The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection

by Gardner Dozois

Overview

From Cyberspace to outer space, from the Dark Continent to the speed of light, the dozens of stories in this terrific collection represent the year's finest offerings in imaginative fiction.

Among the twenty-eight tales assembled here are:
The Land of Nod, Mike Resnick's powerful tale of the orbital space colony Kirinyaga and how the old ways conflict with the new.
Foreign Devils, Walter Jon Williams's exotic revision of the War of the Worlds Martian Invasion.
Red Sonja and Lessingham in Dreamland, Gwyneth Jones's unpredictable venture into the frightening territory of on-line romance.
Death Do Us Part, Robert Silverberg's masterful tale of love in the future.

In addition, there are two dozen more stories from today's and tomorrow's brightest stars, including, William Barton, Stephen Baxter, Gregory Benford, James P. Blaylock, Damien Broderick, Michael Cassutt, Jim Cowan, Tony Daniel, Gregory Feeley, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Jonathan Lethem, Ian McDonald, Maureen F. McHugh, Paul Park, Robert Reed, Charles Sheffield, Bud Sparhawk, Bruce Sterling, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Cherry Wilder, Gene Wolfe.

Rounding out the volume are a long list of Honorable Mentions and Gardner Dozois's comprehensive survey of the year in science fiction.

In all, the stories assembled here will take you as far as technology, imagination, and hope can go. Climb aboard.

"Highly recommended."--Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466829534
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/15/1997
Series:	Year's Best Science Fiction Series , #14
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	624
Sales rank:	876,942
File size:	990 KB

About the Author

Gardner Dozois (1947-2018), one of the most acclaimed editors in science-fiction, has won the Hugo Award for Best Editor 15 times. He was the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine for 20 years. He is the editor of The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies and co-editor of the Warrior anthologies, Songs of the Dying Earth, and many others. As a writer, Dozois twice won the Nebula Award for best short story. He lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Gardner Dozois (1947-2018), one of the most acclaimed editors in science-fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Editor 15 times. He was the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine for 20 years. He also served as the editor of The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies and co-editor of the Warrior anthologies, Songs of the Dying Earth, and many others. As a writer, Dozois twice won the Nebula Award for best short story. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2011 and received the Skylark Award for Lifetime Achievement. He lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Summation: 1996
Immersion / Gregory Benford
The Dead / Michael Swanwick
The Flowers of Aulit Prison / Nancy Kress
A Dry, Quiet War / Tony Daniel
Thirteen Phantasms / James P. Blaylock
Primrose and Thorn / Bud Sparhawk
The Miracle Of Ivar Avenue / John Kessel
The Last Homosexual / Paul Park
Recording Angel / Ian McDonald
Death Do Us Part / Robert Silverberg
The Spade of Reason / Jim Cowan
The Cost to be Wise / Maureen F. McHugh
Bicycle Repairman / Bruce Sterling
The Weighing of Ayre / Gregory Feeley
The Longer Voyage / Michael Cassutt
The Land of Nod / Mike Resnick
Red Sonja and Lessingham in Dreamland / Gwyneth Jones
The Lady Vanishes / Charles Sheffield
Chrysalis / Robert Reed
The Wind Over the World / Steven Utley
Changes / William Barton
Counting Cats in Zanzibar / Gene Wolfe
How We Got in Town and Out Again / Jonathan Lethem
Dr. Tilmann's Consultant: A Scientific Romance / Cherry Wilder
Schrodinger's Dog / Damien Broderick
Foreign Devils / Walter Jon Williams
In the MSOB / Stephen Baxter
The Robot's Twilight Companion / Tony Daniel
Honorable Mentions: 1996

Editorial Reviews

Dozois's Year's Best, like any successful representative of a large constituency, sometimes suffers from blandness and inconsistency. As usual, it's oversized23 stories, nearly 600 pagesand includes a variety of types of SF as well as near-horror, fantasy and humor. Five of the stories are final nominees for Nebulas, and two new ``Hainish'' stories by Ursula LeGuin were nominated for Tiptree Awards; ``The Matter of Segrri'' won. No story here is less than competent and professional; but, with a few exceptions, there is a voiceless sameness in the writing, practically a house style, that over so many pages grows tedious. (Nearly half the stories, by page count, come from the Dozois-edited Asimov's Science Fiction.) A number are flawed (``hard'' SF stories about ``aliens'' that think just like humans) or unremarkable, but these are outweighed by many fine pieces and by standouts such as LeGuin's ``Forgiveness Day,'' perhaps the best story in the book; Eliot Fintushel's ``New Wave''-like ``Ylem''; William Sanders's ``Going After Old Man Alabama'' and Terry Bisson's ``The Hole in the Hole,'' both of which are winning and funny; Katherine Kerr's chilling ``Asylum''; and Michael Bishop's grand and humane ``Cri de Coeur.'' Dozois's intelligently and ably put-together anthology does its stated job as well as any one book or editor could. Even with competition, it would still be the best of the Best. (July)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

This annual anthology remains the best one-stop shop for short fiction, and it's a must for fans of literary SF. The notion of intelligence links several stories. Nancy Kress, in "Computer Virus," posits an intelligent computer program trying to save its life, but it does so by risking that of a child. The dense and busy "Lobsters" by Charles Stross considers the implications of denying intelligent uploaded constructs here, of lobsters human rights or autonomy. Michael Blumlein's zany "Know How, Can Do," easily the best story, posits a self-aware worm linked to a human brain, told from the point of view of the worm, "Flowers for Algernon"-style, as it acquires human intelligence, language and emotions. Alternative realities remain a productive theme. In "The Two Dicks," Paul McAuley posits an alternative reality where Philip K. Dick, who in this world wrote mainstream fiction instead of SF, meets Nixon. Ken MacLeod's ambitious, character-driven "The Human Front," set in an alternative reality just a little different from ours, describes a man's growth toward adulthood in a war-torn Britain. Dan Simmons, Alastair Reynolds, Maureen F. McHugh and Paul Di Filippo also contribute especially memorable tales. Although one could quibble with Dozois's choices and there are one or two clunkers in here this anthology is an enjoyable read that overall maintains high standards of quality and variety. It's essential for SF fans who simply don't have time to separate the wheat from the chaff on their own. (July 23) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

From David Marusek's tale of a future where reality's borders collide with the unreal ("The Wedding Album") to Kage Baker's latest novella featuring the time-traveling "Company" ("Son Observe the Time"), the 27 stories in this annual collection bear witness to the vitality of the sf short story. Including tales by Tanith Lee, Frederick Pohl, Hal Clement, Michael Swanwick, and others, this volume displays the best and brightest of the genre to good advantage. Suitable for most sf or short story collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Library Journal

Since the first 10 years ago, Dozois' ample annual anthologies have become reliable showcases of superior sf craftsmanship that surpass all other such annuals in both scope and variety. In the latest, Dozois assembles the usual broad range of authors, from stellar figures such as Silverberg, Clark, and Wilhelm to relative newcomers who nevertheless register here as major talents: Greg Egan, for instance, whose brilliant "Dust" recounts the short-lived experience of a self-conscious computer simulacrum and is, all by itself, worth the price of the entire anthology. Other entries outstandingly include a wry alternative history of the Americas in which the Chinese got there first, by L. Sprague de Camp, and a bizarre, "secret" view of the life of James Joyce by Ian McDonald. Prefacing each of the 28 stories is one of Dozois' brief but informative commentaries; a long list of "Honorable Mentions" is appended, and Dozois' yearly summation will grace the published volume. A must for enthusiasts of fine writing in any genre.

Carl Hays

As ever, Dozois leads his anthology with a homerun by Ian R. MacLeod and follows it with a second MacLeod, "Isabel of the Fall." Two dozen tales give ballast to this voyage into SF and fantastic realism, including MacLeod's "New Light on the Drake Equation," which takes place perhaps a century from now. The story turns on Tom Kelly, a fading SETI scientist who's on a French hilltop radio-scanning the heavens for First Contact and using as his guide the Drake Equation, which helps map the likely areas an alien culture might try to contact us from. The fallible equation is less certain than he is, but Tom has great assurance about contact-for a number of decades. During them, he's visited by his ex-lover, the star-crossed Terr, a hyperenthusiast who exhausts subjects that interest her and who left Tom to take up flying with wings attached to a newly improved back musculature (Tom took up drinking to pass the time). Aside from descriptions of marvelous scientific advances in personal grooming, little confronts the reader except many pages of fine writing about waiting, waiting, waiting. "Isabel of the Fall" is a future children's story looking back at the urchin Isabel, who was taken into the Dawn Church, became a Dawn singer, and had to climb the minaret daily to clean the great mirrors that collect light from heaven-until she had a great fall . . . Also outstanding: Dan Simmons's "On K2 with Kanakaredes," about a trio of climbers forced to accept the company of a bug-shaped, six-legged alien, Kanakaredes from Aldebaran, when they climb Everest. And not to be missed: Nancy Kress's "Computer Virus"-about a mother whose home is invaded by-well, check the title. True fiction. The pure stuff.

Kirkus Reviews

"Once again, Dozois serves up a pleasurable mix of established luminaries as well as the newer stars of the SF realm...The truth is that all of the twenty-four short stories or novellas are rewarding which is really the most outstanding feature of this collection." —Publishers Weekly

"Essential reading." --Kirkus Reviews

"Literate sophisticated, eclectic...Dozois puts together a strong colletion as always." —Locus

"The stories just keep getting better." —BookPage

From the Publisher