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barometz's review
1.0
I received a copy of this one as a gift from a couple of friends who swear by the Year's Best series, and had ended up with an extra copy of the 2003 edition (which, importantly, was a year that neither of them had yet read). I'd like to preface what I'm about to say with the fact that I sincerely believe them when they tell me that Year's Best is not usually like this.
I got through this volume with a mix of guilt about not finishing a gift book, hope that maybe the next story would be better than the last (because it is an anthology after all), and sheer spite.
Terry Bisson's "Dear Abbey" may be the only one in the lot that made me truly feel something. That feeling was "unmoored in the face of the smallness of one person's existence" that was not quite tempered enough by the humor inherent in our wacky professor and his unlikely Texas drawl, but I do always insist that science fiction sometimes exists to make you feel a little bad, so I say well done.
There were a smattering of stories that I thought were alright; Howard Waldrop's "Calling Your Name", Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "June Sixteenth at Anna's", Nancy Kress's "Ej-Es", M. Shayne Bell's "Anomalous Structures of My Dreams", Kage Baker's "Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst", William Shunn's "Strong Medicine", Robert Reed's "Night of Time", Dominic Green's "Send Me a Mentagram", and Nick DiChario's "Dragonhead" all get passing grades from me--none of them are particularly outstanding, but they're all solidly okay.
There were several that were downright unreadable. Charles Stross's "Rogue Farm" could have had some kind of emotional impact if I understood what the so-called farms roaming around the countryside even were. I spent most of Michael Swanwick's "King Dragon" trying to figure out which parts were metaphors and which parts were literal fantasy elements like fae folk. I have almost no idea what happened in Terry Dowling's "Flashmen", John C. Wright's "Awake in the Night", or James Van Pelt's "The Long Way Home" despite reading every word of them. A handful were also just painstakingly boring: John Kessel's "It's All True", Steven Popkes's "The Ice", Walter Jon Williams's "The Green Leopard Plague", Judith Moffett's "The Bear's Baby", and Geoffrey A. Landis's "The Eyes of America" all managed to center on characters that their author could not make me care about (and in the case of "The Ice" went on for what seemed forever while not really feeling like sci-fi). Harry Turtledove's "Joe Steele" holds the distinction of being the only story I actually skipped, because I was exhausted with its gimmick of narrating in one-to-five-word sentence fragments within the first page and a half.
There were some that, while coherent, were uncomfortable in other ways. There are a handful in particular that tipped into weird sexual stuff that either felt gratuitous or like wish-fulfillment: William Barton's "Off on a Starship", Jack Skillingstead's "Dead Worlds" (you have no personality and ran over this woman's dog, and she still had sex with you? More than once?? Yeah, right, buddy.), Paul Melko's "Singletons in Love" (might have been an interesting story if we weren't focused on the attraction aspect, honestly), and Geoff Ryman's "Birth Days" (not because it was queer, because so am I, but you gotta warn people about M-preg in your stories). Plus, particular kudos to Paul Di Filippo's "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" for going back to the weird sex stuff after I thought we were out of those particular woods. John Varley's "The Bellman" was deeply uncomfortable for me as someone who doesn't deal well with pregnancy in fiction, but I suspect that the imagery and overall theme of (wildly unbelievable) future cannibalism would have been gross regardless. Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Fluted Girl" had implications that the main character and her sister were enslaved and groomed from a young age for entertainment that could border on sexual, and I absolutely needed a shower after that one; gross to me that this one made the cut at all.
Overall, the okay stories were just not enough to balance out the absolute train wreck going on with the bad ones. There was also a lot--and I mean a lot--of alternate history stuff, both political and celebrity-related, that was just not interesting to me, but I can see this whole thing potentially landing better if that was your jam. I spent a lot of the first half wondering about Gardner Dozois as a person (did his spouse leave him? is this man okay?) and the second half wondering about myself (is there something I'm not getting here? do I just not like short stories as a format? am I too gay for "mainstream" science fiction?), and I also tried to remember what the world was like in 2003 when we were not so far removed from the 9/11 attacks and the times before them. I wish I had an explanation for what exactly happened here, because I don't think I found one.
If this is what did make the cut, I shudder to think what horrors lurk in the honorable mentions.
I got through this volume with a mix of guilt about not finishing a gift book, hope that maybe the next story would be better than the last (because it is an anthology after all), and sheer spite.
Terry Bisson's "Dear Abbey" may be the only one in the lot that made me truly feel something. That feeling was "unmoored in the face of the smallness of one person's existence" that was not quite tempered enough by the humor inherent in our wacky professor and his unlikely Texas drawl, but I do always insist that science fiction sometimes exists to make you feel a little bad, so I say well done.
There were a smattering of stories that I thought were alright; Howard Waldrop's "Calling Your Name", Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "June Sixteenth at Anna's", Nancy Kress's "Ej-Es", M. Shayne Bell's "Anomalous Structures of My Dreams", Kage Baker's "Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst", William Shunn's "Strong Medicine", Robert Reed's "Night of Time", Dominic Green's "Send Me a Mentagram", and Nick DiChario's "Dragonhead" all get passing grades from me--none of them are particularly outstanding, but they're all solidly okay.
There were several that were downright unreadable. Charles Stross's "Rogue Farm" could have had some kind of emotional impact if I understood what the so-called farms roaming around the countryside even were. I spent most of Michael Swanwick's "King Dragon" trying to figure out which parts were metaphors and which parts were literal fantasy elements like fae folk. I have almost no idea what happened in Terry Dowling's "Flashmen", John C. Wright's "Awake in the Night", or James Van Pelt's "The Long Way Home" despite reading every word of them. A handful were also just painstakingly boring: John Kessel's "It's All True", Steven Popkes's "The Ice", Walter Jon Williams's "The Green Leopard Plague", Judith Moffett's "The Bear's Baby", and Geoffrey A. Landis's "The Eyes of America" all managed to center on characters that their author could not make me care about (and in the case of "The Ice" went on for what seemed forever while not really feeling like sci-fi). Harry Turtledove's "Joe Steele" holds the distinction of being the only story I actually skipped, because I was exhausted with its gimmick of narrating in one-to-five-word sentence fragments within the first page and a half.
There were some that, while coherent, were uncomfortable in other ways. There are a handful in particular that tipped into weird sexual stuff that either felt gratuitous or like wish-fulfillment: William Barton's "Off on a Starship", Jack Skillingstead's "Dead Worlds" (you have no personality and ran over this woman's dog, and she still had sex with you? More than once?? Yeah, right, buddy.), Paul Melko's "Singletons in Love" (might have been an interesting story if we weren't focused on the attraction aspect, honestly), and Geoff Ryman's "Birth Days" (not because it was queer, because so am I, but you gotta warn people about M-preg in your stories). Plus, particular kudos to Paul Di Filippo's "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" for going back to the weird sex stuff after I thought we were out of those particular woods. John Varley's "The Bellman" was deeply uncomfortable for me as someone who doesn't deal well with pregnancy in fiction, but I suspect that the imagery and overall theme of (wildly unbelievable) future cannibalism would have been gross regardless. Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Fluted Girl" had implications that the main character and her sister were enslaved and groomed from a young age for entertainment that could border on sexual, and I absolutely needed a shower after that one; gross to me that this one made the cut at all.
Overall, the okay stories were just not enough to balance out the absolute train wreck going on with the bad ones. There was also a lot--and I mean a lot--of alternate history stuff, both political and celebrity-related, that was just not interesting to me, but I can see this whole thing potentially landing better if that was your jam. I spent a lot of the first half wondering about Gardner Dozois as a person (did his spouse leave him? is this man okay?) and the second half wondering about myself (is there something I'm not getting here? do I just not like short stories as a format? am I too gay for "mainstream" science fiction?), and I also tried to remember what the world was like in 2003 when we were not so far removed from the 9/11 attacks and the times before them. I wish I had an explanation for what exactly happened here, because I don't think I found one.
If this is what did make the cut, I shudder to think what horrors lurk in the honorable mentions.
kiwibookdude's review
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.25
rheren's review against another edition
3.0
Obviously, reading a collection of short stories is always hit or miss. I read some that were good, a lot that were just okay, and a lot that were bleah. There were only three, I think, that really were awesome. My personal favorites were "The Bear's Baby", "The Fluted Girl" and "Awake In the Night".
deckofdragons's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
austinbeeman's review
5.0
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: TWENTY FIRST ANNUAL COLLECTION
RATED 90% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE = 3.97 OUT OF 5
29 STORIES : 5 GREAT / 18 GOOD / 6 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
You cannot say you don’t get your money’s worth from a Gardner Dozois Best of the Year. These are big books, full of lots of stories, with very small font. Dozois doesn’t shy away from reprinting novellas if the stories deserve it. The physical volumes stand proud on the shelf surrounded by the unending epics of 21st Century SFF publishing.
Thankfully, these are quite good anthologies. Some of the most essential SF reading in any year they were published. This 21st Annual - covering stories first published in 2003 - is better than most. Lots of diversity of style and tone. The stories are exceptional reading, made even more pleasing by the fact that few of these stories are well known.
Here are Five Stories that Made The Great List:
https://www.shortsf.com/beststories
The Ice • (2003) • novella by Steven Popkes. The story starts with the silly premise in which a young man discovers that he is the illegal clone of Hockey Legend Gordie Howe. It ripples into a deeply human story of love, death, privilege, disadvantage, identity, family, perseverance, and just the very nature of what makes up a life. I cannot overstate how deep and human this is.
June Sixteenth at Anna's • (2003) • short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A quietly heartbreaking story. In the future, people are able to capture moments of the past in various qualities of virtual reality. An old man, grieving the death of his wife, watches a famous holocording of a few hours of conversation in a New York restaurant, months in advance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A holocording that captured a moment with his wife.
The Green Leopard Plague • [College of Mystery] • (2003) • novella by Walter Jon Williams. In the future bodies can be changed at will and no one ever dies the ‘realdeath.’ A woman who is currently living as a mermaid, hired to research the moments when a famous economist went off-the-grid in Europe. Cutting between the mermaid and the story of the economist, we get drawn into the mystery of the future and a violent thriller through France and Italy, culminating in two discoveries that change the world and our perception of it.
Anomalous Structures of My Dreams • (2003) • novelette by M. Shayne Bell. A severely ill patient with AIDS shares a room with a patient who has a “strange form of pneumonia.” It slowly becomes apparent than this isn’t pneumonia. He has been infected with technology from a laboratory and that technology is building something within his body. Something that could completely reshape the world. Smart concept and an excellent ratcheting of tension.
Awake in the Night • (2003) • novella by John C. Wright. A dark and beautiful nightmare. It is millions of years in the future. The sun is dead and the last of humanity lives in a pyramid - The Redoubt. They are watched by haunting and horrible things including monsters that move slowly over hundreds of years and others that can destroy the body and the soul. This is a baroque and stunning quest across a hideous landscape in the hope of rescuing a friend that has disappeared into the darkness. A masterpiece of style, mood, and creativity.
***
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: TWENTY FIRST ANNUAL COLLECTION IS RATED 90%.
29 STORIES : 5 GREAT / 18 GOOD / 6 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
Off on a Starship • (2003) • novella by William Barton
Good. A young boy - who has read and watched a lot of Science Fiction - sneaks abroad a flying saucer when in lands in a Virginia field. He observes many wondrous things and eventually builds a relationship with a robot on an alien world.
It's All True • [Moment Universes] • (2003) • novelette by John Kessel
Good. A movie recruiter travels to the past to try to entice Orson Welles to escape his failing life and come make films in the future where he is respected.
Rogue Farm • (2003) • short story by Charles Stross
Good. A husband and wife work to drive off a “farm,” a grotesque being made of human and mechanical parts.
The Ice • (2003) • novella by Steven Popkes
Great. The story starts with the silly premise in which a young man discovers that he is the illegal clone of Hockey Legend Gordie Howe. It ripples into a deeply human story of love, death, privilege, disadvantage, identity, family, perseverance, and just the very nature of what makes up a life. I cannot overstate how deep and human this is.
Ej-Es • (2003) • short story by Nancy Kress
Good. At the site of a colony collapse, a small team of Corps explorers discover some survivors who have retreated into a degraded life full of joy and invisible friends.
The Bellman • [Anna-Louise Bach] • (2003) • novelette by John Varley
Average. Action packed thriller on a domed lunar city. A pregnant police officer makes herself ‘bait’ for a serial killer who is killing pregnant women.
The Bear's Baby • [Holy Ground Trilogy] • (2003) • novella by Judith Moffett
Good. Aliens came and made the human race sterile. With the help of some humans, the aliens are starting to bring back Earth’s ecology and native animals. One of these men works with bear cubs, finds his job unceremoniously ended by alien authorities, and sneaks back into the woods. He will find something he never expected. Something that the aliens are desperate to hide.
Calling Your Name • (2003) • short story by Howard Waldrop
Average. A man get electricuated and wakes up in a world that seems the same except for much of the details of history went differently. No one knows the Beatles and Nixon was never President, etc….
June Sixteenth at Anna's • (2003) • short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Great. A quietly heartbreaking story. In the future, people are able to capture moments of the past in various qualities of virtual reality. An old man, grieving the death of his wife, watches a famous holocording of a few hours of conversation in a New York restaurant, months in advance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A holocording that captured a moment with his wife.
The Green Leopard Plague • [College of Mystery] • (2003) • novella by Walter Jon Williams
Great. In the future bodies can be changed at will and no one ever dies the ‘realdeath.’ A woman who is currently living as a mermaid, hired to research the moments when a famous economist went off-the-grid in Europe. Cutting between the mermaid and the story of the economist, we get drawn into the mystery of the future and a violent thriller through France and Italy, culminating in two discoveries that change the world and our perception of it.
The Fluted Girl • (2003) • novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi
Good. Fiefdoms are back, with celebrities and the ultra wealthy performing all the functions that used to be for government. Every person is heavily genetically modified. Wealthy stars have eternal youth. Security is a mix of jackal, wolf, and human. The ‘fluted girl’ is trapped as an adolescent, with ultra fragile bones that make her a literal erotic musical instrument.
Dead Worlds • (2003) • short story by Jack Skillingstead
Good. He served the interstellar war effort as an Eye, but the cost was that he is mentally destroyed and cannot be human without his medication. On leave, he starts a relationship with a widow after hitting her dog with his car.
King Dragon • (2003) • novelette by Michael Swanwick
Good. One of Swanwick’s “Hard Science Fantasy” stories. A dragon is shot down over a small town and takes control of it. He enlists the help of a young man, whom the dragon empowers to work on his behalf.
Singletons in Love • (2003) • novelette by Paul Melko
Good. The cohesion of a cluster - humans who live as a one consciousness - is disrupted by the discovery of a man who is a singleton. Just one person in one brain.
Anomalous Structures of My Dreams • (2003) • novelette by M. Shayne Bell
Great. A severely ill patient with AIDS shares a room with a patient who has a “strange form of pneumonia.” It slowly becomes apparent than this isn’t pneumonia. He has been infected with technology from a laboratory and that technology is building something within his body. Something that could completely reshape the world. Smart concept and an excellent ratcheting of tension.
The Cookie Monster • (2003) • novella by Vernor Vinge
Good. A customer support specialist working for an important tech company receives a strange email that leads her down a path that will challenge everything she believes. Even the nature of her own existence.
Joe Steele • (2003) • short story by Harry Turtledove
Good. What if Joseph Stalin became president instead of Franklin D Roosevelt? This is more of a thought experiment and less of an actual story, but this is smart, sharp, and snarky.
Birth Days • (2003) • short story by Geoff Ryman
Average. A gay man celebrates a series of birthdays during which he is outed, tries to ‘cure’ homosexuality, and become the first pregnant man.
Awake in the Night • (2003) • novella by John C. Wright
Great. A dark and beautiful nightmare. It is millions of years in the future. The sun is dead and the last of humanity lives in a pyramid - The Redoubt. They are watched by haunting and horrible things including monsters that move slowly over hundreds of years and others that can destroy the body and the soul. This is a baroque and stunning quest across a hideous landscape in the hope of rescuing a friend that has disappeared into the darkness. A masterpiece of style, mood, and creativity.
The Long Way Home • (2003) • short story by James Van Pelt
Average. The spaceship with the last hope for humanity appears to to destroyed, even while humanity appears to destroy itself. But pieces of both still remain and start to converge.
The Eyes of America • (2003) • short story by Geoffrey A. Landis
Good. It is 1904 and Teddy Roosevelt has been assassinated. It appears that William Jennings Bryan will win the presidency until the Republicans nominate Thomas Edison. In response, Tesla joins Bryan’s campaign with new technology.
Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst • (2003) • novella by Kage Baker
Good. Immortal beings from The Company are at Hearst Mansion for a party and they have a special offer for Mr Hearst.
Night of Time • [The Great Ship Universe] • (2003) • short story by Robert Reed
Good. A small, quiet story of a memory expert who discovers a hidden secret when attempting to help an alien remember something from his past.
Strong Medicine • (2003) • short story by William Shunn
Average. Nanotechnology means that a doctor has nothing to do. Until the apocalypse comes.
Send Me a Mentagram • (2003) • short story by Dominic Green
Good. Antarctic ice fields are patrolled by American and Russian submarines, but a small vessel makes a dangerous, skin-peeling discovery.
And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon • (2003) • short story by Paul Di Filippo
Good. A man’s greatest fear is realized when his girlfriend moves in and their smart-products start forming sentient conglomerations (blebs.)
Flashmen • (2003) • novelette by Terry Dowling
Good. Flash men are called out of retirement to enter a Landing in Australia. These giant alien craft arrive and shut-down thousands of people. This FlashMen have to pay a horrible price to get them back.
Dragonhead • (2003) • short story by Nicholas A. DiChario [as by Nick DiChario]
Average. A young man is unresponsive to the outside world after having a chip inserted into his head.
Dear Abbey • (2003) • novella by Terry Bisson
Good. A professor and a Chinese refugee hop around the future with a focus on the ecology of the planet and the future destiny of mankind.
RATED 90% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE = 3.97 OUT OF 5
29 STORIES : 5 GREAT / 18 GOOD / 6 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
You cannot say you don’t get your money’s worth from a Gardner Dozois Best of the Year. These are big books, full of lots of stories, with very small font. Dozois doesn’t shy away from reprinting novellas if the stories deserve it. The physical volumes stand proud on the shelf surrounded by the unending epics of 21st Century SFF publishing.
Thankfully, these are quite good anthologies. Some of the most essential SF reading in any year they were published. This 21st Annual - covering stories first published in 2003 - is better than most. Lots of diversity of style and tone. The stories are exceptional reading, made even more pleasing by the fact that few of these stories are well known.
Here are Five Stories that Made The Great List:
https://www.shortsf.com/beststories
The Ice • (2003) • novella by Steven Popkes. The story starts with the silly premise in which a young man discovers that he is the illegal clone of Hockey Legend Gordie Howe. It ripples into a deeply human story of love, death, privilege, disadvantage, identity, family, perseverance, and just the very nature of what makes up a life. I cannot overstate how deep and human this is.
June Sixteenth at Anna's • (2003) • short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A quietly heartbreaking story. In the future, people are able to capture moments of the past in various qualities of virtual reality. An old man, grieving the death of his wife, watches a famous holocording of a few hours of conversation in a New York restaurant, months in advance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A holocording that captured a moment with his wife.
The Green Leopard Plague • [College of Mystery] • (2003) • novella by Walter Jon Williams. In the future bodies can be changed at will and no one ever dies the ‘realdeath.’ A woman who is currently living as a mermaid, hired to research the moments when a famous economist went off-the-grid in Europe. Cutting between the mermaid and the story of the economist, we get drawn into the mystery of the future and a violent thriller through France and Italy, culminating in two discoveries that change the world and our perception of it.
Anomalous Structures of My Dreams • (2003) • novelette by M. Shayne Bell. A severely ill patient with AIDS shares a room with a patient who has a “strange form of pneumonia.” It slowly becomes apparent than this isn’t pneumonia. He has been infected with technology from a laboratory and that technology is building something within his body. Something that could completely reshape the world. Smart concept and an excellent ratcheting of tension.
Awake in the Night • (2003) • novella by John C. Wright. A dark and beautiful nightmare. It is millions of years in the future. The sun is dead and the last of humanity lives in a pyramid - The Redoubt. They are watched by haunting and horrible things including monsters that move slowly over hundreds of years and others that can destroy the body and the soul. This is a baroque and stunning quest across a hideous landscape in the hope of rescuing a friend that has disappeared into the darkness. A masterpiece of style, mood, and creativity.
***
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: TWENTY FIRST ANNUAL COLLECTION IS RATED 90%.
29 STORIES : 5 GREAT / 18 GOOD / 6 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
Off on a Starship • (2003) • novella by William Barton
Good. A young boy - who has read and watched a lot of Science Fiction - sneaks abroad a flying saucer when in lands in a Virginia field. He observes many wondrous things and eventually builds a relationship with a robot on an alien world.
It's All True • [Moment Universes] • (2003) • novelette by John Kessel
Good. A movie recruiter travels to the past to try to entice Orson Welles to escape his failing life and come make films in the future where he is respected.
Rogue Farm • (2003) • short story by Charles Stross
Good. A husband and wife work to drive off a “farm,” a grotesque being made of human and mechanical parts.
The Ice • (2003) • novella by Steven Popkes
Great. The story starts with the silly premise in which a young man discovers that he is the illegal clone of Hockey Legend Gordie Howe. It ripples into a deeply human story of love, death, privilege, disadvantage, identity, family, perseverance, and just the very nature of what makes up a life. I cannot overstate how deep and human this is.
Ej-Es • (2003) • short story by Nancy Kress
Good. At the site of a colony collapse, a small team of Corps explorers discover some survivors who have retreated into a degraded life full of joy and invisible friends.
The Bellman • [Anna-Louise Bach] • (2003) • novelette by John Varley
Average. Action packed thriller on a domed lunar city. A pregnant police officer makes herself ‘bait’ for a serial killer who is killing pregnant women.
The Bear's Baby • [Holy Ground Trilogy] • (2003) • novella by Judith Moffett
Good. Aliens came and made the human race sterile. With the help of some humans, the aliens are starting to bring back Earth’s ecology and native animals. One of these men works with bear cubs, finds his job unceremoniously ended by alien authorities, and sneaks back into the woods. He will find something he never expected. Something that the aliens are desperate to hide.
Calling Your Name • (2003) • short story by Howard Waldrop
Average. A man get electricuated and wakes up in a world that seems the same except for much of the details of history went differently. No one knows the Beatles and Nixon was never President, etc….
June Sixteenth at Anna's • (2003) • short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Great. A quietly heartbreaking story. In the future, people are able to capture moments of the past in various qualities of virtual reality. An old man, grieving the death of his wife, watches a famous holocording of a few hours of conversation in a New York restaurant, months in advance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A holocording that captured a moment with his wife.
The Green Leopard Plague • [College of Mystery] • (2003) • novella by Walter Jon Williams
Great. In the future bodies can be changed at will and no one ever dies the ‘realdeath.’ A woman who is currently living as a mermaid, hired to research the moments when a famous economist went off-the-grid in Europe. Cutting between the mermaid and the story of the economist, we get drawn into the mystery of the future and a violent thriller through France and Italy, culminating in two discoveries that change the world and our perception of it.
The Fluted Girl • (2003) • novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi
Good. Fiefdoms are back, with celebrities and the ultra wealthy performing all the functions that used to be for government. Every person is heavily genetically modified. Wealthy stars have eternal youth. Security is a mix of jackal, wolf, and human. The ‘fluted girl’ is trapped as an adolescent, with ultra fragile bones that make her a literal erotic musical instrument.
Dead Worlds • (2003) • short story by Jack Skillingstead
Good. He served the interstellar war effort as an Eye, but the cost was that he is mentally destroyed and cannot be human without his medication. On leave, he starts a relationship with a widow after hitting her dog with his car.
King Dragon • (2003) • novelette by Michael Swanwick
Good. One of Swanwick’s “Hard Science Fantasy” stories. A dragon is shot down over a small town and takes control of it. He enlists the help of a young man, whom the dragon empowers to work on his behalf.
Singletons in Love • (2003) • novelette by Paul Melko
Good. The cohesion of a cluster - humans who live as a one consciousness - is disrupted by the discovery of a man who is a singleton. Just one person in one brain.
Anomalous Structures of My Dreams • (2003) • novelette by M. Shayne Bell
Great. A severely ill patient with AIDS shares a room with a patient who has a “strange form of pneumonia.” It slowly becomes apparent than this isn’t pneumonia. He has been infected with technology from a laboratory and that technology is building something within his body. Something that could completely reshape the world. Smart concept and an excellent ratcheting of tension.
The Cookie Monster • (2003) • novella by Vernor Vinge
Good. A customer support specialist working for an important tech company receives a strange email that leads her down a path that will challenge everything she believes. Even the nature of her own existence.
Joe Steele • (2003) • short story by Harry Turtledove
Good. What if Joseph Stalin became president instead of Franklin D Roosevelt? This is more of a thought experiment and less of an actual story, but this is smart, sharp, and snarky.
Birth Days • (2003) • short story by Geoff Ryman
Average. A gay man celebrates a series of birthdays during which he is outed, tries to ‘cure’ homosexuality, and become the first pregnant man.
Awake in the Night • (2003) • novella by John C. Wright
Great. A dark and beautiful nightmare. It is millions of years in the future. The sun is dead and the last of humanity lives in a pyramid - The Redoubt. They are watched by haunting and horrible things including monsters that move slowly over hundreds of years and others that can destroy the body and the soul. This is a baroque and stunning quest across a hideous landscape in the hope of rescuing a friend that has disappeared into the darkness. A masterpiece of style, mood, and creativity.
The Long Way Home • (2003) • short story by James Van Pelt
Average. The spaceship with the last hope for humanity appears to to destroyed, even while humanity appears to destroy itself. But pieces of both still remain and start to converge.
The Eyes of America • (2003) • short story by Geoffrey A. Landis
Good. It is 1904 and Teddy Roosevelt has been assassinated. It appears that William Jennings Bryan will win the presidency until the Republicans nominate Thomas Edison. In response, Tesla joins Bryan’s campaign with new technology.
Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst • (2003) • novella by Kage Baker
Good. Immortal beings from The Company are at Hearst Mansion for a party and they have a special offer for Mr Hearst.
Night of Time • [The Great Ship Universe] • (2003) • short story by Robert Reed
Good. A small, quiet story of a memory expert who discovers a hidden secret when attempting to help an alien remember something from his past.
Strong Medicine • (2003) • short story by William Shunn
Average. Nanotechnology means that a doctor has nothing to do. Until the apocalypse comes.
Send Me a Mentagram • (2003) • short story by Dominic Green
Good. Antarctic ice fields are patrolled by American and Russian submarines, but a small vessel makes a dangerous, skin-peeling discovery.
And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon • (2003) • short story by Paul Di Filippo
Good. A man’s greatest fear is realized when his girlfriend moves in and their smart-products start forming sentient conglomerations (blebs.)
Flashmen • (2003) • novelette by Terry Dowling
Good. Flash men are called out of retirement to enter a Landing in Australia. These giant alien craft arrive and shut-down thousands of people. This FlashMen have to pay a horrible price to get them back.
Dragonhead • (2003) • short story by Nicholas A. DiChario [as by Nick DiChario]
Average. A young man is unresponsive to the outside world after having a chip inserted into his head.
Dear Abbey • (2003) • novella by Terry Bisson
Good. A professor and a Chinese refugee hop around the future with a focus on the ecology of the planet and the future destiny of mankind.
nwhyte's review
http://nhw.livejournal.com/159985.html[return][return]I'd read a number of these stories already while compiling my survey of this year's Hugo nominees, and one or two others from having read their original magazine appearance (my old friend Dominic Green's chilling "Send Me A Mentagram", for instance). A surprising number of alternate history and time travel stories (by an accident of birth, Stalin ends up running the United States; a backyard electrical accident shunts one narrator into a parallel universe or two; and a story featuring messengers from the future trying to do a deal with Orson Welles is matched by one with a similar plot starring William Randolph Hearst). A few months ago I tried reading William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land and found it unfinishable; I did manage to finish John C. Wright's story here set in the same universe, but I'm afraid I fell asleep twice while reading it. The best story for me was Steven Popkes' "The Ice", looking at questions of cloning and of predestination.
spacenoirdetective's review
4.0
We got some medley of stories here, same as all the rest.
The Great
* Off on a Starship by William Barton - One of my favorite stories from this volume. A great, lighthearted tale of a boy who runs away on a starship and has adventures and makes a robot wife who loves him and makes him ice cream. You can't get any more of a 1960s homage than that.
* Calling Your Name by Howard Waldrop - A really funny comedy story about a man who slips into another dimension. This could be a modern Twilight Zone episode.
* June Sixteenth at Anna's by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - I don't know what it is about this story that sticks in my head so much. Perhaps it's indicative of the vanity of self proclaimed bohemians who make a big deal out of the slightest bit of fame. Either way, it's a story of grief and memory. Lovely writing.
* The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams - absolutely fucking kickass action adventure mystery story taking place both in the near future and the future a few centuries from that as a young girl looks into the real origins of a plague which was anything but an ailment.
* The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - A devastating dystopian future in which a girl is modified to be a human musical instrument, in exquisite pain in a feudal, fractured America. Bacigalupi is destined to write great things and I cannot wait to read Windup Girl because of this story.
* The Cookie Monster by Vernor Vinge - Another winner. Great, interesting, and totally real main character. A young, ambitious lower class girl with a big attitude meets a virtual reality scenario she did not expect when she took this job. Mind bending reality twists abound. Think Matrix meets Office Space.
* It's All True by John Kessel - A time traveler meets Orson Welles. A tidy little tale.
* The Eyes of America by Geoffrey A. Landis - Edison Vs. Tesla alternate world story. The showdown between the two escalates technology ahead of what we experienced by that time, for sure. Thoroughly entertaining.
* "Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Heart" by Kage Baker - another winner from Baker. She is incapable of writing a bad short story.
AND THE REST...
* Rogue Farm by Charles Stross - What? People become something like the Borg on floating cubes that merge them together and they float over farms in future England? Was there a story here?
* The Ice by Steven Popkes - Future hockey player finds out he's a clone. Well written and bittersweet. Not terribly interesting, though.
* EJ-ES by Nancy Kress - Mediocre tale of a mediocre alien society. This reminded me a lot of that Enterprise episode where they find the retard mutant humans who live in a cave. Whoopedy whoop.
* The Bellman by John Varley - Murder mystery, space cops, boring and disgusting.
* The Bear's Baby by Judith Moffett - Aliens land and stop us from procreating! OH NO. Seriously though, this story never felt realistic.
* Dead Worlds by Jack Skillingstead - Bizarre and depressing but well written story about a man suffering from scientifically exploring other worlds from a lab.
* King Dragon by Michael Swanwick - Dark, grimy, rather hopeless dystopia ruled by a sentient aircraft. Didn't particularly care for this one.
* Singletons in Love by Paul Melko - Singularity makes for hard dating, apparently.
* Anomalous Structures of My Dreams by M. Shayne Bell - an okay story about two hospital patients and some weird subconscious shit
* Joe Steele by Harry Turtledove - I don't care for Turtledove's writing. Ever. I tried to read this but bleh.
* Birth Days by Geoff Ryman - Gay men learn they can have butt babies. Through science. Butt babies. And then they go to Brazil. To have butt babies. And did I mention there are butt babies? BUTT BABIES.
* Awake in the Night by John C. Wright - ethereal and atmospheric Night Land inspired fiction. Emulates 1920s weird fiction style well.
* The Long Way Home by James Van Pelt - Intelligently written post nuclear apocalypse story.
* Night of Time [Marrow) by Robert Reed - an insane genius clones himself ala the Brazil Boys and they are not too happy about it.
* Strong Medicine by William Shunn - Old doctor is angry at nanotech for replacing him and is going to kill himself out of self pity. Then, totally randomly, a nuclear bomb blast goes off in the distance and he goes flying and I shit you not, this gives him happiness and purpose again. What. The. Fuck.
* Send Me a Mentagram by Dominic Green - A ship in the Antarctic has a deadly disease and a mystery...can it be solved? Maybe!
* And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon by Paul Di Filippo - Appliances get intelligent and somewhat sassy. Di Fillipo is usually clever, this is no exception
I confess to not reading the following:
* Flashmen by Terry Dowling
* Dragonhead by Nicholas A. DiChario
* Dear Abbey by Terry Bisson
The Great
* Off on a Starship by William Barton - One of my favorite stories from this volume. A great, lighthearted tale of a boy who runs away on a starship and has adventures and makes a robot wife who loves him and makes him ice cream. You can't get any more of a 1960s homage than that.
* Calling Your Name by Howard Waldrop - A really funny comedy story about a man who slips into another dimension. This could be a modern Twilight Zone episode.
* June Sixteenth at Anna's by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - I don't know what it is about this story that sticks in my head so much. Perhaps it's indicative of the vanity of self proclaimed bohemians who make a big deal out of the slightest bit of fame. Either way, it's a story of grief and memory. Lovely writing.
* The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams - absolutely fucking kickass action adventure mystery story taking place both in the near future and the future a few centuries from that as a young girl looks into the real origins of a plague which was anything but an ailment.
* The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - A devastating dystopian future in which a girl is modified to be a human musical instrument, in exquisite pain in a feudal, fractured America. Bacigalupi is destined to write great things and I cannot wait to read Windup Girl because of this story.
* The Cookie Monster by Vernor Vinge - Another winner. Great, interesting, and totally real main character. A young, ambitious lower class girl with a big attitude meets a virtual reality scenario she did not expect when she took this job. Mind bending reality twists abound. Think Matrix meets Office Space.
* It's All True by John Kessel - A time traveler meets Orson Welles. A tidy little tale.
* The Eyes of America by Geoffrey A. Landis - Edison Vs. Tesla alternate world story. The showdown between the two escalates technology ahead of what we experienced by that time, for sure. Thoroughly entertaining.
* "Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Heart" by Kage Baker - another winner from Baker. She is incapable of writing a bad short story.
AND THE REST...
* Rogue Farm by Charles Stross - What? People become something like the Borg on floating cubes that merge them together and they float over farms in future England? Was there a story here?
* The Ice by Steven Popkes - Future hockey player finds out he's a clone. Well written and bittersweet. Not terribly interesting, though.
* EJ-ES by Nancy Kress - Mediocre tale of a mediocre alien society. This reminded me a lot of that Enterprise episode where they find the retard mutant humans who live in a cave. Whoopedy whoop.
* The Bellman by John Varley - Murder mystery, space cops, boring and disgusting.
* The Bear's Baby by Judith Moffett - Aliens land and stop us from procreating! OH NO. Seriously though, this story never felt realistic.
* Dead Worlds by Jack Skillingstead - Bizarre and depressing but well written story about a man suffering from scientifically exploring other worlds from a lab.
* King Dragon by Michael Swanwick - Dark, grimy, rather hopeless dystopia ruled by a sentient aircraft. Didn't particularly care for this one.
* Singletons in Love by Paul Melko - Singularity makes for hard dating, apparently.
* Anomalous Structures of My Dreams by M. Shayne Bell - an okay story about two hospital patients and some weird subconscious shit
* Joe Steele by Harry Turtledove - I don't care for Turtledove's writing. Ever. I tried to read this but bleh.
* Birth Days by Geoff Ryman - Gay men learn they can have butt babies. Through science. Butt babies. And then they go to Brazil. To have butt babies. And did I mention there are butt babies? BUTT BABIES.
* Awake in the Night by John C. Wright - ethereal and atmospheric Night Land inspired fiction. Emulates 1920s weird fiction style well.
* The Long Way Home by James Van Pelt - Intelligently written post nuclear apocalypse story.
* Night of Time [Marrow) by Robert Reed - an insane genius clones himself ala the Brazil Boys and they are not too happy about it.
* Strong Medicine by William Shunn - Old doctor is angry at nanotech for replacing him and is going to kill himself out of self pity. Then, totally randomly, a nuclear bomb blast goes off in the distance and he goes flying and I shit you not, this gives him happiness and purpose again. What. The. Fuck.
* Send Me a Mentagram by Dominic Green - A ship in the Antarctic has a deadly disease and a mystery...can it be solved? Maybe!
* And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon by Paul Di Filippo - Appliances get intelligent and somewhat sassy. Di Fillipo is usually clever, this is no exception
I confess to not reading the following:
* Flashmen by Terry Dowling
* Dragonhead by Nicholas A. DiChario
* Dear Abbey by Terry Bisson
arbieroo's review against another edition
4.0
There's a list near the front of this book of other "Mammoth Book of..." titles. I find some of them hilarious:
Extreme Fantasy. What is that?
The Kama Sutra. Why not just buy the Kama Sutra?
On the Edge. I've less idea what this is than I have about the Extreme Fantasy...
Paranormal Romance. I want "Sub-normal Romance." The romance to be sub-normal, not the protagonists.
Women who Kill. What demographic is this marketed towards?
Moving on...first up is Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg. My experiences with Silverberg have been few and not great. I tried one of his novels in my early teens and gave up within 30 pages...twice. Last year I read a short alternative history novel in which plague had destroyed Europe as a power and South America and Asia were the dominant continents. It was really just a not overly exciting adventure, though - almost a waste of an idea. I started Sailing to Byzantium with a prejudice against it - I didn't want to like it at all.
In fact I did like it by the end, but still thought it was flawed - a ** effort. In the far future, apparently immortal citizens, of which there may be a few million at most, live a life of leisure, visiting re-creations of historical cities. There are also "visitors" from history and the protagonist, inevitably is one of these, a New Yorker from 1984. The tale is about a romance between the protagonist and a citizen and about mortality. It's main flaw is its very slow start. It feels very much like it needed to be a short story rather than a short novel. I was reminded of Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time, although Silverberg's Citizens do not have the same level of individual creative powerin their hands. There is the same sense, though, of history having stalled - nothing changes at a cultural level anymore.
One of the advantages of an anthology is that it is a low risk way of trying authors you are not familiar with because they are mixed with people you trust already - you are almost certain to like some proportion of the content. The second novella in the volume is Surfacing by Walter Jon Williams who is an author I had previously not read. I will be keeping my eyes open for him in future, however - if I can retain his eminetly forgettable name! The story is one in which communicaion with ceteceans has become possible. How many of those have there been? This one is much more credible than any previous one I've read as it suggests that the process is difficult and somewhat uncertain at best. Humpbacked whales are alien, it transpires. (Not from another planet, just different.) The characters presented are all flawed, scarred by their upbringing but utterly convincing. The theme of identifying more with one's objects of study than the rest of humanity fascinated me, the plot gripped me despite its primary twist being guessable and the end left me wanting more. More time with these characters, more time in that world, more knowledge of the Dwellers in the Deep. ****
The Hemingway Hoax - Joe Haldeman
Another writer new to me and another excellent story. I started off just being irritated by another American writer paying homage to the massively over-rated, ridiculously macho drunkard whose redeeming feature (in my eyes) is his love of cats. But this story takes the influence of Hemmingway so far and makes a story that builds up to being riveting and then just goes crazy with a denouement that boggled my mind - I think it makes sense...
In this story, Hemingway is so influential and so macho that he causes the destruction of humanity - and something more than human has a vested interest in ensuring this - in every dimension of the Omniverse where Hemingway ever lived. A thwarted would-be author and Hemingway expert in need of money, a con-man and a wife much more cynical and demanding than Lady McBeth are not going to mess things up - are they? ****
Mr. Boy - James Patrick Kelly
Apparently everybody should grow up sometime.
This look at what the super-rich might do to themselves if humanity ever completely mastered genetic manipulation is imaginative in its details but its plot is a bit weak - a thriller plot that goes almost nowhere, a family drama that doesn't seem to pack quite enough emotional punch and a revelation that doesn't shock or even surprise. Somehow the whole thing adds up to nearly zero. **
Beggars in Spain - Nancy Kress
This is one of those SF stories where one discovery is postulated and its consequences for individuals and societies are explored as the story develops. In this case, other discoveries have been made but their impact has already largely absorbed by the world. The new discovery is a genetic modification that eliminates the need for sleep. Kress writes a compelling story about convincing characters and examines a number of questions about the basis of society and the nature of social responsibility. The story ends abruptly with many plot threads still unravelled and the question of what to do about the beggars in Spain hastily and not too clearly answered and it is obvious that a novel of 2 or 3 times the length is required to handle the material properly. There are also one or two extra questions related to the fact that only at least moderately wealthy parents can afford the genetic treatment that deserve examination that are not tackled. I beleive Kress has published an expanded version and I look forward to reading it any her other works. The best discovery of the anthology so far. ****
Griffin's Egg - Mike Swanwick
This is another well-written work by an author new to me. It, like Beggars in Spain, needed more space to do justice to the material, but this time perhaps only 50% extra. The ideas presented seem to be only an extreme extrapolation of the current trend towards greater numbers of drugs intended to treat mental health problems...however, a community trapped on the moon after a "limited nuclear exchange" on Earth, it seems like human nature itself is one big mental health problem, liable to wipe-out the species. What can be done?
Outnumbering the Dead - Frederick Pohl
Here's another writer new to me, though he has been a Big Name in SF seemingly forever. And living forever (or not) is the theme of this story, as it has been of a number of others in this anthology. As in Sailing to Byzantium, the protagonist is a mortal in a world of immortals (barring accidents, murder or suicide). He's a dancer, a star, a real Lovey and approaching the end of his life far faster than he knows, despite being aware of his mortality.
This story starts somewhat irritating, with its superficially shallow characters getting ready for a comical dance version of Sophicles' Oedipus but as it slowly advances becomes a poignant story of a man who finds love, happiness and most of all contentment and peace as he recognises that time is very short for him and he joins a habitat going in search of exoplanets around Tau Ceti.
It seems to me the message is that humans need a purpose in order to be genuinely content - and immortal humans need one even more because it is too easy to postpone everything when you have forever. ***
Forgiveness Day - Ursula K. leGuin
The introduction to this story by the editor of the anthology says that it is a return to a setting LeGuin has used before - two planets colonised by South Africans. What ever that previous work is, it's not one I've read. That didn't detract in the slightest from my enjoyment of this work which shows LeGuin's usual strengths; character development, deep empathy, wonderful prose. Fierce anger at injustice and inequality are on display again in a story about the meaning of freedom and the strength it takes to overcome one's own cultural background and upbringing and see their faults clearly.
Most of the issues raised in this novel are tackled more thoroughly in the recent Annals of the Western Shore, the exception being gender equality. This work did not seem superfluous, however, as the story itself is completely different and arises so naturally out of character and context. Only on reflection does it become clear just how much skill and effort it must take to create such an apparently natural, inevitable story. I think LeGuin works out almost every last detail of her characters' lives in order to fit the tale she wants to tell and often most of this background ends up in the finished work. This can cause the imbalance between character and incident, evident in some of her fiction, that is probably her biggest weakness as a writer. In this case, however, the urge to tell the author to cut to the chase was never very strong. ****
The Cost to be Wise - Maureen F. McHugh
This starts badly with a title that surely needs to be "The Price of Wisdom". It doesn't really get much better from there. A tale of intervention by technologically advanced humans in a lost colony of of iron age humans wends slowly to a violent conclusion without being overly clear about who might be wiser at the end or at what cost.
Oceanic - Greg Egan
Here's a pro-atheist propaganda piece. It postulates that "religious experiences" have a bio-chemical explanation. The story is not as much fun as the only other patently pro-atheist novel that springs to my mind, Crow Road by Iain Banks. The aspect of the work that really caught my attention was the background context which has some significance to the story but is only ever discussed obliquely. Understanding exactly how and why humans arrived on the alien planet in Oceanic is largely surmise and inference and that mystery was much more intriguing than why drowning people there undergo a religious conversion... ***
Tendeleo's Story - Ian McDonald
I read this in a seperae volume and did not read it again here. Unusually for an SF novel, it is set in Africa. I remember it as slow to get to the point and a bit of a let down. **
New Light on the Drake Equation - Ian R. McLoed
Here's a story about SETI. It's slow, predictable and unoriginal. Read Contact by Carl Sagan instead - that's clever, thought provoking and has some surprises. *
Turquoise Days - Alastair Reynolds
Wales' very own composer of Space Opera with brains is represented by a story that is somewhat a-typical. It isn't space opera, for a start, though the brains are all present and correct. This is a story about the Jugglers and humans who research them. If you don't know what the Jugglers are, this story will probably serve reasonably well as an introduction. It's a good story but the thing I find odd is that it was originally published together with Diamond Dogs, which is of similar length and just brilliant. How did Dozois end up choose the lesser of those two? ***
Extreme Fantasy. What is that?
The Kama Sutra. Why not just buy the Kama Sutra?
On the Edge. I've less idea what this is than I have about the Extreme Fantasy...
Paranormal Romance. I want "Sub-normal Romance." The romance to be sub-normal, not the protagonists.
Women who Kill. What demographic is this marketed towards?
Moving on...first up is Sailing to Byzantium by Robert Silverberg. My experiences with Silverberg have been few and not great. I tried one of his novels in my early teens and gave up within 30 pages...twice. Last year I read a short alternative history novel in which plague had destroyed Europe as a power and South America and Asia were the dominant continents. It was really just a not overly exciting adventure, though - almost a waste of an idea. I started Sailing to Byzantium with a prejudice against it - I didn't want to like it at all.
In fact I did like it by the end, but still thought it was flawed - a ** effort. In the far future, apparently immortal citizens, of which there may be a few million at most, live a life of leisure, visiting re-creations of historical cities. There are also "visitors" from history and the protagonist, inevitably is one of these, a New Yorker from 1984. The tale is about a romance between the protagonist and a citizen and about mortality. It's main flaw is its very slow start. It feels very much like it needed to be a short story rather than a short novel. I was reminded of Moorcock's Dancers at the End of Time, although Silverberg's Citizens do not have the same level of individual creative powerin their hands. There is the same sense, though, of history having stalled - nothing changes at a cultural level anymore.
One of the advantages of an anthology is that it is a low risk way of trying authors you are not familiar with because they are mixed with people you trust already - you are almost certain to like some proportion of the content. The second novella in the volume is Surfacing by Walter Jon Williams who is an author I had previously not read. I will be keeping my eyes open for him in future, however - if I can retain his eminetly forgettable name! The story is one in which communicaion with ceteceans has become possible. How many of those have there been? This one is much more credible than any previous one I've read as it suggests that the process is difficult and somewhat uncertain at best. Humpbacked whales are alien, it transpires. (Not from another planet, just different.) The characters presented are all flawed, scarred by their upbringing but utterly convincing. The theme of identifying more with one's objects of study than the rest of humanity fascinated me, the plot gripped me despite its primary twist being guessable and the end left me wanting more. More time with these characters, more time in that world, more knowledge of the Dwellers in the Deep. ****
The Hemingway Hoax - Joe Haldeman
Another writer new to me and another excellent story. I started off just being irritated by another American writer paying homage to the massively over-rated, ridiculously macho drunkard whose redeeming feature (in my eyes) is his love of cats. But this story takes the influence of Hemmingway so far and makes a story that builds up to being riveting and then just goes crazy with a denouement that boggled my mind - I think it makes sense...
In this story, Hemingway is so influential and so macho that he causes the destruction of humanity - and something more than human has a vested interest in ensuring this - in every dimension of the Omniverse where Hemingway ever lived. A thwarted would-be author and Hemingway expert in need of money, a con-man and a wife much more cynical and demanding than Lady McBeth are not going to mess things up - are they? ****
Mr. Boy - James Patrick Kelly
Apparently everybody should grow up sometime.
This look at what the super-rich might do to themselves if humanity ever completely mastered genetic manipulation is imaginative in its details but its plot is a bit weak - a thriller plot that goes almost nowhere, a family drama that doesn't seem to pack quite enough emotional punch and a revelation that doesn't shock or even surprise. Somehow the whole thing adds up to nearly zero. **
Beggars in Spain - Nancy Kress
This is one of those SF stories where one discovery is postulated and its consequences for individuals and societies are explored as the story develops. In this case, other discoveries have been made but their impact has already largely absorbed by the world. The new discovery is a genetic modification that eliminates the need for sleep. Kress writes a compelling story about convincing characters and examines a number of questions about the basis of society and the nature of social responsibility. The story ends abruptly with many plot threads still unravelled and the question of what to do about the beggars in Spain hastily and not too clearly answered and it is obvious that a novel of 2 or 3 times the length is required to handle the material properly. There are also one or two extra questions related to the fact that only at least moderately wealthy parents can afford the genetic treatment that deserve examination that are not tackled. I beleive Kress has published an expanded version and I look forward to reading it any her other works. The best discovery of the anthology so far. ****
Griffin's Egg - Mike Swanwick
This is another well-written work by an author new to me. It, like Beggars in Spain, needed more space to do justice to the material, but this time perhaps only 50% extra. The ideas presented seem to be only an extreme extrapolation of the current trend towards greater numbers of drugs intended to treat mental health problems...however, a community trapped on the moon after a "limited nuclear exchange" on Earth, it seems like human nature itself is one big mental health problem, liable to wipe-out the species. What can be done?
Outnumbering the Dead - Frederick Pohl
Here's another writer new to me, though he has been a Big Name in SF seemingly forever. And living forever (or not) is the theme of this story, as it has been of a number of others in this anthology. As in Sailing to Byzantium, the protagonist is a mortal in a world of immortals (barring accidents, murder or suicide). He's a dancer, a star, a real Lovey and approaching the end of his life far faster than he knows, despite being aware of his mortality.
This story starts somewhat irritating, with its superficially shallow characters getting ready for a comical dance version of Sophicles' Oedipus but as it slowly advances becomes a poignant story of a man who finds love, happiness and most of all contentment and peace as he recognises that time is very short for him and he joins a habitat going in search of exoplanets around Tau Ceti.
It seems to me the message is that humans need a purpose in order to be genuinely content - and immortal humans need one even more because it is too easy to postpone everything when you have forever. ***
Forgiveness Day - Ursula K. leGuin
The introduction to this story by the editor of the anthology says that it is a return to a setting LeGuin has used before - two planets colonised by South Africans. What ever that previous work is, it's not one I've read. That didn't detract in the slightest from my enjoyment of this work which shows LeGuin's usual strengths; character development, deep empathy, wonderful prose. Fierce anger at injustice and inequality are on display again in a story about the meaning of freedom and the strength it takes to overcome one's own cultural background and upbringing and see their faults clearly.
Most of the issues raised in this novel are tackled more thoroughly in the recent Annals of the Western Shore, the exception being gender equality. This work did not seem superfluous, however, as the story itself is completely different and arises so naturally out of character and context. Only on reflection does it become clear just how much skill and effort it must take to create such an apparently natural, inevitable story. I think LeGuin works out almost every last detail of her characters' lives in order to fit the tale she wants to tell and often most of this background ends up in the finished work. This can cause the imbalance between character and incident, evident in some of her fiction, that is probably her biggest weakness as a writer. In this case, however, the urge to tell the author to cut to the chase was never very strong. ****
The Cost to be Wise - Maureen F. McHugh
This starts badly with a title that surely needs to be "The Price of Wisdom". It doesn't really get much better from there. A tale of intervention by technologically advanced humans in a lost colony of of iron age humans wends slowly to a violent conclusion without being overly clear about who might be wiser at the end or at what cost.
Oceanic - Greg Egan
Here's a pro-atheist propaganda piece. It postulates that "religious experiences" have a bio-chemical explanation. The story is not as much fun as the only other patently pro-atheist novel that springs to my mind, Crow Road by Iain Banks. The aspect of the work that really caught my attention was the background context which has some significance to the story but is only ever discussed obliquely. Understanding exactly how and why humans arrived on the alien planet in Oceanic is largely surmise and inference and that mystery was much more intriguing than why drowning people there undergo a religious conversion... ***
Tendeleo's Story - Ian McDonald
I read this in a seperae volume and did not read it again here. Unusually for an SF novel, it is set in Africa. I remember it as slow to get to the point and a bit of a let down. **
New Light on the Drake Equation - Ian R. McLoed
Here's a story about SETI. It's slow, predictable and unoriginal. Read Contact by Carl Sagan instead - that's clever, thought provoking and has some surprises. *
Turquoise Days - Alastair Reynolds
Wales' very own composer of Space Opera with brains is represented by a story that is somewhat a-typical. It isn't space opera, for a start, though the brains are all present and correct. This is a story about the Jugglers and humans who research them. If you don't know what the Jugglers are, this story will probably serve reasonably well as an introduction. It's a good story but the thing I find odd is that it was originally published together with Diamond Dogs, which is of similar length and just brilliant. How did Dozois end up choose the lesser of those two? ***
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