The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection

by Gardner Dozois (Editor), David Moles, Michael Swanwick

In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident?  The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year’s Best Science Fiction Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world. This venerable collection of short stories brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Ian McDonald, Stephen Baxter, Michael Swanwick, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kage Baker, Walter Jon Williams, Alastair Reynolds, and Charles Stross. And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections

652 pages, Hardcover

First published July 8, 2008

About the author

Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004. He won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, both as an editor and a writer of short fiction.
Wikipedia entry: Gardner Dozois

http://us.macmillan.com/author/gardne...

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Standouts so far: (links follow in main review)
• Lighting Out • short story by Ken MacLeod. One of the first of his "fast burn" stories, where AI augmentation of human intelligence gets *seriously* out of hand. This is generally considered to be Not a Good Thing. An easy 5-stars, for me.
• An Ocean Is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away • novelette by John Barnes. Very cool story, about terraforming Mars, two rival documentary-makers, and future technology. Nicely done. 4.5 stars. Online.
• Glory • novelette by Greg Egan. The hardest of hard-SF NAFAL travel (N = nearly) opens this excellent cross-cultural tale of the Amalgam. 4.5 stars, another exceptional reprint from “The New Space Opera.” Online.
• Of Late I Dreamt of Venus • short fiction by James Van Pelt. A thousand-year plan to terraform Venus, designed and financed by Earth’s wealthiest woman. Excellent story, 4+ stars. Online.
• Alien Archaeology • [Polity Universe] • novella by Neal Asher. Complex novella, featuring Jael the “salvage expert”, a loner sand-sifter, a gabbleduck, a golem, Penny Royal the elusive black AI, and a Prador prepared to pay Jael wealth beond the dreams of avarice. 4 stars, fully up to Asher’s highest standards.
• The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate • novelette by Ted Chiang, Hugo and Nebula winner. Not reread, but ICYMI: https://bbs.pku.edu.cn/attach/80/a2/8...
• Verthandi's Ring • short story by Ian McDonald. Previously read in The New Space Opera.. Harvest Moon, Scented Coolabar & the Rose Of Jericho, warriors of the Clade in a far-future space war against, well, the Enemy… “We have met the Enemy and he is Us”. Online.
• Dark Heaven • novella by Gregory Benford. An aging homicide detective solves a strange double murder near an alien enclave on Alabama's storm-battered Gulf coast. He barely survives. Dark Energy may be involved. On my 2023 reread, this story really shone. 4.5 stars, one of Benford's best shorts.

Story links and more stuff below. I was surprised how many of these 10+ year old stories are available online, and I'm sure I missed some links. But I'm posting what I have. If you see links I missed, please add a note!

• Finisterra • novelette by David Moles. Previously read. “A gas giant, but with a breathable atmostphere, high in which fly large, gas-filled creatures which join together to form huge floating islands.” One of Moles better stories, 3.5+ stars. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/moles...
• Lighting Out • short story by Ken MacLeod. One of the first of his "fast burn" stories, where AI augmentation of human intelligence gets *seriously* out of hand. This is generally considered to be Not a Good Thing. An easy 5-stars, for me. Podcast: http://www.starshipsofa.com/blog/2008...
• An Ocean Is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away • novelette by John Barnes. Very cool story, about terraforming Mars, two rival documentary-makers, and future technology. Nicely done. 4.5 stars. http://www.baen.com/Chapters/19320930...
• Saving Tiamaat • short story by Gwyneth Jones. Good story, not reread, but you should. 3.5 stars. Another reprint from "The New Space Opera", which you should definitely read. And here's an online copy of Tiamaat: http://www.gwynethjones.uk/Tiamaat.htm
• Of Late I Dreamt of Venus • short fiction by James Van Pelt. A thousand-year plan to terraform Venus, designed and financed by Earth’s wealthiest woman. Excellent story, 4+ stars. www.hadleyrillebooks.com/JimVanPelt1.pdf
• Verthandi's Ring • short story by Ian McDonald. Previously read in The New Space Opera.. Harvest Moon, Scented Coolabar & the Rose Of Jericho, warriors of the Clade in a far-future space war against, well, the Enemy… “We have met the Enemy and he is Us”. Here’s a long analysis (caution: SPOILERS): http://travel-by-thought.blogspot.com...
STORY LINK: http://faculty.gordonstate.edu/ddavis...
• Sea Change • short story by Una McCormack. Slice of life in a Brave New World, with two Poor Little Rich girls. Pretty good, really: 3+ stars. Online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/mccor...
• The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small •novelette by Chris Roberson. In an alternate Imperial China, the Treasure Fleet reached North America, and one man made his way to Tenochtitlan, the Mexica (Aztec) capitol. Half a century later, an Imperial bureaucrat tracks down that man, and persuades him to tell his story. 3+ stars, http://www.chrisroberson.net/2008/01/...
• Glory • novelette by Greg Egan. The hardest of hard-SF NAFAL travel (N = nearly) opens this exceptional cross-cultural tale of the Amalgam. 4.5 stars, another exceptional reprint from “The New Space Opera.” outofthiseos.typepad.com/blog/files/G...
• Against the Current • short story by Robert Silverberg. A man in today’s Bay Area has come unmoored in time. An unusual conceit, 3 stars.
• Alien Archaeology • [Polity Universe] • novella by Neal Asher. Complex novella, featuring Jael the “salvage expert”, a loner sand-sifter, a gabbleduck, a golem, Penny Royal the elusive black AI, and a Prador prepared to pay Jael wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. 4 stars, fully up to Asher’s highest standards.
• The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate • novelette by Ted Chiang, Hugo and Nebula winner. Not reread, but ICYMI: https://bbs.pku.edu.cn/attach/80/a2/8...
• Beyond the Wall • short fiction by Justin Stanchfield. http://www.hadleyrillebooks.com/Justi...
• Kiosk • novelette by Bruce Sterling. Previously read, and not a favorite.
• Last Contact • short story by Stephen Baxter. http://www.solarisbooks.com/books/new...
• The Sledge-Maker's Daughter • short story by Alastair Reynolds
• Sanjeev and Robotwallah • [India 2047] • short story by Ian McDonald. Prev. read. I may reread it (or not).
• The Skysailor's Tale • novelette by Michael Swanwick. Steampunkish alt-hist. I liked it. 3 stars.
• Of Love and Other Monsters • novella by Vandana Singh. DNF, bounced. Try again?
• Steve Fever • short story by Greg Egan. A formerly medicinal nanovirus has gotten out of hand. 3 stars, https://www.technologyreview.com/s/40...
• Hellfire at Twilight • [The Company] • novelette by Kage Baker. Litereary Specialist Lewis is sent to retrieve a rare manuscript in Enlightenment England. Hijinks ensue. Reread, 3.5 stars.
• The Immortals of Atlantis • short story by Brian Stableford. I can't recall another Stableford story I've liked less. Not for me! 1.5 stars
• Nothing Personal • novella by Pat Cadigan. A very confusing story of cop-burnout and (I think) people hopping between alternate timelines. DNF, though I tried hard....
• Tideline • short story by Elizabeth Bear. A badly-damaged battlemech saves a boy & his dog. Good story, 3 stars.
• The Accord • novelette by Keith Brooke. [NOT READ YET] http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/brook...
• Laws of Survival • novelette by Nancy Kress. Kind of grim: dead puppies! Prev. read https://www.baen.com/Chapters/1416555...
• The Mists of Time • novelette by Tom Purdom. [NOT READ YET] http://philart.net/tompurdom/mists.htm
• Craters • short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Suicide-bomber story, not read. http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic...
• The Prophet of Flores • novelette by Ted Kosmatka. Not read.
• Stray • short story by David Ackert and Benjamin Rosenbaum. A prince of the immortals somehow ends up in the Depression South, and marries a black woman. Troubles follow. This is SF? OK story, 2.5 stars
• Roxie • short story by Robert Reed. Dog story, of sorts, and a close encounter with an asteroid. Eh. Didn’t work for me. 2 stars.
• Dark Heaven • novella by Gregory Benford. A near-future police-procedural that takes a very odd turn. Very good story, 3.5 stars, by memory. I read it in the original publication, a SFBC anthol. On my 2023 reread, I liked the story much more: 4.5 stars!

With two tries, I'm done with this one, almost. Anyway, it's overdue. These giant anthols can be an ordeal!
The other review to read is Mark Watson's at Best SF, http://bestsf.net/years-best-science-...

[V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one took me ages to finish - perhaps because it started with somewhat weak stories and did not overall contain as many strong one as other in the collection. That said, everyone needs to go and read Kristine Kathryn Rusch "Craters" NOW (also available at Lightspeed Magazine), it's so short and so amazing. And Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline" (also available as podcast that I haven't yet listened to here) was very much a worthy Hugo winner.

David Moles: "Finisterra"
Some fancy world-building, but otherwise rather meh and vague and somehow feeling very steam-punky (without any steam punk to it; and yes, steam-punky means bad for me). Also I am more and more annoyed by complex engineering problem being solved or having to be solved by individual people.

Ken MacLeod: "Lighting Out"
Technically OK, but pointless and absolutely forgettable.

John Barnes: "The Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away"
An another one of the technically well executed but utterly forgetable ones.

Gwyneth Jones: "Saving Tiamaat"
This was neat, but I almost suppose that this is because all the other stories were so bad and this had both some emotional impact and some bigger scope to it.

James Van Pelt: "Of Late I Dreamt of Venus"
SO bad. SO bad. Cardboard characters does not even start describing it. Research? Zero. Working characters? Zero. Working world? Zero. Believable corporations? Nope. What is this story even doing in a book published in this century. not even mentioning that it's a "best of"-book?

Ian McDonald: "Verthandi's Ring"
My problem with all these stories is that they read like Golden Age. Oh, the surface is different. There is more modern science and some of the characters use "she" as a pronoun. but the heart is still the same. And I am a New Wave girl, I need social science and psychology and societies and religion and working characters and literary.

Una McCormack: "Sea Change"
This one has potential, but I wish we had gotten more of the story: more of the characters, more of the world.

Chris Roberson: "The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small"
This one had it's moments - especially the narrators despair over the old man's ramblings -, but overall was not very new and the ending was kind of meh.

Greg Egan: "Glory"
I loved the needle "ship", but the rest of it was rather weak for Egan. He knows how to write this with far more emotional impact and more believable characters.

Robert Silverberg: "Against the Current"
For some reason I had to think about Thomas Disch's "Descending" - which was so much better. (Although you may like this story more if you know SF better than I do or are quite a bit older ...)

Neal Asher: "Alien Archeology"
Ugh ... Stupid, and more stupid with a mix in of convenient deus ex machina technology when necessary.
However, the Gabbleduck was cute.

Ted Chiang: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate"
Hugo for this one? Seriously? I love old Arabic tales (not only the 1001 night ones, but also Nazami, etc.) and even with this background and my general love for the exploration of free will in science fiction (I will write this story, I will ...) it left me rather meh.
(Besides, it's pure fantasy. Now it does not matter for the Hugo, but it very much does for this collection.)
I heard so many good things about Ted Chiang; I will definitely give him another try, but only in an anthology. This one does not make me want to pick up a whole book of his stories.

Justin Stanchfield: "Beyond the Wall"
Very atmospheric. Not deep (I think), but a very good read.

Bruce Sterling: "Kiosk"
Boring in both, idea and execution. The only remotely redeeming thing was the joke about the three traits of politicians and mainly because it reminded me of a joke we tend to make about parts for spacecrafts.

Stephen Baxter: "Last Contact"
Nicely melancholic, although not all logical ends meet.

Alastair Reynolds: "The Sledge-Maker's Daughter"
I know that Reynolds can create intricate worlds within one short story. This is not one of those short stories. This is a wild jumble of words and pieces, shards of colorful glass that does not produce a work of art, rather a kitschy exhibit at a local art fair.

Ian McDonald: "Sanjeev and Robotwallah"
This is not the first take on the "what would it be really like if teenagers did pilot giant war robots" question I read. And this one does not get it - the whole genre, at least the good ones among them, are not about androgynous teenage boys piloting giant alien robots. Sure, the giant robots are ego extensions. But it's always about the metaphors, about the pains of growing up and finding oneself. Ignore the metaphor and write a take on how this dream would work in reality and you have something that may sound sharp (and be read as such by someone whose growing was not deeply influences by Neon Genesis Evangelion) but is hollow in the middle (and lacks a proper explanation why teenage boys; it will never work if it's not a metaphor or a world as meticulously constructed as "Ender's Game").

Michael Swanwick: "The Skysailor's Tale"
This may have been a good novel, but as a short story it's both too much and not enough. And I could really do without that adolescent purple prose approach to sex.

Vandana Singh: "Of Love and Other Monsters"
Oh yes. The feeling this one creates, the voice of the narrator, the vast, rich background world that exists in hints, the ending (I was not sure about it, but then I realized it was because I wanted it to be different so, so much - it could not, not in the logic of the story; once you are burned, it's forever ...). This one is very good.

Greg Egan: "Steve Fever"
Very, very nice. The only reason I am not singing praise here is that this is Egan and I know that he can pack even more of a punch in his stories. But very, very nice and with an other author it would be even very good.

Kage Baker: "Hellfire at Twilight"
Nope. Does not work. Perhaps if I knew the characters, this one would shine, but as a short story of it's own it lacks impact (in spite of the topic) and depth and making me feel for the character. Also, this kind of time-travelling premise is just off to me.

Brian Stableford: "The Immortals of Atlantis"
Now that is an interesting one - it was OK but nothing spectacular until the ending. And then it was really good. I like stories that manage that; take an old idea and add an emotional punch, something that really hurts and is really memorable.

Pat Cadigan: "Nothing Personal"
I am not sure that the ending really ties everything together, but I liked the atmosphere this one created. And that feeling of Dread? Oh, be happy if this was not something you could understand the very first moment it was mentioned.

Elizabeth Bear: "Tideline," which went on to win the 2008 Hugo award for best short story
Yep, that one is a worthy Hugo winner. (Perhaps I should really change my opinion about Bear and read a few of her short stories. As opposed to her novels, I seem to enjoy them a lot.)

Keith Brooke: "The Accord"
At that's another one where the ending actually makes the story a lot better than I would have had expected. Very neat.

Nancy Kress: "Laws of Survival"
This one would have worked much better without listing the actual laws - that made it slide towards kitsch, which is rather unfortunate, because the idea was a really interesting one.

Tom Purdom: "The Mists of Time"
Seriously, what did I just read? Either I fully misunderstood the author or this is one of the biggest pieces of crap in sf form I've read in a while ....

Kristine Kathryn Rusch: "Craters"
This one is simply amazing - read it. Even and especially if you are not a science fiction fan. This could be today. Or tomorrow. Not let the genre label deter you; if it did not have one, if it were published in one of the "literary" magazines, you would not even know and would read it.
[Available online in the Lightspeed Magazine here]

Ted Kosmatka: "The Prophet of Flores"
Once again, the idea is somewhat neat, the execution is lacking both in terms of making you actually feel anything for the characters and in terms of inner coherency of the story, its believability. I don't believe that any kid could have build what the main character built. Nor is it believable how he will survive in the end.

Benjamin Rosenbaum & David Ackert: "Stray"
This one is rather fantasy than science fiction - that said, it's a nice story, told in an interesting voice.

Robert Reed: "Roxie"
This is not a new story, now. But gosh, is it strongly written. Like with his "Katabasis" (read in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection), the summary says nothing about what the story is really about. About how it makes you feel. This is not one of the great ship stories - actually, it is one of those which you may not even classify as science fiction were it not written by a science fiction author and published in a science fiction collection. But oh, it is good.

Gregory Benford: "Dark Heaven"
The beginning was interesting is well written, but it went down the moment McKenna "worked Buddy over" - seriously, and then we should still emphasize with the character? It went down from there - suddenly there was the partner that was kind of mentioned before but in the end only introduced to be killed, all with the crying widow, and the alien "solution" was just meh in terms of how it worked to actually solve the story.

[Ron Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes generally very good stories from a number of my favorite science fiction authors, including John Barnes' "The Ocean is a Snowflake...", Ian McDonald's "Vertandhi's Ring", Ted Chiang's "The Alchemist and the Merchant's Gate" (I am starting to believe that Chiang is the reincarnation of Jorge Luis Borges), Neal Asher's "Alien Archeology", Greg Egan's "Steve Fever", and Nancy Kress's "Laws of Survival"; I have a slight pet peeve about the stories that are obviously pieces of novels in progress (like the other Greg Egan story, "Glory"); I was surprised that I didn't like the Ken Macleod, Brian Stableford, Stephen Baxter, or Robert Silverberg stories, and wasn't sufficiently interested in the Kage Baker or Bruce Sterling stories to finish them. Oh well: there's always next year.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty-five years. That's a long time for any human being to do anything without interruption, and what editor Gardner Dozois has accomplished in these volumes is nothing short of monumental. If you only peruse one science-fiction anthology in any given year, this is the one to pick up. If you can; it's massive—this particular edition is over 650 pages, in trade paperback, with dozens of stories from 2007 to choose from. Not to mention Dozois' annual Summation of the entire field of sf... as I've mentioned before, those essays are worth the price of the book, even if the fiction weren't also well-chosen. Collecting Dozois' Summations into a single volume would give you a comprehensive pocket history of decades of science fiction in a single package (hint, hint).

The biggest of big names are represented here, both new and old... Ian McDonald and Greg Egan (both twice); Robert Silverberg and the late Kage Baker; Bruce Sterling with his 3D printing gedankenexperiment "Kiosk" and Ted Chiang with his thoughtful fable "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate"... I could just list the table of contents, but I think I'll just go with mentioning three more stories that stuck with me particularly well:

"Of Love and Other Monsters" by Vandana Singh. Aliens, mind control, monsters... and love.
"Nothing Personal" by Pat Cadigan. A good cop near the end of her career, and a case of apparent homicide with an sfnal twist... and
"Dark Heaven," the concluding story by Greg Benford—another cop story (they were big that year, it seems) which drops aliens into a hurricane-ravaged Gulf of Mexico with interesting consequences.

The bottom line here is, though, that you can't really go wrong with any of the stories in this book, nor with any of the books in this series... as I've said before and, with luck, will have the chance to say again.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2045531.html[return][return]Big collection of sf short stories published in 2007, of which I had read very few - the five Hugo nominees (of which I remembered only three, Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", Stephen Baxter's "Last Contact" and Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline"). Several stories new to me that particularly grabbed me: "An Ocean Is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away" by John Barnes; "Sea Change", by Una McCormack; "Against the Current", by Robert Silverberg; "Of Love and Other Monsters", by Vandana Singh; "The Mists of Time", by Tom Purdom; and "The Prophet of Flores", by Ted Kosmatka. No turkeys; as usual a good collection.

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

These were all written / published in 2007.

FINISTERRA David Moles
An engineer is working for poachers who are exploiting the extraordinary local lifeforms living in the atmosphere of a gas giant. The beauty of the ecosystem begins to change her purely survival based priorities. Sadly similar to our currently endangered biosphere scenario.
4 stars

LIGHTING OUT Ken MacLeod
Wonderful story about post humanity, AI gets into the microscopic. Young explorers reach for the stars. 5 stars.

AN OCEAN IS A SNOWFLAKE, FOUR BILLION MILES AWAY John Barnes
Two disperate documentarions meet on Mars. Everything is a bit disappointing for them, their love hate relationship involves bickering about their fundamentally different philosophies and approaches to documentary filming. Then disaster strikes! Terrifically immersive. 5 stars.

SAVING TIAMAAT Gwyneth Jones
An examination of the dichotomy between the animal and the altruist inherent in the psyche of man. Tough decisions for a social worker trying to shape humanities ideal government. 3 stars.

OF LATE I DREAMT OF VENUS James Van Pelt
An ambitious woman tries to terraform Venus using her vast fortune and hibernation tech. Her younger male assistant meanwhile finds himself afflicted by her search for perfection. 3 stars.

VERTHANDI’S RING Ian McDonald
An epic space battle across spacetime and a homage to the lost utopia of the Iain M. Banks Culture novels. I mourn their loss and found this snippet to be a worthy nostalgic glimpse back into that pinnacle of civilization. 4.5 stars.

SEA CHANGE Una McCormack
A slice of near future life from a privileged young teenagers perspective, illustrating the likely course of climate and societal change, assuming that there is apathy on the inequality front. Perhaps a sliver of hope remains? 5 stars.

THE SKY IS LARGE AND THE EARTH IS SMALL Chris Roberson
A wonderful journey into the depths of an ancient Chinese culture wherein a clerk is tasked with finalizing a report for the emperor on the military capabilities of a distant empire. An elderly prisoner leads him on a merry dance before revealing his secret arcane wisdom. 5 stars.

GLORY Greg Egan
Bad analagy but to say compress this review from 64bit to 8 bits... "Two pals following the prime directive investigate a new civilization not yet in the federation", to use Trekkie speak. I've read this before but fortunately, as I'm 67 today, my memory is worse than ever. (It's impossible for me to rate Egans work on the same 5 star scale, this is one of his best hard SF shorts too. Just remove one star from all the other reviews, then rate this as 5 real stars + 5i stars.)

AGAINST THE CURRENT Robert Silverberg
Time travel story in reverse. Should ideally happen to all SUV enthusiasts as a kind of karmic retribution. Wonderfully weird idea. 5 stars.

ALIEN ARCHEOLOGY Neal Asher
A ruthless mercenary woman and a retired spy become xeno-archeologist clash over his ownership of an alien artifact of immense strategic value. Superb saga set against a dark high tech future. 5 stars.

THE MERCHANT AND THE ALCHEMIST’S GATE
Ted Chiang
A strange mixture of 1000 Arabian Nights and magical time travel. A merchant regales the Mighty Majesty of the Caleph with a maximally convoluted tale about destiny and fate. 3 stars.

BEYOND THE WALL Justin Stanchfield
A UN lander descends to the surface of Titan, originally to apprehend the theives who intend to remove artifacts from the as yet unexplored alien structure. But then logic gets a severe kick in the goolies! 4 stars.

KIOSK Bruce Sterling
A revolutionary man quietly causes massive economic and socio political change when he sells his quaint Kiosk and buys a carbon nanotube fabricator. A complex yet endearingly charismatic satire. 4 stars?

LAST CONTACT Stephen Baxter
A short story describing daily life for a widow and her daughter after the alarming discovery that the acceleration of the expansion of the universe, caused by dark energy, has been drastically under-estimated. 4 stars.

THE SLEDGE-MAKER’S DAUGHTER
Alastair Reynolds
A young girl after being horribly accosted by a lecherous bully learns that the tales of witchcraft and magic are not just superstition, but rooted in an ancient technology. She then gets to be the guardian of this power and resumes her journey - fearlessly. 4 stars

SANJEEV AND ROBOTWALLAH Ian McDonald
A young Indian boy falls in love with the romance of the powerful war robots that briefly attacked his village. His facination lures him to follow their teenage puppeteers, gaining knowledge and seeking the excitement of action even as the war fizzles out. 4 stars.

THE SKYSAILOR’S TALE Michael Swanwick
This seriously taxes my humble powers of description, an extremely tall tale set initially in a Dickensian American Port about a man who was once a boy dreaming of adventure and simultaneously attempting to come to terms with the death of his father. But the extraordinary events often humourously recalled hint at parallel histories. 4 stars.

OF LOVE AND OTHER MONSTERS
Vandana Singh
An Indian boy has psychic abilities and a confused sense of his own sexuality. Following his life in introspective detail reveals a startling origin story. V weird. 3.6 stars.

STEVE FEVER Greg Egan
Nanotech gone scarily and humourously wrong. The parallels between this story and with the problem if AI safety and human goal alignment now in March 2024 (as robots are finally getting interesting) are IMHO quite germaine. 5 stars.

HELLFIRE AT TWILIGHT Kage Baker
An immortal time traveling cyborg maskerading as either a humble pedlar or a learned librarian seeks the treasures of antiquity for their future market resale value. While seeking certain Eleusinian Mysteries an unexpected gooseberry crashes the holy rituals. Wittily whimsical ......
4 stars.

THE IMMORTALS OF ATLANTIS Brian Stableford
A home invasion by an unfortunate oceanographer zombified via viral infection from a hibernating Atlantean. The world is on the brink of salvation, humanity almost enslaved by a benign force destined to repair all our ridiculous experiments on our only biosphere, that are so blindly obviously accelerating our own demise. Well how long can that sort of hope last? 5 stars.

NOTHING PERSONAL Pat Cadigan
A rather neat mixture of a detective story and a classic SF trope, which for once I won't reveal here. I didn't see it coming for quite awhile so the twist was rather refreshing despite my disappointment at it being illegal. I'm sure I would have messed up my life even more gloriously given half the chance. 4 stars.

TIDELINE Elizabeth Bear
The last battle robot, though wounded and stranded on a beach, transcends its pugnacious programmed nature and devotes its final days to honouring the memory of its fallen comrades. Its legacy is bequeathed to a young boy who learns to appreciate its caring attitude and carries a thin strand of hope into the future. 3 stars.

THE ACCORD Keith Brooke
Starts ok but too spiritual for my taste, a woman abandons her husband and suddenly just falls for a guy who turns out to be an angel. Apparently he’s a strange attractor in the chaos of souls floating about after death in the Accord. I preferred “the life of pi” by mervyn peake if your into that sort of thing, 1 star.

LAWS OF SURVIVAL Nancy Kress
Given that I love nature, being the offspring of a conservationist, I never had pets and definitely disapprove of pet ownership especially dogs, it’s nothing personal, I just prefer things to be in their natural habitats. (Ironically I’m soon to be emotionally blackmailed into owning a hopefully aloof and disdainful cat by my partner). So it’s rather ironic that I totally enjoyed this alien robot dog story as much as I did. 5 stars.

THE MISTS OF TIME Tom Purdom
I got my final job in Lagos, IT support for a UK engineering firm working indirectly for Big Oil.
The colonial attitude of some ex-pats shocked me more than the poverty and the locals blind religious fervour. I discovered our firm got the work for Newcastle because Tony Blair had bribed the corrupt government. Many locals were so uneducated they didn’t believe they had to pay tax, or had no nukes, who was Hitler or the Beatles, Michael Jackson loved kids and Man United were the greatest. I put a big postcard of JMW Turners “Slavers throwing overboard the dead and dying” on my monitor. The Bosses were oblivious but I told the locals I was a demon sent to educate them. This story so reminded me of that time in 2008. 4 stars.

CRATERS Kristine Kathyrn Rusch
A stark vision of a nightmare future seen through the eyes of a burnt out reporter unable to feel the horror of war but driven to analyse the chaos with a scrupulous introspective honesty. This is why I can’t watch the news these days. 4 stars.

THE PROPHET OF FLORES Ted Kosmatka
Strangely I was just listening to a Jim Al-Khalili The Life Scientific podcast in which a scientist (Sir Colin Humphries) , whose parents religion insisted the earth was around 4,000 years old, decided to study biology and then radio carbon dating of rocks including eg. dinosaur fossils. He still believes in a God but not the age of the earth. Personally I thank my lucky stars my geologist dad was an atheist but worry that I might have lost any sense of logic if he had been religious. This scary story likewise deals with the conflict between science and religion.
4 stars.

STRAY Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert
Totally weird story about a God and racism and power. Not really my cup of tea. 2 stars.

ROXIE Robert Reed
A man and his special relationship with his dog as the possibility of death by asteroid increases year by year. 3 stars.

DARK HEAVEN Gregory Benford
A detective works a novel homicide case with only strange markings on the body as a lead. He has to use all his skills to find the truth and battle opposition from reluctant witnesses, other government agencies and even his own department. Standard stuff - apart from the activities of certain amphibian Centaurians located nearby. Predictable but still enjoyable, 4 stars.

[Dale H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I finally finished another Weighty Tome of sci-fi goodness ... and this had quite a few remarkable stories.

"Of Late I Dreamt of Venus" by James Van Pelt is the story of terraforming Venus for human habitation and the challenges of having one person oversee the entire project to it's completion.

"Against The Current" by Robert Silverberg is about a man who suddenly finds himself living backwards in time. He stays the same age (or grows older at the usual rate) but time around him is going backwards.

"The Merchant and The Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang is the tale of a man who discovers a merchant in an Iraqi bazaar with a gate to the past. Walk through it and you can experience life as it was twenty years ago. But things get complicated.

"Beyond The Wall" by Justin Stanchfield has a strong horror element as scientists discover something very disturbing about a wall on Saturn's moon Titan. This could be movie material!

"Kiosk" by Bruce Sterling is about a machine that has the capacity to solve a lot of the world's problems ... but it doesn't quite work out that way.

"Last Contact" by Stephen Baxter is a sad tale about the end of the world caused by dark matter.

"Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear is a gorgeous work describing a warrior robot's last job for it's fallen human comrades.

"Laws of Survival" by Nancy Kress is about the end of the world ... alien robots ... and dogs!

"Stray" by Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert is about an eternal being with incredible powers that struggles -not- to use them for a time.

"Roxie" by Robert Reed is another beautiful tale of the end of the world ... and a dog!

"Dark Heaven" by Gregory Benford is a murder mystery that takes place on the gulf coast that may or may not involve alien emissaries from Alpha Centauri.

There's lots more to enjoy. These are just the ones I liked the most.

Recommended!

[Sir He-Man · Rating 5 out of 5]

An overview:

The awesome:

Lighting Out by Ken MacLeod - I liked this story for the bizarre technology, the description of what FTL felt like and the disjointing way AI was incorporated into daily life was filled with original and unexpected moments.

Of Late I Dreamt of Venus by James van Pelt - Alright! A kickass story about a woman to whom nothing is ever good enough as she terraforms Venus. With a powerfully emotional ending that left me well, as speechless as the main character.

Against the Current by Robert Silverberg - One of the saddest and funniest time travel stories I've ever come across. Beautifully tragic. A fair warning for anyone who has ever passingly wished they could travel through time.

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang - Historically gorgeous time travel story, and told in the style of the Arabian Nights. Ted Chiang is a genius.

Beyond the Wall by Justin Stanchfield - Took me by complete surprise. A great alien archaeological mind fuck does just that!

Kiosk by Bruce Sterling - Mind blowing tale of future Russia as it deals with the economic upset of nanotech evolution and its effects in the marketplace. The characters could have been out of any time period as they grapple to earn a living.

Last Contact by Stephen Baxter - Good bye, the universe! A nicely told little tale of how everything in existence is being eaten up. Think Neverending Story without the happy ending.

The Sledge-Maker's Daughter by Alastair Reynolds - A slam dunk for Mr. Reynolds. This is by far the most deeply moving of any of Reynolds works that I've read thus far. A planet so far in the future after it has regressed to a more primitive tech state and a fiercely independent young girl equals a feminist tale brimming with images that I can't get out of my head.

The Skysailor's Tale by Michael Swanwick - One of the best steampunk stories ever written. Take my word on that. Beautiful and lyrically tragic.

Of Love and Other Monsters by Vandana Singh - Oh HELL yes. Indian aliens, subtle telepathy, dopplegangers, secret societies, revenge plots, love triangles and betrayals, this story literally has everything. Ms. Singh my hat is off to you.

Steve Fever by Greg Egan - A weird, short little tale of nano AI's that just fuck with people because they don't know any better. Then everyone just goes back to normal, whatever that can be considered. Bizarre and memorable.

Hellfire at Twilight by Kage Baker - Roman god worshiping Brits in the 16th century and an android from the future sent to get valuable artifacts make for a memorable evening, for sure.

The Immortals of Atlantis by Brian Stableford - A wonderfully messed up scenario that proves that appearances can be very deceiving. Sometimes you never know what your potential can be until someone tells you.

Nothing Personal by Pat Cadigan - This one really didn't grab me until nearly the end, and then it became amazing. Be patient with this one. A detective dreads something and it turns out her fears are more than justified...

Tideline by Elizabeth Bear - I nearly cried over this goddamn story. It's about an AI shaped like a rover as it consoles a young boy in a no man's land beach after a war has wiped out untold millions. I couldn't believe how moved I was by a rover dying. Thank you, Ms. Bear.

The Accord by Keith Brooke - WEIRD story here about a fantastic planet and some dude who is a god in a future where humanity and heaven have an accord. This story will tie your mind in philosophic knots for days.

Laws of Survival by Nancy Kress - One of the funniest stories about dogs of aliens or homeless girls I've ever read. Also bleak and terrifying and then hilarious again. Kress is wonderfully humane and at her absolute best. I've loved her for years and this has become my very favorite story of hers.

Stray by Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert - A deeply moving story about racism, immortality, and religion that weaves a very unique perspective. Think you've heard every immortality plotline? Think again.

Roxie by Robert Reed - This is a great story about a dog that had almost no science fiction in it. There's an asteroid that may or may not hit the earth. What is important is DOGGIE!!!

Dark Heaven by Gregory Benford - This is one of the most atmospheric stories about the South as it is infested by amphibious aliens that eat people I've ever read. It would work as a great Southern noir crime story without the aliens. Luckily for us, there are, and they are some fucked up immigrant aliens that have some fucked up beliefs that leave the main character wishing he had never walked into this scenario. It's the best gumshoes that always have regrets...


And the rest...

Finisterra by David Moles; Gross and kind of interesting. Evil Muslims from a semi dystopian future earth attack and harvest giant living islands. Meh.

An Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away by John Barnes - some passive aggressive people fighting on Mars as some dude films rocks. Great.

Saving Tiamaat by Gwyneth Jones - It's nice to read a story where aliens are not looked down upon for cannibalism. I HATE that. So judgmental of people. Stupid judgment. Sufficed to say, diplomacy has its ups and downs!

Verthandi's Ring by Ian McDonald; - I don't care for McDonald's work. I just can't get into it.

Sea Change by Una McCormack - The future sucks, life for the poor sucks, global warming sucks. Tell me something I don't know.

The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small by Chris Roberson - Semi good story here about alternate history China spying on alternate history Aztecs and seeing if they pose a threat. Meh.

Glory by Greg Egan - Dude makes an AI daughter and she is just your normal average teenager except that he made an extra part so that in alternate dimensions, all her alternates will follow the same pattern. She runs away and gets raped a lot. Then he saves her. Then she rips out the part. Now you don't have to read this story. Bleh.

Alien Archaeology by Neal Asher - I kind of liked this. It was weird as hell.

Sanjeev and Robotwallah by Ian McDonald - blah blah India blah blah singularity.

The Mists of Time by Tom Purdom - Bitchy, unpleasant people fighting as they film a slave ship captured as they watch in their time ship, fighting about the TV show they're making. Eh.

Craters by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - Shitty Middle Eastern country is shitty.

The Prophet of Flores by Ted Kosmatka - Stupid, boring story about a dude in an alternate universe where creationism rules supreme. Yawn.

[Lora · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read about a third, scanned about another half-of-a-third, and gave up. I checked it out to read the Ted Chiang story in there, which was worth the weight of the book. Excellent and well-told tale! There were a few that sort of interested me, several that were too gruesome or intense or nihilist or whateverist, and my reading turned to scanning turned to a filmy sense of dread whenever I went to read more. I am feeling my mortality these days; I want to spend it the very best way I can. So: I am going to track down some more Ted Chiang!

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even from the best known series of science fiction anthology and reviews, some years are crud.
Some years are ALL, THAT +CHEERIOS
This year's best from Dozois is of the later category: 32, I say again: 32 stories, only 2 of which I find anything to gripe about (and I am an infamous nitpicking nerd)!
I must go nurse both and infected eyeball, and a bad thumb, so that's all for now

[Owen Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

always a pleasure to reread one of this series

by far the best editor of SF to date

[Florin Constantinescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are few poor stories in this anthology, so with seven standouts (the Moles, the Van Pelt, the Silverberg, the Chiang, the Egan, the Brooke, and the Benford) and many other pleasant stories, I guess this year (2007) was okay from a sci-fi short fiction point of view.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 2 out of 5]

If these were the best stories of 2007, I'm afraid it wasn't a very good year. More likely, I just don't agree with Mr. Dozois' choices.

I picked this up at a discount store for $5, and for that, it's reasonably good value for money. There's a lot in this, including a (numbingly detailed) review of the year's magazines and SF news, and a long list of runners up. Almost 700 pages of SF info.

Unfortunately, many of the 32 stories included just aren't very good. Dozois has included many of the big names in the field, but they don't always measure up. None of the stories are really bad, but there are quite a few in the 'eh' category. And while he generally avoids all out fantasy, not all the stories are really true SF.

Still, some of the stories were very good. My favorites included:

"Against the Current" by Robert Silverberg. A time travel story that doesn't really go anywhere, but works regardless.

"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang. Not very SF, but a good story.

"Steve Fever" by Greg Egan. Longer than it needed to be, but a nice exploration of a concept.

"Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear. A surprising but touching story of duty and devotion.

I gave this 3 stars, at first, but downgraded when I went back through looking for favorites, and realized how few qualified.

[o · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science fiction anthologies tend to be a little hit or miss. I can't even count the number of times I've pulled one off the library shelf, only to find that a small few stories actually appealed to me. In the case of this particular edition, there were several bits of fiction I wish the author would have expanded- unfortunately, I felt unsatisfied with the ending of more than one short story found in this collection (especially Una McCormack's "Sea Change"- I would have gladly read a hundred more pages in that universe!). All in all, this had some great fiction in it, but some stories I skipped altogether after a few pages- and I'm usually very easy to please :/

The short stories that I personally were the best of the bunch are:
"An Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away" by John Barnes
"Of late I dreamt of Venus" by James Van Pelt*
"Against the Current" by Robert Silverberg
"Last Contact" by Stephen Baxter**
"Nothing Personal" by Pat Cadigan
"The Accord" by Keith Brooke
"Craters" by Kristine Kathryn Busch
"The Prophet of Flores" by Ted Kosmatka***
"Roxie" by Robert Reed

*My favorite story of the collection.
**One of the most powerful and haunting things I've read in a long time. Swoon.
***Holy crap, the ending of this story had me cackling at its cleverness :D

"Finisterra" by David Moles was another story of quality, but I'm not really sure I quite understood the point the author was trying to achieve with particular characters- it might be my age, I'm not sure.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really fun to be reading science fiction written in the last five years, since so much of our real-life experience of technology has changed in the Internet era.

A few thoughts on what I've read so far...

I'm struck by the manner in which science fiction has both anticipated and reinforced the computer age. To me, sci fi has always been about the excitement of technology, taking what it presently enables and adding imagination to speculate on where it might take us in the future.

In 1950 the vision was space flight and flying cars. These days, the Internet seems a huge influence on the science fiction imagination. Several of the short stories I've read imagine a future of impossibly dense worlds of information and virtual experience: virtual selves gone rogue and replicating themselves infinitely, worlds within worlds, and the chance to "download" your consciousness into different selves in each of them--a kind of immortality. These traits alone tie back to the "copy and paste" world of everyday computing, and the avatars and virtual realities of Second Life, Halo, or World of Warcraft.

As mentioned before, it's fun to see our present life now cast forward into the future, a telescoping imagination of what might be.

[Ketan Shah]

A lot of the earlier stories didn't really do much for me,as it seemed to be more high concept or space opera stories with limited emotional connection.The quality seemed to pick up closer to the halfway mark.Standout stories for me were the ones with more Eastern,Indian and Middle Eastern settings. These include Chris Robeson's contibution ,set in an alternate China.Ted Chiang's The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate,a time travel story set in the Middle East,and Vandana Singh and Ian Macdonalds India based stories also managed to be good SF in a non Western settings.Pat Cadigan and Gregory Benford take police procedurals and give them an SF twist.Other standouts include Robert Reed's,Kristin Katherine Rusch's,Robert Silverberg's and Greg Egan's. Gardner Dozois's yearly round up also seems less thorough than his contributions to earlier editions.Overall a pretty good collection but not as strong as some of the earlier entries in the series.

[Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

32 stories, most good, a few duds.

My A+ Stories:
-- Dark Heaven by Gregory Benford. Detective story involving amphibious aliens. Excellent writing.
-- Of Love and Other Monsters by Vandana Singh. Mind-weaving aliens.
-- Beyond the Wall by Justin Stanchfield. Titan explorers. Fast-paced.

Other Notables:
-- The Sledge-Maker's Daughter by Alastair Reynolds. Post-apocalypse world. Good writing.
-- Last Contact by Stephen Baxter. 'Rip' destroying universe.
-- The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate by Ted Chiang. Time gates.
-- Finisterra by David Moles. 'Sky', floating creatures, and poachers. Good tale.
-- Of Late I Dreamt of Venus by James Van Pelt - Terraforming Venus over 1000 years.
-- Alien Archeology by Neal Asher. Gabbleduck. 'nuff said.
-- The Prophet of Flores by Ted Kosmatka. 'Intelligent design'.
-- The Accord b y Keith Brooke. Anomaly in the 'Accord', the controlling entity in the far-off future.

[Dave Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of Late I Dreamt of Venus by James Van Pelt. A terraforming story. A woman genius who knows how to terraform, or just a billionaire, decides to make Venus hospitable, trouble is each phase takes centuries, so she puts herself into suspended animation with her partner, to see the transformation through in her lifetime. For some reason her partner gets awakened a few years before her; to pave the way, I'd guess, and after three or four centuries, she's successful in her plan to make Venus at least habitable but not perfect. Sci-Fi on a grand scale, with a reasonable ending, no aliens with rayguns to be seen! Which is good or bad depending on your outlook.

Beyond The Wall by Justin Stanchfield. A quite unsatisfactory ending, but the rest is enjoyable and suspenseful. Unusual things happen on Titan to a lander craft full of scientists. I'm not sure about its nature and neither are the characters. The main heroine herself described it as heaven or hell, but keeps it to herself.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished Ken Macleod' Lighting Out.
Great short story, really scifi concept.
A must read to sf fans. Im looking for more good work from this author...
--
Another author that spiked my interest is Ted Chiang. "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", A very interesting story, not very scifi, except for the plot device, more a fantasy setting, but nevertheless entertaining... Dont think the others suck, this anthology is really interesting scifi reading!
--
One more: Stephen Baxter. I've been meaning to read his novels Raft and the followups ( Flux, etc.) and now , with this short story about the end of the Universe i've found another reason to try. Really gripping story.
It's a pity my time is so badly used because im reading this at a very slow pace... but at least im enjoying, a bit at a time...

[Gareth]

I'm re-reading this, actually. I read it when new, in 2008, but I am lucky in that I tend to file away most fiction I read into temporary storage, so I can usually return to things I have read a while ago, and in this case I was amazed to find that a considerable number of the stories were by authors whose novels I have subsequently devoured.

As an example, this must have been the first time I encountered the Gabbleduck, in "Alien Archaeology" by Neal Asher, and I have since scoured the literary universe for further mentions of this heroic alien . . .

As with all anthologies, there are high and low points - and there are a few stories which might find their way into the "Romance" (OK, chick-lit) category if the lovers weren't of imprecise gender - but overall I am really enjoying it all over again.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

every single one of these collections is essential reading for true fans of science fiction short stories... each lengthy volume has a stellar array of all mini-genres and areas of powerfully influential science fiction: hard science, speculative, steampunk, alien invasions, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, space opera, fantasy, aliens, monsters, horror-ish, space travel, time travel, eco-science, evolutionary, pre-historic, parallel universes, extraterrestrials... in each successive volume in the series the tales have advanced and grown in imagination and detail with our ability to envision greater concepts and possibilities... Rod Serling said, "...fantasy is the impossible made probable. science fiction is the improbable made possible..." and in the pages of these books is the absolute best the vastness of science fiction writing has to offer... sit back, relax, and dream...

[Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, I finished the book. Having read it all the way through now I gave it three stars. Out of thirty stories about a dozen were amazing. When I say amazing, I mean that if I could have rated them by themselves I would have given them more than 5 stars. 6 of the stories were abysmal, and the rest were average to mediocre. While it seems like most of the book is ho-hum, the dozen stories that I liked were good enough to pull this one from the muck. I would still recommend this book to sci-fi lovers, but I would offer one piece of advise. If the story seems like its a dud early on, it probably is. You are better off skipping them and finding the gems. I wish I had known that in the beginning, it would have saved me some time.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not much to say here...if you have even a passing interest in Science Fiction, you need to read this book. If you are a Science Fiction fan, you probably already have this. If you don't what's wrong with you? :)

Not every story is a classic, but they are all excellent. And Dozois' year summation is as well-researched, detailed, and insightful as ever.

I especially enjoyed the Chiang, Reed, Baxter, and MacCleod stories. I will be picking up something from David Moles, Neal Asher, and Keith Brooke based on their work in this. That's one of the things I love about this series: discovering new authors I probably otherwise would not stumble upon.

[Moontyger · Rating 4 out of 5]

As much as I respect Sheila Williams (and I do), I have to admit that my tastes in science fiction seem to be much closer to those of Gardner Dozois, which is why it's probably unsurprising that I tend to very much enjoy these annual collections.

There are many great stories in here, but the two that have stuck with me the longest are probably "Nothing Personal" by Pat Cadigan and "Craters" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. The second one is probably a more powerful story, but there's something about Cadigan's writing that means that I never seem to forget her work. Even if you can't read the whole collection, those two are definitely worth checking out if you can.

[Patrick]

8/19/08: "Kiosk" by Bruce Sterling
8/25/08: "Dark Heaven" by Gregory Benford
9/1/08: "Glory" by Greg Egan
9/4/08: "Steve Fever" by Greg Egan
9/5/08: "Last Contact" by Stephen Baxter
9/6/08: "The Skysailor's Tale" by Michael Swanwick

12/7/11: "Lighting Out" by Ken MacLeod
12/8/11: "An Ocean Is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away" by John Barnes
12/8/11: "Against the Current" by Robert Silverberg
12/9/11: "Steve Fever" by Greg Egan (re-read, 8/9/04)
12/9/11: "Beyond the Wall" by Justin Stanchfield

[Eliot Parulidae · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2007 edition of The Year's Best Science Fiction is weak for a Dorzois anthology; I even quit a few stories halfway through. Still, there were some standouts. The best by far was "Kiosk" by Bruce Sterling, a tale of Eastern European ingenuity and entrepreneurship in a near-future ruled by 3D printers. Other exceptional stories include "Against the Current" by Robert Silverberg, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang, "Of Love and Other Monsters" by Vandana Singh, and "Laws of Survival" by Nancy Kress.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

As in most anthologies, the selection of stories in this one is uneven. A few stories stood out as excellent work, the majority were mediocre and there were two that I didn't bother to finish. Overall I think the collection averages three stars: not bad, but less than I was hoping for when I started reading it.

[Leo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed the books in this series in the past. I particularly liked last year's edition.

But this one I thought was much weaker. There were a few stories I liked, but only a few and a lot of stories that I was very blah about.

[John Devlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you read one sci-fi book a year, this is the one. Always stories of high caliber with a few tossed in that will keep you thinking weeks later, not to mention the collection is a primer for what science and technology everyone will be talking about five to ten years from now.

[Brice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-put together compendium of short and medium-length science fiction stories. As always with these collections, most of the stories are average to good. There are a few gems and a few I actively disliked.