The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection

by Gardner Dozois (Editor)

Overview

This latest volume of The Year's Best Science Fiction carries on the proud tradition, with stories by Lucius Shepard, Orson Scott Card, Damon Knight, Pat Cadigan, Robert Silverberg, Somtown Sucharitkul, Tanith Lee, Scott Baker, Michael Swanwick, John Kessel, Richard Kearns, Greg Bear, Bruce Sterling, Jack Dann, Tim Powers, James Patrick Kelly, Connie Willis, Harry Turtledove, Howard Waldrop, Walter Jon Williams, Neal Barret, Jr., Lewis Shiner, Judith Moffett, Kim Stanley Robinson, Tom Maddox, Karen Joy Fowler, William Gibson. More than any other anthology, this volume truly is the best science fiction of the year--the single book no SF fan can be without.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466829923
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/15/1987
Series:	Year's Best Science Fiction Series , #4
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	678
Sales rank:	1,046,101
File size:	860 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: 1986
R&R / Lucius Shepard
Hatrack River / Orson Scott Card
Strangers On Paradise / Damon Knight
Pretty Boy Crossover / Pat Cadigan
Against Babylon / Robert Silverberg
Fiddling for Waterbuffaloes / S. P. Somtow
Into Gold / Tanith Lee
Sea Change / Scott Baker
Covenant of Souls / Michael Swanwick
The Pure Product / John Kessel
Grave Angels / Richard Kearns
Tangents / Greg Bear
The Beautiful and the Sublime / Bruce Sterling
Tattoos / Jack Dann
Night Moves / Tim Powers
The Prisoner of Chillon / James Patrick Kelly
Chance / Connie Willis
And So to Bed / Harry Turtledove
Fair Game / Howard Waldrop
Video Star / Walter Jon Williams
Sallie C. / Neal Barrett Jr.
Jeff Beck / Lewis Shiner
Surviving / Judith Moffett
Down and Out in the Year 2000 / Kim Stanley Robinson
Snake-Eyes / Tom Maddox
The Gate of Ghosts / Karen Joy Fowler
The Winter Market / William Gibson
Honorable Mentions: 1986

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