Gardner Dozois has become the most influential editor in science fiction, and his best-of-the-year anthologies show why. He has chosen 23 stories by masters such as Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Swanwick, Brian Stableford, and Greg Egan, as well as newer writers Severna Park, Tananarive Due, and Eliot Fintushel.
Standouts include "Tendeleo's Story," Ian MacDonald's powerful tale of people whose lives are changed by an alien invader that is slowly eating Africa; "The Suspect Genome," a mystery by Peter F. Hamilton; the slow but moving "Going After Bobo" by Susan Palwick; and "The Great Goodbye" by Robert Charles Wilson. Hugo nominees include "Radiant Green Star" by Lucius Shepherd, "Oracle" by Greg Egan, and "On the Orion Line" by Stephen Baxter.
Dozois's summation of the year in science fiction alone is worth the cost of admission to these annual collections. Along with his usual takes on publishing, literature, film, and more, Dozois delivers a retrospective on the state of science fiction in the year 2000. Contrary to those who claim science fiction is either dead or (at least) losing its heart and soul since the deaths of authors like Isaac Asimov and Robert J. Heinlein, Dozois emphatically argues that the health of SF has never been stronger. Discussing increased numbers of novels being published (he includes numbers to prove his point), discoveries of young new writers, ongoing evolution of the literature, and innovative viewpoints to mine, Dozois bubbles over with enthusiasm for the genre in which he made his name, as well as the coming century and its mysterious developments waiting to surprise and delight us. --Bonnie Bouman
From Publishers Weekly
This annual anthology is quite simply the best, most comprehensive look at today's SF, with 22 stories of consistently excellent caliber, some displaying gonzo writing and others displaying dizzyingly fabulous premises. Dozois has chosen stories that define the genre and its trends today--tales that show that SF continues to fruitfully forge across new boundaries.The alternative/parallel history is growing as a subgenre, with a sophisticated premise of the nature of alternative realities from Greg Egan's "Oracle" suggesting that humans can learn to control their destinies. Charles Stoss's "Antibodies" follows operatives working in parallel realities to stop artificial intelligences from attaining consciousness, with a surprise ending that ties the story up neatly and unexpectedly. And Rick Cook and Ernest Hogan show some impressive world-building in "Obsidian Harvest," a murder mystery set in a strange, beautifully worked alternative reality in Mexico, years after the natives drove away the Spanish invaders. The soldier-battling-evil story, a staple of SF, has grown sophisticated, with Alastair Reynolds's "Great Wall of Mars," Stephen Baxter's "On the Orion Line" and Stoss's "A Colder War" exploring the ambiguities and compromises inherent in warfare. Reynolds considers a soldier who realizes that the enemy may be in the right. Baxter's heroes fight inexplicable aliens attempting to slow human expansion. And Stoss's government operatives engage in battle via doors to other planets in an entry that contains a wryly amusing alternative-history take on the Oliver North scandal. Technology's impact on biology remains a rich vein as well. Ian McDonald considers an Africa being eaten by alien machines that may give humans amazing powers and control over their lives in "Tendeleo's Story"; Brian Stableford's "Snowball in Hell" considers a world in which animals can be tinkered with to create humans, thus complicating the nature and superiority of humanity; and Susan Palwick's oblique "Going After Bobo," the story of a boy whose cat runs away, turns into a delicate consideration of the role of electronic surveillance and how it comes to define a family.Finally, a few entries are remarkable for their excellent writing. Standouts include Stoss's two stories; Ursula K. Le Guin's first-contact yarn, told from the point of view of aliens, "The Birthday of the World"; Albert E. Cowdrey's hilarious "Crux," a time-travel adventure with a screwup protagonist; and Eliot Fintushel's amazing "Milo and Sylvie," about a young shape-shifter who painfully comes to learn about himself and his powers. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From 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 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Of the many best-of-the-year science fiction annuals, Gardner Dozois' reigns supreme. This year's offering features the usual balance of veterans, such as grand masters Ursula LeGuin and Poul Anderson, and newcomers--William Sanders and David Marusek, for instance. The generous selection includes diverse themes and writing styles, ranging from nostalgia in Terry Bisson's tale of three friends' return to a rejuvenating childhood shrine to rigorous hard sf in Greg Egan's tale about a computer that turns lethal when programmed to test an "impossible" theorem. Dozois introduces each entry with a brief biography of its author and concludes the volume with a very long list of honorably mentioned stories. As always, must reading for aspiring sf authors as well as fans and an indispensable addition to sf collections. Carl Hays
From Kirkus Reviews
Twenty-four of 1995's best stories, selected by seven-time Hugo award-winning editor Dozois. Part of the contents will already be familiar to Kirkus regulars, since Ursula K. LeGuin's ``A Woman's Liberation'' appeared in her splendid Four Ways to Forgiveness (1995); while her ``Coming of Age in Karhide,'' along with Greg Egan's ``Wang's Carpets'' and Paul J. McAuley's ``Recording Angel,'' were featured in the wonderful New Legends (ed. Greg Bear, 1995). And Poul Anderson's ``Genesis,'' with Joe Haldeman's ``For White Hill,'' first saw daylight in the abstrusely imaginative Far Futures (ed. Gregory Benford, 1995). To mention some of the other, equally diverse and excellent, tales at random: Nancy Kress's ``Feigenbaum Number'' (chaos theory); Terry Bisson's nostalgia trip, ``There Are No Dead''; James Patrick Kelly's aliens and star-gateways, ``Think Like a Dinosaur''; Michael Swanwick's weird after-death existence, ``Radio Waves''; Pat Cadigan's virtual reality, ``Death in the Promised Land''; and David Marusek's information superhighway of the future, ``We Were Out of Our Minds with Joy.'' Essential reading. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Review
"Once again, Dozois delivers an exemplary volume of exemplary SF." --Publishers Weekly
"The book that has to be read every year...it's silly to pick favorites among so many good stories." --Fred Cleaver, The Denver Post
"This series has become an institution, and deservedly so." --Clinton Lawrence, Science Fiction Weekly
"I can't open the copy on my desk without wanting to reread whichever story pops up. Transport your physical self to a bookstore. Heft the volume. At list price, it's still the best value for top-notch SF, by the page of by the pound." --Jim Hopper, San Diego Union-Tribune
Review
"Once again, Dozois delivers an exemplary volume of exemplary SF." --Publishers Weekly
"The book that has to be read every year...it's silly to pick favorites among so many good stories." --Fred Cleaver, The Denver Post
"This series has become an institution, and deservedly so." --Clinton Lawrence, Science Fiction Weekly
"I can't open the copy on my desk without wanting to reread whichever story pops up. Transport your physical self to a bookstore. Heft the volume. At list price, it's still the best value for top-notch SF, by the page of by the pound." --Jim Hopper, San Diego Union-Tribune
Review
"Once again, Dozois delivers an exemplary volume of exemplary SF." --Publishers Weekly
"The book that has to be read every year...it's silly to pick favorites among so many good stories." --Fred Cleaver, The Denver Post
"This series has become an institution, and deservedly so." --Clinton Lawrence, Science Fiction Weekly
"I can't open the copy on my desk without wanting to reread whichever story pops up. Transport your physical self to a bookstore. Heft the volume. At list price, it's still the best value for top-notch SF, by the page of by the pound." --Jim Hopper, San Diego Union-Tribune
Book Description
The twenty-three stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our being, 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:
Stephen Baxter, M.Shayne Bell, Rick Cook, Albert E. Cowdrey, Tananarive Due, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Peter F. Hamilton, Earnest Hogan, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Ian McDonald, Susan Palwick, Severna Park, Alastair Reynolds, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Robert Charles Wilson
Supplementing the stories is the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.
About the Author
Gardner Dozois has been the editor of Asmiov's Science Fiction Magazine since 1985 and has received the Hugo Award for best editor eleven times. He lives in Philadelphia, PA.
Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection: More than 250,000 Words of Fantastic Fiction FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love these "year's best" anthologies. These collections got me hooked on science fiction in the first place. I vividly remember picking up a Year's Best Science Fiction paperback in a department store when I was in sixth grade and falling in love with the cool cover. I only had a few dollars and, to my figuring, one book with dozens of stories was way better than a book with only one story. I couldn't have been more correct.
Of the 23 short stories included in this anthology, my favorites were "The Juniper Tree," by John Kessel, and Michael Stanwick's "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O." In Kessel's story, Jack Baldwin and his daughter Rosalind move to a colony on the Moon so that Jack can give his daughter—and himself—a more peaceful life. While Jack succeeds in transplanting juniper trees in the low gravity, low moisture environment, his teenage daughter begins to assimilate into a strange, new society where sexuality is far more open than back on Earth. When Jack finds out that a boy has been intimate with his daughter, he overreacts and accidentally kills the boy. What follows is both miraculous and tragic. Stanwick's story is like an episode from The Twilight Zone about two unforgettable characters, Crow and Annie, and their eternal love.
This year's collection definitely measures up to the high standard set by its predecessors. The list of contributors is, as always, impressive -- Ursula K. Le Guin, Stephen Baxter, Greg Egan, Peter F. Hamilton, and Paul J. McAuley, to name a few. This edition of The Year's Best Science Fiction will make some great summer reading—the stories can be read in one tanning session outside. (Paul Goat Allen)
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The twenty-three stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our being, 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:
Stephen Baxter, M.Shayne Bell, Rick Cook, Albert E. Cowdrey, Tananarive Due, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Peter F. Hamilton, Earnest Hogan, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Ian McDonald, Susan Palwick, Severna Park, Alastair Reynolds, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Robert Charles Wilson
Supplementing the stories is the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.
FROM THE CRITICS
Kirkus Reviews
paper: 0-312-27478-5 In his strong anthology of last year's best SF, editor Dozois leads with a dizzyingly well-done tale that at first seems clogged with excess detail, until you realize that the story is in the detail. John Kessel's "The Juniper Tree" tells of a 21st-century colony on the Moon where gender roles are reversed and anyone is allowed to have sex with anyone, especially during the Sex Festival. Jack Baldwin brings his daughter Rosalind to the colony but finds adjusting hard; when their young boarder Carey ingenuously confesses that he's having sex with Roz, Jack accidentally kills him. This leads to an event unique in SF literature this side of The Fly. Ursula K. Le Guin also creates a new society in "The Birthday of the World," which reveals what happens when the world ends and starts anew with the barbarians taking over. In newcomer Alfred Cowdrey's dark, hugely detailed "Crux," 12 billion people have died, and a terrorist group called Crux, which believes in the absolute value of life, wants to bring them all back. Ian McDonald pens a chapbook sequel to his acclaimed novel Evolution's Shore, taking as the wild premise of "Tendeleo's Story" alien invaders who eat up Africa, digest it, and turn it into something utterly new. Within this new alien form we watch the coming-of-age of Tendeleo, born in 1995, the oldest daughter of the Pastor of St. John's Church. Then comes the Chaga, a plant that grows almost faster than you can run from it: "The houses, the fields . . . they run like fat in a pan. We saw the soil itself melt and new things reach out of it like drowning men's fingers." Readers who want more can shop from a list of 200 honorable mentions. Fancy runswondrously amok here.
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