From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
Editor extraordinaire Gardner Dozois' annual Year's Best Science Fiction anthology is like the Pro Bowl for writers of short-length sci fi; and, as has come to be expected over the last two decades, the 23rd edition more than adequately measures up to its long list of venerable predecessors. Included within this shelf-bending collection are works from some of the biggest names in the field: Stephen Baxter, Bruce Sterling, Joe Haldeman, Alastair Reynolds, Gene Wolfe, and Harry Turtledove, to name just a few.
Notable selections include "Beyond the Aquila Rift" by Reynolds, about a wayward starship that ends up at a surreal space station 150,000 light years from home, Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold's "The Canadian Who Came Almost All the Way Back from the Stars," which revolves around a billionaire who bootstraps it to deep space and back (almost), and "The Great Caruso" by Steven Popkes, a speculative gem about a nicotine-addicted woman with a mysterious form of lung cancer.
Also included in Dozois' annual compilation is his in-depth summation of the year in science fiction. Encompassing every aspect of the genre (magazine sales, imprint launches and closures, awards, conferences, related films and television shows, etc.), the 30-page yearly summary is, to some, just as interesting -- and historically significant -- as the collection of elite stories featured afterward. Science fiction fans wondering about the state of the genre should definitely read this anthology, which features not only many of sci-fi's firmly established superstars but also the best and brightest newcomers -- an essential addition to any serious science fiction fan's collection. Paul Goat Allen
From the Publisher
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, MaryRosenblum, 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.
Publishers Weekly
Dozois's Year's Best, like any successful representative of a large constituency, sometimes suffers from blandness and inconsistency. As usual, it's oversized23 stories, nearly 600 pagesand includes a variety of types of SF as well as near-horror, fantasy and humor. Five of the stories are final nominees for Nebulas, and two new ``Hainish'' stories by Ursula LeGuin were nominated for Tiptree Awards; ``The Matter of Segrri'' won. No story here is less than competent and professional; but, with a few exceptions, there is a voiceless sameness in the writing, practically a house style, that over so many pages grows tedious. (Nearly half the stories, by page count, come from the Dozois-edited Asimov's Science Fiction.) A number are flawed (``hard'' SF stories about ``aliens'' that think just like humans) or unremarkable, but these are outweighed by many fine pieces and by standouts such as LeGuin's ``Forgiveness Day,'' perhaps the best story in the book; Eliot Fintushel's ``New Wave''-like ``Ylem''; William Sanders's ``Going After Old Man Alabama'' and Terry Bisson's ``The Hole in the Hole,'' both of which are winning and funny; Katherine Kerr's chilling ``Asylum''; and Michael Bishop's grand and humane ``Cri de Coeur.'' Dozois's intelligently and ably put-together anthology does its stated job as well as any one book or editor could. Even with competition, it would still be the best of the Best. (July)
Publishers Weekly
This annual anthology remains the best one-stop shop for short fiction, and it's a must for fans of literary SF. The notion of intelligence links several stories. Nancy Kress, in "Computer Virus," posits an intelligent computer program trying to save its life, but it does so by risking that of a child. The dense and busy "Lobsters" by Charles Stross considers the implications of denying intelligent uploaded constructs here, of lobsters human rights or autonomy. Michael Blumlein's zany "Know How, Can Do," easily the best story, posits a self-aware worm linked to a human brain, told from the point of view of the worm, "Flowers for Algernon"-style, as it acquires human intelligence, language and emotions. Alternative realities remain a productive theme. In "The Two Dicks," Paul McAuley posits an alternative reality where Philip K. Dick, who in this world wrote mainstream fiction instead of SF, meets Nixon. Ken MacLeod's ambitious, character-driven "The Human Front," set in an alternative reality just a little different from ours, describes a man's growth toward adulthood in a war-torn Britain. Dan Simmons, Alastair Reynolds, Maureen F. McHugh and Paul Di Filippo also contribute especially memorable tales. Although one could quibble with Dozois's choices and there are one or two clunkers in here this anthology is an enjoyable read that overall maintains high standards of quality and variety. It's essential for SF fans who simply don't have time to separate the wheat from the chaff on their own. (July 23) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Publishers Weekly
As in previous volumes in this series, Dozois, who has won the Hugo for Best Editor 11 times, again presents a large helping of stellar short SF. Nine of the 27 stories are, quite appropriately, from his own magazine, Asimov's, which continues to dominate the various genre awards. Dozois also includes four stories each from Fantasy and Science Fiction and the British Interzone. Also represented are Analog, Amazing, Science Fiction Age, and two semi-pro magazines, Absolute Magnitude and the Australian Altair, as well as such original anthologies as Moon Shots, Not of Women Born and the Canadian Tesseracts. Among the high points are two time-travel pieces, Kage Baker's story of San Francisco before the great earthquake, "Son Observe the Time," and Michael Swanwick's pre-historic time-paradox tale, "Scherzo with Tyrannosaurus"; Eleanor Arnason's understated story of alien gender-role reversal, "Dapple"; Kim Stanley Robinson's "A Martian Romance," which is set not in the world of his Mars trilogy but in a subtly alternate universe; and Greg Egan's "Border Guards," hard-SF that imagines a future in which immortality is a given and soccer is played using the principles of quantum physics. Also included is quality fiction by such luminaries of the field as James Patrick Kelly, Frederik Pohl, Ben Bova, Robert Silverberg and Paul McAuley, plus such rising stars as David Marusek, Alastair Reynolds and Sage Walker. As usual, the anthology begins with a detailed survey of the year in SF and ends with a long list of Honorable Mentions. Dozois's annual volume remains a standard by which the field of SF should be judged. (July) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
VOYA
Dozois's massive collection of science fiction short stories from 2005 starts, as have other years' anthologies, with a look at the world of publishing. Thus brought up to speed on the health of various SF publishers and publications, the reader can delve into thirty short stories, where soft or social SF seems to predominate. The Canadian Who Came Almost All the Way Back from the Stars by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold uses an SF premise to explore the relationship between two people from different countries and with different agendas. Daryl Gregory's intriguing Second Person, Present Tense questions the definition of self and whether one knows it when one sees it. The time-hopping detective of In the Quake Zone by David Gerrold reflects on changes to society, sexuality, and technology. On the other hand, Stephen Baxter's The Children of Time examines a potential future of earth and its human inhabitants with nary a plot on which to hang. Typical of a large collection of stories, this twenty-third compilation is an excellent way to receive exposure to SF authors of all stripes-old, new, accomplished novelists, and short story devotees. The trends cropping up this time around include the environment damaged or run amok, artificial intelligence, and the world of the near future. None of these concepts break new ground but a few stories do stand out, including Second Person, Present Tense, whereas a few others seem dull in comparison-The Children of Time. It is more hit than miss, with something for nearly everyone except, perhaps, the lover of space opera or chaste romance.
Library Journal
From David Marusek's tale of a future where reality's borders collide with the unreal ("The Wedding Album") to Kage Baker's latest novella featuring the time-traveling "Company" ("Son Observe the Time"), the 27 stories in this annual collection bear witness to the vitality of the sf short story. Including tales by Tanith Lee, Frederick Pohl, Hal Clement, Michael Swanwick, and others, this volume displays the best and brightest of the genre to good advantage. Suitable for most sf or short story collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
Library Journal
Dozois has again selected the best short sf of 1996 for inclusion in this award-winning anthology series. Among the 27 writers are Gregory Benford, John Kessel, Robert Silverberg, Maureen F. McHugh, Bruce Sterling, Charles Sheffield, and Stephen Baxter, with contributions covering romance, aliens, a high-tech future, the space program, Africa, scientific thriller, hard science, and cyberpunk. Highly recommended for all sf collections.
Kirkus Reviews
As ever, Dozois leads his anthology with a homerun by Ian R. MacLeod and follows it with a second MacLeod, "Isabel of the Fall." Two dozen tales give ballast to this voyage into SF and fantastic realism, including MacLeod's "New Light on the Drake Equation," which takes place perhaps a century from now. The story turns on Tom Kelly, a fading SETI scientist who's on a French hilltop radio-scanning the heavens for First Contact and using as his guide the Drake Equation, which helps map the likely areas an alien culture might try to contact us from. The fallible equation is less certain than he is, but Tom has great assurance about contact-for a number of decades. During them, he's visited by his ex-lover, the star-crossed Terr, a hyperenthusiast who exhausts subjects that interest her and who left Tom to take up flying with wings attached to a newly improved back musculature (Tom took up drinking to pass the time). Aside from descriptions of marvelous scientific advances in personal grooming, little confronts the reader except many pages of fine writing about waiting, waiting, waiting. "Isabel of the Fall" is a future children's story looking back at the urchin Isabel, who was taken into the Dawn Church, became a Dawn singer, and had to climb the minaret daily to clean the great mirrors that collect light from heaven-until she had a great fall . . . Also outstanding: Dan Simmons's "On K2 with Kanakaredes," about a trio of climbers forced to accept the company of a bug-shaped, six-legged alien, Kanakaredes from Aldebaran, when they climb Everest. And not to be missed: Nancy Kress's "Computer Virus"-about a mother whose home is invaded by-well, check the title. True fiction. The pure stuff.
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