels, collections and anthologies, magazines, related nonfiction, children's books, and art. There's also a roundup of 1998's film, television, and dramatic offerings by Ed Bryant, a brief essay on comics by Seth Johnson, and obituaries by James Frenkel.
It's an invaluable source of introductions to authors you might not otherwise try, plus thought-provoking observations on fantasy in all its guises. You may not get to a convention this year, but if you've read Datlow and Windling, you'll know what a good one is like. --Nona Vero
Book Description
Over 250,000 words of the finest fantasy and horrorA. S. ByattCharles de LintKaren Joy FowlerNeil GaimanLisa GoldsteinStephen KingEllen KushnerPatricia A. McKillipSteven MillhauserMichael Marshall SmithPeter StraubJane YolenFor more than a decade, readers have looked to The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror to showcase the highest achievements of fantastic fiction. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling continue their critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magical realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantastic fiction, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this volume a valubale reference source as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror
Customer Reviews:
A mix of diamonds and duds.......2003-07-07
I was really impressed with some of the fiction in this book. I really loved the stories Travels with the Snow Queen and Quiting Loup. I also loved Twa Corbies. But some were a little bit to be desired. I really thought that the whole feminist fairy tale theme was a little bit hard to swallow and a tad annoying but overall a good read.
Some Great Stories Make Up For the MANY Duds...........2003-01-17
This is actually one of the better "Years Best" that I've read so far. Again, I skimmed right past Windling & Datlow's Summations- They go on waaayyyy too long, as usual. Also as usual, Fantasy Editor Terri Windling monopolizes the bulk of the book with her choices. Horror Editor Ellen Datlow does get some payback, though: One of her choices, Peter Straub's "Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff", runs in excess of 50 pages. The titular duo is memorable, but the story goes on too long, and the style it's written in is difficult to stick with. The end is worth it, though.
The book opens with Kelly Link's "Travels With the Snow Queen" which I couldn't even finish; I hated it. Link appears again towards the end of the book with "The Specialist's Hat", an absolutely chilling ghost story with a drop-dead scary ending. I couldn't move on to the next story until the next day, because I was turning Link's story over in my mind all night. It was absolutely one of the spookiest stories I've ever read. Sara Douglass offers up the REAL secret behind those Gargoyles on Church roofs in "The Evil Within", a far-fetched but fun Horror tale, and Lisa Goldstein's "The Fantasma of Q____" is an interesting victorian tale with an neat twist at the end. Stephen King's contribution is pretty good; Not his best, but the end makes it worthwhile. One of the book's better tales is Terry Lamsley's "Suburban Blight", where an abandoned building hides a terrifying secret. "Inside the Cackle Factory", by Dennis Etchison, tells us just what happens to all of those washed-up stars we never see on TV anymore. John Kessel's "Every Angel is Terrifying" is a realistic story of escaped killers that takes a mildly fantastic twist at the end; It's extremely well-written, and creepy as hell. As always, there's a Dracula story (Sort of)- It's Mark W. Tiedmann's "Psyche", and it's a keeper. Drac himself is only peripherally involved, but his influence permeates the entire story. Jane Yolen, Norman Partridge, and Michael Blumlein all contribute interesting stories as well. I couldn't get through Christopher Harman's "Jackdaw Jack"- It was just awful. There's another Charles De Lint Newford story, which is excellent as usual, and Terry Dowling's story, "Jenny Come To Play" is just a nasty read; Although they're nothing alike, it has the same feel as "The Silence of the Lambs". And as usual, Terri Windling monopolizes the end of the book with dud stories that I can't get through. Windling tends to favor feminist fantasy stories that are all too much alike; I was actually offended by Carol Ann Duffy's ode to man-hating, "Mrs. Beast"; The less I say about this trash the better. If a man had written such an anti-female story, he'd be finished.
As I said, there are some GREAT stories here, but they're outweighed by the duds, and when one of these stories are bad, they're BAD. I'll read the other two volumes of "Year's Best" that I own, but I'll pass on buying new ones. Windling & Datlow's selections leave a lot to be desired, and I wish they would get a little more daring.....
The current pulse of nonrealistic fiction........2002-06-28
In their twelfth annual survey, Datlow and Windling have assembled a rewarding collection of genre (and extra-genre) fiction from English language sources of all kinds from 1998, with a little poetry thrown in as well. In a format based on Dozois's science fiction anthologies, Datlow and Windling's series has become an annual "event" for lovers of nonrealistic short fiction. The editors are open to just about anything and everything, as long as it has significant fantasy or horror elements, but they are more likely to reprint material by women writers, or about female characters. As far as biases go, that's not a bad one to have: some of the best fantasists working today are women.
The editors look at mainstream magazines like "The New Yorker" and "Ms." -- both of which had strong stories chosen for this book. From "The New Yorker" they selected Stephen King's "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French," which in 20 tightly-written pages gives the reader the entire life of a woman who may be getting precognitive flashes about the crash of the plane she and her husband are on, or who may simply be fantasizing the crash as a death wish. I knew this woman completely by the end of the story (whose title refers to déjà vu). The "Ms." story was Lisa Goldstein's "The Phantasma of Q-----," with a moment of magic realism passing so quickly it's hard to catch. It is a strength of this series that it covers work in mainstream, genre and academic/small press sources.
A number of British and Australian magazines, anthologies and collections provide selections, with two superior tales well worth reading. The best thing in the book (and saved for last) is the superb modern fairy tale by A. S. Byatt, "Cold" -- sitting in a warm library, I was shivering at the frozen world depicted. A beautifully textured story, the best I've read in several years. It came from Byatt's collection, "Fire and Ice." Christopher Harman's "Jackdaw Jack" (from Ghosts and Scholars, a UK little magazine) is the best shocker in the anthology. Its pieces fall into place like a well-wrought jigsaw, and the end left me numb.
Among the other stories is an unclassifiable gem by Ray Vukcevich, "By the Time We Get to Uranus" (from the anthology, Imagination Fully Dilated). In the story's surreal world, a person's body slowly develops an astronaut's suit from the feet up, and eventually the person floats off into space. When this happens to a man's wife, he's concerned that his suit isn't developing as fast as hers, as they can't leave together. A metaphor for what separates the sexes these days, the story works and then some.
The stories I detailed here are my favorites, but others will find others they like as much or better. Some motifs of the book are hispanic magic realism, foreign fantasy in translation, and stories that are just very strange. I'm not a fast reader, and this long book took me a year and a half to finish. The extensive prefaces (in roman numerals) run over 100 pages before you even get to "page 1." Windling first documents fantasy for 1998; Datlow then does the same for horror, after which we get essays on the media, comics and obituaries for 1998. The prefaces are meant to be references more than essays, and I do use them as a reference, but they are slow going just to read (and some of the info is duplicated by approaching the genres separately). The shortlist of "honorable mention" stories at the end is also useful as a reference.
All in all, a class act by two dedicated anthologists who deeply care about the state of the contemporary nonrealistic story.
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Fifth Annual.......2001-12-12
Standout stories here are Holdstock and Kilworth's chilling "The Ragthorn", Cherryh's "Gwydion and the Dragon" and McGrath's gruesome "The Smell". Also worth mentioning are stories by Koja and Kushner, among others. There's the usual useful overview of the industry, and the usual stock of cutesy (De Lint) and nonsensical stories and bad free verse, but this edition contains more truly good work than many of the others.
An outstanding entry in an excellent series.......2000-11-20
I am working my way back through all of the Datlow/Windling annuals, and although I love all of them, this collection is definitely outshines some of its colleagues (such as the third edition, which is the least thrilling of the ones I have read so far). Many of the stories will cling to your memory, and the scope of genres is commendable. The editors have found works form many different countries and languages and brought them all together into a very good volume. My favorite entries include "The Ragthorn" a truly frightening story about scholarship, information and resurrection; "Our Lady of the Harbour" Charles de Lint's Newford version of the little Mermaid; "Call Home" a truly scary story about a little girl and the man who doesn't molest her; "At the End of the Day" a disturbing and surreal narrative about endings; "The Poisoned Story" an upside down retelling of Cinderella in Puerto Rico by my compatriot Rosario Ferre; "The Peony Lantern" a Japanese ghost story and "The Witch of Wilton Falls" about human monsters and adapting to unusual circumstances. If you have read other Datlow/Windling anthologies and you want to buy other ones, get this one first. If you have never read these anthologies, this is a great place to start.
Book Description
For the first time ever, award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan has assembled the best science fiction and the best fantasy stories of the year in one volume. More than just two books for the price of one, this book brings together over 200,000 words of the best genre fiction anywhere. Strahan's critical eye and keen editorial instincts have served him well for earlier best of the year round-ups in the Best Short Novels, Science Fiction: Best of and Fantasy: Best of series, and this is his most impressive effort yet.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-08
A new series of books, or so we hope. I read this fully expecting not to like the fantasy part as much as the SF part, and that certainly turned out to be the case. What I have basically classified as SF to myself averages around 3.80, the fantasy part, 3.60.
Anyway, I have always looked at these sort of things as Best SF with bonus material.
In fact, fantasy is broadly defined here, from with boys, to child slaughtering horror.
The breakdown of genre is SF a bit under half - and the odd nebulous story that you could call SF would take it a bit over half, for those that are mostly interested in this as a science fiction book. For the rest, perhaps 60:40 fantasy to horror, by my classification, for those interested in that sort of thing one way or the other.
The editor gives a brief introduction, which is an historical overview of various 'Year's Best' series, and his own favorite editors of the past. Not sure whether it is short of choice, or for space reasons as he was trying to pack in as much story as possible. If that is the case, then perhaps publishers in a similar situation could consider longer editorial introduction with perhaps a url in the book, or even that as an excerpt or promo.
The story intros are brief, with a little bit of biography, and a little bit of introduction, and keeps to the right side of the line of reading like advertising. Speaking of which, this book actually has relevant advertisements for other books by the publisher. Normally, most people don't like advertising, but in the case of books, I find it good to have what else is available, with publisher's URL prominently available. Even if you just do the old fashioned one page list like was done in the past, that is fine. However, in this case you exactly get pretty high quality cover reproduction and blurbs, so quite well done.
So, to rate this, I give the SF part a 4.5, and the fantasy part a 4. If you like the non-SF genres more, I would think you are likely to call it the reverse.
SF and F Best 01 : How To Talk To Girls At Parties - Neil Gaiman.
SF and F Best 01 : El Regalo - Peter S. Beagle
SF and F Best 01 : I Row-Boat - Cory Doctorow
SF and F Best 01 : In The House Of The Seven Librarians - Ellen Klages
SF and F Best 01 : Another Word For Map Is Faith - Christopher Rowe
SF and F Best 01 : Under Hell, Over Heaven - Margo Langanan
SF and F Best 01 : Incarnation Day - Walter Jon Williams.
SF and F Best 01 : The Night Whiskey - Jeffrey Ford.
SF and F Best 01 : A Siege Of Cranes - Benjamin Rosenbaum
SF and F Best 01 : Halfway House - Frances Hardinge.
SF and F Best 01 : The Bible Repairman - Tim Powers
SF and F Best 01 : Yellow Card Man - Paolo Bacigalupi
SF and F Best 01 : Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter (Fantasy) - Geoff Ryman
SF and F Best 01 : The American Dead - Jay Lake
SF and F Best 01 : The Cartesian Theater - Robert Charles Wilson
SF and F Best 01 : Journey Into The Kingdom - M. Rickert
SF and F Best 01 : Eight Episodes - Robert Reed
SF and F Best 01 : The Wizards of Perfil - Kelly Link
SF and F Best 01 : The Saffron Gatherers - Elizabeth Hand
SF and F Best 01 : D.A - Connie Willis
SF and F Best 01 : Femaville 29 - Paul Di Filippo
SF and F Best 01 : Sob In The Silence - Gene Wolfe.
SF and F Best 01 : The House Beyond Your Sky - Benjamin Rosenbaum
SF and F Best 01 : The Djinn's Wife - Ian McDonald
Ordinary party and alien chicks = run away.
3.5 out of 5
Witch boy sororal rescue.
4 out of 5
Asimovian reef revival survival.
4.5 out of 5
Taxonomically sheltered upbringing.
4 out of 5
Religiously correct landscaping writ large.
3 out of 5
Purgatory point scoring.
3.5 out of 5
Parental supervision control program subversion.
4.5 out of 5
Death booze corpse recall putdown getaway.
4 out of 5
Witch girl's zombie baby scorched earth revenge.
4.5 out of 5
Butterfly piecemeal.
2.5 out of 5
Broken soul ghost ransomer's burning to edit.
3 out of 5
Fallen biotech magnate takes insults badly.
4 out of 5
Surfeit of spirits.
3 out of 5
Tomb s*x death escape is smoking.
4 out of 5
AI's secret hiring post double death act suic1de promotion of philosophy.
4 out of 5
Rules for snogging. 1. Check for life. 2. Check if human.
3 out of 5
Tv invasion cancelled. Maybe.
4 out of 5
Scary sorcery lacks youthful replenishment.
4 out of 5
Archaeological expedition earthquake overflight.
3.5 out of 5
Space cadet Shanghai surprise.
4 out of 5
Tsunami refugeee imagineering exodus.
4 out of 5
Horrific writer's fate well deserved.
4 out of 5
Making a universal mess of it.
2.5 out of 5
Computer cops crimp AI's carnal cavorting with calisthenic chick.
4 out of 5
4.5 out of 5
Book Description
The marvels of tomorrows past and tomorrows yet to come abound in this delightful volume. With two dozen imaginative and moving tales, this collection included the work of the finest writers in the field, among them: Poul Anderson, Terry Bisson, Pat Cadigan, Greg Egan, Michael F. Flynn, Joe Haldeman, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Ian R. MacLeod, David Marusek, Paul J. McAuley, Maureen F. McHugh, Robert Reed, Mary Rosenblum, Geoff Ryman, William Sanders, Dan Simmons, Brian Stableford, Allen Steele, Michael Swanwick. A helpful list of honorable mentions and Gardner Dozois's insightful summation of the year in science fiction round out the volume, making it indispensable for anyone interested in science fiction today.
Customer Reviews:
WARNING - Most Other Reviewers Are Reviewing #17 not #13.......2005-03-08
I don't know what happened here, but most of these other reviews are for the wrong book. Only the three oldest reviews are for the right edition. The Product Description is for the right one(#13) but the Editorial Review by Amazon.com is for #17 as are 15 out of 20 of the Reader Reviews.
The table of contents for #13 is:
A WOMAN'S LIBERATION by Ursula K. Le Guin
STARSHIP DAY by Ian R. MacLeod
A PLACE WITH SHADE by Robert Reed
LUMINOUS by Greg Egan
THE PROMISE OF GOD by Michael F. Flynn
DEATH IN THE PROMISED LAND by Pat Cadigan
THE WHITE HILL by Joe Haldeman
SOME LIKE IT COLD by John Kessel
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN FUTURE by Allen Steele
THE LINCOLN TRAIN by Maureen F. McHugh
WE WERE OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH JOY by David Marusek
RADIO WAVES by Michael Swanwick
WANG'S CARPETS by Greg Egan
CASTING AT PEGASUS by Mary Rosenblum
LOOKING FOR KELLY DAHL by Dan Simmons
THINK LIKE A DINOSAUR by James Patrick Kelly
COMING OF AGE IN KARHIDE by Ursula K. Le Guin
GENESIS by Poul Anderson
FEIGENBAUM NUMBER by Nancy Kress
HOME by Geoff Ryman
THERE ARE NO DEAD by Terr Bisson
RECORDING ANGEL by Paul J. McAuley
ELVIS BEARPAW'S LUCK by William Sanders
MORTIMER GRAY'S HISTORY OF DEATH by Brian Stableford
There's more than just a few modern classics here. They are:
McHugh's Hugo and Locus Award winning THE LINCOLN TRAIN
Kelly's Hugo Award winning THINK LIKE A DINOSAUR
Marusek's WE WERE OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH JOY
Bisson's THERE ARE NO DEAD
Egan's WANG'S CARPETS
Le Guin's A WOMEN'S LIBERATION
And the Hugo Award winning THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN FUTURE by Steele
There's some others which are really good (STARSHIP DAY comes to mind) and a few stinkers (Rosenblum's 'choppy' prose comes to mind), but when gathering 24 stories from any given year that is bound to happen.
Oddly there are no Nebula Award winners in this edition.
#13(1995) is perhaps the best of all of Gardner's Annuals. A recent discussion at the Asimov's Magazine website, which Gardner was still editing at the time, found most people liking #13 the best. It's odd to find a decade's best stories being those from mid-decade, it's always been the earlier or later years which defined any other decade. In that discussion over at Asimov's #12(1994) and #14(1996) were the other most popular of the Annuals, so that further illustrates just how good the short SF of the mid-nineties was.
I buy one of these big daddies every year and can never wait to start in on Gardner's Annual Summation. In fact, Spouse has to drive home because I can't wait until we get home to start reading. I GOTTA READ IT NOW! The Summation alone is ALMOST worth the price, I say "almost" because these puppies aren't cheap when they're hot off the presses. But, you now have the opportunity to buy these bad boys cheap.
If you're a student of SF this book is an absolute must. You get samples of everything going on in the genre AND that very in-depth Summation.
If you're simply a fan this book really isn't a must because there are stories which some people would hardly consider as being Science Fiction, but there's always that Summation. The Hartwell SF Annuals are probably more to your liking as far as being strictly SF. But then again, this particular edition doesn't have much of that "fluffy" stuff as compared to many of the other editions.
It's a great collection of stories. Buy it, you'll spend a lot less than I did.
A great colection!!!.......1998-08-24
They've said what I wanted to about the stories themselves. I'm odd for younger readers in that I was reading Cordwainer Smith before I'd heard of Card or Bujold. This was therefore a great way to introduce me to great "new" authors like McHugh, Kress, MacLeod, etc. The summations are a great way to see what's going on in the science fiction, & sadly I think magazines may be in worse shape than Dozois indicates. I think he doesn't want to say how bad things are because he doesn't want pity subscriptions. I hope Amazon allows me to mention that some of the Kansas guy's favorite stories are by Poul Anderson & that he meant to say "most loved & most hated" not "most & most hated". If they refuse to print this because I mentioned that then this will be the last time I visit this site! I hate to be melodramatic like that, but I think this Customer Comment thing is a great way to talk about books & I'd hate for a flub to ruin someone's point. Sadly that small digression's probably killed the chance this will appear so to continue I'd like to say Hartwell's is a great complement to this & you should try it too. It's not quite as good, but it has a lot of short humorous work that Dozois tends to lack. I understand Dozois preference for novellas, but it's nice to have a collection of shorter work when you're too busy for novellas. The summary that Dozois has is one of his (Dozois') main advantages since it points you to good books & anthologies you may have missed & tells you about older generation authors that even I'm not familiar with. I said the others said everything about the stories, but I realize that's not quite true. Dozois chooses much more hard sf then people give him credit for. Granted "Elvis Bearpaw's Luck" is basically a darkly humorous Cherokeeized sendup of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" & like Swanwick's "Radio Waves" it's fantasy with sf elements, but so are some of Hartwell's choices. "Wang's Carpet" was hard sf, but felt incomplete & is now part of Diaspora where it probably makes more sense. His other story "Luminous" stands on its own. I liked "Starship Day" by MacLeod, but if I say much about it I'll ruin it. Well I hope amazon will forgive my minor digression & I hope you science fiction fans will keep sf magazines alive so anthologies like this will have a variety of stories to choose, but I won't hold my breath.
Great collection!!!!!!!.......1998-07-09
The Kansas guy pretty much said what I think, except Poul Anderson wrote some good stuff. Also the hard sf by Egan was pretty good. "Recording Angel" was pretty good. I get the feeling this new series of McAuley's is in the Universe of this story. The summation was a little gloomy, but I'm hopeful the science fiction magazines won't die.
A great collection of stories........1998-06-16
Although I did not enjoy every story, I respected them. Meaning the ones I did not like I am sure someone else would. The ones I liked best were "Think Like a Dinosaur", "The Lincoln Train", "Genesis", & "Feigenbaum's Number". Although I'd like to say the title character in "Looking for Kelly Dahl" is quite interesting & memorable. "Think Like a Dinosaur" is good for people who liked the idea in Tom Godwin "The Cold Equation's", but thought it was sappy. It also has interesting aliens. "The Lincoln Train" introduced me to Maureen F. McHugh (which is a mixed blessing), still it's a good Alternate History story vividly written. Poul Anderson has written some of my most & most hated novels. Still "Genesis" is an interesting far future tale. My favorite part is more alternate history involved. "Feigenbaum's number" introduced me to Nancy Kress (mostly a good thing) it mixes math & Platonism. These stories (especially the Kress) are more emotional then I am used to sf being. Still it is a fairly varied mixture that even contains some hard sf. My only complaint is that he could have chosen less confusing stories that were under ten pages. (or just not included stories that short since he obviously doesn't like them that short)
Book Description
The best stories of the year: here is a collection of the best science fiction prose written in 2006, by some of the genre's greatest authors, and selected by Rich Horton, a contributing reviewer to many of the field's most respected magazines.
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-08
This book, if you have the paper version, and not the electronic, is not putting you in as much danger of bonebreaking if dropped it seems as some of the others, being a fairly normal sort of book length, leaving room for around a dozen stories.
The editor also writes an introduction to explain how he chooses, saying he generally finds a few stories he has to have, has a whole bunch more to select from, then takes a look at those again to try and get a balance of length, and hopefully include a couple of new writers, which is an admirable goal. Some people will then see a story by those writers, really like them, and chase up other work. I have certainly done so. Such a goal perhaps may make the average rating for stories go down a little bit, and perhaps this volume is a touch on the low side for a Year's Best grouping, at 3.67. Slightly under Strahan's for the same year, and a bit under the SF part of that. However, one of the Dozois volumes I have rated was only a 3.50 average, so like anything else, these will vary.
He gives a brief story list overview by way of plot, noting that a few stories are weird. On the whole, those are the entries I didn't like quite as much, I think. The other thing is, if you really dislike stories with religious themes or elements there are quite a few of those here, and he does point that out in his intro.
The last useful part of the editorial intro is a brief review of the field of publication for the year, and he points out some online publications that have SF stories. Thefore, this is worth a bit of a bonus, ratingwise.
The other thing for which the publishers of this book should be congratulated is the no DRM multiformat edition they have for sale at Fictionw1se. For such a small, foreign niche publisher that their books aren't too likely to be on a shelf here, and maybe even not so much in a more specialist shop, if you are lucky enough to have one, this makes it easy to get and read wherever for everyone else. This means you can get the book in pretty much any format you want, turn it into any format you want, and read it on any machine you want, print it out, have text to speech read it to you, or anything else you can think of.
To those of you to whom this is important, I definitely suggest supporting these books, and there is an equivalent Fantasy volume for those that prefer that genre, available exactly the same way.
Hartwell anthologies are available in a similar format, but the latest I have seen is three years ago. I know publishers can be slow, but this is rather ridiculous.
The Dozois volumes are even older, and in DRM laden formats, so if you look at the ratings/sales are nowhere near as popular in this way. Latest I have seen of these is 2002 I think. Bizarre, and, quite frankly, not too smart. To shamelessly misuse James Patrick Kelly's most excellent story title:
Think Like A Dinosaur = bad. Get over yourselves publishers, you are leaving money on the table. Hopefully Wildside is getting some of it, as they deserve it.
Wildside have done a smart thing, there, so for people that like books like Year's Best, and don't want to have to pay people that own planes a lot of money to get them, this series has to be highly recommended, both in quality of material appearing to be, from the one example, to be as good as other books of this type, and ease of access.
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Another Word for Map is Faith - Christopher Rowe
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Okanoggan Falls - Carolyn Ives Gilman
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Saving for a Sunny Day - Ian Watson
SF Best of the Year 2007 : The Cartesian Theater - Robert Charles Wilson
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Hesperia and Glory - Ann Leckie
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Incarnation Day - Walter Jon Williams
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Exit Before Saving - Ruth Nestvold
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Inclination - William Shunn
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Life on the Preservation - Jack Skillingstead
SF Best of the Year 2007 : Me-Topia - Adam Roberts
SF Best of the Year 2007 : The House Beyond Your Sky - Benjamin Rosenbaum
SF Best of the Year 2007 : A Billion Eves - Robert Reed
Religiously correct landscaping writ large.
3 out of 5
Alien invasion imitation co-operation landscaping strategy.
4.5 out of 5
Barcode karma cycle conversation sought.
4 out of 5
AI's secret hiring post double death act suic1de promotion of philosophy.
4 out of 5
Well, it is sword and planet time.
3.5 out of 5
Parental supervision control program subversion.
4.5 out of 5
Absent fraternal experimental transformation overload.
4.5 out of 5
Basic Machine boy gets retooled.
3.5 out of 5
Daily alien revisit.
3 out of 5
Neanderthal uplift planetary exclusion.
4 out of 5
Making a universal mess of it.
2.5 out of 5
Multiversal misanthropy.
3.5 out of 5
4.5 out of 5
The cover copy has been fixed.......2007-06-27
I just received my copy of the trade paperback yesterday, and the cover copy now reflects the actual contents. From the earlier complaints, I suspect an art director or graphic designer somewhere is even now being flogged...
Bad cover design at work.......2007-06-08
As J P Rich noted, none of the authors on the cover (Joe Haldeman, Alistair Reynolds, Michael Swanwick) had any material in this book. They all had stories in the 2006 edition and apparently the cover designer just carried their names over on to the new edition.
Cover is grossly misleading; book ought to be recalled!.......2007-06-03
Well, who could pass up stories by SF greats "Haldeman," "Reynolds" and "Swanwick," as prominently advertised on the cover of Horton's 2007 Best SF anthology? I snapped the book off the shelf at my local B&N and was ready to buy it when I happened to peruse the table of contents....
The problem is that nothing from any these three writers is actually represented in the book! As the oft-repeated recording on late L.A. radio sports reporter Jim Healy's show used to ask, "Who goofed? I've got to know!"
There are far fewer stories in this anthology than in the Dozois, Strachan and Hartwell edited competitors, each of which are invariably superior to Horton's. Not that there aren't good stories in Horton's 2007 anthology (thought anyone who has had a subscription to Asimov's already has read half the stories); I wouldn't buy this book on principle, due to the false advertising on the cover.
Book Description
For over twenty years The Years Best Science Fiction has been recognized as the best collection of short science fiction writing in the universe and an essential resource for every science fiction fan. In 2005, the original Best of the Best collected the finest short stories from that series and became a benchmark in the SF field. Now, for the first time ever, Hugo Award-winning editor Gardner Dozois sifts through hundreds of stories and dozens of authors who have gone on to become some of the most esteemed practitioners of the form to bring readers the ultimate anthology of short science fiction novels from his legendary series.
Customer Reviews:
superb collection.......2007-03-11
Following up on the first edition of the Best of the Best (short story oriented), Gardner Dozois fills the second collection with classic novellas, starting with the fantastic "Sailing to Byzantium" by Silverberg. The entries speak for themselves as sci fi fans will recognize most if not all the contributions and many will have been read previously. The entries are Walter Jon Williams' "Surfacing", Joe Haldeman's "The Hemingway Hoax", James Patrick Kelly's "Mr. Boy", Nancy Kress's "Beggars in Spain", Michael Swanwick's "Griffin's Egg", Frederik Pohl's "Outnumbering the Dead", Ursula K. Le Guin's "Forgiveness Day", Maureen F. McHugh's "The Cost to Be Wise", Greg Egan's "Oceanic", Ian McDonald's "Tendeleo's Story", Ian R. MacLeod's "New Light on the Drake Equation", and Alastair Reynolds's "Turquoise Days",. The stories run the gamut of the genre with a few crossing into fantasy, but what they share are strong story lines with believable characters bringing to life questions of humanity's place in the universe. The only question for readers is to pay or not to pay in light of having read most before as this compilation is top rate.
Harriet Klausner
An exceptionally fine anthology of short science fiction........2007-02-19
Renowned editor Gardner Dozois presents a landmark anthology of the best short science fiction novels from over two decades of "The Year's Best Science Fiction."
Heralded as the best collection of short science fiction writing in the universe and admired by science fiction fans everywhere, "The Year's Best Science Fiction" boasts more than two decades as the leader in science fiction compilations. In 2005, Hugo Award-winning editor Gardner Dozois featured the finest short stories from that series in the original Best of the Best collection. Now, in "THE BEST OF THE BEST VOLUME 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels", Dozois brings readers the ultimate collection of short science fiction novels from his legendary series.
With such celebrated authors as Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Swanwick, Joe Haldeman, Frederick Pohl, Greg Egan, Robert Silverberg, Alastair Reynolds and many more, THE BEST OF THE BEST VOLUME 2 is a momentous science fiction short novel anthology that should not be missed.
Highly recommended.
Book Description
Watch out for crease on spine.
Customer Reviews:
As always, a mixed bag--but it's a BIG bag!.......2005-11-16
J and I were having a discussion about reading preferences. She likes big thick books, typically, and I profess that I don't, although the books I name as my favorites all tend to be fairly hefty ones (The Gold Bug Variations, Possession, and Stand on Zanzibar, to name three). What I do like, that J has virtually stopped reading except in special cases, is short stories. Thinking about this, what I decided was my attraction in a story was a strong beginning and strong end, something you get a lot more of with short stories (where, in certain cases, are just beginnings and ends), yet can also be found in certain books. It's not that I don't like the middles of stories, but I'm a structuralist, and if a story starts off strong and finds a way to tie it up all together at the end, I've found what I'm looking for. It also explains why I don't tend to like "mainstream" fiction all that much, which is often just about the characters, i.e., the middle, and which the structure of beginning and end matters little.
So the publication of these large volumes of short stories is a regular purchase for me, enabling me to forego the magazines, which--to read in the kind of breadth and width brought to this collection by editors Datlow and Windling--would be ruinously expensive. I tend to like Datlow's picks better than Windling, that is, if the initials on the introductions indicate which woman picked which story for the volume, and I think that's because my tastes have always been more in line with Datlow. While both editors try to break free of the genre for at least a portion of their selections, Windling seems to have a certain stable of writers whom she can't stop from including--Yolen and de Lint come to mind--that I have never found as strong as she does.
The highlights in this volume include Stephen King's "The Man in the Black Suit," a Faulkner-influenced meet the devil tale that benefits from King's ability to write colloquially; Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples" which is like Gregory Maquire's Wicked in its ability to reframe a couple of well-known fairy tales so that the reader discovers that history is written by the winners; William Browning Spencer's "The Ocean and All Its Devices," wherein the Cthulhu mythos is reinvigorated; David Garnett's "A Friend Indeed," one of the best twist-in-the-tail stories that I've read in a while; and "Superman's Diary" by B. Brandon Barker, where Clark Kent finally wins the day. I liked some of the others, which tended to have great beginnings but weren't able to end to my satisfaction, including Bradley Denton's "A Conflagration Artist," Ian McDonald's "Blue Motel" and Jack Womack's "That Old School Tie." While I'm glad the editors include poetry, once again I wasn't impressed with the selections.
Book Description
The first ever annual 'Year's Best'anthology of science fiction and fantasy for teens,featuring extraordinary tales by S.M.Stirling,David Gerrold,Garth Nix,Delia Sherman,Kelly Link,and many others! A ward-winning anthologists Jane Yolen and Patrick Nielsen Hayden have combed through a year's worth of books and magazines and websites to find the most outstanding fantasy and science fiction stories of 2004-and collected them into a single volume aimed specificallyat teens and young adults.
Customer Reviews:
Best Sci-Fi for Teens .......2007-05-13
I bought this book for my 13 yr. old granddaughter. She was delighted. She told me it was absolutely the best science fiction book she had ever read.
So what do I buy her next??(a rhetorical question)
Teens? Well, maybe........2007-05-12
The stories in this compilation are very juvenile. I would not suggest this book for anyone over the age of 15, and yet some of the subject material and swearing would not be suitable for children, either. This book suffers (in most cases) from the incongruity of decent stories and poor writing, lacking literary merit. While some of the language is passable, overall, I would not recomend this book to serious readers, unless you are just looking for some light pleasure reading. (Some very very light, not too terribly pleasurable pleasure reading.)
I really wanted to like this.......2007-02-23
I think that introducing young people to science fiction and fantasy is something the genres are neglecting. Unfortunately the selection of stories is poor. It is also heavily slanted, very heavily, toward fantasy. There is not one nuts and bolts hard science fiction in the lot. It is also more slanted toward feminine than masculine.
I enjoy fantasy, I also see a need for more stories appealing to young females, but not to such an extent as represented here in the first anthology series aimed at teen readers both male and female.
Of the stories Bradley Denton's "Sergeant Chip," seems best and is the most typically science fiction. "Sleeping Dragons" is the best fantasy. There is a good alternate history thrown into the mix. Several of the other fantasy stories make a good effort but the ratio of dreck to good stories is unfavorable.
For a better anthology of just science fiction try The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction. For better fantasy try The Year's Best Fantasy series by Hartwell and Cramer. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame series is also suitable for young adults and includes some fantasy.
Jane Yolen's Briar Rose is one of my all time favorite books and Patrick Nielsen Hayden is normally a great editor or co-editor of other collections. I don't know how they messed up so badly in this one.
Gary Denton
terrific collection .......2005-07-12
Ten of these eleven enjoyable stories targeting young adults (but older readers will appreciate them too) were initially published in varying publications in 2004; one story "They" by Rudyard Kipling is a century old (interesting to historiographic compare to the modern writers). The stories are mostly fantasy and even the few science fiction contributions like "Sergeant Chip" have a fantasy like feel to them. The authors are a who's who of the genres with each providing a strong effort. Settings vary from Grandma's handbag (think Men in Black II) to the New York Forty-Second Street Public Library to a K-9 point of view on war. Some, as is typical of fantasy, use horror elements to enhance the plot. Each tale is well written and the editors provide the titles of other similar stories that teens would most likely enjoy. An honorable mention list adds to the experience of fostering reading amongst young adults. This is a terrific collection for young and old readers.
Harriet Klausner
Book Description
The twenty-eight stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our beings, to the realm of the gods, and the moment just after now. Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including:
* Cory Doctorow * Robert Charles Wilson * Michael Swanwick * Ian McDonald * Benjamin Rosenbaum * Kage Baker * Bruce McAllister * Alastair Reynolds * Jay Lake * Ruth Nestvold * Gregory Benford * Justin Stanchfield * Walter Jon Williams * Greg Van Eekhout * Robert Reed * David D. Levine * Paul J. McAuley * Mary Rosenblum * Daryl Gregory * Jack Skillingstead * Paolo Bacigalupi * Greg Egan * Elizabeth Bear * Sarah Monette * Ken MacLeod * Stephen Baxter * Carolyn Ives Gilman * John Barnes * A.M. Dellamonica
Supplementing the stories are the editor’s insightful summation of the year’s events and a list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.
Customer Reviews:
Best Collection in a While.......2007-08-06
I agree with the previous review - this is the best Dozois collection in some time. Some of the highlights: "The Djinn's Wife" deals with a future India, where a young superstar marries a man who isn't actually real; Paolo Bacigalupi's "Yellow Card Man" involves a formerly successful Chinese businessman struggling to stay alive in a future Bangkok; "Incarnation Day" by Walter Jon Williams shows us what may happen if adults have the ultimate say on whether or not a child reaches maturity; Robert Charles Wilson's "Julian: A Christmas Story" is my favorite, a story set in the near future with two boys from very different types of families; Robert Reed's "Good Mountain" takes us so far into the future we see a group of people who may literally be outrunning the destruction of the Earth.
Alastair Reynolds has two stories here. "Signal to Noise" is silly and uninteresting, but "Nightingale" is a fantastic space opera with a devestating shot of horror for a finale. John Barnes' "Every Hole is Outlined" ends up being a tender, but odd, love story. There is much to enjoy in this collection. I suggest you get this book and do just that.
Strongest collection in years!.......2007-07-27
"I, Row Boat," by Cory Doctorow. In this homage to Asimov, a battle of wits between a sentient coral reef and a sentient rowboat raises mind-bending questions about the nature of intelligence in a digitized future. B
"Julian: A Christmas Story," by Robert Charles Wilson. A gloomy future America reverts to 19th century conditions thanks to the excesses of science and the deficiencies of religion. C
"Tin Marsh," by Michael Swanwick. "The Shining" goes to Venus. Two weary prospectors, one well past the end of his rope, battle the elements, each other, and insanity. B
"The Djinn's Wife," by Ian McDonald. Against the exotic backdrop of Delhi, a disastrous romance flares up and out between a famous dancer and a diplomat who happens to be an ethereal artificial intelligence. B+
"The House Beyond Your Sky," by Benjamin Rosenbaum. A haunting glimpse behind the curtain reveals that being the Creator ain't all it's cracked up to be. B
"Where the Golden Apples Grow," by Kage Baker. The stark, inhospitable terrain of Mars almost comes alive as two stranded young colonists struggle to get home. B+
"Kin," by Bruce McAllister. Elegant vignette about a boy and a roach-like alien assassin explores the mysteries of personal relationships and the nature of good and evil. B
"Signal to Noise," by Alastair Reynolds. Albeit touching and romantic, the plot doesn't quite measure up to the fascinating premise of a man who crosses over into a parallel universe to reconnect with his dead wife. B
"The Big Ice," by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. A frozen ocean of ice plays host to a scorching battle of wits between two politically powerful sibling rivals. B
"Bow Shock," by Gregory Benford. Frustrated astrophysicist on verge of losing bid for tenure observes an object in space that grows curiouser and curioser. Masterful blend of science, subtlety, sensitivity and suspense. A+
"In the River," by Justin Stanchfield. Unfathomable (no pun intended) squid-like aliens welcome a genetically altered human scientist aboard their six-kilometer long, liquid-filled ship. B
"Incarnation Day," by Walter Jon Williams. Some things never change. In a future society where parents raise virtual children, a rebellious digital teenager plays a high stakes game of chicken with her controlling mother. B
"Far as You Can Go," by Greg Van Eekhout. In a broken down future world, a scavenger and his profoundly human robot companion risk what little they for a place in the sun. Simultaneously tender and terrifying. A
"Good Mountain," by Robert Reed. A richly textured portrait of the distant future, in which worried travelers hope to outrun the fire and earthquakes that are consuming what little is left of their world. A
"I Hold My Father's Paws," by David D. Levine. Several stories herein explore genetic engineering, but this one goes whole hog, as Americans change species for reasons ridiculous and--at least in one case--sublime. B
"Dead Men Walking," by Paul J. McAuley. Rousing adventure pits one genetically engineered assassin against another on a prison in a remote corner of the solar system. B
"Home Movies," by Mary Rosenblum. Memory seller strikes deal with a manipulative client, forcing her to make a supremely difficult choice. B
"Damascus," by Daryl Gregory. Creepy, well-constructed story about a bizarre religious cult gives new meaning to the concept of forced conversion. B+
"Life on the Preservation," by Jack Skillingstead. "Groundhog Day" with scant uplifting tonic and a cataclysmic twist. B+
"Yellow Card Man," by Paolo Bacigalupi. Squalid Bangkok is particularly hellish for its former Chinese masters, and I felt every ounce of pain and humiliation while accompanying a fallen tycoon on his way to rock bottom. A+
"Riding the Crocodile," by Greg Egan. A virtually immortal couple's efforts to contact a mysterious life form span hundreds of thousands of years. Long tunnel, precious little cheese. C
"The Ile of Dogges," by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. Queen Elizabeth's censor gets a supernaturally rude awakening. C
"The Highway Men," by Ken MacLeod. Frozen Scotland, ravaged by terrorist-inspired war and global climate shift, receives a glimmer of hope from an unlikely hero. Highly effective use of local idiom. A
"The Pacific Mystery," by Stephen Baxter. In 1950, victorious Nazis attempt to circumnavigate the globe in an immense aircraft, and encounter something unexpected in any alternate universe. A
"Okanoggan Falls," by Carolyn Ives Gilman. When alien conquerors occupy a Wisconsin hamlet, the line between friend and foe becomes blurred. Superlative plot and characters, with a perfect ending. A+
"Every Hole Is Outlined," by John Barnes. Mathematicians aboard an interstellar cargo ship encounter ghosts. C
"The Town on Blighted Sea," by A.M. Dellamonica. Sick goings-on between the vanquished and their squid "allies" in a human refugee camp. C
"Nightengale," by Alistair Reynolds. By far, the most amazing character in this page-turner about adventurers invading a deserted hospital ship to retrieve a war criminal is ... the ship itself! A+
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Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection (Year's Best Science Fiction)
Year's Best SF 11 (Year's Best Sf)
Nebula Awards Showcase 2006 (Nebula Awards Showcase)
The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction: New Generation Far-Future SF (Mammoth Book of)
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2006: 19th Annual Collection (Year's Best Fantasy and Horror)
