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nwhyte's review against another edition
http://nhw.livejournal.com/414091.html[return][return]Meaty, meaty stuff. Dozois' annual collection of his choice of the best sf of the year is always the one I look forward to most, the other similar volumes just really keeping me going until the big one appears. Here he's picked three dozen or so of the best stories, all by different authors, from his first twenty volumes; I had previously read around half of them. (Three are joint Hugo/Nebula winners.) I'd originally planned to go through it and single out my favourites, but I've been reading it off and on over the last two months and can't do anything so systematic; in summary, I don't think there was a single duff story in the collection. It's excellent: buy it.
arkron's review against another edition
4.0
Summary: Dozois published annual anthologies with the best published SF short works from several magazines ever since 1985. From 20 of these anthologies covering the years 1983-2002, he chose those 36 stories which impressed him as a reader the most. Obviously these are not absolutely the best stories of those years, because he didn't grab everyone in his anthologies. This is the first volume of three, where the second publishes novellas which were excluded from this first volume, and the third covering the years from 2003 to 2017. Together, they summarize and conclude those 35 years of anthologies, as there won't be no more from this master of his trade: Sadly, he passed away in 2018, may he rest in peace.
Please note, that review links will lead to my blog (GR doesn't like single stories and often deletes reviews, so I've pushed those to the external site).
What is to be expected from this anthology? First of all, a huge amount of stories. Also not only Science Fiction stories despite of the title - many of the stories are not exactly SF but magical realism or borderline SF at the best. Dozois tended to select literary stories which might not be to everyone's taste, but fit mine very well. As with every anthology, it is a mixed bag - some of the stories just didn't fit my taste, and I could have easily selected a better story from the according annual anthology. But I liked most and found more than a handful new favourites. Also, it is a extremely good retrospective of those years. So, if you trust Mr Dozois more than the Hugo or other awards like me, I can really recommend this huge anthology which is well worth the price and the time invested.
My favourite ★★★★★ stories were
Weakest ☆ or ★ stories
Contents (stories are ordered from oldest to newest):
Please note, that review links will lead to my blog (GR doesn't like single stories and often deletes reviews, so I've pushed those to the external site).
What is to be expected from this anthology? First of all, a huge amount of stories. Also not only Science Fiction stories despite of the title - many of the stories are not exactly SF but magical realism or borderline SF at the best. Dozois tended to select literary stories which might not be to everyone's taste, but fit mine very well. As with every anthology, it is a mixed bag - some of the stories just didn't fit my taste, and I could have easily selected a better story from the according annual anthology. But I liked most and found more than a handful new favourites. Also, it is a extremely good retrospective of those years. So, if you trust Mr Dozois more than the Hugo or other awards like me, I can really recommend this huge anthology which is well worth the price and the time invested.
My favourite ★★★★★ stories were
- Kirinyaga • 1988 • SF novelette by Mike Resnick • review
- Guest of Honor • 1993 • SF novelette by Robert Reed • review
- Wang's Carpets • 1995 • Posthuman first contact novelette by Greg Egan • review
- The Undiscovered • 1997 • Alternate History novelette about Shakespeare writing Hamlet at the Cherokee by William Sanders • review
- Story of Your Life • 1998 • first contact SF novella by Ted Chiang • review
- Lobsters • 2001 • Near future novelette by Charles Stross • review
- Breathmoss • 2002 • SF novella by Ian R. MacLeod • review
Weakest ☆ or ★ stories
- None So Blind • 1994 • Near Future SF short story by Joe Haldeman • review
- The Lincoln Train • 1995 • Alternate History short story by Maureen F. McHugh • I didn't get this story at all; Lincoln didn't die after his assassination, but that had no consequence for the story.
- The Wedding Album • 1999 • novella by David Marusek • clones in holograms are freed by human rights movement - this started as an interesting story, but got longer and longer and the reused names confused me completely
Contents (stories are ordered from oldest to newest):
- 1 • ★★★★ • Blood Music • 1983 • Near Future SF novelette about nano computers gone rogue by Greg Bear • review
- 19 • ★★★+ • “A Cabin on the Coast” • 1981 • magical realism short story about the passage to the fairy world by Gene Wolfe • review
- 28 • ★★★★ • Salvador • 1984 • Near Future SF short story about drug induced haluzinating soldiers by Lucius Shepard • review
- 42 • ★★★+ • Trinity • 1984 • SF novella about a way of scientific search for God by Nancy Kress • review
- 78 • ★★ • Flying Saucer Rock and Roll • 1985 • Vintage novelette about exactly that title by Howard Waldrop • review
- 93 • ★★★ • Dinner in Audoghast • 1985 • Historical fiction short story by Bruce Sterling • review
- 103 • ★★ • Roadside Rescue • 1985 • SF short story by Pat Cadigan • review
- 109 • ★★★★ • Snow • 1985 • short story about recording lifes for the afterworld by John Crowley • review
- 121 • ★★★★ • The Winter Market • 1985 • Cyberpunk novelette about uploading minds by William Gibson • review
- 137 • ★★★ • The Pure Product • 1986 • Time Travel novelette about a murdering traveler in the 1980s by John Kessel • review
- 152 • ★★ • Stable Strategies for Middle Management • 1988 • Absurdist fiction short story covering Kafka's metamorphosis by Eileen Gunn
- 162 • ★★★★★ • Kirinyaga • 1988 • SF novelette about a Kenyan tribe in space by Mike Resnick • review
- 177 • ★★★★ • Tales from the Venia Woods • 1989 • Alternative History of an eternal Roman Empire short story by Robert Silverberg • review
- 191 • ★★★+ • Bears Discover Fire • 1990 • magical realism short story by Terry Bisson • review
- 199 • ★★★ • Even the Queen • 1992 • Near Future short story by Connie Willis • review
- 213 • ★★★★★ • Guest of Honor • 1993 • SF novelette by Robert Reed • review
- 238 • ★ • None So Blind • 1994 • Near Future SF short story by Joe Haldeman • review
- 246 • ★★★★ • Mortimer Gray's History of Death • 1995 • Posthuman SF novella by Brian Stableford • review
- 293 • ★ • The Lincoln Train • 1995 • Alternate History short story by Maureen F. McHugh • I didn't get this story at all; Lincoln didn't die after his assassination, but that had no consequence for the story.
- 303 • ★★★★★ • Wang's Carpets • 1995 • Posthuman first contact novelette by Greg Egan • review
- 328 • ★★★★ • Coming of Age in Karhide • 1995 • Hainish novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin • review
- 342 • ★★★★ • The Dead • 1996 • Zomedy short story by Michael Swanwick about Zombies as the new workforce • review
- 352 • ★★★+ • Recording Angel • 1996 • First contact short story by Ian McDonald • review
- 363 • ★★★★★ • A Dry, Quiet War • 1996 • Spaghetti Western in Space novelette by Tony Daniel • review
- 380 • ★★★★★ • The Undiscovered • 1997 • Alternate History novelette about Shakespeare writing Hamlet at the Cherokee by William Sanders • review
- 400 • ★★★ • Second Skin • 1997 • Quiet War short story by Paul J. McAuley • review
- 418 • ★★★★★ • Story of Your Life • 1998 • first contact SF novella by Ted Chiang • review
- 454 • ★★+ • People Came from Earth • 1999 • SF short story by Stephen Baxter • review
- 464 • ☆ (DNFed) • The Wedding Album • 1999 • novella by David Marusek • clones in holograms are freed by human rights movement - this started as an interesting story, but got longer and longer and the reused names confused me completely
- 502 • ★★★+ • 10 to 16 to 1 • 1999 • Time travel novelette by James Patrick Kelly • review
- 520 • ★★★+ • Daddy's World • 1999 • Posthuman novelette by Walter Jon Williams • review
- 541 • ★★★+ • The Real World • 2000 • SF novelette by Steven Utley • review
- 561 • ★★★+ • Have Not Have • 2001 • SF novelette by Geoff Ryman • review
- 577 • ★★★★★ • Lobsters • 2001 • Near future novelette by Charles Stross • review
- 597 • ★★★★+ • Breathmoss • 2002 • SF novella by Ian R. MacLeod • review
- 647 • ★★+ • Lambing Season • 2002 • First contact short story by Molly Gloss • review
survivalisinsufficient's review against another edition
5.0
I really thought this was a pretty brilliant collection.Lots of must-reads.
nelsonminar's review
4.0
Not sure how to review an anthology like this except to say I liked all the stories in it but one. Four stuck with me: Wang's Carpets, Breathmoss, Kirinyaga, and Roma Eterna.
zeroraven's review against another edition
Bookmarking this especially to read Tiptree award winner, "Stories for Men" by John Kessel.
sjstuart's review against another edition
4.0
This is a selection of [a:Gardner Dozois|12052|Gardner R. Dozois|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1247758142p2/12052.jpg]' favorite stories from the first twenty years (1983 to 2002) of The Year's Best Science Fiction. Those annual anthologies had themselves already skimmed the cream off of each year's crop of stories, so ideally, this should be filled with nothing but masterpieces of the form. But, of course, there's no accounting for taste. Dozois admits up front that he has selected many of his own personal favorites, rather than choosing exclusively award winners, and his introductory notes display some tendency towards choosing breakout stories by rising stars, rather than gems written by authors at the peak of their power.
And clearly, there's no accounting for taste, whether mine or the editor's. All of these stories are well written, and are enjoyed by a large fraction of readers. But I was surprised at how many in this collection I considered to be below average. Some are not really even sci fi, like [a:Gene Wolfe|23069|Gene Wolfe|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1207670073p2/23069.jpg]'s "A Cabin on the Coast" and [a:Bruce Sterling|34429|Bruce Sterling|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1379306689p2/34429.jpg]'s "Dinner in Audoghast". Others are overly gimmicky riffs on a single idea, like the ridiculous extrapolation to real-time bioengineering for corporate ladder-climbing in [a:Eileen Gunn|1307441|Eileen Gunn|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png]'s "Stable Strategies for Middle Management", or [a:Michael Swanwick|14454|Michael Swanwick|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1257630257p2/14454.jpg]'s "The Dead", in which reanimated corpses take over labor markets from taxi driving to prostitution. [a:Terry Bisson|73422|Terry Bisson|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-e89fc14c32a41c0eb4298dfafe929b65.png]'s "Bears Discover Fire" is about exactly what it sounds like it's about, except it's less imaginative that you'd imagine. In this case it's clearly my taste that demands accounting for, however, as this story won Hugo and Nebula awards.
I'm never a big fan of alternate history, but if you enjoy that sort of thing, you can read here about what would have happened if Rome had never fallen ([a:Robert Silverberg|4338|Robert Silverberg|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1366300348p2/4338.jpg]'s "Tales from the Venia Woods"), how Shakespeare would have followed his muse if he had been somewhat inexplicably stranded among a tribe of American Indians ([a:William Sanders|142010|William Sanders|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]' "The Undiscovered"), or how Southern slavers would have been treated after the Civil War if Lincoln had not been assassinated ([a:Maureen F. McHugh|4625773|Maureen McHugh|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]'s "The Lincoln Train")
For every disappointment, though, there was a story that I greatly enjoyed. My favorite new discovery is [a:Ted Chiang|130698|Ted Chiang|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1208187207p2/130698.jpg]'s "Story of Your Life". In fact, I think it displaces [a:Asimov|16667|Isaac Asimov|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1341965730p2/16667.jpg]'s "The Last Question" as my favorite sci-fi short story of all time. I think it must have been custom-written for me, as it combines linguistics, first contact, some physics and a nonlinear narrative structure, with a human story that is as poignant as the aliens are intriguing. I really need to find and read more by Ted Chiang.
Other favorites included "Mortimer Gray's History of Death" by [a:Brian Stableford|6458461|Brian Stableford|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png], which is a fascinating look at the topic of death from many different facets, and includes many intriguing speculations about the effect of human mortality on our culture and civilization throughout history. I also really enjoyed [a:Ursula K. Le Guin|874602|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg]'s "Coming of Age in Karhide". Like much of her best work, it's about gender, and sex, and how these inevitably skew the way you see and think about everything. In a similar vein, and just as good, is [a:Ian R. MacLeod|207286|Ian R. MacLeod|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1365105518p2/207286.jpg]'s "Breathmoss", which can be enjoyed either for the lushly descriptive alien world, the intricate social dynamics, or the plot that slowly comes full circle as the girl who comes of age throughout the story eventually returns the favors given by her mentor.
Some of the most memorable stories are those that speculate on how everything will change once we can digitize our minds. In this category is [a:Charles Stross|8794|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg]'s "Lobsters", which you can't read (even for the third time) without feeling like you're drinking from a firehose. This story (and the novelization in [b:Accelerando|17863|Accelerando (Singularity)|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388240687s/17863.jpg|930555]) are what first set me to devouring the decidedly mixed bag of everything else Stross had written. The story is well worth reading for the frenetic pace that brilliantly conveys the cusp-of-singularity pace of progress, and for an idea density large enough to collapse and form a singularity on its own. But the story ends up feeling a little bit underdeveloped, if only because not all of the speculations can be followed up on. There are enough rifles hanging above the fireplace to give Chekhov fits. Also in this category are [a:David Marusek|278272|David Marusek|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1317097046p2/278272.jpg]'s "The Wedding Album" and [a:Walter Jon Williams|48960|Walter Jon Williams|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1275489992p2/48960.jpg]' "Daddy's World", both from the existentialist sub-genre that focuses on the shock of discovering that you are, in fact, the clone and not the original. "Daddy's World", in particular, does a brilliant job of imagining both the soaring freedom and the crushing despair that might come with living in a digital world.
This only covers about half the stories in the book. It's a large collection. Most of the rest are solid, enjoyable, or thought-provoking to various degrees, but neither flawless nor badly flawed. On average, the quality is probably only a little higher than any one of the annual volumes picked at random, suggesting that variation between readers makes it pointless to try to define the top end of the field very precisely. On the whole, it's a great collection, well worth seeking out.
And clearly, there's no accounting for taste, whether mine or the editor's. All of these stories are well written, and are enjoyed by a large fraction of readers. But I was surprised at how many in this collection I considered to be below average. Some are not really even sci fi, like [a:Gene Wolfe|23069|Gene Wolfe|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1207670073p2/23069.jpg]'s "A Cabin on the Coast" and [a:Bruce Sterling|34429|Bruce Sterling|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1379306689p2/34429.jpg]'s "Dinner in Audoghast". Others are overly gimmicky riffs on a single idea, like the ridiculous extrapolation to real-time bioengineering for corporate ladder-climbing in [a:Eileen Gunn|1307441|Eileen Gunn|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_50x66-e0ba3b90c110cd67123d6a850d85373e.png]'s "Stable Strategies for Middle Management", or [a:Michael Swanwick|14454|Michael Swanwick|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1257630257p2/14454.jpg]'s "The Dead", in which reanimated corpses take over labor markets from taxi driving to prostitution. [a:Terry Bisson|73422|Terry Bisson|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-e89fc14c32a41c0eb4298dfafe929b65.png]'s "Bears Discover Fire" is about exactly what it sounds like it's about, except it's less imaginative that you'd imagine. In this case it's clearly my taste that demands accounting for, however, as this story won Hugo and Nebula awards.
I'm never a big fan of alternate history, but if you enjoy that sort of thing, you can read here about what would have happened if Rome had never fallen ([a:Robert Silverberg|4338|Robert Silverberg|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1366300348p2/4338.jpg]'s "Tales from the Venia Woods"), how Shakespeare would have followed his muse if he had been somewhat inexplicably stranded among a tribe of American Indians ([a:William Sanders|142010|William Sanders|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]' "The Undiscovered"), or how Southern slavers would have been treated after the Civil War if Lincoln had not been assassinated ([a:Maureen F. McHugh|4625773|Maureen McHugh|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png]'s "The Lincoln Train")
For every disappointment, though, there was a story that I greatly enjoyed. My favorite new discovery is [a:Ted Chiang|130698|Ted Chiang|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1208187207p2/130698.jpg]'s "Story of Your Life". In fact, I think it displaces [a:Asimov|16667|Isaac Asimov|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1341965730p2/16667.jpg]'s "The Last Question" as my favorite sci-fi short story of all time. I think it must have been custom-written for me, as it combines linguistics, first contact, some physics and a nonlinear narrative structure, with a human story that is as poignant as the aliens are intriguing. I really need to find and read more by Ted Chiang.
Other favorites included "Mortimer Gray's History of Death" by [a:Brian Stableford|6458461|Brian Stableford|https://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-d9f6a4a5badfda0f69e70cc94d962125.png], which is a fascinating look at the topic of death from many different facets, and includes many intriguing speculations about the effect of human mortality on our culture and civilization throughout history. I also really enjoyed [a:Ursula K. Le Guin|874602|Ursula K. Le Guin|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1244291425p2/874602.jpg]'s "Coming of Age in Karhide". Like much of her best work, it's about gender, and sex, and how these inevitably skew the way you see and think about everything. In a similar vein, and just as good, is [a:Ian R. MacLeod|207286|Ian R. MacLeod|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1365105518p2/207286.jpg]'s "Breathmoss", which can be enjoyed either for the lushly descriptive alien world, the intricate social dynamics, or the plot that slowly comes full circle as the girl who comes of age throughout the story eventually returns the favors given by her mentor.
Some of the most memorable stories are those that speculate on how everything will change once we can digitize our minds. In this category is [a:Charles Stross|8794|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg]'s "Lobsters", which you can't read (even for the third time) without feeling like you're drinking from a firehose. This story (and the novelization in [b:Accelerando|17863|Accelerando (Singularity)|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388240687s/17863.jpg|930555]) are what first set me to devouring the decidedly mixed bag of everything else Stross had written. The story is well worth reading for the frenetic pace that brilliantly conveys the cusp-of-singularity pace of progress, and for an idea density large enough to collapse and form a singularity on its own. But the story ends up feeling a little bit underdeveloped, if only because not all of the speculations can be followed up on. There are enough rifles hanging above the fireplace to give Chekhov fits. Also in this category are [a:David Marusek|278272|David Marusek|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1317097046p2/278272.jpg]'s "The Wedding Album" and [a:Walter Jon Williams|48960|Walter Jon Williams|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1275489992p2/48960.jpg]' "Daddy's World", both from the existentialist sub-genre that focuses on the shock of discovering that you are, in fact, the clone and not the original. "Daddy's World", in particular, does a brilliant job of imagining both the soaring freedom and the crushing despair that might come with living in a digital world.
This only covers about half the stories in the book. It's a large collection. Most of the rest are solid, enjoyable, or thought-provoking to various degrees, but neither flawless nor badly flawed. On average, the quality is probably only a little higher than any one of the annual volumes picked at random, suggesting that variation between readers makes it pointless to try to define the top end of the field very precisely. On the whole, it's a great collection, well worth seeking out.
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