My copy of this collection is water damaged and well worn. Though it didn't have any "all-time great" pieces, the stories were consistently very good and this would probably be a good collection to start with. In fact I probably bought this as a gift for at least one person.

Great stories by Ian R MacLeod, Kress, McHugh, Sterling, Ian McDonald, John Kessel, Chris Beckett, Geoffrey Ryman, Swanwick, Eleanor Arnason, Kage Baker and Alastair Reynolds. This was probably my first introduction to Kage Baker. Other good stories are by Charles Colman Finlay, Stross, Steven Popkes, and Richard Wadholm.