A collection of the best of the fiction and poetry that earned 1999 Nebula Awards, bestowed by the Sciencefiction and Fantasy Writers of America, includes original essays on the latest achievements in the genre and stories by Jane Yolen, Joe Haldeman, Geoffrey A. Landis, and other notables. Simultaneous.
Gregory Benford is an American science fiction author and astrophysicist who is on the faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.
As a science fiction author, Benford is best known for the Galactic Center Saga novels, beginning with In the Ocean of Night (1977). This series postulates a galaxy in which sentient organic life is in constant warfare with sentient mechanical life.
Aside from the Nebula winners (which I read long ago), I recommend Geoffrey Landis' 'Winter Fire,' which displaces the horrors of Yugoslavian dissolution on 22nd century Salzburg, and Walter Jon Williams' 'Lethe,' where loss among a set of clone couples is handled sensitively. If you bother to read the whining (and counter polemics) about the state of the art and business, then also read the essay by William Tenn [Phil Klass] where he amusingly defines the essence of SF as 'quarrelsomeness.'
A rather ho-hum collection for a showcase. The histories of science fiction were kinda interesting, but I've read better ones in earlier anthologies. About the only story I thought interesting was Catherine Asard's The Spacetime Pool and the chapter excerpts from Ursula K. Le Guin's Powers novel, which I do want to pick up and read. As for the rest, I'll wait and see what next year brings.