Year's Best SF 12

by David G. Hartwell (Editor, Contributor), Kathryn Cramer

A banner year for bold, provocative, brilliantly inventive science fiction has produced some of the most enthrallingly original short sf since the genre's conception. In their twelfth remarkable collection of the very best of the last twelve months, award-winning editors and anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer present amazing stories of galaxy-shaking events, alien contact, utopian science, and technology run amok: tales that celebrate the continually evolving literary artistry of some of the form's finest, most respected practitioners . . . while showcasing the magnificent talents of the science fiction superstars of the near future.

Contents

viii • Acknowledgments (Year's Best SF 12) • essay by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
ix • Introduction (Year's Best SF 12) • essay by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer
1 • Nano Comes to Clifford Falls • (2006) • shortstory by Nancy Kress
21 • Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? • (2006) • shortstory by Terry Bisson
33 • When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth • (2006) • novelette by Cory Doctorow
74 • Just Do It! • (2006) • shortstory by Heather Lindsley
89 • Counterfactual • (2006) • novelette by Gardner Dozois [as by Gardner R. Dozois ]
111 • Moon Does Run • (2006) • shortstory by Edd Vick
124 • Home Movies • (2006) • novelette by Mary Rosenblum
157 • Chu and the Nants • (2006) • shortstory by Rudy Rucker
174 • Silence in Florence • (2006) • shortstory by Ian Creasey
188 • The Women of Our Occupation • (2006) • shortstory by Kameron Hurley
197 • This Is the Ice Age • (2006) • shortstory by Claude Lalumière
210 • Speak, Geek • (2006) • shortstory by Eileen Gunn
214 • Expedition, with Recipes • (2006) • shortstory by Joe Haldeman
221 • The Age of Ice • (2006) • shortstory by Liz Williams
233 • Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth • (2006) • novella by Michael F. Flynn [as by Michael Flynn ]
282 • Applied Mathematical Theology • (2006) • shortstory by Gregory Benford
286 • Quill • (2006) • novelette by Carol Emshwiller
313 • Tiger, Burning • (2006) • novelette by Alastair Reynolds
342 • Dead Men Walking • (2006) • novelette by Paul J. McAuley
364 • Damascus • (2006) • novelette by Daryl Gregory
399 • Tin Marsh • (2006) • novelette by Michael Swanwick
421 • Taking Good Care of Myself • (2006) • shortstory by Ian R. MacLeod
425 • The Lowland Expedition • [Old Earth] • (2006) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter
444 • Heisenberg Elementary • (2006) • shortstory by Wil McCarthy
449 • Rwanda • (2006) • shortstory by Robert Reed
459 • Preemption • (2006) • shortstory by Charlie Rosenkrantz

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

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 29, 2007

About the author

David 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.

Reviews

[Kevin Kuhn · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Year’s Best SF12” is an anthology of science fiction short stories published in the year 2006. There are twenty-six stories each from a different author and a good variety of theme, length, and writing style. There are a number of well know sci-fi authors such as Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, Joe Haldeman, and Alastair Reynolds. While I enjoyed several of the list, this wasn’t my favorite “Year’s Best SFnn” edition. Here were a few of my favorites:

Nano Comes to Clifford Falls – read to me like a 1950’s or 1960’s sci-fi story – and that’s a good thing! Nanotech additive manufacturing comes to small town USA with profound social implications and issues. I like how this story didn’t take itself too seriously.

When Sysadmins Rule the Earth – An apocalyptic event or events wreaks havoc on our civilization and a ragtag team of Network Sysadmins attempt to restore some sense of order. Contains many inside jokes about technologists that almost borders on unsensitive stereotypes (not every technologist is a Mountain Dew guzzling, junk food addled, emotionally stunted nerd with poor body hygiene), but still well-written and readable.

Silence in Florence – This one reminded me of a Doctor Who episode. The story is from the perspective of a chambermaid who notices that some mysterious guests do not eat, nor drink and their chamber pots are unused. She wonders if they are angles or demons and brings her mute daughter to them for healing. Her daughter is healed, but is it a miracle or a tainted gift?

The Women of Our Occupation – A brief allegory of an alien occupation by what is described only vaguely as ‘big women.’ Like a reverse ‘Handmaid’s Tale,’ men are forced to face the realization that ‘women own this world’ and that’s not going to change.

Tiger, Burning – A retelling of ‘Forbidden Planet,’ but as a detective story. Instead of ‘Forbidden Planet’s’ ancient Krell technology of unlimited power, we have KR-L technology of unlimited power. The description of the KR-L technology felt it could have been cut and pasted from the FP movie script. But instead of deep space, we have interdimensional travel. Oh yeah, and for some reason lost on me, the main character is a Tiger man.

Dead Man Walking – Another highly derivative work. Instead of a doomed android named Roy Batty from ‘Bladerunner,’ we have a doomed android named ‘Roy Bruce’ in this story. The plot is quite a bit different, but we get the same introspective android death scene at the end.

Preemption – The final story is a twenty-two-page joke about the single-minded doggishness of a certain Earth species.

All in all, not my favorite of the annual sci-fi anthology collections, but I’m sure there is something here for everyone. Three stars.

[Earl Truss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A number of good stories from new (to me) authors. There were a few I did not like, mostly because they were fantasy instead of science fiction.

[Stephen Gallup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here we have an anthology of 26 sci-fi tales that were published in 2006. The editors note an apocalyptic theme running through most of the stories. I was interested to see that several also involve characters who are at least somewhat autistic, and explore the question of whether autistic traits might be more important in the times to come.

As with all collections, this one is uneven. For me, only a handful of the stories stood out, and some were scarcely worth reading.

I did like "The Age of Ice," by Liz Williams, which reminded me of Borges.

Cory Doctorow contributed an interesting extrapolation from the life of computer geeks titled "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth."

"Home Movies," by Mary Rosenblum, was a great play on the idea of virtual reality.

"Just Do It," by Heather Lindsley, provides a warning of what behavior mod and aggressive marketing could have in store for all of us.

I think that, far and away, the two best pieces come near the end: "Damascus," by Daryl Gregory, is accurately summarized in its blurb as "neuropsych hard sf about disease and religion." And "Rwanda," by Robert Reed, transcends the genre and works as powerful fiction that would bring anyone to a stop.

All of the authors named above merit another look. (Of course, you might prefer some of the others.)

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to write a review of an anthology. In the case of a year's best collection, the constraints imposed more or less guarantee uneven quality in the selections (or a rather short book). On top of that, I had already encountered several of these pieces in another anthology, so that took some of the fun out of the book overall. The editors seemed to have relied rather heavily on the authors for collecting biographical and analytical information on the stories, depriving me of what is usually one of my favorite parts of an anthology: the criticism that comes with it. I did, of course, enjoy many of the pieces. "Rwanda" by Robert Reed was a little creepy but very thought provoking. Heather Lindlsey's "Just Do It!" would have been even more enjoyable if it had seemed less credible. "When Sysadmins Ruled the World" was a little hokey, but I enjoyed Doctorow's writing. "Applied Mathematical Theology" also had some good food for thought. "Damascus" was scary, but mostly in a good way, and I found myself believing a rather tough character to sell. Overall, the book is well worth the investment for people who like speculative fiction, but the stories tend to run to the apocalyptic, so if that's not an interest for you, I'd say to choose a different year.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal favorites:
"Nano Comes to Clifford Falls"/Nancy Kress.
"When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth"/Cory Doctorow. (Computer geeks save the world).
"Just Do It"/Heather Lindsley. (Promotional advertising runs amok).
"Moon Does Run"/Edd Vick. (Great robot story).
"Chu and the Nants"/Rudy Rucker. (Autistic Chu saves the universe from destructive nano-
machines).
"The Women of our Occupation"/Kameron Hurley. (Feminist fascists take over, giving men a
taste of their own medicine).
'This is the Ice Age"/Claude Lalumiere. (Interesting update on the "Lord of the Flies"theme).
"Expedition, with Recipes"/Joe Haldeman.
"Dawn, and Sunset,and the Colours of the Earth"/Michael Flynn.
"Quill"/Carol Emshwiller. (Dinosaur-alien-human hybrids living in isolation among humans).
"Damascus"/Daryl Gregory.(Spreading the word of Jesus through a Kuru-like disease).
"Taking Care of Myself"/Ian R.McLeod. (Instead of Assisted Living Care you go back in time to
be cared for by your younger self).
"The Lowland Expedition"/Stephen Baxter. (Jack Vancian adventure with weird laws of physics
and technology allowed to go feral and evolve).

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1701532...

Good if somewhat gloomy selection of short SF first published in 2006; the only one I had read before was Michael Flynn's "Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth", which was also the only one of the 26 stories here to make it to either Hugo or Nebula shortlist (though the Locus Best Novelette winner, Cory Doctorow's "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth", is also here). Other stories here that I liked included Gardner Dozois' "Counterfactual" and Carol Emshwiller's "Quill".

[Leesgoodfood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not my cup of tea. It is a world of dystopian futures - dystopian being a word I learned form the young adult series of Hunger Games and other current bestsellers. But they are well-written by doe authors whose other stories and books I have loved. And I did read it all. But this will not be a keeper; I will pass it on. The only story I truly enjoyed was the last one. Even the editors noted its humor was why they ended the book with it. I can't comment further without it being a spoiler. But it is so true! And only a little dystopian.

[David Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes Cory Doctorow's award-winning (I believe) novelette "When Sysadmins Ruled the World," along with Joe Haldeman's well-crafted short short story "Expedition, with Recipes" and Robert Reed's first-contact piece "Rwanda."

[Gary Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great collection. My favourite was the shortest short story, Ian MacLeod's "Taking Good Care of Myself". What a thought provoking read. I also enjoyed Cory Doctorow's "When SYSADMINS Ruled the World". It is the headliner of the collection.

[Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another pretty good sci-fi anthology. I'd rate most of the 26 stories as 'good' to 'excellent', with the exception of a few. Some of the cool stories were Tiger, Burning; Dead Men Walking; and Tin Marsh.

[Aramis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought many of the stories here were not worthy of the Best SF label.

[bluetyson]

Year's Best SF 12 (Year's Best Sf) (2007)

[Tree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stories. I especially enjoyed the short story "Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" by Michael Flynn and "Tiger, Burning" by Alastair Reynolds.

[Andrew (M) · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few gems in this one, but overall it wasn't quite a strong at Years Best SF 11. Still well worth reading.

[Russell Fletcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some were good and some weren't so good. There were a couple of post-apocalyptic stories followed by straight science fiction.

[Dan Clore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories that I especially enjoyed included:

Cory Doctory, "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth"
Rudy Rucker, "Chu and the Nants"
Ian Creasey, "Silence in Florence"