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

Comprising:

The Juniper Tree by John Kessel;
Antibodies by Charles Stross;
The Birthday of the World by Ursula K. Le Guin;
Saviour by Nancy Kress;
Reef by Paul J. McAuley;
Going After Bobo by Susan Palwick;
Crux by Albert E. Cowdrey;
The Cure for Everything by Severna Park;
The Suspect Genome by Peter F. Hamilton;
The Raggle-Taggle Gypsy-O by Michael Swanwick;
Radiant Green Star by Lucius Shepard;
Great Wall of Mars by Alastair Reynolds;
Milo and Sylvie by Eliot Fintushel;
Snowball in Hell by Brian Stableford;
On the Orion Line by Stephen Baxter;
Oracle by Greg Egan;
Obsidian Harvest by Rick Cook and Ernest Hogan;
Patient Zero by Tananarive Due;
A Colder War by Charles Stross;
The Real World by Steven Utley;
The Thing About Benny by M. Shayne Bell;
The Great Goodbye by Robert Charles Wilson;
Tendeleo's Story by Ian McDonald.