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A review by eabourland
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection by Gardner Dozois
5.0
Some very good stories in here; among my favorites is Maureen McHugh's "Useless Things" -- an understated and somewhat grim story about things we do to get by. She's a good writer.
The solecisms strewn through the book are distracting. "Fair" for "fare"; multiple misuses of the possessive nominative pronoun -- it's for its. These stories deserve more respect, especially from an editor who, as the book jacket boasts, has received a Hugo Award for Best Editor "fifteen times".
On the other hand, editor Gardner Dozois has written a lovely summation of the condition of fantasy and SF publishing as of 2009 -- the year these stories were gathered. He's a good writer and a good editor. I think he needs to pay a little more attention to close editing of copy -- this is my only, small criticism.
There are fewer readers, it seems, every year. Writers must read if they are to write well. If you want to write stories, you should seek stories you love, and read them, and then read more and more. Readers should read because they find joy in doing so. Back when I was a kid, this joy in reading felt natural. I wonder what has happened to the love of reading good stories?
I look forward to reading more of the books in this series. I have a lot of gratitude for Mr. Dozois for reading these stories, selecting them, and presenting them in these books.
The solecisms strewn through the book are distracting. "Fair" for "fare"; multiple misuses of the possessive nominative pronoun -- it's for its. These stories deserve more respect, especially from an editor who, as the book jacket boasts, has received a Hugo Award for Best Editor "fifteen times".
On the other hand, editor Gardner Dozois has written a lovely summation of the condition of fantasy and SF publishing as of 2009 -- the year these stories were gathered. He's a good writer and a good editor. I think he needs to pay a little more attention to close editing of copy -- this is my only, small criticism.
There are fewer readers, it seems, every year. Writers must read if they are to write well. If you want to write stories, you should seek stories you love, and read them, and then read more and more. Readers should read because they find joy in doing so. Back when I was a kid, this joy in reading felt natural. I wonder what has happened to the love of reading good stories?
I look forward to reading more of the books in this series. I have a lot of gratitude for Mr. Dozois for reading these stories, selecting them, and presenting them in these books.