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tombomp's review
3.5
Overall it's too variable in quality - with minimal standouts - for me to give it a better star rating but I'm glad I read it as a survey at least. Some thoughts written halfway through and then more written after finishing below.
Only halfway through, and I'll probably finish, but surprised how few have excited/touched me and how much I've been disappointed overall. It's not that many of the stories are *bad* exactly - there's just a constant feeling that they don't actually have much interesting to say, or they're clumsily told. Before reading this I've mostly been familiar with either very recent sci-fi short stories and Golden Age stuff, particularly Asimov and Dick. I'm not sure exactly what's different to make these not hit.
Favourites so far:
- Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson. This is widely considered a classic and understandably IMO. The sci-fi element is pretty underplayed - just bears sitting around fires and "newberrys" formed in highway medians. It's hard to pin down what made this work for me - it's a story of family, loss, moving on and accepting new things where somehow everything falls into place and the image of bears around fires just feels perfect.
- Roadside Rescue by Pat Cadigan. An encounter with an alien visiting Earth and what sort of thing they might wantThe alien gets off sexually by being shouted at in genuine anger There's a good sense of discomfort and a slight feeling of violation - the whole thing feels grimy and unpleasant despite being hinged on such a strange, seemingly innocent sci-fi idea. Short and doesn't outstay its welcome
There's a few which are basically based on a daft joke: Even the Queen aroundwhat happens when the menstrual cycle is "solved" and teenagers rebelling to bring it back and Stable Strategies for Middle Management which is what if animal metaphors for competition in jobs were real and you could literally become a mantis and tear your boss's head off - and NOBODY has asked that before The second one was worthy of a chuckle at least.
Quite a few just feel frustratingly lame, like there wasn't really a point, or the point was written really badly. In None So Blind, Joe Haldeman asks "wouldn't it be messed up if we allhad to remove our eyes to get smarter?? " like yeah man I guess it would be. Mortimer Gray's History of Death is novella-length and talks about how people understand death in a near immortal society, yet despite following one person it never really gets into real feeling and despite featuring a history book never really shows enough of the society to be interesting. Just feels too long for what's there. Flying Saucer Rock n Roll is a celebration of kids making doo-wop that ends with a random alien abduction - it feels it doesn't hit any points very well and ends with a "huh?". A Cabin on the Coast has a familiar plot about the fae but the characters aren't given enough definition to make it special (or it's hidden deeper than I understand). Snow by John Crowley hits an interesting emotional question - what memories are important? what remains of those who are gone? - but there's a frustrating ending where a key speech felt almost garbled to me.
A couple were just frustrating. The Pure Product is a tale of random violence and scams that's somehow connected to time travel, but not in a way that's talked about in any way. So there's nothing really interesting there at all. Kirinyaga became the opening story of a book going into more detail, but on its own it feels deeply frustrating because it brings up questions it won't address but are impossible to ignore. It's a story about trying to go back to pre-colonial traditions, even if they seem brutal, but they're in some sort of utopian habitat run by outside "Maintenance" to their specifications. So the ending, whereMaintenance say they're bringing the society to a universal court of human justice over them killing babies arbitrarily and the narrator decides to form a warrior society among the children, feels stupid as hell. They're basically in a zoo but pretending they're not. Their "traditional" society is dependent on outsiders running a different society to do all the things they won't. What could possibly be the result of a war except the destruction of their society? This is the only interesting question in the story, but there's no engagement with it.
The Lincoln Train by Maureen McHugh is about a Southern woman in alt history post US civil war being forcibly deported by train to somewhere in the west along with a bunch of other slaveowning families. Thenshe gets rescued by a couple of people doing an Underground Railroad type thing because there's some group of people who are anti slavery but don't support forced displacement I found this a pretty repugnant story. There's a lot of real world connotations to the images shown and it feels offensive to attach them to slaveowners to evoke sympathy. In real life, the Southern aristocracy being allowed to continue as is caused unbelievable amounts of misery for a century or more. Writing an alt history where "what if they experienced bad things... but it was bad!" is tone deaf. Worse than that, there's nothing actually interesting here. There's no level of thought put into the alt history, or the real history referenced. It just felt gross to me.
AFTER FINISHING:
Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan - I've read another full Egan book and just like that one it's very invested in one idea without really having anything else supporting it. It stands and falls on whether you find it an interesting conclusion worth waiting the whole book for.The first life found outside of humans is "just" complex chemical that acts as a computer - but it's simulating complex life through its calculations I think that's a cool idea, but I can't say it's communicated super well or justifies the whole novella length so in the end it felt like a bit of a whiff.
Coming of Age in Karhide by Le Guin - A fun story about coming of age in the world of Left Hand of Darkness. I don't think it was super deep or anything but she used the concept to tell a sweet story. I liked it.
The Dead - Alright idea about the uses of the dead for labour made mostly about male sexual hang ups. Waste of time.
Recording Angel - not bad exactly, but felt weirdly pointless. Not sure what the idea was here.
A Dry, Quiet War - basically a Western about a town threatened by villains and the old soldier who refuses to fight. The sci fi aspect is around some sort of time travel war, but it makes no sense despite a lot of attempted explanation. Maybe if you like Westerns it's ok.
The Undiscovered - A cute story about a Cherokee village taking in a lostWilliam Shakespeare . It's fun but still feels a little like one of the other stories that are mainly based on a joke concept - they have been some of my favourites but I kept wanting a little more you know? Still one of the best in the collection.
Second Skin - sci-fi espionage/thriller type stuff except with minimal thrills or tension and a hard to understand conflict. Eh.
Story of your Life - I get the appeal of this story and thought it was pretty good BUT it feels like it's missing something. So there's parallel stories - contact with aliens and a mother thinking about the life of her child who predeceased her - and they're connected by a high sci fi concept but it just fell flat for me.The whole story is based on "what if you could see the future" basically, with the aliens having a view of time where they see the goals of things and this way of thinking can be transmitted through learning their writing system. This then informs "if you saw your child would die before you in a certain way before you even conceived them, would you still do it" as an ending. Except there's just no way to make this an emotional beat. There's no way to actually convey how the aliens think. There's no way to convey the free will/determinism divide. It just doesn't make sense. In the end they're 2 separate good stories that don't join together into the masterpiece other people see this as for me.
People Came From Earth - I'm not sure a key idea in this actually makes sensepeople concentrating metal in their bodies in the belief they can eventually remake spaceships in future generations, even as the metals are killing them earlier and earlier but the whole vision is great in conveying humanity slowly dying off, even as they cling desperately to the hope of something more. I didn't really understand the Da Vinci thread in it but overall it conveys a great feeling of quiet misery.
The Wedding Album - a novella about how society sees simulated humans over time, told from the perspective of a sim made to commemorate a wedding. It's fun, I liked the turns it took and the variety of ideas about sims. Not sure if it had a "point" exactly but that's fine.
10^16 to 1 - An ok story with a surprisingly strange message. You pick up early on that this is in the Cuban Missile Crisis, so a time traveller must be doing something around that. Surprisinglythe time traveller was trying to cause an American first strike against the USSR because it wouldn't wipe out the world at that point but would supposedly make people stop building up nukes, preventing a much worse apocalyptic war later. This seems to be a totally genuine "anti nuke" view of the author, as in the last paragraph they advocate the Green party, including a website link (!) which makes it really bizarre.
Daddy's World - I liked this one, another one about simulations. Really great emotionally about the misery of holding on to an image forever, the desperation to not engage with the real world. The cute imagery is well used to increase the disconnect. Was a big hit for me.
The Real World - a story about exploring the prehistoric past rammed into a story about Hollywood in an age of simulated actors that doesn't really do either justice at all. Kind of whiffed for me.
Have Not Have - another one which only felt vaguely sci fi connected. It appears to have been the first part of a novel where it would have made much more sense. The main technology conflict is actually "what happens when a remote village gets internet". It tells an interesting human story about a fashion designer/seamstress/beautician who acts as the village's connection to the wider fashion world and how her success depends on controlling access to information. I liked it enough I think.
Lobsters - oh man this story is so early 2000s it hurts. The main character gets slashdotted!!! Obviously you can't blame the author for not predicting the future but it's so invested in you thinking this character is Really Cool (and again with the weird male sexual anxieties) that it just feels embarrassing reading it now. There's a few interesting ideas, again around ethics of computer simulations, but the whole thing is wrapped up in to much stuff that doesn't seem funny or cool now that it's hard to enjoy.
Breathmoss - another novella that's got a similar theme to the Le Guin story, around growing up in a world with a different gender structure. I liked this but again I didn't feel it really explored much in a "sci fi" way, even though that was totally fine. It's just a somewhat touching story about growing up and moving away.
Lambing Season - about sympathy with an alien and the sense of acknowledgement that crosses species borders even without proper communication. Again the sci fi element is really small but there's something touching there.
Only halfway through, and I'll probably finish, but surprised how few have excited/touched me and how much I've been disappointed overall. It's not that many of the stories are *bad* exactly - there's just a constant feeling that they don't actually have much interesting to say, or they're clumsily told. Before reading this I've mostly been familiar with either very recent sci-fi short stories and Golden Age stuff, particularly Asimov and Dick. I'm not sure exactly what's different to make these not hit.
Favourites so far:
- Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson. This is widely considered a classic and understandably IMO. The sci-fi element is pretty underplayed - just bears sitting around fires and "newberrys" formed in highway medians. It's hard to pin down what made this work for me - it's a story of family, loss, moving on and accepting new things where somehow everything falls into place and the image of bears around fires just feels perfect.
- Roadside Rescue by Pat Cadigan. An encounter with an alien visiting Earth and what sort of thing they might want
There's a few which are basically based on a daft joke: Even the Queen around
Quite a few just feel frustratingly lame, like there wasn't really a point, or the point was written really badly. In None So Blind, Joe Haldeman asks "wouldn't it be messed up if we all
A couple were just frustrating. The Pure Product is a tale of random violence and scams that's somehow connected to time travel, but not in a way that's talked about in any way. So there's nothing really interesting there at all. Kirinyaga became the opening story of a book going into more detail, but on its own it feels deeply frustrating because it brings up questions it won't address but are impossible to ignore. It's a story about trying to go back to pre-colonial traditions, even if they seem brutal, but they're in some sort of utopian habitat run by outside "Maintenance" to their specifications. So the ending, where
The Lincoln Train by Maureen McHugh is about a Southern woman in alt history post US civil war being forcibly deported by train to somewhere in the west along with a bunch of other slaveowning families. Then
AFTER FINISHING:
Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan - I've read another full Egan book and just like that one it's very invested in one idea without really having anything else supporting it. It stands and falls on whether you find it an interesting conclusion worth waiting the whole book for.
Coming of Age in Karhide by Le Guin - A fun story about coming of age in the world of Left Hand of Darkness. I don't think it was super deep or anything but she used the concept to tell a sweet story. I liked it.
The Dead - Alright idea about the uses of the dead for labour made mostly about male sexual hang ups. Waste of time.
Recording Angel - not bad exactly, but felt weirdly pointless. Not sure what the idea was here.
A Dry, Quiet War - basically a Western about a town threatened by villains and the old soldier who refuses to fight. The sci fi aspect is around some sort of time travel war, but it makes no sense despite a lot of attempted explanation. Maybe if you like Westerns it's ok.
The Undiscovered - A cute story about a Cherokee village taking in a lost
Second Skin - sci-fi espionage/thriller type stuff except with minimal thrills or tension and a hard to understand conflict. Eh.
Story of your Life - I get the appeal of this story and thought it was pretty good BUT it feels like it's missing something. So there's parallel stories - contact with aliens and a mother thinking about the life of her child who predeceased her - and they're connected by a high sci fi concept but it just fell flat for me.
People Came From Earth - I'm not sure a key idea in this actually makes sense
The Wedding Album - a novella about how society sees simulated humans over time, told from the perspective of a sim made to commemorate a wedding. It's fun, I liked the turns it took and the variety of ideas about sims. Not sure if it had a "point" exactly but that's fine.
10^16 to 1 - An ok story with a surprisingly strange message. You pick up early on that this is in the Cuban Missile Crisis, so a time traveller must be doing something around that. Surprisingly
Daddy's World - I liked this one, another one about simulations. Really great emotionally about the misery of holding on to an image forever, the desperation to not engage with the real world. The cute imagery is well used to increase the disconnect. Was a big hit for me.
The Real World - a story about exploring the prehistoric past rammed into a story about Hollywood in an age of simulated actors that doesn't really do either justice at all. Kind of whiffed for me.
Have Not Have - another one which only felt vaguely sci fi connected. It appears to have been the first part of a novel where it would have made much more sense. The main technology conflict is actually "what happens when a remote village gets internet". It tells an interesting human story about a fashion designer/seamstress/beautician who acts as the village's connection to the wider fashion world and how her success depends on controlling access to information. I liked it enough I think.
Lobsters - oh man this story is so early 2000s it hurts. The main character gets slashdotted!!! Obviously you can't blame the author for not predicting the future but it's so invested in you thinking this character is Really Cool (and again with the weird male sexual anxieties) that it just feels embarrassing reading it now. There's a few interesting ideas, again around ethics of computer simulations, but the whole thing is wrapped up in to much stuff that doesn't seem funny or cool now that it's hard to enjoy.
Breathmoss - another novella that's got a similar theme to the Le Guin story, around growing up in a world with a different gender structure. I liked this but again I didn't feel it really explored much in a "sci fi" way, even though that was totally fine. It's just a somewhat touching story about growing up and moving away.
Lambing Season - about sympathy with an alien and the sense of acknowledgement that crosses species borders even without proper communication. Again the sci fi element is really small but there's something touching there.
mikimeiko's review
3.0
I never did this before, but I want to try to review each story as I read them (also because I'm not sure if I'm going to read the entire book all at once)
Blood Music by Greg Bear
I definitely read this one before, it must have been in one of the Year's Best Science Fiction that I've read in the past. Incredibly unsettling. I love the idea, but something about the writing didn't quite work for me. Everything happened incredibly fast, and still felt kind of slow at times.
Cabin On The Coast by Gene Wolfe
I loved, loved, loved the writing. I was quite disappointed though by the abrupt change of pace that happened right after the deal on the boat. I kind of get why that could be a good way to do that but... no. Also, it didn't feel like science fiction at all. More like a... fantastic story. I'm not sure.
Salvador by Lucius Shepard
War stories are really not my thing. This one was really disturbing, which I think was the point, but again... it didn't feel like science fiction.
Trinity by Nancy Kress
Ah, yes, this is the science fiction I know and love. Well, one kind of science fiction I know and love, but still. Trying to explore spiritual matters in a scientific way, ethical concerns, the dangers of human curiosity. Very, very interesting. It even had a pretty good ending. It feels a little outdated in some aspects, but it's a really good story.
Flying Saucer Rock And Roll by Howard Waldrop
Uhm... okay. I liked the idea but I never really got engaged by the story.
Dinner In Audoghast by Bruce Sterling
Ah Sterling, I definitely wasn't expecting this. I might try and read more books by him. The story was quite fascinating, but I probably would have to know more about actual history to understand how far this was from the reality.
Roadside Rescue by Pat Cadigan
Yes, yes, very lovely! Well, not really lovely, but short, amusing, effective. I love when writers get really creative with what it means to be an alien.
Snow by John Crowley
So weird, and sad. A little detached, too, but not too much. I'm sure that I have read something else by Crowley before, but I can't remember what.
The Winter Market by William Gibson
Gibson, my love. I had a really short cyberpunk phase where I LOVED his writing, then I think I grew out of it and couldn't stand him anymore. Maybe it's been enough time since then, and I can actually enjoy his stories again, with a different perspective. I also think I've read this story before. I liked it, but it was slightly unsatisfying, too short, too brief, too unconclusive. But I guess that was the point.
The Pure Product by John Kessel
Uhm, no. Oh well, there had to be some stories that just... don't work for me.
Stable Strategies for Middle Management by Eileen Gunn
Superweird, and interesting! I wish there was more.
Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick
It's not a bad story but... it left kind of unsatisfied.
Tale from the Venia Woods by Robert Silverberg
I found Silverberg books profoundly disappointing when I read them for the first time in english, but this story tickled my curiosity enough that I think I'm going to try something else from the Roma universe (yes, I really loved the idea of a timeline in which the Roman Empire never fell).
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson
A quite, fascinating story. I didn't know Terry Bisson, but I'd like to read something else.
Even the Queen by Connie Willis
Oh I loved this! I want to live after the Liberation, thank you very much. Also, I found the spokeperson for the Cyclists quite amusing, and relevant if you think at some of the controversy surrounding the social justice warriors and their way of describing many things.
Guest of Honor by Robert Reed
Haunting. I found the idea quite fascinating, but the execution... a little less.
None So Blind by Joe Haldeman
I really loved the concept, but I think it was a little too short, a little too... compressed. I would have liked to read more about it.
Mortimer Gray's History of Death by Brian Stableford
I don't know if I've ever been so sad of disliking someones writing. It definitely not badly written, but for me the style just kept pushing me back from the story. And I liked the story! I loved the ideas, and the theme, and the way it made think about certain things.
The Lincoln Train by Maureen F. McHugh
I think not knowing much of American history really impaired my understanding of the story. From the introduction, and the fact that it has been included in a scifi book, I suppose it's some kind of alternate reality, but I'm not quite sure what is supposed to be an alternate of.
Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan
Not really my thing. I might have liked it more if it were longer, if it gave me more time to understand the world it was set in... but maybe not. I'm not sure.
Coming of Age in Karhide by Ursula K. Le Guin
I don't know how many times I read this story when I was a teenager. It's soft and hot and anthropological and everything I love of the scifi that I used to read back then. And amazingly, it was still really, really good. A super short story that feels as complete as a novel and as open as an introduction. It's a world condensed in a few pages. Amazing.
The Dead by Michael Swanwick
I like the concept, but I never really got engaged with the story, and then it ended.
Recording Angel by Ian McDonald
Interesting idea, compelling development, and yet I didn't find the end completely satisfying.
A Dry, Quiet War by Tony Daniel
Eerie, and fascinating. It made me want to know more, and yet there was a felling like everything that needed saying was already said. Interesting, though not my usual genre.
The Undiscovered by William Sanders
Once again, I felt like my ignorance was dampening my understanding of the story. I guess alternate histories rely on the fact that you know how things went in the real world, and this time me not knowing enough of Shakespeare work prevented me to notice the differences.
Second Skin by Paul J. McAuley
Uhm... I love the history and worlds the story hinted at, but the story itself? Not so much.
Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
Okay, so this story... this story is everything I think about when I think of good science fiction. It has both very interesting science and very interesting human stories. It makes you care, and hurt, and rejoice. But most of all it makes you think: it has a very powerful what if at its core, and it manages to leave to the reader enough space to consider the implications. I truly loved it.
People Came From Earth by Stephen Baxter
I'm perplexed. It was a very intriguing story, but it felt more like reading a piece in a larger narrative rather than reading a complete story in itself.
The Wedding Album by David Marusek
Quite good, though at some point it kind of lost itself in the computer issues, neglecting the development of the story.
10^16 To 1 by James Patrick Kelly
Uhm. I guess I like the idea, but I didn't particularly enjoy the tone.
Daddy's World by Walter Jon Williams
Very diquieting. It was kind of difficult for me to get into the story, but once I understood what was going on I was captured.
The Real World by Steven Utley
I found it quite boring and pointless.
Have Not Have by Geoff Ryman
I wish it was longer, because I would have loved to know more about the world. The story felt a little forced, but I liked the ending.
Lobsters by Charles Stross
Maybe I'm not ready to try cyberpunk again. It's just... a lot of noise. It's tiring, and it makes following the story harder. I liked some ideas though.
Breathmoss by Ian R. MacLeod
I was quite unlucky with this antology, since the two novelettes (at least, I think it's just two) were my least favourite stories. This in particular was confused and confusing, and the big reveal at the end... meh.
Lambing Season by Molly Gloss
I guess thanks to Terry Pratchett I will always have a soft spot for sheperdesses (? I have no idea how to spell the plural). This is one of those really short, really quiet stories that nonetheless leaves a mark.
The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Wow, very haunting. It actually tasted like a fairytale, but there was enough science in this to make this more scifi than many other stories in this book. I wish it was longer, I wish it was a whole book. And I loved the ending, so perfect in its openness.
Footvote by Peter F. Hamilton
Too short! This idea deserved at least an entire book, or maybe even a series! The laws of New Suffolk were hilarious.
Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds
So weird. Artists are definitely weird people, even when they turn out to be something else entirely.
Blood Music by Greg Bear
I definitely read this one before, it must have been in one of the Year's Best Science Fiction that I've read in the past. Incredibly unsettling. I love the idea, but something about the writing didn't quite work for me. Everything happened incredibly fast, and still felt kind of slow at times.
Cabin On The Coast by Gene Wolfe
I loved, loved, loved the writing. I was quite disappointed though by the abrupt change of pace that happened right after the deal on the boat. I kind of get why that could be a good way to do that but... no. Also, it didn't feel like science fiction at all. More like a... fantastic story. I'm not sure.
Salvador by Lucius Shepard
War stories are really not my thing. This one was really disturbing, which I think was the point, but again... it didn't feel like science fiction.
Trinity by Nancy Kress
Ah, yes, this is the science fiction I know and love. Well, one kind of science fiction I know and love, but still. Trying to explore spiritual matters in a scientific way, ethical concerns, the dangers of human curiosity. Very, very interesting. It even had a pretty good ending. It feels a little outdated in some aspects, but it's a really good story.
Flying Saucer Rock And Roll by Howard Waldrop
Uhm... okay. I liked the idea but I never really got engaged by the story.
Dinner In Audoghast by Bruce Sterling
Ah Sterling, I definitely wasn't expecting this. I might try and read more books by him. The story was quite fascinating, but I probably would have to know more about actual history to understand how far this was from the reality.
Roadside Rescue by Pat Cadigan
Yes, yes, very lovely! Well, not really lovely, but short, amusing, effective. I love when writers get really creative with what it means to be an alien.
Snow by John Crowley
So weird, and sad. A little detached, too, but not too much. I'm sure that I have read something else by Crowley before, but I can't remember what.
The Winter Market by William Gibson
Gibson, my love. I had a really short cyberpunk phase where I LOVED his writing, then I think I grew out of it and couldn't stand him anymore. Maybe it's been enough time since then, and I can actually enjoy his stories again, with a different perspective. I also think I've read this story before. I liked it, but it was slightly unsatisfying, too short, too brief, too unconclusive. But I guess that was the point.
The Pure Product by John Kessel
Uhm, no. Oh well, there had to be some stories that just... don't work for me.
Stable Strategies for Middle Management by Eileen Gunn
Superweird, and interesting! I wish there was more.
Kirinyaga by Mike Resnick
It's not a bad story but... it left kind of unsatisfied.
Tale from the Venia Woods by Robert Silverberg
I found Silverberg books profoundly disappointing when I read them for the first time in english, but this story tickled my curiosity enough that I think I'm going to try something else from the Roma universe (yes, I really loved the idea of a timeline in which the Roman Empire never fell).
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson
A quite, fascinating story. I didn't know Terry Bisson, but I'd like to read something else.
Even the Queen by Connie Willis
Oh I loved this! I want to live after the Liberation, thank you very much. Also, I found the spokeperson for the Cyclists quite amusing, and relevant if you think at some of the controversy surrounding the social justice warriors and their way of describing many things.
Guest of Honor by Robert Reed
Haunting. I found the idea quite fascinating, but the execution... a little less.
None So Blind by Joe Haldeman
I really loved the concept, but I think it was a little too short, a little too... compressed. I would have liked to read more about it.
Mortimer Gray's History of Death by Brian Stableford
I don't know if I've ever been so sad of disliking someones writing. It definitely not badly written, but for me the style just kept pushing me back from the story. And I liked the story! I loved the ideas, and the theme, and the way it made think about certain things.
The Lincoln Train by Maureen F. McHugh
I think not knowing much of American history really impaired my understanding of the story. From the introduction, and the fact that it has been included in a scifi book, I suppose it's some kind of alternate reality, but I'm not quite sure what is supposed to be an alternate of.
Wang's Carpets by Greg Egan
Not really my thing. I might have liked it more if it were longer, if it gave me more time to understand the world it was set in... but maybe not. I'm not sure.
Coming of Age in Karhide by Ursula K. Le Guin
I don't know how many times I read this story when I was a teenager. It's soft and hot and anthropological and everything I love of the scifi that I used to read back then. And amazingly, it was still really, really good. A super short story that feels as complete as a novel and as open as an introduction. It's a world condensed in a few pages. Amazing.
The Dead by Michael Swanwick
I like the concept, but I never really got engaged with the story, and then it ended.
Recording Angel by Ian McDonald
Interesting idea, compelling development, and yet I didn't find the end completely satisfying.
A Dry, Quiet War by Tony Daniel
Eerie, and fascinating. It made me want to know more, and yet there was a felling like everything that needed saying was already said. Interesting, though not my usual genre.
The Undiscovered by William Sanders
Once again, I felt like my ignorance was dampening my understanding of the story. I guess alternate histories rely on the fact that you know how things went in the real world, and this time me not knowing enough of Shakespeare work prevented me to notice the differences.
Second Skin by Paul J. McAuley
Uhm... I love the history and worlds the story hinted at, but the story itself? Not so much.
Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang
Okay, so this story... this story is everything I think about when I think of good science fiction. It has both very interesting science and very interesting human stories. It makes you care, and hurt, and rejoice. But most of all it makes you think: it has a very powerful what if at its core, and it manages to leave to the reader enough space to consider the implications. I truly loved it.
People Came From Earth by Stephen Baxter
I'm perplexed. It was a very intriguing story, but it felt more like reading a piece in a larger narrative rather than reading a complete story in itself.
The Wedding Album by David Marusek
Quite good, though at some point it kind of lost itself in the computer issues, neglecting the development of the story.
10^16 To 1 by James Patrick Kelly
Uhm. I guess I like the idea, but I didn't particularly enjoy the tone.
Daddy's World by Walter Jon Williams
Very diquieting. It was kind of difficult for me to get into the story, but once I understood what was going on I was captured.
The Real World by Steven Utley
I found it quite boring and pointless.
Have Not Have by Geoff Ryman
I wish it was longer, because I would have loved to know more about the world. The story felt a little forced, but I liked the ending.
Lobsters by Charles Stross
Maybe I'm not ready to try cyberpunk again. It's just... a lot of noise. It's tiring, and it makes following the story harder. I liked some ideas though.
Breathmoss by Ian R. MacLeod
I was quite unlucky with this antology, since the two novelettes (at least, I think it's just two) were my least favourite stories. This in particular was confused and confusing, and the big reveal at the end... meh.
Lambing Season by Molly Gloss
I guess thanks to Terry Pratchett I will always have a soft spot for sheperdesses (? I have no idea how to spell the plural). This is one of those really short, really quiet stories that nonetheless leaves a mark.
The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Wow, very haunting. It actually tasted like a fairytale, but there was enough science in this to make this more scifi than many other stories in this book. I wish it was longer, I wish it was a whole book. And I loved the ending, so perfect in its openness.
Footvote by Peter F. Hamilton
Too short! This idea deserved at least an entire book, or maybe even a series! The laws of New Suffolk were hilarious.
Zima Blue by Alastair Reynolds
So weird. Artists are definitely weird people, even when they turn out to be something else entirely.
jcarter's review against another edition
5.0
Half the stories are great (my opinion, not historical fact) and there are no clunkers. I say that rates five stars.
zoes_human's review against another edition
4.0
If you haven't tried any of the anthologies from The Year's Best Science Fiction series, you really should, and this might be a great place to start. For years now, this series has been my traditional birthday gift to-me-from-me-with-love as it's publication in July coincides conveniently with the day. I have discovered numerous new authors through its stories.
The series has been going since 1984 and roughly half of them have won awards. As they should, Gardner Dozois does a magnificent job of editing the series. This particularly special edition is well worth your time if you've any love of short form fiction. It absolutely deserves the title of The Best of the Best.
The series has been going since 1984 and roughly half of them have won awards. As they should, Gardner Dozois does a magnificent job of editing the series. This particularly special edition is well worth your time if you've any love of short form fiction. It absolutely deserves the title of The Best of the Best.
metaphorosis's review
2.0
2 stars Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
Gardner Dozois' favorite stories from 20 years of his Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies.
Review
Subtitled 20 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction, the volume gives you a feeling for just how long Dozois had been doing this. And then realize there’s also a later Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction. Impressive.
I’ve read several of Dozois’ Year’s Best over the years, most recently this one. I’ve never really cared for them much, and I’ve generally put it down to an off year, though with the suspicion that perhaps Dozois and I didn’t agree. Having now read this volume – his best of the best – I can now definitively confirm the latter. While acknowledging that Dozois was a much-respected master anthologist in the field, I just don’t like his taste.
Very few of these stories appealed to me, despite including at least some authors (such as Ursula Le Guin and Brian Stableford) that I generally enjoy. If this was a summary of 20 years of SF, the field was in a dire state during those years. I found the stories, as a rule, on the dull side, and it’s not because I require fast-moving action and adventure. It’s just that these stories generally neither engaged nor moved me. The writing is technically sound – as it should be at this level – but I seldom found myself caring much about what happened.
The exceptions – the more interesting stories – were largely and happily packed toward the back of the book, when I was most tired of it and most wanting it to end. They weren’t enough to lift the anthology into the realms of books I enjoyed, but they gave me just enough hope to push through. They included:
Summary
Gardner Dozois' favorite stories from 20 years of his Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies.
Review
Subtitled 20 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction, the volume gives you a feeling for just how long Dozois had been doing this. And then realize there’s also a later Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of the Year’s Best Science Fiction. Impressive.
I’ve read several of Dozois’ Year’s Best over the years, most recently this one. I’ve never really cared for them much, and I’ve generally put it down to an off year, though with the suspicion that perhaps Dozois and I didn’t agree. Having now read this volume – his best of the best – I can now definitively confirm the latter. While acknowledging that Dozois was a much-respected master anthologist in the field, I just don’t like his taste.
Very few of these stories appealed to me, despite including at least some authors (such as Ursula Le Guin and Brian Stableford) that I generally enjoy. If this was a summary of 20 years of SF, the field was in a dire state during those years. I found the stories, as a rule, on the dull side, and it’s not because I require fast-moving action and adventure. It’s just that these stories generally neither engaged nor moved me. The writing is technically sound – as it should be at this level – but I seldom found myself caring much about what happened.
The exceptions – the more interesting stories – were largely and happily packed toward the back of the book, when I was most tired of it and most wanting it to end. They weren’t enough to lift the anthology into the realms of books I enjoyed, but they gave me just enough hope to push through. They included:
- A Dry, Quiet War – Tony Daniels. I’d not heard of Daniels before, but this military SF story had the best kind of heartbreak and duty in it.
- Story of Your Life – Ted Chiang. Chiang’s has been one of those names floating around the periphery of my thoughts for years, but has never really come to the fore. This story is interesting, if (intentionally) somewhat unresolved.
- The Real World -Steven Utley. A story about Hollywood in which, for once, the scientist is not overawed or a fool.
- Have Not Have – Geoff Ryman. A somewhat convoluted (or maybe just tangential) piece about coming to terms with change.
machla's review against another edition
challenging
dark
slow-paced
1.0
The variation of quality in the short stories is wild, and at half way through I’d not found one particularly enjoyable so I abandoned it.
octavia_cade's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
3.0
The thing about "best," in anthologies like this, is that "best" is ultimately subjective. These are the stories that Dozois liked the best, and I think it's safe to say that our tastes do not always coincide. That being said, I do like most of the stories here. I don't know that there's a single one that I'd rate as five star, so no absolute knock-outs from my perspective, but there are a few that I'd rate as four star stories. I particularly enjoyed "The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh, which I thought was the pick of the bunch, and there were a few others that made an impression. I have to say, though, that the longer the pieces were, the more likely they were to leave me cold - with the exception of Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" there wasn't a single novella here where I wasn't thinking Would you please just get on with it, and I felt the same way about a good portion of the novelettes. My preference for short fiction (actually short fiction) becomes ever more entrenched.
I haven't read any other of Dozois' "Best of" anthologies, and while I mean to get around to them eventually, there are certainly other anthologists for whom I have greater sympathy of taste, I think.
I haven't read any other of Dozois' "Best of" anthologies, and while I mean to get around to them eventually, there are certainly other anthologists for whom I have greater sympathy of taste, I think.
dray's review against another edition
4.0
Quite and large and diverse collection of short stories in SF. I particularly liked the short biographies and list of accomplishments at the start of each story.
bowienerd_82's review against another edition
3.0
This didn't feel like a collection that should be named "The Best of the Best"; it was pretty mixed, and only had a couple of stories I thought were really awesome. Most of them were OK, but there were a couple that really were not good. Also, far too many of them were borderline sci-fi at best; I suppose you could call them speculative fiction, but really, do they then belong in a book subtitled "20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction"? Several of those stories actually wound up being my favorites, but still...
Among the stories I did really like: "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson, "The Undiscovered" by William Sanders , "Stable Strategies for Middle Management" by Eileen Gunn, "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis, "Tales from the Venia Woods" by Robert Silverberg, and "Daddy's World" by Walter Jon Williams. Also worth the read, though not quite as awesome: "Mortimer Gray's History of Death" by Brian Stableford, "Coming of Age in Karhide" by Ursula K. Le Guin, "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, and "The Winter Market" by William Gibson.
In the end, I still remain someone who prefers novels to short stories, but there were definitely some stories worth the read, and some authors I will now have to investigate further.
Among the stories I did really like: "Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson, "The Undiscovered" by William Sanders , "Stable Strategies for Middle Management" by Eileen Gunn, "Even the Queen" by Connie Willis, "Tales from the Venia Woods" by Robert Silverberg, and "Daddy's World" by Walter Jon Williams. Also worth the read, though not quite as awesome: "Mortimer Gray's History of Death" by Brian Stableford, "Coming of Age in Karhide" by Ursula K. Le Guin, "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, and "The Winter Market" by William Gibson.
In the end, I still remain someone who prefers novels to short stories, but there were definitely some stories worth the read, and some authors I will now have to investigate further.