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super Jul 12, 2009 (12 of 13 found this helpful)
This anthology always lives up to its title as there are thirty strong short stories with 628 pages of contributions included. The Summation of 2008 is a deep fascinating essay that focuses on the good with overall strong creative writings especially in book anthologies; and the bad being the collapse of several print magazines with those surviving cutting back the number of pages in each copy and reducing the number of releases per year. The stories are for the most part super but in spite of the rise of the on line magazines most of the compilation comes from print magazines and book anthologies. My personal favorites are those I had not previously read (thus I discount the excellent "Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, "The Gambler" by Paolo Bacogalupi, and "Eligible Boy" by Ian McDonald, etc.). "The Six Directions of Space" by Alastair Reynolds, "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed and the "Erdmann Nexus" by Nancy Kress are tremendous; the rest are quite good too. This collection with its Honorable Mention list and reference guide is a short story delight.
Harriet Klausner
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How far we've fallen Jul 25, 2009 (28 of 40 found this helpful)
Gardner Dozois annual Year's Best Science Fiction series has for many years justly enjoyed acclaim and influence. In its early years it boldly and effectively highlighted strong, creative writers who shook up some of the stale tropes of science fiction. It supported and highlighted terrific authors like Greg Egan (who's brilliant "Caress" appeared in the eighth edition); Ted Chiang; and others.
The series was appreciated not only for its interesting selection of stories, but also for the quality of its physical presentation. The type was large and easy to read, the book was bound carefully, the paper was good. One felt reading it that the publishers cared about what was in it. This was in sharp contrast to the custom of the time, when anthologies typically appeared in low-quality mass-market paperback editions, with small, somewhat blurry print. I own all 26 of the Dozois collections, and the early ones from twenty years ago still look good.
For the past five years, however, the quality of the Dozois collections has been slowly deteriorating, and with this latest edition, it reached a nadir.
Most importantly, the stories are generally difficult to slog through. Their prose style tends to be awkward and sloppy. Dozois has lately been indulging an almost obsessive affection for profanity: nearly every story in this collection contains profanity or offensive language. There may be nothing wrong with the occasional swear word, if it fits the story, but it's becoming a joke in the sci-fi authoring community that to get published in Dozois, you have to stick in as many swear words as you can. (I realize pop-culture has become similarly infatuated with profanity, but I do not believe literature should follow this irritating fad).
Where Dozois has included mediocre and poorly-written crafted stories, he's also overlooked superb ones. Most egregious is the omission of Ted Chiang's haunting "Exhalation." Chiang's writing towers above the work in this collection - but at the same time, Chiang's work repays and perhaps requires close reading. Dozois, I get the sense, just skims the stories he selects, and seems to have no sense of the difference between an enthralling prose stylist, like Chiang, and pedestrian ones.
The physical quality of the book remains quite good by comparison with most paperbacks these days, but it's not nearly as good as it used to be. The paper is thinner and yellower than in the past. My eighth edition from more than a decade ago still looks better, with higher-quality, thicker paper, than this one does. On the other hand, sometimes paper quality varies a bit even within an edition, so maybe other readers will have a better experience.
Some would say I am being too harsh here. But the effect of the poor quality of this edition is not merely that it's a bad book that wastes readers' money. The tragedy is that, because of the high profile and wide distribution of the series, the anthology likely still has influence on science fiction writers trying to get published. Because the edition highlights weak, unsubtle writing, authors are more likely to write that way. And it's unfair to much better writers who are passed over because their characters don't swear at each other enough.
To be fair, not every story was unreadable if you can look past the ubiquitous profanity. James Alan Gardner's "The Ray Gun" was excellent and very cleverly plotted. Steven Baxter's story, "Turing's Apples," would have been worth reading but for its pointless inclusion of distasteful imagery (of course, without something disgusting, Dozois no doubt would not have selected it at all, so Baxter is in somewhat of a dilemma).
For a far, far better anthology, without the artistic compromises of this anthology, I recommend Eclipse 2.
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Another good Dozois collection Sep 8, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Edited by Gardner Dozois.
As usual, Dozois has rounded up mostly excellent stories, whether or not one can ever objectively define "best" (average story quality, in my judgment, comes out to 4.13 out of 5, in this anthology). Also, as in previous years, the huge Summation at the beginning lays out the current condition of science fiction in exquisite detail. For that, I'm adding a bonus to the 4.13 story-average, bringing the final rating up to 5 out of 5.
Key:
++ = Excellent story, would unhesitatingly include it in my own "year's best"... if I had one.
+ = Thought it was good, certainly worth reading, maybe not a definite pick for my own "year's best"...
o = Not bad, but had little effect on me.
- = Actively disliked it.
-- = Wish I hadn't read it!
"Turing's Apples." Stephen Baxter. Sibling rivalry and first contact. One of Baxter's best so far. ++
"From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled." Michael Swanwick. A man among bug-eyed aliens who deal in trust. Typically Swanwick: full of irony and a boatload of postmodern literary tricks. Quite entertaining, though. +
"The Gambler." Paolo Bacigalupi. News reporter takes big gamble on writing social-justice piece in hyper-capitalized information economy. Good character piece, less of a downer than the usual Bacigalupi. +
"Boojum." Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette. Seat-of-your-pants swashbuckler on living pirate ship in outer space! Complete with a plucky heroine and a ship weirder than anything in Pirates of the Caribbean. +
"The Six Directions of Space." Alastair Reynolds. Space-faring, multiverse-exploring Mongol Empire! Reynolds does it again: mind-blowing vastness of space and time, awesome scientific speculation, fine and subtle characterization. ++
"N-Words." Ted Kosmatka. Neanderthal clones suffer racist slurs. Kosmatka is a fine writer, but this one tries too hard to win my pity for the Neanderthals. o
"An Eligible Boy." Ian McDonald. Jane Austen for guys in near-future India. Another fine writer turns to boring (though occasionally funny) social commentary. o
"Shining Armour." Dominic Green. Boonie village has one huge secret weapon. I found myself cheering at the end. ++
"The Hero." Karl Schroeder. Young man goes on quest to save the world(s). Eye-popping descriptions and skilful plotting keep this one moving to an explosive finale. Adventure space-opera at its absolute best. ++
"Evil Robot Monkey." Mary Robinette Kowal. Evil Robot Monkey throws around... The End. -
"Five Thrillers." Robert Reed. A thrilling story full of wonder and excitement, in five parts. The protagonist is bad-ass x5. Robert Reed is too: this guy gets a story published every two weeks (on average), including this rather long novella, and they're all either good or great. ++
"The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black." Jay Lake. Yeah.. the title makes more sense than the story. Lake is usually good, and maybe this is "good," but I couldn't wrap my head around it. -
"Incomers." Paul McAuley. Bildungsroman on a moon of Saturn. Fast-paced, but affords plenty of room for thought: in other words, an average McAuley story. +
"Crystal Nights." Greg Egan. Billionaire creates virtual species, but he's no god. To quote Paul Di Filippo, Egan writes "quantum poetry." Beautiful story. +
"The Egg Man." Mary Rosenblum. Dude smuggles eggs into Mexican village in climate-changed future, but witnesses his old friends' sad decline. As always, Rosenblum succeeds in creating more atmosphere than a Ridley Scott film; and her characters really get to you. +
"His Master's Voice." Hannu Rajaniemi. Dog and cat team up to be man's best friends. Excellent writing and charming st
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Another Collection of Engaging Science Fiction Sep 23, 2009
Gardner Dozois gives us the grand tour of top-notch science fiction stories from 2008. As in previous anthologies, he treats readers to a chapter-length summation of developments in the field during 2008, a set of well-chosen stories, and an impressive list of "Honorable Mentions" that motivated readers can track down and enjoy. I read all 30 stories and felt my time was well-spent with each one.
My six favorites from this year's collection all deal with our humanity, skillfully using the innovations of technology and the wonders of other worlds to examine our hearts:
Ted Kosmatka's "N-Words" explores love, pain and prejudice in a relationship between a woman and one of modern man's closest cousins.
Karl Schroeder's "The Hero" tells the story of a boy who pays forward a kindness.
Mary Robinnette Kowal's "Evil Robot Monkey" asks whether animals are made more human by increasing their intelligence or increasing our empathy.
Greg Egan's "Crystal Nights" shows that the evolution of a new species can be more effective and efficient if the right man is in charge.
Garth Nix's "Old Friends" shows us that our roots are at home, even when we don't want to return there.
Ian McDonald's "The Tear" is an action- and concept-packed tale of childhood friendship under change--after change, after change.
This collection is highly recommended. I enjoyed it all the more as a "guilty pleasure" read on my iPhone Kindle app while those around me assumed I was scheduling or engaging in some other grown-up activity.
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A Dud Sep 16, 2009 (3 of 7 found this helpful)
There are 3 things that disappoint me about this year's edition:
(1.) The ratio of good stories to mediocre ones is too low. Even worse, there are a couple of really bad ones that have no place in a year's best collection.
(2.) Ted Chiang's outstanding Hugo and Nebula nominated story "Exhalation" is conspicuously missing. I bet this had something to do with Chiang's story being originally published in a competing anthology (Eclipse 2). Whatever the reason for the snub, it's a shame for Dozios because he could have really used Chiang's magic this year.
(3.) I found this year's Preface downright depressing. I'm aware there's a recession. Mentally escaping it for a while is one of the main reasons I read science fiction anthologies.
BEST STORIES: Five Thrillers, The Six Directions of Space
WORTH READING: The Journey Out, Days of Wonder, Turing's Apples
There are two stories by Ian McDonald, one of my usual favorites, but the first is mediocre and the second is --at least to me--incomprehensible.
Maybe Dozios will get his editorial touch back next year. But judging by the last few editions, he's lost it.