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Year's Best SF 9
The Future Boldly Imagined From Breathtaking New Perspectives
The world as we will know it is far different from the future once predicted in simpler times. For this newest collection of the finest short form SF to appear in print over the preceding year, acclaimed editors and anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have gathered remarkable works that reflect a new sensibility. Courageous and diverse stories from some of the finest authors in the field grace this amazing volume -- adventures and discoveries, parables and warnings, carrying those eager to fly to far ends of a vast, ever-shifting universe of alien worlds, strange cultures, and mind-bending technologies. Tomorrow has never been as spellbinding, terrifying, or transforming as it is here, today, in these extraordinary pages. Hang on!
* Amnesty • (2003) • shortstory by Octavia E. Butler
* Birth Days • (2003) • shortstory by Geoff Ryman
* The Waters of Meribah • (2003) • shortstory by Tony Ballantyne
* EJ-ES • (2003) • novelette by Nancy Kress
* Four Short Novels • (2003) • shortstory by Joe Haldeman
* Rogue Farm • (2003) • shortstory by Charles Stross
* The Violet’s Embryos • (2003) • shortstory by Angélica Gorodischer
* Coyote at the End of History • (2003) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick
* In Fading Suns and Dying Moons • (2003) • novelette by John Varley
* Castaway • (2003) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe
* The Hydrogen Wall • (2003) • novelette by Gregory Benford
* The Day We Went Through the Transition • (2003) • shortstory by Pedro Jorge Romero and Ricard de la Casa
* Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers • (2003) • shortstory by Cory Doctorow
* Night of Time • (2003) • shortstory by Robert Reed
* A Night on the Barbary Coast • (2003) • shortstory by Kage Baker
* Annuity Clinic • (2003) • shortstory by Nigel Brown
* The Madwoman of Shuttlefield • (2003) • novelette by Allen M. Steele
* Bread and Bombs • (2003) • shortstory by M. Rickert
* The Great Game • (2003) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter
* The Albertine Notes • (2003) • shortstory by Rick Moody
512 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 25, 2004
22 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
David G. Hartwell
116 books97 followersDavid Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.
He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.
He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 24, 2019
Since I joined GoodReads I've fallen way behind on my SF anthology reading. Too many other shiny books get recommended to me, and reviews of anthologies are not convenient. Ty to whoever added the list of stories so I could copy them here:
* Amnesty • Octavia E. Butler 3.5 stars. Mostly exposition, but still a great What If. Typical Butler as in disquieting, sort of creepy even. I'm pretty sure I'd rather be jobless than enfolded... but maybe not....
* Birth Days • Geoff Ryman 3 stars. Major loss of logic, but interesting characters and What If. Am not tempted by this to read more by the author.
* The Waters of Meribah • Tony Ballantyne 3 stars. Very smart. Crazy original; lots of world-building ideas crammed in. I don't want what he's having, nor do I want to read more of his talent.
* EJ-ES • Nancy Kress. 4 stars. MedCorps visits colonies, offers succor... like missionaries offering succor for the soul, with the same conflict. That is, is 'curing disease' always the ethical thing to do? What if only one of the team thinks so, and why is she the one with the divergent sense of what's right? Would make a great book club discussion. Strong Sense of Wonder and What If. I will continue to read more of the author when other influences also tempt me.
* Four Short Novels •Joe Haldeman 2 stars. Maybe would have been worth more if the long novels referenced had more of relevance than their names, but I've not read them and so don't know. Actually just four clever variations on a theme. No real SoW or WI.
* Rogue Farm • Charles Stross Reads like a fragment. Stross knows the world he builds (I assume) but we don't. And I'm just not satisfied. Why did the farm want to go take our hero to Jupiter? :shrug:
* The Violet’s Embryos • Angélica Gorodischer DNF. Too, what, 'experimental' for me.
* Coyote at the End of History • Michael Swanwick Or is it "Coyote and the Star People?" In any case, it's funny, and melancholy, and very cool, and maybe I should look for more by the author. Otoh, no actual SoW or WI.
* In Fading Suns and Dying Moons • John Varley Definite SoW, no WI. I think any number of endings would have fit and not changed the main theme of the story, and many would have been preferable to me, and some of them would have added another layer of meaning. Basically the theme is that we have no way of knowing an alien intention... but the ending reveals one.... I really should get up the wherewithal to read more Varley.
* Castaway • Gene Wolfe Very short fable. Took me awhile, but I figured out that the 'woman' is that planet's version of Gaia. I might consider more from the author, as there was a bit of SoW.
* The Hydrogen Wall • Gregory Benford Dang that was difficult. My advice is to just read it once, because near the end the author starts talking English. Then reread it for the mastery of the creative imagination. Good SoW.
* The Day We Went Through the Transition • Pedro Jorge Romero and Ricard de la Casa Too much world-building/ exposition, but a hell of an Ah-ha moment at the end. For that poignancy, I'll give it credit for SoW and WI.
* Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers • Cory Doctorow Creative, hyper, good SoW and WI just as one expects from Doctorow.
* Night of Time • (2003) • Robert Reed The question raised at the beginning wasn't answered... I think the author was trying for a mystical affect style and didn't realize what bs was going on. Potential for SoW & WI and I would consider more by him.
* A Night on the Barbary Coast • Kage Baker It does help to know something about The Company... this is my second read and this time I 'get' it and find it sort of amusing. A different modus than SoW or WI, more like adventure with humor and attempts at insights.
* Annuity Clinic • Nigel Brown Again with the elliptical writing style, still not impressed. The idea of old people selling off body parts is interesting though... great What If here. No real SoW but not missed.
* The Madwoman of Shuttlefield • Allen M. Steele Interesting What If, probably more interesting read in context. What would colonies actually look like, if we think about who might actually move to them?
* Bread and Bombs • M. Rickert A response to Lord of the Flies or The Lottery? Impressive amount of World-Building in a very short story; I do wonder if there are related works by the author. Adequate and apt doses of SoW and WI.
* The Great Game • Stephen Baxter Marines enable the hawks to start a war against the Xeelee. Not my thing.
* The Albertine Notes • Rick Moody A drug that makes memories seem more real helps (?) survivors of the destruction of Manhattan. DNF.
* Amnesty • Octavia E. Butler 3.5 stars. Mostly exposition, but still a great What If. Typical Butler as in disquieting, sort of creepy even. I'm pretty sure I'd rather be jobless than enfolded... but maybe not....
* Birth Days • Geoff Ryman 3 stars. Major loss of logic, but interesting characters and What If. Am not tempted by this to read more by the author.
* The Waters of Meribah • Tony Ballantyne 3 stars. Very smart. Crazy original; lots of world-building ideas crammed in. I don't want what he's having, nor do I want to read more of his talent.
* EJ-ES • Nancy Kress. 4 stars. MedCorps visits colonies, offers succor... like missionaries offering succor for the soul, with the same conflict. That is, is 'curing disease' always the ethical thing to do? What if only one of the team thinks so, and why is she the one with the divergent sense of what's right? Would make a great book club discussion. Strong Sense of Wonder and What If. I will continue to read more of the author when other influences also tempt me.
* Four Short Novels •Joe Haldeman 2 stars. Maybe would have been worth more if the long novels referenced had more of relevance than their names, but I've not read them and so don't know. Actually just four clever variations on a theme. No real SoW or WI.
* Rogue Farm • Charles Stross Reads like a fragment. Stross knows the world he builds (I assume) but we don't. And I'm just not satisfied. Why did the farm want to go take our hero to Jupiter? :shrug:
* The Violet’s Embryos • Angélica Gorodischer DNF. Too, what, 'experimental' for me.
* Coyote at the End of History • Michael Swanwick Or is it "Coyote and the Star People?" In any case, it's funny, and melancholy, and very cool, and maybe I should look for more by the author. Otoh, no actual SoW or WI.
* In Fading Suns and Dying Moons • John Varley Definite SoW, no WI. I think any number of endings would have fit and not changed the main theme of the story, and many would have been preferable to me, and some of them would have added another layer of meaning. Basically the theme is that we have no way of knowing an alien intention... but the ending reveals one.... I really should get up the wherewithal to read more Varley.
* Castaway • Gene Wolfe Very short fable. Took me awhile, but I figured out that the 'woman' is that planet's version of Gaia. I might consider more from the author, as there was a bit of SoW.
* The Hydrogen Wall • Gregory Benford Dang that was difficult. My advice is to just read it once, because near the end the author starts talking English. Then reread it for the mastery of the creative imagination. Good SoW.
* The Day We Went Through the Transition • Pedro Jorge Romero and Ricard de la Casa Too much world-building/ exposition, but a hell of an Ah-ha moment at the end. For that poignancy, I'll give it credit for SoW and WI.
* Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers • Cory Doctorow Creative, hyper, good SoW and WI just as one expects from Doctorow.
* Night of Time • (2003) • Robert Reed The question raised at the beginning wasn't answered... I think the author was trying for a mystical affect style and didn't realize what bs was going on. Potential for SoW & WI and I would consider more by him.
* A Night on the Barbary Coast • Kage Baker It does help to know something about The Company... this is my second read and this time I 'get' it and find it sort of amusing. A different modus than SoW or WI, more like adventure with humor and attempts at insights.
* Annuity Clinic • Nigel Brown Again with the elliptical writing style, still not impressed. The idea of old people selling off body parts is interesting though... great What If here. No real SoW but not missed.
* The Madwoman of Shuttlefield • Allen M. Steele Interesting What If, probably more interesting read in context. What would colonies actually look like, if we think about who might actually move to them?
* Bread and Bombs • M. Rickert A response to Lord of the Flies or The Lottery? Impressive amount of World-Building in a very short story; I do wonder if there are related works by the author. Adequate and apt doses of SoW and WI.
* The Great Game • Stephen Baxter Marines enable the hawks to start a war against the Xeelee. Not my thing.
* The Albertine Notes • Rick Moody A drug that makes memories seem more real helps (?) survivors of the destruction of Manhattan. DNF.
October 31, 2008
An interesting book; very good for long plane trips. I liked the story "Amnesty" best, even if it didn't have a really satisfying ending. "Madwoman at Shuttlefield" had the same problem, as did "The Waters of Meribah (though that story was unsettling enough to make up for it) and "The Albertine Notes" was entirely incoherent. I know a story about memory/changing time is likely going to be confusing, but come on.
"The Violet's Embryos" read like weird poetry, or like a Salvador Dali painting, and "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons" was fascinating, apocalyptic, and stands out as the only GOOD bit of John Varley writing I've seen in the last decade.
"The Violet's Embryos" read like weird poetry, or like a Salvador Dali painting, and "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons" was fascinating, apocalyptic, and stands out as the only GOOD bit of John Varley writing I've seen in the last decade.
August 4, 2009
Some really brilliant stuff in it. Read it there'll be something in it for you... Some however won't but you'll see why they're there.
December 28, 2022
Such a rarity, to find an anthology where a clear majority of the included works were thoughtful and well written. From the opening tale by Octavia E. Butler exploring the hatreds, atrocities, and divided loyalties engendered by the arrival of largely beneficent aliens through to the fever dream of M. Rickert exploring the inheritance of bigotry, this collection remained balanced and interesting. Then came the last two tales, which frankly annoyed me when they weren't just boring. Stephen Baxter's frivolous adventure tale dressed up as an intercivilization conflict actively made me angry while I was reading it and maybe that carried into the next tale, The Albertine Notes, and that is why I found it tepid and tiresome and overlong. The remainder, however, those elevated this collection far above the usual anthology grade and the quality of writing sets it apart as well.
A fine volume well worth the investment. Just go around Baxter.
A fine volume well worth the investment. Just go around Baxter.
May 5, 2017
As a collection of short stories, it's always a mixed bag, but I tend to like this series in general more than some others, and this in particular was a reread (which doesn't necessarily say anything for the quality of this particular volume because I can't keep track of what stories are in what book).
Still, even as a reread there was plenty to enjoy. I particularly liked Octavia E. Butler's "Amnesty" a tale with a particularly unusual alien race and humanity's relationship after a war that involved atrocities, and "The Hydrogen Wall" by Gregory Benford in which alien contact is done by sending alien artificial intelligences, and one particularly hard-to-relate to is needed to help solve a major problem facing Earth. Most of the others were okay, some I've read a few too many times (having been collected in other places) to really be objective about them anymore. Only a couple stinkers. My guess is you'll probably feel the same way, except choosing different stories for standouts and stinkers (and depending on your own habits may not have the already-read-this-story-too-recently problem), so, worth a look.
Still, even as a reread there was plenty to enjoy. I particularly liked Octavia E. Butler's "Amnesty" a tale with a particularly unusual alien race and humanity's relationship after a war that involved atrocities, and "The Hydrogen Wall" by Gregory Benford in which alien contact is done by sending alien artificial intelligences, and one particularly hard-to-relate to is needed to help solve a major problem facing Earth. Most of the others were okay, some I've read a few too many times (having been collected in other places) to really be objective about them anymore. Only a couple stinkers. My guess is you'll probably feel the same way, except choosing different stories for standouts and stinkers (and depending on your own habits may not have the already-read-this-story-too-recently problem), so, worth a look.
October 27, 2021
This was the best of this series that I have read so far. Few fantasy stories and very good science fiction stories.
September 10, 2012
This is a good anthology of 2003 sci-fi stories, with several stories that are bound to make an impression.
My favorites were Gregory Benford's "The Hydrogen Wall", John Varley's "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons" and especially Ricard de la Casa's and Pedro Jorge Romero's "The Day We Went Through the Transition", which features a nice twist on the usual time-travel tale.
Several were enjoyable, but didn't feature endings as satisfying as they could have been. (Yes, I know that ambiguity and unresolved tension are a mark of sophisticated writing, and this makes me an unsophisticated reader. But, old-fashioned as it may be, I prefer a decisive ending, if not a good twist, in short-format sci-fi stories.) Others were very well written, but suffered a bit as short stories because they weren't entirely self-contained, relying on plotlines and characters from some larger universe of the author's ("The Madwoman of Shuttlefield" and "A Night on the Barbary Coast").
The few I didn't enjoy wandered a little too far towards "weird" for me. "The Waters of Meribah" and "The Violet's Embryo" featured worlds where people, their bodies, and their surroundings keep changing in bizarre ways that are a little too arbitrary for my taste. (Not violating the laws of physics, perhaps, just counting on those laws having been drastically rewritten at some point.) "The Albertine Notes" is of the same variety, but is written so lyrically that I could enjoy it merely at the level of the wordsmithing for most of the way through.
Even for the stories that didn't quite work, or didn't resonate with me, I can see exactly why they were chosen for this compilation. All were standouts in some way, whether it was their literary style, expressive imagery, thought-provoking ideas, or tight plotting.
You'll probably like an entirely different subset of these stories, of course. But they're all good enough that anyone who enjoys sci-fi is bound to find several that they enjoy.
My favorites were Gregory Benford's "The Hydrogen Wall", John Varley's "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons" and especially Ricard de la Casa's and Pedro Jorge Romero's "The Day We Went Through the Transition", which features a nice twist on the usual time-travel tale.
Several were enjoyable, but didn't feature endings as satisfying as they could have been. (Yes, I know that ambiguity and unresolved tension are a mark of sophisticated writing, and this makes me an unsophisticated reader. But, old-fashioned as it may be, I prefer a decisive ending, if not a good twist, in short-format sci-fi stories.) Others were very well written, but suffered a bit as short stories because they weren't entirely self-contained, relying on plotlines and characters from some larger universe of the author's ("The Madwoman of Shuttlefield" and "A Night on the Barbary Coast").
The few I didn't enjoy wandered a little too far towards "weird" for me. "The Waters of Meribah" and "The Violet's Embryo" featured worlds where people, their bodies, and their surroundings keep changing in bizarre ways that are a little too arbitrary for my taste. (Not violating the laws of physics, perhaps, just counting on those laws having been drastically rewritten at some point.) "The Albertine Notes" is of the same variety, but is written so lyrically that I could enjoy it merely at the level of the wordsmithing for most of the way through.
Even for the stories that didn't quite work, or didn't resonate with me, I can see exactly why they were chosen for this compilation. All were standouts in some way, whether it was their literary style, expressive imagery, thought-provoking ideas, or tight plotting.
You'll probably like an entirely different subset of these stories, of course. But they're all good enough that anyone who enjoys sci-fi is bound to find several that they enjoy.
Read
August 7, 2016This is the second of the Hartwell/Cramer anthologies I've read since my "reintroduction" to SciFi, and I continue to be thoroughly impressed by the selection of material. This volume is for 2003, so I would guess they're up to 19 now…I have some catching up to do, obviously.
As with most such collections, it's inevitable that the reader may find some of the stories just aren't palatable, but from my point of view there's nothing here anyone would consider "filler". There's no accounting for taste, true, but quality is quality, and it runs amazingly consistent throughout…if the first 150+ pages don't convince you, well, nothing I could say would change your mind. It's just one amazing story after another and could easily be a "Best of the Best" in itself…I won't point to one story in particular, except to say that Nancy Kress's "Ej-Es" left me in tears, and Joe Haldeman packed an amazing wallop in four very short "do-overs" of famous novels. Wish I'd have thought of that one! And "The Violet Embryos"…wow! I can't successfully describe that one in the limited space I am allotting myself here.
I was impressed with Cory Doctorow's effort, also that of Kage Baker. Great stuff from new names, for me at least. Add to those Nigel Brown's "Annuity Clinic", which shows the downside of "assisted living" in the future (yikes!) and Allen Steele's introduction to his world of Coyote (the planet, not the Native American trickster…though that Coyote DOES put in a surprise appearance earlier in this collection) and you've got just shy of 500 pages of great SF entertainment.
And then finally there is Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes". Now, the editors' notes preceding this suggest it was the best short story of the year. Well, maybe. It's lengthy and wordy, but you'd have to read it to understand why it is thus, and I hope you do. I will confess it was at times a chore to wade through it all but ultimately it paid off. Best short story of the year? I might disagree, but then again what do I know? Either way, it definitely belongs in this collection, which we have now managed to find 11 of the 19 volumes, and if the quality stays this high I expect we'll keep getting them once we get caught up.
As with most such collections, it's inevitable that the reader may find some of the stories just aren't palatable, but from my point of view there's nothing here anyone would consider "filler". There's no accounting for taste, true, but quality is quality, and it runs amazingly consistent throughout…if the first 150+ pages don't convince you, well, nothing I could say would change your mind. It's just one amazing story after another and could easily be a "Best of the Best" in itself…I won't point to one story in particular, except to say that Nancy Kress's "Ej-Es" left me in tears, and Joe Haldeman packed an amazing wallop in four very short "do-overs" of famous novels. Wish I'd have thought of that one! And "The Violet Embryos"…wow! I can't successfully describe that one in the limited space I am allotting myself here.
I was impressed with Cory Doctorow's effort, also that of Kage Baker. Great stuff from new names, for me at least. Add to those Nigel Brown's "Annuity Clinic", which shows the downside of "assisted living" in the future (yikes!) and Allen Steele's introduction to his world of Coyote (the planet, not the Native American trickster…though that Coyote DOES put in a surprise appearance earlier in this collection) and you've got just shy of 500 pages of great SF entertainment.
And then finally there is Rick Moody's "The Albertine Notes". Now, the editors' notes preceding this suggest it was the best short story of the year. Well, maybe. It's lengthy and wordy, but you'd have to read it to understand why it is thus, and I hope you do. I will confess it was at times a chore to wade through it all but ultimately it paid off. Best short story of the year? I might disagree, but then again what do I know? Either way, it definitely belongs in this collection, which we have now managed to find 11 of the 19 volumes, and if the quality stays this high I expect we'll keep getting them once we get caught up.
February 23, 2017
I skipped some stories, but it was a good read. The Octavia Butler story creeped me out the more I thought about it. The Nancy Kress was good--she might be better in short form than novels. This was the first I'd read by Angélica Gorodischer, clearly a different voice. Always glad to read more Gene Wolfe. What a delight to find a Kage Baker story from The Company that I had not read.
September 18, 2012
A volte penso di essere un po' viziato, almeno riguardo ad alcuni generi narrativi.Inutile dire che per uno cresciuto a Pane ed Asimov la fantascienza è non solo un genere, ma una passione che sa essere veramente esigente; il problema è che con gli anni i libri "classici" che meritano cominciano a diventare pochi e, quindi, mi trovo periodicamente a cercare nuovi stimoli in un ambito che continuo ad adorare.Questa lunga premessa è per spiegare come mi sono trovato a leggere il volume che dà il titolo al post, sedicente raccolta dei "20 racconti migliori del 2003" pubblicata recentemente da Urania: io ho sempre amato i racconti di fantascienza ed ero convinto che una raccolta del genere potesse darmi un po' di soddisfazione e farmi scoprire magari qualche nuovo autore.Ovviamente mi sbagliavo.Il primo pensiero è che se quella è la miglior fantascienza del 2003 allora non voglio minimamente sapere come fosse il resto: troppi, veramente troppi racconti a dir bene noiosi, ma spesso anche contorti, pretenziosi, con l'evidente desiderio di apparire "profondi" ma col risultato puro e semplice di risultare inconcludenti.Certo, qualche piccolo esempio si salva, ma veramente troppo poco rispetto a quel che speravo.
September 1, 2021
Found this book at a thrift store maybe 15 years ago, and finally got around to reading it in 2021. Quite a few of the stories were good, and not just those by authors I am already familiar with. It led me to think that I really need to read more of Nancy Kress, John Varley, Kage Baker, and Allen Steele. Not everything was roses however. There were a few stories that I listed as a waste of time, including a few by some very popular authors. (Octavia Butler and Gene Wolf are beloved by millions, but they've never done a thing for me. I shall avoid them in the future.) The last story, Rick Moody's The Albertine Notes, I could not finish. A junkie in New York in the days after 9-11 writes a vaguely fictionalized account of his bad trip, for 50 odd pages. Nope. This is the case with any collection, and the quality of the collection rests on the balance of its contents. Did this contain enough good stories to recommend it? Not quite.
Read
October 21, 2007http://nhw.livejournal.com/220669.html[return][return]Much the most interesting of the 2003 SF anthologies. The Dozois one remains definitive, and best value for money, and the Haber/Strahan one I found a bit disappointing. But this has a couple of my favourite stories from the Dozois again (none in common with Haber/Strahan, interestingly) and a number of gems. This includes two stories translated from Spanish, one of which I'm afraid I just couldn't get into, but the other one a fascinating riff on altering history (in this case, enduring that the post-Franco transition to democracy is not prevented). Lots of good stuff here which I wouldn't have otherwise been able to read. Recommended.
June 19, 2016
Outstanding stories worth rereading:
"Amnesty" by Octavia Butler,
"The Violet's Embryos" -Angelica Gorodischer,
"In Fading Suns and Dying Moons"-John Varley,
"the Hydrogen Wall"- Gregory Benford,
"A Night on the Barbary Coast"- Kage Baker,
"Bread and Bombs"- M. Rickert.
"Amnesty" by Octavia Butler,
"The Violet's Embryos" -Angelica Gorodischer,
"In Fading Suns and Dying Moons"-John Varley,
"the Hydrogen Wall"- Gregory Benford,
"A Night on the Barbary Coast"- Kage Baker,
"Bread and Bombs"- M. Rickert.
August 27, 2009
For the first time, I read one of these books and didn't like all of the stories. The last story especially was for some reason long and uninteresting to me. I got within 10 pages of the end, but it wasn't worth it to finish. Oh well, the other stories were great.
August 21, 2009
Of the 20 stories included there were only 2 that were too bad for me to even finish. Of the other 18, I actually liked 7 (particularly the Joe Haldeman story). The rest were kind of... 'meh', though. Not a bad turnout for an anthology, but it reminded me why I don't usually buy them.
June 29, 2016
A year's best SF anthology almost always rates a 4 with me, occasionally a 5, but this one contained a higher fraction of material that I would not have considered selecting myself, especially the last story "The Albertine Notes". Still, there is enough to make this worth reading.
August 4, 2020
I liked "Ej-Es" by Nancy Kress, "Four Short Novels" by Joe Haldeman, "Coyote at the End of History" by Michael Swanwick, and "The Day We Went Through Transistion" by Richard De La Casa and Pedro Jose Romero
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August 22, 2008Year's best SF 9 / edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (2004)
October 15, 2016
Especially recommended:
Octavia Butler, "Amnesty"
Charles Stross, "Rogue Farm"
Michael Swanwick, "Coyote at the End of History"
Octavia Butler, "Amnesty"
Charles Stross, "Rogue Farm"
Michael Swanwick, "Coyote at the End of History"
Currently reading
May 26, 2024"In Fading Suns and Dying Moons" by John Varley - Aliens referred to as Linemen appear on Earth in order to harvest butterflies before they destroy it.
01-01-2006
01-01-2006
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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