The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection

I recently have been using the kindle app on an iphone, and picked this up as this series has been a yearly purchase for me since about the 14th edition. I have read the first few stories, and liked what I've read. What I don't like is the lack of a table of contents, or any way to jump between stories. No offense to Mr. Dozois, but I usually (at best) skim his introduction detailing what happened in the world of SF in the past year, both in the printed word, and on the silver screen. I couldn't skip it on the kindle edition and had to simply turn the pages until I got to the first story. I've since been adding my own bookmarks at the beginning of each story.

BOOK ARRIVED TIMELY AND IN EXCELLENT CONDITION> STORIES ARE WONDERFUL> WOULD ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN>

Gardner Dozois gives us the grand tour of top-notch science fiction stories from 2008. As in previous anthologies, he treats readers to a chapter-length summation of developments in the field during 2008, a set of well-chosen stories, and an impressive list of "Honorable Mentions" that motivated readers can track down and enjoy. I read all 30 stories and felt my time was well-spent with each one. My six favorites from this year's collection all deal with our humanity, skillfully using the innovations of technology and the wonders of other worlds to examine our hearts: Ted Kosmatka's "N-Words" explores love, pain and prejudice in a relationship between a woman and one of modern man's closest cousins. Karl Schroeder's "The Hero" tells the story of a boy who pays forward a kindness. Mary Robinnette Kowal's "Evil Robot Monkey" asks whether animals are made more human by increasing their intelligence or increasing our empathy. Greg Egan's "Crystal Nights" shows that the evolution of a new species can be more effective and efficient if the right man is in charge. Garth Nix's "Old Friends" shows us that our roots are at home, even when we don't want to return there. Ian McDonald's "The Tear" is an action- and concept-packed tale of childhood friendship under change--after change, after change. This collection is highly recommended. I enjoyed it all the more as a "guilty pleasure" read on my iPhone Kindle app while those around me assumed I was scheduling or engaging in some other grown-up activity.

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Edited by Gardner Dozois. As usual, Dozois has rounded up mostly excellent stories, whether or not one can ever objectively define "best" (average story quality, in my judgment, comes out to 4.13 out of 5, in this anthology). Also, as in previous years, the huge Summation at the beginning lays out the current condition of science fiction in exquisite detail. For that, I'm adding a bonus to the 4.13 story-average, bringing the final rating up to 5 out of 5. Key: ++ = Excellent story, would unhesitatingly include it in my own "year's best"... if I had one. + = Thought it was good, certainly worth reading, maybe not a definite pick for my own "year's best"... o = Not bad, but had little effect on me. - = Actively disliked it. -- = Wish I hadn't read it! "Turing's Apples." Stephen Baxter. Sibling rivalry and first contact. One of Baxter's best so far. ++ "From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled." Michael Swanwick. A man among bug-eyed aliens who deal in trust. Typically Swanwick: full of irony and a boatload of postmodern literary tricks. Quite entertaining, though. + "The Gambler." Paolo Bacigalupi. News reporter takes big gamble on writing social-justice piece in hyper-capitalized information economy. Good character piece, less of a downer than the usual Bacigalupi. + "Boojum." Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette. Seat-of-your-pants swashbuckler on living pirate ship in outer space! Complete with a plucky heroine and a ship weirder than anything in Pirates of the Caribbean. + "The Six Directions of Space." Alastair Reynolds. Space-faring, multiverse-exploring Mongol Empire! Reynolds does it again: mind-blowing vastness of space and time, awesome scientific speculation, fine and subtle characterization. ++ "N-Words." Ted Kosmatka. Neanderthal clones suffer racist slurs. Kosmatka is a fine writer, but this one tries too hard to win my pity for the Neanderthals. o "An Eligible Boy." Ian McDonald. Jane Austen for guys in near-future India. Another fine writer turns to boring (though occasionally funny) social commentary. o "Shining Armour." Dominic Green. Boonie village has one huge secret weapon. I found myself cheering at the end. ++ "The Hero." Karl Schroeder. Young man goes on quest to save the world(s). Eye-popping descriptions and skilful plotting keep this one moving to an explosive finale. Adventure space-opera at its absolute best. ++ "Evil Robot Monkey." Mary Robinette Kowal. Evil Robot Monkey throws around... The End. - "Five Thrillers." Robert Reed. A thrilling story full of wonder and excitement, in five parts. The protagonist is bad-ass x5. Robert Reed is too: this guy gets a story published every two weeks (on average), including this rather long novella, and they're all either good or great. ++ "The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black." Jay Lake. Yeah.. the title makes more sense than the story. Lake is usually good, and maybe this is "go

This anthology always lives up to its title as there are thirty strong short stories with 628 pages of contributions included. The Summation of 2008 is a deep fascinating essay that focuses on the good with overall strong creative writings especially in book anthologies; and the bad being the collapse of several print magazines with those surviving cutting back the number of pages in each copy and reducing the number of releases per year. The stories are for the most part super but in spite of the rise of the on line magazines most of the compilation comes from print magazines and book anthologies. My personal favorites are those I had not previously read (thus I discount the excellent "Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, "The Gambler" by Paolo Bacogalupi, and "Eligible Boy" by Ian McDonald, etc.). "The Six Directions of Space" by Alastair Reynolds, "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed and the "Erdmann Nexus" by Nancy Kress are tremendous; the rest are quite good too. This collection with its Honorable Mention list and reference guide is a short story delight. Harriet Klausner