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A review by sucreslibrary
The 1985 Annual World's Best SF by John Dalmas, Ian Watson, Connie Willis, George Alec Effinger, Gary W. Shockley, Donald A. Wollheim, John Varley, Tanith Lee, Octavia E. Butler, Stephen R. Donaldson, Lucius Shepard
2.5
this was such a mixed bag and included maybe one of my most hated short stories i've ever read, and then i looked up the author and realized he won a hugo for it. john varley i will not forgive you for how shockingly racist and misogynistic 'Press Enter' was. the other stories i could see the racism coming and brace for it but that one was so sudden in its racism it really took me by surprise. the plot had something interesting going on but was ruined by just how poorly written the woman was and how much i had to read about her breast implants.
the only stories I really enjoyed from this were 'Cash Crop' by Connie Willis (about a human colony living on another planet struggling with lack of resources and complete neglect from their governing body as disease tears through their population. follows a young girl and explores her complicated relationships with her family, her community, and herself) and 'Bloodchild' by Octavia E. Butler (explores themes of colonization and bodily autonomy through a group of humans owned by a race of aliens and how those aliens use the humans to procreate. really interesting and gnarly little story). everything else was boring to bad, and there were a couple i had to skim to get through.
the only stories I really enjoyed from this were 'Cash Crop' by Connie Willis (about a human colony living on another planet struggling with lack of resources and complete neglect from their governing body as disease tears through their population. follows a young girl and explores her complicated relationships with her family, her community, and herself) and 'Bloodchild' by Octavia E. Butler (explores themes of colonization and bodily autonomy through a group of humans owned by a race of aliens and how those aliens use the humans to procreate. really interesting and gnarly little story). everything else was boring to bad, and there were a couple i had to skim to get through.