What do you think?
Rate this book
When the Great Days Come
Millions of tiny robots dismantle Atlantic City. A Luddite encounters time travelers near the moment of Singularity. A young boy may have just destroyed the entire Eastern Seaboard. By turns haunting and humorous, Gardner Dozois's acclaimed short fiction is finally collected in a definitive edition of his work. Including Nebula Award winners such as "Morning Child" and nominees "Disciples" and "A Dream at Noonday," When the Great Days Come is a must for any science fiction reader. When the Great Days Come proves that Dozois is not just one of science fiction's best editors of short fiction, but one of its best writers as well.
Contents
15 • Introduction (When the Great Days Come) • (2011) • essay by Robert Silverberg
21 • Counterfactual • (2006) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
38 • The Hanging Curve • (2002) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
48 • Recidivist • (2010) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
63 • When the Great Days Came • (2005) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
68 • The Peacemaker • (1983) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
83 • Fairy Tale • (2003) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
97 • Chains of the Sea • (1973) • novella by Gardner Dozois
148 • Solace • (1989) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
157 • A Cat Horror Story • (1994) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
164 • Disciples • (1981) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
173 • Ancestral Voices • (1998) • novella by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick
226 • Dinner Party • (1984) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
240 • A Dream at Noonday • (1970) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
251 • A Special Kind of Morning • (1971) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
287 • Morning Child • (1984) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
294 • A Kingdom by the Sea • (1972) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
315 • Community • (1996) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
323 • A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows • (1999) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
Contents
15 • Introduction (When the Great Days Come) • (2011) • essay by Robert Silverberg
21 • Counterfactual • (2006) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
38 • The Hanging Curve • (2002) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
48 • Recidivist • (2010) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
63 • When the Great Days Came • (2005) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
68 • The Peacemaker • (1983) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
83 • Fairy Tale • (2003) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
97 • Chains of the Sea • (1973) • novella by Gardner Dozois
148 • Solace • (1989) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
157 • A Cat Horror Story • (1994) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
164 • Disciples • (1981) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
173 • Ancestral Voices • (1998) • novella by Gardner Dozois and Michael Swanwick
226 • Dinner Party • (1984) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
240 • A Dream at Noonday • (1970) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
251 • A Special Kind of Morning • (1971) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
287 • Morning Child • (1984) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
294 • A Kingdom by the Sea • (1972) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
315 • Community • (1996) • shortstory by Gardner Dozois
323 • A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows • (1999) • novelette by Gardner Dozois
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
21 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Gardner Dozois
646 books362 followersGardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine from 1984 to 2004. He won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards, both as an editor and a writer of short fiction.
Wikipedia entry: Gardner Dozois
http://us.macmillan.com/author/gardne...
Wikipedia entry: Gardner Dozois
http://us.macmillan.com/author/gardne...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 10, 2012
I’ve doubtless read many works of fiction that have passed through Gardner Dozois’ hands as an editor. Until now, however, I don’t recall reading any of his own fiction. I’ve remedied this by snatching When the Great Days Come from the New Books shelf at my library. I like anthologies, I really do, but as a novel lover first and foremost, I always find myself overcoming a certain prejudice towards shorter fiction. Fortunately, Dozois makes that prejudice easy to overcome in this case.
One advantage to the anthology of a single author’s work is the insight it provides into that author’s recurring motifs and themes. Every writer has them, some more obviously so than others, and short stories often reveal them more boldly than the lengthier, multi-faceted narratives of novels. I noticed several recurring motifs in Dozois’ work—he is fond of brownstones as the habitations for his main characters, who are often socially isolated, everymen who have a weird or astounding encounter with the Other.
Dozois’ stories almost always concern the clash between the human worldview and the Other worldview. Sometimes this manifests itself as tales of first contact: “Chains of the Sea”, where the spaceships land and make contact with the masters of Earth—not humanity, nor our AI children; “Ancestral Voices”, where an accident during landing turns an alien ambassador bearing messages of peace into a crazed, electromagnetic monster. Other times it involves the conflict between humanity and posthumanity (“Recidivist”, “A Kingdom by the Sea”, “A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows”). He’s also a master at switching up perspectives, taking us inside the mind of a rat (“When the Great Days Came”) and even cats (“A Cat Horror Story”).
A few of Dozois’ stories also deal with tensions within the United States, particularly between North and South. I’m neither American nor very familiar with American history, so some of the subtleties here escape me. In “Counterfactual”, Dozois posits an alternative history where the General Lee refused to surrender, complete with a writer imagining a universe where Lee did. In “Dinner Party”, economic recession reignites the hostilities between North and South, while in “The Peacemaker” and “Community”, two different visions of extremist religion co-opting government play out. (These are a little uncomfortable even these days, given some of the hypocritical rhetoric coming out of certain parts of the American political arena.) These weren’t my favourite stories (though “Counterfactual” is a really fun thought experiment), but I did find Dozois’ conjecture about how the United States might implode in times of economic or natural catastrophe fascinating.
To single out one story for commentary, though, let me point to “Chains of the Sea”. I like it because it doesn’t try to be too overbearing in its “humans are not in charge” theme. Aliens land in their impenetrable, inscrutable spaceships. Humans can’t make contact; the AIs, who are somewhat more intelligent than they allow their human masters to believe, can’t make contact. Interspersed with narration of how the various governments and authorities are trying to deal with this crisis, there are scenes that follow Tommy, a young boy who sees Other People (fairy folk!). Obviously these two plots must be related in some way, but it’s not entirely clear how at first, so I had to have faith. Gradually, though, I was intrigued by the fatalistic tone of the story—the idea that humans might one day meet their end not of our own doing but simply because another species, one that barely recognizes we are here, decides they want the planet. Add to this the idea of all these other species that have lived here, undetected, for all human history … and that makes a pretty interesting story.
Dozois’ writing style is heavy in narration and light in dialogue. Many of these stories, in fact, have almost no dialogue at all. Rather, he will spend pages and pages describing a character’s thoughts or actions. Many of the stories involve loner characters who spend most of the narrative isolated from other beings. I haven’t read any of Dozois’ novels, so I don’t know if they are similar in style, and I’m not sure I’d enjoy reading an entire novel with paragraphs of such dense description. However, for short stories, one only needs to look to the majority of this collection to see that it works fine. I didn’t like every story—for example, I found “Morning Child” difficult to follow or enjoy—but the gems here definitely outweigh any of the less-than-sterling items.
When the Great Days Come is a great anthology by a great science-fiction writer. I’m glad I pulled it off the shelf. Like most anthologies, it’s uneven in its quality. But it makes up for that with a few stellar stories and a very consistent tone—one of humanity embroiled in constant conflict, the fight for survival, with our darker impulses always essential to our salvation. Gardner Dozois spins a good tale and has a top-notch imagination.
One advantage to the anthology of a single author’s work is the insight it provides into that author’s recurring motifs and themes. Every writer has them, some more obviously so than others, and short stories often reveal them more boldly than the lengthier, multi-faceted narratives of novels. I noticed several recurring motifs in Dozois’ work—he is fond of brownstones as the habitations for his main characters, who are often socially isolated, everymen who have a weird or astounding encounter with the Other.
Dozois’ stories almost always concern the clash between the human worldview and the Other worldview. Sometimes this manifests itself as tales of first contact: “Chains of the Sea”, where the spaceships land and make contact with the masters of Earth—not humanity, nor our AI children; “Ancestral Voices”, where an accident during landing turns an alien ambassador bearing messages of peace into a crazed, electromagnetic monster. Other times it involves the conflict between humanity and posthumanity (“Recidivist”, “A Kingdom by the Sea”, “A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows”). He’s also a master at switching up perspectives, taking us inside the mind of a rat (“When the Great Days Came”) and even cats (“A Cat Horror Story”).
A few of Dozois’ stories also deal with tensions within the United States, particularly between North and South. I’m neither American nor very familiar with American history, so some of the subtleties here escape me. In “Counterfactual”, Dozois posits an alternative history where the General Lee refused to surrender, complete with a writer imagining a universe where Lee did. In “Dinner Party”, economic recession reignites the hostilities between North and South, while in “The Peacemaker” and “Community”, two different visions of extremist religion co-opting government play out. (These are a little uncomfortable even these days, given some of the hypocritical rhetoric coming out of certain parts of the American political arena.) These weren’t my favourite stories (though “Counterfactual” is a really fun thought experiment), but I did find Dozois’ conjecture about how the United States might implode in times of economic or natural catastrophe fascinating.
To single out one story for commentary, though, let me point to “Chains of the Sea”. I like it because it doesn’t try to be too overbearing in its “humans are not in charge” theme. Aliens land in their impenetrable, inscrutable spaceships. Humans can’t make contact; the AIs, who are somewhat more intelligent than they allow their human masters to believe, can’t make contact. Interspersed with narration of how the various governments and authorities are trying to deal with this crisis, there are scenes that follow Tommy, a young boy who sees Other People (fairy folk!). Obviously these two plots must be related in some way, but it’s not entirely clear how at first, so I had to have faith. Gradually, though, I was intrigued by the fatalistic tone of the story—the idea that humans might one day meet their end not of our own doing but simply because another species, one that barely recognizes we are here, decides they want the planet. Add to this the idea of all these other species that have lived here, undetected, for all human history … and that makes a pretty interesting story.
Dozois’ writing style is heavy in narration and light in dialogue. Many of these stories, in fact, have almost no dialogue at all. Rather, he will spend pages and pages describing a character’s thoughts or actions. Many of the stories involve loner characters who spend most of the narrative isolated from other beings. I haven’t read any of Dozois’ novels, so I don’t know if they are similar in style, and I’m not sure I’d enjoy reading an entire novel with paragraphs of such dense description. However, for short stories, one only needs to look to the majority of this collection to see that it works fine. I didn’t like every story—for example, I found “Morning Child” difficult to follow or enjoy—but the gems here definitely outweigh any of the less-than-sterling items.
When the Great Days Come is a great anthology by a great science-fiction writer. I’m glad I pulled it off the shelf. Like most anthologies, it’s uneven in its quality. But it makes up for that with a few stellar stories and a very consistent tone—one of humanity embroiled in constant conflict, the fight for survival, with our darker impulses always essential to our salvation. Gardner Dozois spins a good tale and has a top-notch imagination.
September 15, 2011
...As I mentioned earlier, I thought almost all of these stories were very well written from a technical point of view. They were very well paced in particular. Structured so as not to give the twist of the story away too early. The tone of most of them is very dark though, making When the Great Days Come a somewhat depressing read. That being said, I like the way in which Dozois delivers the punch of his stories. The endings are often ambiguous, yet fit the tales perfectly. They leave the reader to mull over the larger theme of the story, rather than the fate of the main character as often as not. Some readers may find his style a bit verbose at some points but that was not something that bothered me in any of these stories. When the Great Days Come is a great collection. It took me longer than I expected to make my way though it, but is was reading time well spent.
Full Random Comments review
Full Random Comments review
May 20, 2013
Easily the best written, most depressing collection of short stories I've ever read.
January 25, 2026
It took me 24 hours to bounce off this book. I got through four stories in the collection and did not enjoy any of them. A big part of the problem is that Dozois was considered one of the very best science fiction editors, winning 15 Hugo awards for editing. He was reportedly equally skilled at writing. So I was expecting to read some top quality science fiction.
What I got was page after page of descriptive sentences. None of which may be characterized as science fiction. There was virtually no dialog at all. Which is okay, some authors do this very well. This wasn't the part that I bounced off of. There just wasn't any science fiction in there. There was a civil war counterfactual, (labeled unimaginatively "Counterfactual"); a story about baseball that performed a miracle; a story in which post-singularity AIs routinely break the laws of physics without explanation and for no reason at all; and a day in the life of an ordinary rat.
Now counterfactuals are science fiction adjacent, in that they describe alternative realities and parallel worlds in some kind of rigorous fashion. Or they can just be "what-if" stories, challenging the reader to guess at what point in history things had changed, but otherwise giving no explanation. That's what we have here, a what-if story. Nothing wrong with that, but Phillip K. Dick did it better in 1962.
There is nothing science fictional about a baseball that freezes in mid-air and stops moving, as described in "The Hanging Curve". It could have been made into a science fiction story with a proper exploration of the idea. Here it was just presented as a miracle.
You may think that a story about post-human AIs is inherently science fiction. It is certainly a science fiction trope. But in "Recidivist", the idea was presented without examination, and without logic. Anything can happen at any time, for no reason, because hey, AI, right? That's not even good fantasy.
Finally "When the Great Days Came" presents us with an ordinary rat, scrambling around New York City. What makes it science fiction? Well, there's an asteroid strike at the end.
I quit.
I take an admittedly simplistic approach to science fiction. It is fiction about science. That's how it started anyway, when the term was first used. The term has since been stretched to include quite a lot of things that aren't related to science. But if they include the tropes that were originally developed in earlier science fiction stories, then they get to wear the badge. Tropes like space ships, aliens, interplanetary civilizations, robots, and so on. But this is a bit like camouflage. Is a story science fiction because it wears the clothing of science fiction? Most people say yes. What's the difference, really? Well, an Orchid Mantis looks just like an orchid, but is it an orchid, or just a pretty bug? Sometimes there is a difference between what a thing looks like and what it is. Science fiction presents the reader with an idea, and examines the implications of that idea from various angles. If a writer presents us with an idea, and says, "boy isn't that weird?" does that make it science fiction? I'd argue against it. If a rat witnesses an asteroid hitting the earth, does that make it a science fiction story? If super-intelligent AIs play with reality like taffy, is that automatically science fiction? I don't think so. This is the author salting his weird tales with science fiction tropes, without going to the trouble of examining them in any meaningful way.
Lots of people like that stuff. Indeed this may be the book for you. For me this sort of abstraction is a waste of time.
What I got was page after page of descriptive sentences. None of which may be characterized as science fiction. There was virtually no dialog at all. Which is okay, some authors do this very well. This wasn't the part that I bounced off of. There just wasn't any science fiction in there. There was a civil war counterfactual, (labeled unimaginatively "Counterfactual"); a story about baseball that performed a miracle; a story in which post-singularity AIs routinely break the laws of physics without explanation and for no reason at all; and a day in the life of an ordinary rat.
Now counterfactuals are science fiction adjacent, in that they describe alternative realities and parallel worlds in some kind of rigorous fashion. Or they can just be "what-if" stories, challenging the reader to guess at what point in history things had changed, but otherwise giving no explanation. That's what we have here, a what-if story. Nothing wrong with that, but Phillip K. Dick did it better in 1962.
There is nothing science fictional about a baseball that freezes in mid-air and stops moving, as described in "The Hanging Curve". It could have been made into a science fiction story with a proper exploration of the idea. Here it was just presented as a miracle.
You may think that a story about post-human AIs is inherently science fiction. It is certainly a science fiction trope. But in "Recidivist", the idea was presented without examination, and without logic. Anything can happen at any time, for no reason, because hey, AI, right? That's not even good fantasy.
Finally "When the Great Days Came" presents us with an ordinary rat, scrambling around New York City. What makes it science fiction? Well, there's an asteroid strike at the end.
I quit.
I take an admittedly simplistic approach to science fiction. It is fiction about science. That's how it started anyway, when the term was first used. The term has since been stretched to include quite a lot of things that aren't related to science. But if they include the tropes that were originally developed in earlier science fiction stories, then they get to wear the badge. Tropes like space ships, aliens, interplanetary civilizations, robots, and so on. But this is a bit like camouflage. Is a story science fiction because it wears the clothing of science fiction? Most people say yes. What's the difference, really? Well, an Orchid Mantis looks just like an orchid, but is it an orchid, or just a pretty bug? Sometimes there is a difference between what a thing looks like and what it is. Science fiction presents the reader with an idea, and examines the implications of that idea from various angles. If a writer presents us with an idea, and says, "boy isn't that weird?" does that make it science fiction? I'd argue against it. If a rat witnesses an asteroid hitting the earth, does that make it a science fiction story? If super-intelligent AIs play with reality like taffy, is that automatically science fiction? I don't think so. This is the author salting his weird tales with science fiction tropes, without going to the trouble of examining them in any meaningful way.
Lots of people like that stuff. Indeed this may be the book for you. For me this sort of abstraction is a waste of time.
October 24, 2017
The man is clearly one of the great editors of our time, but as an author, he's not really one of the greats. His prose is magnificent, but the 'grand ideas' that have caused me to love science fiction so much in the first place, just don't seem to be there. There's a wonderful take on the Cinderella story, but his alternate past novel, his 'Cat Horror Story', 'Community', etc. all left me with the thought that I'd read something very, very similar before. The ideas weren't really new, just fleshed out in different ways. Well written, but no breakthrough concepts that made me go, 'Damn, what a great and thoughtful new idea, I'm going to have to run that over in my mind for a while to see what I really think'. And I kind of need that in my sci-fi-fi.
"Pessimism's just the commonsense knowledge that there's more ways for something to go wrong than for it to go right, from our point of view anyway- which is not necessarily that of the management, or of the mechanism, if you prefer your cosmos depersonalized."
"Pessimism's just the commonsense knowledge that there's more ways for something to go wrong than for it to go right, from our point of view anyway- which is not necessarily that of the management, or of the mechanism, if you prefer your cosmos depersonalized."
March 16, 2024
Truly one of the worst anthologies I have ever read!
For all the hoopla about his writing - well, some of it is lovely. Problem is it obscures the story - when there is one. In one story he spent 4 pages of description on a single thing. Please!
Not even sure I would call a lot of this sci-fi.
And for all the editors these stories must have been through over the years, it was rife with mistakes. Everything from calling one of his characters the wrong name, spelling, grammar, sentence construction, and the most frequent, when it looks as if he changed his mind about a certain word or phrase, popped in the new one, but failed to take the old one out.
A hot mess, for sure.
For all the hoopla about his writing - well, some of it is lovely. Problem is it obscures the story - when there is one. In one story he spent 4 pages of description on a single thing. Please!
Not even sure I would call a lot of this sci-fi.
And for all the editors these stories must have been through over the years, it was rife with mistakes. Everything from calling one of his characters the wrong name, spelling, grammar, sentence construction, and the most frequent, when it looks as if he changed his mind about a certain word or phrase, popped in the new one, but failed to take the old one out.
A hot mess, for sure.
July 3, 2022
These stories were all interesting and well-written. I found my interest sometimes flagged on some of the longer or more experimental stories, and that's the reason I didn't rate it higher. Also, although there wasn't a bad story here, I did find some stories took a long time to get where they were going. But it was a good collection and I enjoyed reading it for the most part, and I'm glad that I did.
April 11, 2020
I've a fair few volumes of Mr Dozois as an editor lying around, but this is my first encounter with his short stories.
They're ok as far as they go, the tend to be high on narrative and very straight line; not that there's anything wrong with that but, honestly, the dust cover blurbs don't match the contents.
A pleasant, if unremarkable, way to spend a few hours.
They're ok as far as they go, the tend to be high on narrative and very straight line; not that there's anything wrong with that but, honestly, the dust cover blurbs don't match the contents.
A pleasant, if unremarkable, way to spend a few hours.
January 2, 2019
One of the best short story writers of this genre. This collection of Dozois' work has several of my all-time favorite short stories.
June 4, 2021
Collection of some of the most imaginative, interesting science fiction short stories I've read. Beautiful writing , melancholy and darkly humourous.
July 31, 2023
Good collection of short stories in sci-fi, fantasy and alternate history.
Read
January 15, 2016Gardner Dozois isn't the most prolific science fiction writer, but he's certainly one of the most gifted. Best known as the long-time editor of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Dozois has quietly earned a reputation as an eloquently vivid storyteller and in his third and latest collection he definitely doesn't disappoint. Comprised of 18 imaginative tales including Nebula winners "Morning Child" and "The Peacemaker," this combination of recent writing and "best of" selections ranges from classic fantasy, alternative history, horror, and hard sci-fi as Dozois wrestles with the complexities of religious belief and life in human society. However, it's not only this versatility and the provocative plot lines of gems like "Counterfactual" and "Community" that make Dozois and this collection stand out in the genre. Along with his nimble creativity, Dozois is an uncommonly lyrical literary craftsman with a finely-tuned ear for dialogue and a knack for bringing fully-formed characters to life. Whether you're a sci-fi aficionado or new to the genre, When the Great Days Come is highly recommended. (Russell J., Readers' Services)
November 16, 2014
I can see why Dozois is a slow writer. He really only has a few stories to tell, and he can tell them in the short format with beautiful spare language. This collection is a wonderful read, painting a masterful dichotomy between what it means to be human and the clash with the future. His aliens are really alien, his technology is fantastic and sublime (especially the AIs), and the humans caught between are genuine. It's tough to pick a favorite story - "Ancestral Voices" (cowritten with Michael Swanwick) is the most distinctive, adding the element of tense action to his usual themes. "The Hanging Curve" is hilarious and "When the Great Days Came" is, in addition to being completely grounded, a punch in the gut that haunts me. If you have strong religious feelings, "Community" and "The Peacemaker" may bother you, or make you think, depending. All in all, everything you could hope for in a science-fiction collection.
March 3, 2013
A few of the short stories in this collection are really first-rate, and those are enough to make it a worthwhile read, but too many of them are self-consciously "literary" in a bad way. Dozois has built a reputation as one of the best science fiction short story editors, and in this case, he would have benefited from someone like himself to help winnow this down to a shorter, stronger collection.
Read
January 10, 2016As with many editor/writers (C.C. Finley comes to mind), Dezois' strengths as an editor show in his writing. His prose is sharp and often memorable.
But the wide-ranging stories collected here are uniformly dystopian, and I found myself put off by all that doom and gloom.
But the wide-ranging stories collected here are uniformly dystopian, and I found myself put off by all that doom and gloom.
August 9, 2012
AN interesting collection of short stories.
September 10, 2012
A mix of stories going from the very good to boring. Nothing is really bad but some are very good.
November 27, 2012
Dozois is obviously better known as an editor, but these are really well-done little gems with a fascinating bleakness to them.
January 5, 2014
Rarely have I enjoyed a collection of stories so much. Beautifully written fiction with varying degrees of sci-fi elements.
December 30, 2014
Yet another anthology for 2014. Likely the last book of 2014. Typical anthology work, some good, some bad.
June 9, 2016
pretty good if a bit verbose at times
August 27, 2020
Visions of the present and future both bleak and beautiful. Every story hits hard.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews