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The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection
This collection launched the popular and long-running "The Year's Best Science Fiction" series:
Fantastic Science Fiction!
The Year's Best -- And Biggest Collection
Here's the cream of the crop: short stories, novelettes, novellas by science fiction writers already famous and awarded for their high-quality work in science fiction. Writers like:
Poul Anderson
Joe Haldeman
Tanith Lee
George R.R. Martin
Robert Silverberg
James Tiptree, Jr.
Vernor Vinge
Gene Wolfe
Plus writers who are newer to the field, but just as excellent! These are the stories that will vie for the Hugo and Nebula Awards this year. And we've got them all! Not ten. Not twenty. 25 GREAT SF TALES.
Each one is chosen by renowned SF writer and editor Gardner R. Dozois. Among them are "Black Air" by Kim Stanley Robinson, "Blood Music" and "Hardfought" by Greg Bear, "Blind Shemmy" by Jack Dann, "Cicada Queen" by Bruce Sterling and "Slow Birds" by Ian Watson.
Fantastic Science Fiction!
The Year's Best -- And Biggest Collection
Here's the cream of the crop: short stories, novelettes, novellas by science fiction writers already famous and awarded for their high-quality work in science fiction. Writers like:
Poul Anderson
Joe Haldeman
Tanith Lee
George R.R. Martin
Robert Silverberg
James Tiptree, Jr.
Vernor Vinge
Gene Wolfe
Plus writers who are newer to the field, but just as excellent! These are the stories that will vie for the Hugo and Nebula Awards this year. And we've got them all! Not ten. Not twenty. 25 GREAT SF TALES.
Each one is chosen by renowned SF writer and editor Gardner R. Dozois. Among them are "Black Air" by Kim Stanley Robinson, "Blood Music" and "Hardfought" by Greg Bear, "Blind Shemmy" by Jack Dann, "Cicada Queen" by Bruce Sterling and "Slow Birds" by Ian Watson.
579 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 15, 1984
91 people are currently reading
918 people want to read
About the author
Gardner Dozois
645 books359 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...
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 26, 2018
I bought this book when I was a teenager, but only read a little bit of it way back then. So it feels like a wonderful full-circle moment to complete it now.
There are many strong stories in this volume, and no real clunkers. My favorite is Tanith Lee’s “Nunc Dimittis.” It’s the first story of hers I’ve ever read, and I was so impressed with her poetic voice, the lush moodiness and menace of her tale, and the aching heart that coursed through it.
Some of the work is uneven, and there is perhaps a bit too much of a sense that the writers at the time were wanting to build in reversals and twists for their own sake. But it’s a vivid time capsule of what was happening in the SFF field 35 years ago. I’m planning to make my way through all 35 volumes, honoring the exhaustive work that the late Gardner Dozois did to celebrate emerging and established voices in the genre I love so much.
There are many strong stories in this volume, and no real clunkers. My favorite is Tanith Lee’s “Nunc Dimittis.” It’s the first story of hers I’ve ever read, and I was so impressed with her poetic voice, the lush moodiness and menace of her tale, and the aching heart that coursed through it.
Some of the work is uneven, and there is perhaps a bit too much of a sense that the writers at the time were wanting to build in reversals and twists for their own sake. But it’s a vivid time capsule of what was happening in the SFF field 35 years ago. I’m planning to make my way through all 35 volumes, honoring the exhaustive work that the late Gardner Dozois did to celebrate emerging and established voices in the genre I love so much.
November 3, 2018
It’s always a bit difficult for me to rate story anthologies. So most of the time I just go for a felt average of the ratings I would have given the single stories. Yet this does not take into account the meticulous work that was put into the collection and presentation.
The stories would get a 3 stars average from me, the fourth is for Dozois.
The broad range of topics in this issue is wonderful, stretching from Bruce Sterling’s hard SF „Cicada Queen“ to Kim Stanley Robinson’s „Black Air“, a historical story with just a hint of magic. No matter in which direction the personal taste sways, there certainly will be a story to satisfy it.
For my special preferences the outstanding stories were:
„Slow Birds“ by Ian Watson, a beautiful and allegorical search for truth.
„Blood Music“ by Greg Bear, a ‚mad scientist‘ story with devastating consequences (I was told by English speaking readers that the writing here is very simple. Since I’m not very versed in English, this didn’t bother me, I loved the concept).
„Knight of Shallows“ by Rand B. Lee, a fast paced timetravel story that turns into soul-searching.
„Carrion Comfort“ by Dan Simmons, a brutal and misanthropic narration, that had me completely mesmerized.
„Gemstone“ by Vernor Vinge, a touching and quite different kind of First Contact.
And now on to the other 34 volumes in search for my personal short story gems.
The stories would get a 3 stars average from me, the fourth is for Dozois.
The broad range of topics in this issue is wonderful, stretching from Bruce Sterling’s hard SF „Cicada Queen“ to Kim Stanley Robinson’s „Black Air“, a historical story with just a hint of magic. No matter in which direction the personal taste sways, there certainly will be a story to satisfy it.
For my special preferences the outstanding stories were:
„Slow Birds“ by Ian Watson, a beautiful and allegorical search for truth.
„Blood Music“ by Greg Bear, a ‚mad scientist‘ story with devastating consequences (I was told by English speaking readers that the writing here is very simple. Since I’m not very versed in English, this didn’t bother me, I loved the concept).
„Knight of Shallows“ by Rand B. Lee, a fast paced timetravel story that turns into soul-searching.
„Carrion Comfort“ by Dan Simmons, a brutal and misanthropic narration, that had me completely mesmerized.
„Gemstone“ by Vernor Vinge, a touching and quite different kind of First Contact.
And now on to the other 34 volumes in search for my personal short story gems.
July 28, 2019
Crom bless ebooks for putting old collections like this within easy reach. If only I had the time to read everything I want to read...
Here’s some of the best SF short stories published in 1983, selected by the late, great Gardner Dozois, in the volume that kicked off his legendary year’s best series. A year where you get a peculiar mix of classic authors like Poul Anderson, R.A. Lafferty and Robert Silverberg, sharing space with newer authors at that time like Bruce Sterling, Greg Bear, Connie Willis, Kim Stanley Robinson, Dan Simmons and John Kessel. You also get outstanding authors that had already been established in the previous 10 years or so, like Gene Wolfe, James Tiptree Jr, Joe Haldeman, Ian Watson, George R.R. Martin, Jack Dann and Tanith Lee. As you can see from the list of names, this is a great SF collection.
Highlights for me were the stories from Kim Stanley Robinson (“Black Air”), Greg Bear (“Blood Music”), George R.R. Martin (“The Monkey Treatment”), Ian Watson (“Slow Birds”), Tanith Lee (“Nunc Dimittis”) and Connie Willis (“The Sidon in the Mirror”). But there’s so much more good stuff...
“Cicada Queen”, by Bruce Sterling (4 stars)
Nebula award-nominated for best novelette. The characters may be hystrionic, the dialogues confusing, the plot jagged, but the writing cracks your skull, and the atmosphere is as alien as the cicada queen from the title. Post-humanism at its best. It sounds cliche, but I don’t think they do stuff like this anymore. I wonder if we got better writing in SF but lost some of the wild imagination.
“Beyond the Dead Reef”, by James Tiptree, Jr. (3 stars)
A horror story with an ecologist motif set in the Caribbean Sea. Good writing, but not the best from Tiptree.
“Slow Birds”, by Ian Watson (5 stars)
An intriguing Hugo and Nebula award-nominated novelette set in an alternate reality where slow moving metal birds appear from time to time in unexpected places, and nobody knows what they are or where they come from. An interesting allegory.
“Vulcan’s Forge”, by Poul Anderson (3 stars)
Classic space age SF. Astronauts surveying an asteroid. As much as I like Poul Anderson’s work, this story fell flat, loaded with technical mumbo jumbo.
“Man-Mountain Gentain”, by Howard Waldrop (4 stars)
Even if at the beginning the whole premise of using kinetic powers for a variant of Sumo didn’t appeal to me at all, the story slowly grabs you. Great stuff.
“Hardfought”, by Greg Bear (4 stars)
Hugo award-nominated and Nebula award-winning novella exploring war and the experience of the other. Bold, but with a steep learning curve to get familiar with the setting, where both the human and the alien (the Senexi), feel equally strange.
“Manifest Destiny”, by Joe Haldeman (4 stars)
Odd ball from master Haldeman. A story set in the Mexican-American War, with thin fantastic elements. Great voice though.
“Full Chicken Richness”, by Avram Davidson (3 stars)
A witty, somewhat silly, short story set in a burger place frequented by eccentric characters. And a time machine used for the most atypical purposes one could have for it.
“Multiples”, by Robert Silverberg (4 stars)
A smart exploration of a different form of consciousness with multiple personalities, and its effects on relationships. Brilliant.
“Cryptic”, by Jack McDevitt (3 stars)
A quite typical Asimov’s magazine story, centered in the SETI project. It was nominated to the Nebula awards for best short story.
“The Sidon in the Mirror”, by Connie Willis (5 stars)
Hugo and Nebula award-nominated novelette. Set in mine on a dying star, it reads like a strange Western. Intriguing and wonderfully written. A must read.
“Golden Gate”, by R.A. Lafferty (4 stars)
This is the closest that SF writing can get to magic. The plot felt irrelevant, but the picturesque characters and the witty humor makes it worth reading. I just love Lafferty’s crazy writing.
“Blind Shemmy”, by Jack Dann (3 stars)
Nebula award-nominated novelette. Proto-cyberpunk story revolving around the use of electronic psychic connections for a special kind of gambling. Great weird atmosphere.
“In the Islands”, by Pat Murphy (4 stars)
A great take on the worn out mermaid trope, using it as a metaphor to talk about the difficult balance of a misfit existence.
“Nunc Dimittis”, by Tanith Lee (5 stars)
There’s a vampire lurking in these lines. A vampire, and a spoken enchantment. Bravo.
“Blood Music”, by Greg Bear (5 stars)
Mind-blowing, nightmarish SF postulating the evolution of microorganisms up to the point of achieving intelligent life without individuality. Masterpiece. It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novelette. No wonder.
“Her Furry Face”, by Leigh Kennedy (4 stars)
Nebula award-nominated short story. A love triangle between a scientist, his girlfriend and a smart orangutan. Unsettling.
“Knight of Shallows”, by Rand B. Lee (2 stars)
A dull exploration of the concept of alternate universes. Sappy.
“The Cat”, by Gene Wolfe (4 stars)
A story set in The Book of the New Sun universe. Cryptic and strange as only Gene Wolfe could make it, but the writing is just absorbing.
“The Monkey Treatment”, by George R.R. Martin (5 stars)
Hugo and Nebula award-nominated novelette. A nightmarish take on the obsession of weight loss that will give you the creeps. Must read.
“Nearly Departed”, by Pat Cadigan (4 stars)
A dangerous journey into the mind of a mad dead poet… A bold, experimental story playing with the idea of being able to explore other people’s minds.
“Hearts Do Not In Eyes Shine”, by John Kessel (4 stars)
A compelling story about memory and the inevitable poisoning of relationships. Once trust is broken, you can’t really go back to square one, even if we could get a fancy technological treatment to erase selective memories…
“Carrion Comfort”, by Dan Simmons (4 stars)
A great horror novella that Simmons would later expand into a longer novel. Mind vampires using people at will to satisfy their murderous cravings. The first half is a masterclass in storytelling.
“Gemstone”, by Vernon Vinge (4 stars)
A hidden gem (no pun intended). A peculiar first contact story set in a small Northern California town, Eureka. Part a homage to The Thing from Outer Space, the strength of the story is in the narrative of a teenager spending the last summer with her Grandma, and the tension growing between them, as she’s not longer the small kid that Grandma would like her to be. And also, that they happen to have an alien in the house, yes.
“Black Air”, by Kim Stanley Robinson (5 stars)
One of the strongest stories in the anthology. It was nominated to both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novelette. A halfbreed between fantasy and historical fiction, set in the last battle of the Spanish Armada (la Armada Invencible) in the 16th century. The fantastic element comes from making the catholic theology real, so saints fly, and the main character, a boy kidnapped from a monastery, develops the ability to see the souls of his fellow sailors. Even the grandmother of God (!) saves his life a couple of times. Of course, everything could be explained by the fevers he suffers during his long stay aboard La Lavia… A small masterpiece, the main highlight is the haunting description of the battle between la Armada Invencible and the English ships, from the eyes of this kid that sees saints and souls.
Here’s some of the best SF short stories published in 1983, selected by the late, great Gardner Dozois, in the volume that kicked off his legendary year’s best series. A year where you get a peculiar mix of classic authors like Poul Anderson, R.A. Lafferty and Robert Silverberg, sharing space with newer authors at that time like Bruce Sterling, Greg Bear, Connie Willis, Kim Stanley Robinson, Dan Simmons and John Kessel. You also get outstanding authors that had already been established in the previous 10 years or so, like Gene Wolfe, James Tiptree Jr, Joe Haldeman, Ian Watson, George R.R. Martin, Jack Dann and Tanith Lee. As you can see from the list of names, this is a great SF collection.
Highlights for me were the stories from Kim Stanley Robinson (“Black Air”), Greg Bear (“Blood Music”), George R.R. Martin (“The Monkey Treatment”), Ian Watson (“Slow Birds”), Tanith Lee (“Nunc Dimittis”) and Connie Willis (“The Sidon in the Mirror”). But there’s so much more good stuff...
“Cicada Queen”, by Bruce Sterling (4 stars)
Nebula award-nominated for best novelette. The characters may be hystrionic, the dialogues confusing, the plot jagged, but the writing cracks your skull, and the atmosphere is as alien as the cicada queen from the title. Post-humanism at its best. It sounds cliche, but I don’t think they do stuff like this anymore. I wonder if we got better writing in SF but lost some of the wild imagination.
“Beyond the Dead Reef”, by James Tiptree, Jr. (3 stars)
A horror story with an ecologist motif set in the Caribbean Sea. Good writing, but not the best from Tiptree.
“Slow Birds”, by Ian Watson (5 stars)
An intriguing Hugo and Nebula award-nominated novelette set in an alternate reality where slow moving metal birds appear from time to time in unexpected places, and nobody knows what they are or where they come from. An interesting allegory.
“Vulcan’s Forge”, by Poul Anderson (3 stars)
Classic space age SF. Astronauts surveying an asteroid. As much as I like Poul Anderson’s work, this story fell flat, loaded with technical mumbo jumbo.
“Man-Mountain Gentain”, by Howard Waldrop (4 stars)
Even if at the beginning the whole premise of using kinetic powers for a variant of Sumo didn’t appeal to me at all, the story slowly grabs you. Great stuff.
“Hardfought”, by Greg Bear (4 stars)
Hugo award-nominated and Nebula award-winning novella exploring war and the experience of the other. Bold, but with a steep learning curve to get familiar with the setting, where both the human and the alien (the Senexi), feel equally strange.
“Manifest Destiny”, by Joe Haldeman (4 stars)
Odd ball from master Haldeman. A story set in the Mexican-American War, with thin fantastic elements. Great voice though.
“Full Chicken Richness”, by Avram Davidson (3 stars)
A witty, somewhat silly, short story set in a burger place frequented by eccentric characters. And a time machine used for the most atypical purposes one could have for it.
“Multiples”, by Robert Silverberg (4 stars)
A smart exploration of a different form of consciousness with multiple personalities, and its effects on relationships. Brilliant.
“Cryptic”, by Jack McDevitt (3 stars)
A quite typical Asimov’s magazine story, centered in the SETI project. It was nominated to the Nebula awards for best short story.
“The Sidon in the Mirror”, by Connie Willis (5 stars)
Hugo and Nebula award-nominated novelette. Set in mine on a dying star, it reads like a strange Western. Intriguing and wonderfully written. A must read.
“Golden Gate”, by R.A. Lafferty (4 stars)
This is the closest that SF writing can get to magic. The plot felt irrelevant, but the picturesque characters and the witty humor makes it worth reading. I just love Lafferty’s crazy writing.
“Blind Shemmy”, by Jack Dann (3 stars)
Nebula award-nominated novelette. Proto-cyberpunk story revolving around the use of electronic psychic connections for a special kind of gambling. Great weird atmosphere.
“In the Islands”, by Pat Murphy (4 stars)
A great take on the worn out mermaid trope, using it as a metaphor to talk about the difficult balance of a misfit existence.
“Nunc Dimittis”, by Tanith Lee (5 stars)
There’s a vampire lurking in these lines. A vampire, and a spoken enchantment. Bravo.
“Blood Music”, by Greg Bear (5 stars)
Mind-blowing, nightmarish SF postulating the evolution of microorganisms up to the point of achieving intelligent life without individuality. Masterpiece. It won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novelette. No wonder.
“Her Furry Face”, by Leigh Kennedy (4 stars)
Nebula award-nominated short story. A love triangle between a scientist, his girlfriend and a smart orangutan. Unsettling.
“Knight of Shallows”, by Rand B. Lee (2 stars)
A dull exploration of the concept of alternate universes. Sappy.
“The Cat”, by Gene Wolfe (4 stars)
A story set in The Book of the New Sun universe. Cryptic and strange as only Gene Wolfe could make it, but the writing is just absorbing.
“The Monkey Treatment”, by George R.R. Martin (5 stars)
Hugo and Nebula award-nominated novelette. A nightmarish take on the obsession of weight loss that will give you the creeps. Must read.
“Nearly Departed”, by Pat Cadigan (4 stars)
A dangerous journey into the mind of a mad dead poet… A bold, experimental story playing with the idea of being able to explore other people’s minds.
“Hearts Do Not In Eyes Shine”, by John Kessel (4 stars)
A compelling story about memory and the inevitable poisoning of relationships. Once trust is broken, you can’t really go back to square one, even if we could get a fancy technological treatment to erase selective memories…
“Carrion Comfort”, by Dan Simmons (4 stars)
A great horror novella that Simmons would later expand into a longer novel. Mind vampires using people at will to satisfy their murderous cravings. The first half is a masterclass in storytelling.
“Gemstone”, by Vernon Vinge (4 stars)
A hidden gem (no pun intended). A peculiar first contact story set in a small Northern California town, Eureka. Part a homage to The Thing from Outer Space, the strength of the story is in the narrative of a teenager spending the last summer with her Grandma, and the tension growing between them, as she’s not longer the small kid that Grandma would like her to be. And also, that they happen to have an alien in the house, yes.
“Black Air”, by Kim Stanley Robinson (5 stars)
One of the strongest stories in the anthology. It was nominated to both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novelette. A halfbreed between fantasy and historical fiction, set in the last battle of the Spanish Armada (la Armada Invencible) in the 16th century. The fantastic element comes from making the catholic theology real, so saints fly, and the main character, a boy kidnapped from a monastery, develops the ability to see the souls of his fellow sailors. Even the grandmother of God (!) saves his life a couple of times. Of course, everything could be explained by the fevers he suffers during his long stay aboard La Lavia… A small masterpiece, the main highlight is the haunting description of the battle between la Armada Invencible and the English ships, from the eyes of this kid that sees saints and souls.
March 26, 2019
Here starts one of the most iconic series in science-fiction literature!, make no mistake about it. For the next 35 years, if you wrote short-form science-fiction and wanted to be heard of, you had to have stories in late Gardner Dozois' year's best anthologies. He had tried his hand in year's best anthologies before (see Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year series, volumes 6 through 10), but now he's alone in the driver's seat with a new "brand" to his name.
Funny enough though, of all I've read so far, this first volume appears to have the smallest number of actual science-fiction stories. Minimalist fantasy and some vaguely-alternate history stories dominate here. Regardless, a lot of fun is to be had.
Story breakdown:
• Cicada Queen • novelette by Bruce Sterling: 1*
I have in the past attempted to read Sterling's Schismatrix. It just wasn't for me. Skipping it as it's from the same universe.
• Beyond the Dead Reef • shortstory by James Tiptree, Jr.: 2*
Man goes scuba diving into a very polluted part of the oceans and sees a garbage monster. Yey!
• Slow Birds • novelette by Ian Watson: 4*
Industrial revolution era humans on a different planet have run-ins with strange "birds" from alternate universes. "Classical" adventure/mystery story. The only one of this anthology.
• Vulcan's Forge • shortstory by Poul Anderson: 2*
Bunch of astronauts survey an asteroid. Boring and unoriginal.
• Man-Mountain Gentian • shortstory by Howard Waldrop: 2*
Everything that this story needed to convey was done so in phrase #1: "... it was realized that some of the wrestlers were throwing their opponents from the ring without touching them". For the rest we are simply treated to several sumo (?!) no-contact matches. I can't get enough of this kind of stories in sci-fi anthologies... NOT!
• Hardfought • novella by Greg Bear: 4*
One of the most difficult stories I ever read. A war between humans and an alien race extends into the extreme far-future. I liked the theme and the aliens; minus one star for the narration style though.
• Manifest Destiny • novelette by Joe Haldeman: 3*
Well-written, but totally out of place. Again. Couple of American adventurers join the army to fight in the Mexican-American War.
• Full Chicken Richness • shortstory by Avram Davidson: 1*
People hang around a restaurant and discuss recipes. According to the editor, some time travel element is involved. I was unable to keep reading to find it.
• Multiples • shortstory by Robert Silverberg: 1*
Probably the worst Silverberg story I ever read. Lost me completely after three pages.
• Cryptic • shortstory by Jack McDevitt: 2*
Pointless story about SETI messages.
• The Sidon in the Mirror • novelette by Connie Willis: 3*
Finally another interesting typical science-fiction setting. A very hot planet with an unstable atmosphere. Even some cool characters. Unfortunately the plot is just characters sitting around in a bar discussing the piano.
• Golden Gate • shortstory by R. A. Lafferty: 1*
Another boring non sci-fi story that I abandoned half-way through. One hour later I was unable to remember what it was about.
• Blind Shemmy • novelette by Jack Dann: 2*
In a dystopian future, a group of people enter a casino to play some kind of mind baccarat. Instead of focusing on the setting, or the characters, or any kind of action, we're getting pages and pages on what the game rules are. Ugh!
• In the Islands • shortstory by Pat Murphy: 1*
More non sci-fi bull***t about swimming. Didn't we already have a story on this theme?
• Nunc Dimittis • novelette by Tanith Lee: 5*
The aging servant of a vampire seeks a replacement for himself. Non-sci-fi-ish like most of the stories here, but very catchy and atmospheric.
• Blood Music • novelette by Greg Bear: 4*
One of the earliest stories to tackle the "bio-tech goes crazy and takes over the world" theme. Not the best writing here, but it's quite cool.
• Her Furry Face • shortstory by Leigh Kennedy: 1*
Talking orangutans! Next!
• Knight of Shallows • novelette by Rand B. Lee: 4*
With the advent of parallel-world travel, a man is tasked with finding an alternate version of himself who is killing other alternates. Interesting idea. The execution becomes a little sloppy towards the end, but not enough to ruin it.
• The Cat • shortstory by Gene Wolfe: 1*
I did not like Wolfe's Sun series. This is set there and I'm not liking it any better.
• The Monkey Treatment • novelette by George R. R. Martin: 5*
If you have non sci-fi in a Year's Best Sci-fi, it'd better be good. No, wait, this was actually excellent. Can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a story. And it's a GRRM story. Showing that in other lifetime he HAD been a show-runner for the Twilight Zone, this story follows the exploits of an obese man trying an extreme diet plan.
• Nearly Departed • shortstory by Pat Cadigan: 2*
In this future, reading dead people's minds is a thing. Yuck!
• Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • novelette by John Kessel: 2*
A barely sci-fi-ish lovers' quarrel story.
• Carrion Comfort • novelette by Dan Simmons: 3*
Mind vampires play their power games with humans as collateral damage. Better than the novel that was derived from it, because everything that was useful is here, in this novelette. The novel is unnecessarily long and boring.
• Gemstone • novelette by Vernor Vinge: 3*
A kid and her grandma fight off some less than human home invaders.
• Black Air • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson: 4*
Only fitting to end a Year's Best Science Fiction anthology with another non-sci-fi story. Fortunately, another well-written one. A poor African boy is forcefully drafted into the famous Spanish Armada sailing to defeat England. The story of their defeat is somewhat different, and a few supernatural events insue, giving this story enough salt and pepper to forget I was actually reading a sci-fi anthology.
Weighted average turned out to be 2.8.
As an interesting statistic, this is the shortest of all 35 anthologies, one of only two to contain only one novella, but not the one with the fewest titles.
Funny enough though, of all I've read so far, this first volume appears to have the smallest number of actual science-fiction stories. Minimalist fantasy and some vaguely-alternate history stories dominate here. Regardless, a lot of fun is to be had.
Story breakdown:
• Cicada Queen • novelette by Bruce Sterling: 1*
I have in the past attempted to read Sterling's Schismatrix. It just wasn't for me. Skipping it as it's from the same universe.
• Beyond the Dead Reef • shortstory by James Tiptree, Jr.: 2*
Man goes scuba diving into a very polluted part of the oceans and sees a garbage monster. Yey!
• Slow Birds • novelette by Ian Watson: 4*
Industrial revolution era humans on a different planet have run-ins with strange "birds" from alternate universes. "Classical" adventure/mystery story. The only one of this anthology.
• Vulcan's Forge • shortstory by Poul Anderson: 2*
Bunch of astronauts survey an asteroid. Boring and unoriginal.
• Man-Mountain Gentian • shortstory by Howard Waldrop: 2*
Everything that this story needed to convey was done so in phrase #1: "... it was realized that some of the wrestlers were throwing their opponents from the ring without touching them". For the rest we are simply treated to several sumo (?!) no-contact matches. I can't get enough of this kind of stories in sci-fi anthologies... NOT!
• Hardfought • novella by Greg Bear: 4*
One of the most difficult stories I ever read. A war between humans and an alien race extends into the extreme far-future. I liked the theme and the aliens; minus one star for the narration style though.
• Manifest Destiny • novelette by Joe Haldeman: 3*
Well-written, but totally out of place. Again. Couple of American adventurers join the army to fight in the Mexican-American War.
• Full Chicken Richness • shortstory by Avram Davidson: 1*
People hang around a restaurant and discuss recipes. According to the editor, some time travel element is involved. I was unable to keep reading to find it.
• Multiples • shortstory by Robert Silverberg: 1*
Probably the worst Silverberg story I ever read. Lost me completely after three pages.
• Cryptic • shortstory by Jack McDevitt: 2*
Pointless story about SETI messages.
• The Sidon in the Mirror • novelette by Connie Willis: 3*
Finally another interesting typical science-fiction setting. A very hot planet with an unstable atmosphere. Even some cool characters. Unfortunately the plot is just characters sitting around in a bar discussing the piano.
• Golden Gate • shortstory by R. A. Lafferty: 1*
Another boring non sci-fi story that I abandoned half-way through. One hour later I was unable to remember what it was about.
• Blind Shemmy • novelette by Jack Dann: 2*
In a dystopian future, a group of people enter a casino to play some kind of mind baccarat. Instead of focusing on the setting, or the characters, or any kind of action, we're getting pages and pages on what the game rules are. Ugh!
• In the Islands • shortstory by Pat Murphy: 1*
More non sci-fi bull***t about swimming. Didn't we already have a story on this theme?
• Nunc Dimittis • novelette by Tanith Lee: 5*
The aging servant of a vampire seeks a replacement for himself. Non-sci-fi-ish like most of the stories here, but very catchy and atmospheric.
• Blood Music • novelette by Greg Bear: 4*
One of the earliest stories to tackle the "bio-tech goes crazy and takes over the world" theme. Not the best writing here, but it's quite cool.
• Her Furry Face • shortstory by Leigh Kennedy: 1*
Talking orangutans! Next!
• Knight of Shallows • novelette by Rand B. Lee: 4*
With the advent of parallel-world travel, a man is tasked with finding an alternate version of himself who is killing other alternates. Interesting idea. The execution becomes a little sloppy towards the end, but not enough to ruin it.
• The Cat • shortstory by Gene Wolfe: 1*
I did not like Wolfe's Sun series. This is set there and I'm not liking it any better.
• The Monkey Treatment • novelette by George R. R. Martin: 5*
If you have non sci-fi in a Year's Best Sci-fi, it'd better be good. No, wait, this was actually excellent. Can't remember the last time I laughed so hard at a story. And it's a GRRM story. Showing that in other lifetime he HAD been a show-runner for the Twilight Zone, this story follows the exploits of an obese man trying an extreme diet plan.
• Nearly Departed • shortstory by Pat Cadigan: 2*
In this future, reading dead people's minds is a thing. Yuck!
• Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • novelette by John Kessel: 2*
A barely sci-fi-ish lovers' quarrel story.
• Carrion Comfort • novelette by Dan Simmons: 3*
Mind vampires play their power games with humans as collateral damage. Better than the novel that was derived from it, because everything that was useful is here, in this novelette. The novel is unnecessarily long and boring.
• Gemstone • novelette by Vernor Vinge: 3*
A kid and her grandma fight off some less than human home invaders.
• Black Air • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson: 4*
Only fitting to end a Year's Best Science Fiction anthology with another non-sci-fi story. Fortunately, another well-written one. A poor African boy is forcefully drafted into the famous Spanish Armada sailing to defeat England. The story of their defeat is somewhat different, and a few supernatural events insue, giving this story enough salt and pepper to forget I was actually reading a sci-fi anthology.
Weighted average turned out to be 2.8.
As an interesting statistic, this is the shortest of all 35 anthologies, one of only two to contain only one novella, but not the one with the fewest titles.
June 30, 2020
Often the trouble with anthologies is that they 'make do'. They find two or three amazing pieces, back them up a good two or three stories and then fill the gaps with mediocre or self serving material to the detriment of the reading experience.
Not so with this amazing volume, where all the stories are connected by an overwhelming urge to grab readers by the throat and make us live the choices we made.
Not so with this amazing volume, where all the stories are connected by an overwhelming urge to grab readers by the throat and make us live the choices we made.
July 19, 2024
Rated 84% Positive. Story Score = 3.92 out of 5
25 Stories : 6 great / 14 good / 2 average / 3 poor / 0 DNF
If they carve a Mount Rushmore on the Moon for science fiction editors, Gardner Dozois’ face will on it. While a writer of some renown, Dozois shaped the sci-fi genre with his work editing Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine from 1986-2004 and published many amazing anthologies from the mid-19780s until his death in 2018. I started reading science fiction in the 1980s and 1990s.
Didn’t know it at the time, but Gardner Dozois was behind a large number of the books that found their way into my hands. Dozois, along with writers Asimov, Bradbury, Crichton and the universes of Star Trek and Star Wars, shaped my love of science fiction.
This anthology, The 1984 First Annual Collection of The Year’s Best Science Fiction, covered stories published in 1983. For thirty-five years, it was the most important anthology series in science fiction. This was the first in that iconic series.
There are 6 stories that make my All-Time Great List:
https://www.shortsf.com/beststories
In the Islands • (1983) • short story by Pat Murphy
A marine biologist is haunted by dreams of dissecting a young man that is a merman/human hybrid and is about to leave forever into the sea. Felt like the story that Ray Bradbury might have written for Dangerous Visions.
Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear
A brilliant scientist goes to a friend for help after injecting himself with the intelligent results of illegal experiments.
Her Furry Face • (1983) • short story by Leigh Kennedy
Disturbing story of a man who gets too romantically and sexually involved with the apes that he is training to speak and function in society.
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • (1983) • novelette by John Kessel
An ex-husband convinces his wife to undergo a process which wipes all memory of their time together. The idea is that without all their baggage, they can start over. They try, but the wife starts to suspect that the husband didn’t actually get his memory wiped at all. The same concept is treated differently in the great science fiction film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Carrion Comfort • (1983) • novelette by Dan Simmons
A thrilling tale of horror and suspense. A foursome of ‘psychic vampires’ meet to discuss their “feedings” and get their scores in their sick game. A feeding occurs when one of the group uses their power to cause a person to kill, often in ways that insersect with historic real life murders. One woman the group says she intends to stop with the feeding, which leads to a terrifying reaction from the others in the group.
Gemstone • (1983) • novelette by Vernor Vinge
A superb story of non-sentient first contact. A teenage girl goes to spend time with her wealthy widowed grandmother. The house is full of memorabilia and collectibles from a lifetime of exploration and travel. One stone seems to have a power that the others do not.
https://www.shortsf.com/archive-by-type
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: FIRST ANNUAL COLLECTION.
25 STORIES : 6 GREAT / 14 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 3 POOR / 0 DNF
Cicada Queen • [Shaper/Mechanist] • (1983) • novelette by Bruce Sterling
Good. A big baroque hard sci-fi story about one man finding his destiny. You’ve got an alien queen who rules (benevolently) over a space habitat for human that are in factions based on their level of biological or technological adaptation. Too many big ideas for this short story to be truly great.
Beyond the Dead Reef • [Quintana Roo] • (1983) • short story by James Tiptree, Jr.
Good. A story of polluted dying reefs in the waters off Belize and the supernatural dangers that exist for people who visit them.
Slow Birds • (1983) • novelette by Ian Watson
Good. A peaceful community is disrupted by the sudden appearance of "slow birds," cylindrical and metallic creatures that hover above ground, disappear into thin air, and sometimes explode, leading to the sport of skate-sailing on the resulting glass lakes, and a tragic incident involving a rival's cruel trick.
Vulcan's Forge • (1983) • short story by Poul Anderson
Average. A scientist’s relationship with his dead wife’s persona embodied in a science satellite makes like complicated when things go wrong.
Man-Mountain Gentian • (1983) • short story by Howard Waldrop
Good. Pleasant story of zen-sumo (sumo wrestling with psychic powers.). Elevated by the charm of Waldrop’s prose.
Hardfought • (1983) • novella by Greg Bear
Good. The pivotal moment of a long war between humans and a strange alien race called the Senexi is told by alternating POV between aliens and alien-like humans. Complicated and very inventive.
Manifest Destiny • (1983) • short story by Joe Haldeman
Poor. An alternate history of the Mexican American War that I couldn’t ever find a reason to care about. If you don’t know the history extremely well, you won’t be able to find any speculative part to the story.
Full Chicken Richness • (1983) • short story by Avram Davidson
Poor. I hate AD’s writing style so much. A quirky artist talks to quirky people at a diner. They the protagonist finds a stupid quirky sci-fi reason why some chicken soup is tasty.
Multiples • (1983) • short story by Robert Silverberg
Good. In a future where multiple personalities are attractive, a woman pretends to have a “double” in order to have a relationship with a multi-personality man.
Cryptic • (1983) • short story by Jack McDevitt
Good. A scientist stumbles across long-shelved SETI evidence of an alien race, but why was it hidden? What makes it so disturbing?
The Sidon in the Mirror • (1983) • novelette by Connie Willis
Good. Sci-fi western with a being that slowly adapts their personality and behavior to the people closest to them, a Mirror. The Mirror plays piano in a brothel on a mining planet and get drawn up in revenge and melodrama. Could see this as a good Outer Limits episode.
Golden Gate • (1982) • short story by R. A. Lafferty
Poor. Fantasy about a show in a bar and a man who tries to kill the unkillable villain in the play.
Blind Shemmy • (1983) • novelette by Jack Dann
Good. In a decadent dystopia, a couple visit a luxury casino in Paris to gamble with the man’s body organs in a complex psycho-digital game.
In the Islands • (1983) • short story by Pat Murphy
Great. A marine biologist is haunted by dreams of dissecting a young man that is a merman/human hybrid and is about to leave forever into the sea. Felt like the story that Ray Bradbury might have written for Dangerous Visions.
Nunc Dimittis • (1983) • novelette by Tanith Lee
Good. A very charming vampire story about an old thrall-servant of a vampiress whose last act is to find her a new companion. Parts of the setup reminded by of the baroque erotic horror movie “The Hunger.”
Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear
Great. A brilliant scientist goes to a friend for help after injecting himself with the intelligent results of illegal experiments.
Her Furry Face • (1983) • short story by Leigh Kennedy
Great. Disturbing story of a man who gets too romantically and sexually involved with the apes that he is training to speak and function in society.
Knight of Shallows • (1983) • novelette by Rand B. Lee
Good. Rollicking time-travel/multi-universe adventure as a man tracks a murderous version of himself.
The Cat • [Solar Cycle] • (1983) • short story by Gene Wolfe
Good. A lovely story that require having read at least the first two books from The Book of the New Sun. The affairs of servants in the house absolute. Ostensibly about a cat, but really about the cattiness of aristocracy enacted through their servants.
The Monkey Treatment • (1983) • novelette by George R. R. Martin
Average. An obese man gets a weird procedure that puts an invisible mean monkey on his shoulders who fight him for food.
Nearly Departed • [Deadpan Allie] • (1983) • short story by Pat Cadigan
Good. A mind scanner is hired to go into the mind of a murdered psychotic poet and retrieve her unfinished art.
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • (1983) • novelette by John Kessel
Great. An ex-husband convinces his wife to undergo a process which wipes all memory of their time together. The idea is that without all their baggage, they can start over. They try, but the wife starts to suspect that the husband didn’t actually get his memory wiped at all. The same concept is treated differently in the great science fiction film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Carrion Comfort • (1983) • novelette by Dan Simmons
Great. A thrilling tale of horror and suspense. A foursome of ‘psychic vampires’ meet to discuss their “feedings” and get their scores in their sick game. A feeding occurs when one of the group uses their power to cause a person to kill, often in ways that insersect with historic real life murders. One woman the group says she intends to stop with the feeding, which leads to a terrifying reaction from the others in the group.
Gemstone • (1983) • novelette by Vernor Vinge
Great. A superb story of non-sentient first contact. A teenage girl goes to spend time with her wealthy widowed grandmother. The house is full of memorabilia and collectibles from a lifetime of exploration and travel. One stone seems to have a power that the others do not.
Black Air • (1983) • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson
Good. Historical Fantasy about a man who sales with the Spanish Armada for England and experiences the extreme challenges death and destruction of that voyage. The fantastical element is that he sees the souls of the cremates over their heads and the air changes color based on the mood and situation. If you believe in auras, this is historical fiction. For the rest, this is light fantasy. Quite detailed and visceral.
25 Stories : 6 great / 14 good / 2 average / 3 poor / 0 DNF
If they carve a Mount Rushmore on the Moon for science fiction editors, Gardner Dozois’ face will on it. While a writer of some renown, Dozois shaped the sci-fi genre with his work editing Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine from 1986-2004 and published many amazing anthologies from the mid-19780s until his death in 2018. I started reading science fiction in the 1980s and 1990s.
Didn’t know it at the time, but Gardner Dozois was behind a large number of the books that found their way into my hands. Dozois, along with writers Asimov, Bradbury, Crichton and the universes of Star Trek and Star Wars, shaped my love of science fiction.
This anthology, The 1984 First Annual Collection of The Year’s Best Science Fiction, covered stories published in 1983. For thirty-five years, it was the most important anthology series in science fiction. This was the first in that iconic series.
There are 6 stories that make my All-Time Great List:
https://www.shortsf.com/beststories
In the Islands • (1983) • short story by Pat Murphy
A marine biologist is haunted by dreams of dissecting a young man that is a merman/human hybrid and is about to leave forever into the sea. Felt like the story that Ray Bradbury might have written for Dangerous Visions.
Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear
A brilliant scientist goes to a friend for help after injecting himself with the intelligent results of illegal experiments.
Her Furry Face • (1983) • short story by Leigh Kennedy
Disturbing story of a man who gets too romantically and sexually involved with the apes that he is training to speak and function in society.
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • (1983) • novelette by John Kessel
An ex-husband convinces his wife to undergo a process which wipes all memory of their time together. The idea is that without all their baggage, they can start over. They try, but the wife starts to suspect that the husband didn’t actually get his memory wiped at all. The same concept is treated differently in the great science fiction film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Carrion Comfort • (1983) • novelette by Dan Simmons
A thrilling tale of horror and suspense. A foursome of ‘psychic vampires’ meet to discuss their “feedings” and get their scores in their sick game. A feeding occurs when one of the group uses their power to cause a person to kill, often in ways that insersect with historic real life murders. One woman the group says she intends to stop with the feeding, which leads to a terrifying reaction from the others in the group.
Gemstone • (1983) • novelette by Vernor Vinge
A superb story of non-sentient first contact. A teenage girl goes to spend time with her wealthy widowed grandmother. The house is full of memorabilia and collectibles from a lifetime of exploration and travel. One stone seems to have a power that the others do not.
https://www.shortsf.com/archive-by-type
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: FIRST ANNUAL COLLECTION.
25 STORIES : 6 GREAT / 14 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 3 POOR / 0 DNF
Cicada Queen • [Shaper/Mechanist] • (1983) • novelette by Bruce Sterling
Good. A big baroque hard sci-fi story about one man finding his destiny. You’ve got an alien queen who rules (benevolently) over a space habitat for human that are in factions based on their level of biological or technological adaptation. Too many big ideas for this short story to be truly great.
Beyond the Dead Reef • [Quintana Roo] • (1983) • short story by James Tiptree, Jr.
Good. A story of polluted dying reefs in the waters off Belize and the supernatural dangers that exist for people who visit them.
Slow Birds • (1983) • novelette by Ian Watson
Good. A peaceful community is disrupted by the sudden appearance of "slow birds," cylindrical and metallic creatures that hover above ground, disappear into thin air, and sometimes explode, leading to the sport of skate-sailing on the resulting glass lakes, and a tragic incident involving a rival's cruel trick.
Vulcan's Forge • (1983) • short story by Poul Anderson
Average. A scientist’s relationship with his dead wife’s persona embodied in a science satellite makes like complicated when things go wrong.
Man-Mountain Gentian • (1983) • short story by Howard Waldrop
Good. Pleasant story of zen-sumo (sumo wrestling with psychic powers.). Elevated by the charm of Waldrop’s prose.
Hardfought • (1983) • novella by Greg Bear
Good. The pivotal moment of a long war between humans and a strange alien race called the Senexi is told by alternating POV between aliens and alien-like humans. Complicated and very inventive.
Manifest Destiny • (1983) • short story by Joe Haldeman
Poor. An alternate history of the Mexican American War that I couldn’t ever find a reason to care about. If you don’t know the history extremely well, you won’t be able to find any speculative part to the story.
Full Chicken Richness • (1983) • short story by Avram Davidson
Poor. I hate AD’s writing style so much. A quirky artist talks to quirky people at a diner. They the protagonist finds a stupid quirky sci-fi reason why some chicken soup is tasty.
Multiples • (1983) • short story by Robert Silverberg
Good. In a future where multiple personalities are attractive, a woman pretends to have a “double” in order to have a relationship with a multi-personality man.
Cryptic • (1983) • short story by Jack McDevitt
Good. A scientist stumbles across long-shelved SETI evidence of an alien race, but why was it hidden? What makes it so disturbing?
The Sidon in the Mirror • (1983) • novelette by Connie Willis
Good. Sci-fi western with a being that slowly adapts their personality and behavior to the people closest to them, a Mirror. The Mirror plays piano in a brothel on a mining planet and get drawn up in revenge and melodrama. Could see this as a good Outer Limits episode.
Golden Gate • (1982) • short story by R. A. Lafferty
Poor. Fantasy about a show in a bar and a man who tries to kill the unkillable villain in the play.
Blind Shemmy • (1983) • novelette by Jack Dann
Good. In a decadent dystopia, a couple visit a luxury casino in Paris to gamble with the man’s body organs in a complex psycho-digital game.
In the Islands • (1983) • short story by Pat Murphy
Great. A marine biologist is haunted by dreams of dissecting a young man that is a merman/human hybrid and is about to leave forever into the sea. Felt like the story that Ray Bradbury might have written for Dangerous Visions.
Nunc Dimittis • (1983) • novelette by Tanith Lee
Good. A very charming vampire story about an old thrall-servant of a vampiress whose last act is to find her a new companion. Parts of the setup reminded by of the baroque erotic horror movie “The Hunger.”
Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear
Great. A brilliant scientist goes to a friend for help after injecting himself with the intelligent results of illegal experiments.
Her Furry Face • (1983) • short story by Leigh Kennedy
Great. Disturbing story of a man who gets too romantically and sexually involved with the apes that he is training to speak and function in society.
Knight of Shallows • (1983) • novelette by Rand B. Lee
Good. Rollicking time-travel/multi-universe adventure as a man tracks a murderous version of himself.
The Cat • [Solar Cycle] • (1983) • short story by Gene Wolfe
Good. A lovely story that require having read at least the first two books from The Book of the New Sun. The affairs of servants in the house absolute. Ostensibly about a cat, but really about the cattiness of aristocracy enacted through their servants.
The Monkey Treatment • (1983) • novelette by George R. R. Martin
Average. An obese man gets a weird procedure that puts an invisible mean monkey on his shoulders who fight him for food.
Nearly Departed • [Deadpan Allie] • (1983) • short story by Pat Cadigan
Good. A mind scanner is hired to go into the mind of a murdered psychotic poet and retrieve her unfinished art.
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • (1983) • novelette by John Kessel
Great. An ex-husband convinces his wife to undergo a process which wipes all memory of their time together. The idea is that without all their baggage, they can start over. They try, but the wife starts to suspect that the husband didn’t actually get his memory wiped at all. The same concept is treated differently in the great science fiction film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Carrion Comfort • (1983) • novelette by Dan Simmons
Great. A thrilling tale of horror and suspense. A foursome of ‘psychic vampires’ meet to discuss their “feedings” and get their scores in their sick game. A feeding occurs when one of the group uses their power to cause a person to kill, often in ways that insersect with historic real life murders. One woman the group says she intends to stop with the feeding, which leads to a terrifying reaction from the others in the group.
Gemstone • (1983) • novelette by Vernor Vinge
Great. A superb story of non-sentient first contact. A teenage girl goes to spend time with her wealthy widowed grandmother. The house is full of memorabilia and collectibles from a lifetime of exploration and travel. One stone seems to have a power that the others do not.
Black Air • (1983) • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson
Good. Historical Fantasy about a man who sales with the Spanish Armada for England and experiences the extreme challenges death and destruction of that voyage. The fantastical element is that he sees the souls of the cremates over their heads and the air changes color based on the mood and situation. If you believe in auras, this is historical fiction. For the rest, this is light fantasy. Quite detailed and visceral.
November 8, 2019
every single one of these collections is essential reading for true fans of science fiction short stories... each lengthy volume has a stellar array of all mini-genres and areas of powerfully influential science fiction: hard science, speculative, steampunk, alien invasions, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic, space opera, fantasy, aliens, monsters, horror-ish, space travel, time travel, eco-science, evolutionary, pre-historic, parallel universes, extraterrestrials... as you move to the next volume in the series you will be witness to how the tales have advanced and grown in imagination and detail with our ability to envision greater concepts and possibilities... Rod Serling said, "...fantasy is the impossible made probable. science fiction is the improbable made possible..." and in the pages of these books is the absolute best the vastness of science fiction writing has to offer... sit back, relax, and dream...
September 15, 2012
Lucky to get this on Kindle since it sells for $400 as an actual book. I've read something like 25 of the last 30 years of these Best Ofs(I'm only missing 2,5,and 6). They're always well done and now w/Kindle the'yre a great deal. One small point I was struck by how contemporary the fiction felt though it's science fiction written in 1983. Further proof of my point that Sci-fi is the best kind of literature because it better reflects our lives which seem to be more and more science fiction as science fact.
August 18, 2017
You can never go wrong with this series. The first collection is surprisingly hard to find but worth the effort.
February 23, 2024
The editor provides an amazing state-of-the-science-fiction industry introduction and the 2 paragraph foreword to ach story also adds to the reading experience.
Below are the stories with my rating for each of them and my initial thoughts on how I would summarize/describe each story immediately after finishing each one.
Cicada Queen by Bruce Sterling: 3
Interesting trans-human econo-political story? What makes it worthwhile is seeing the world where the story takes place.
Beyond the Dead Reef by James Tiptree, Jr.: 4
Very haunting, more so by the lack of action.
Slow-Birds by Ian Watson: 4
Incredible parable about the opposing ideas of surrendering to death or fighting to keep on living.
Vulcan's Forge by Poul Anderson: 1
2nd worst story of the anthology: A group of astronauts surveying near mercury and one of them has a too intimate relationship with one of the spaceships.
Man-Mountain Gentian by Howard Waldrop: 5
Amazing story about psychic sumo wrestlers and the power of a clear mind.
Hardfought by Greg Bear: 4
An amazing story about understanding between species and the concept of history and how it is made.
Manifest Destiny by Joe Haldeman: 3
I do not think this story counts as SF. Quickly summarized as war veteran decided to spend the rest of his life in Mexico as he seems to be invulnerable there as foretold by a fortune teller.
Full Chicken Richness by Avram Davidson: 3
Another story that can be very quickly summarized as chicken soup that a has mysterious ingredient obtained via time machine.
Multiples by Robert Silverberg: 5
3rd best story of the anthology: A story about a woman that decides to play pretend out of boredom and to find love.
Cryptic by Jack McDevitt: 3
A story about how an extraterrestrial transmission and the implications given its structure.
The Sidon in the Mirror by Connie Willis: 4
Really interesting story about choice and if one can control who they become.
Golden Gate by R. A. Lafferty: 3
I also do not think this counts as SF, very fun read though. Unless I missed something it is about a metaphorical killing.
Blind Shemmy by Jack Dann: 4
A gambling game turns out to be even more dangerous than initially thought.
In The Islands by Pat Murphy: 4
It asks the question how far is a man willing to go in the name of discovery and if he is willing to sacrifice his own friend to get there.
Nunc Dimittis by Tanith Lee: 1
1st worst story of the anthology: A vampire assistant goes out searching for his replacement.
Blood Music by Greg Bear: 5
2nd best story of the anthology: A story about what could intelligent cells and what they coul do.
Her Furry Face by Leigh Kennedy: 5
The story of the downfall of a man of his own making.
Knight of Shallows by Rand B. Lee: 2
3rd worst story of the anthology: A man is tasked with tracking a version of himself that is killing his other selves across the multi-verse.
The Cat by Gene Wolfe: 2
The story of a girl that shares a mysterious link with her dead pet cat
The Monkey Treatment by George R. R. Martin: 5
1st best story of the anthology: No words I can write will do this story justice. Just read it and learn about the monkey treatment.
Nearly Departed by Pat Cadigan: 4
A story about exploring the mind of a dead artist.
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine by John Kessel: 4
A story about independence, regret, and memory in romance.
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons: 3.5
Psychic vampires play a game which uses humans as mere pawns! The premise alone is amazing unfortunately the story devolves to a killer-victim chase.
Gemstone by Vernor Vinge: 4
A story about a unique alien encounter.
Black Air by Kim Stanley Robinson: 3
This one is also pushing it when it comes to be considered SF, more of a historical fiction story. A story about faith and how it is able to get a man to safe harbor.
Below are the stories with my rating for each of them and my initial thoughts on how I would summarize/describe each story immediately after finishing each one.
Cicada Queen by Bruce Sterling: 3
Interesting trans-human econo-political story? What makes it worthwhile is seeing the world where the story takes place.
Beyond the Dead Reef by James Tiptree, Jr.: 4
Very haunting, more so by the lack of action.
Slow-Birds by Ian Watson: 4
Incredible parable about the opposing ideas of surrendering to death or fighting to keep on living.
Vulcan's Forge by Poul Anderson: 1
2nd worst story of the anthology: A group of astronauts surveying near mercury and one of them has a too intimate relationship with one of the spaceships.
Man-Mountain Gentian by Howard Waldrop: 5
Amazing story about psychic sumo wrestlers and the power of a clear mind.
Hardfought by Greg Bear: 4
An amazing story about understanding between species and the concept of history and how it is made.
Manifest Destiny by Joe Haldeman: 3
I do not think this story counts as SF. Quickly summarized as war veteran decided to spend the rest of his life in Mexico as he seems to be invulnerable there as foretold by a fortune teller.
Full Chicken Richness by Avram Davidson: 3
Another story that can be very quickly summarized as chicken soup that a has mysterious ingredient obtained via time machine.
Multiples by Robert Silverberg: 5
3rd best story of the anthology: A story about a woman that decides to play pretend out of boredom and to find love.
Cryptic by Jack McDevitt: 3
A story about how an extraterrestrial transmission and the implications given its structure.
The Sidon in the Mirror by Connie Willis: 4
Really interesting story about choice and if one can control who they become.
Golden Gate by R. A. Lafferty: 3
I also do not think this counts as SF, very fun read though. Unless I missed something it is about a metaphorical killing.
Blind Shemmy by Jack Dann: 4
A gambling game turns out to be even more dangerous than initially thought.
In The Islands by Pat Murphy: 4
It asks the question how far is a man willing to go in the name of discovery and if he is willing to sacrifice his own friend to get there.
Nunc Dimittis by Tanith Lee: 1
1st worst story of the anthology: A vampire assistant goes out searching for his replacement.
Blood Music by Greg Bear: 5
2nd best story of the anthology: A story about what could intelligent cells and what they coul do.
Her Furry Face by Leigh Kennedy: 5
The story of the downfall of a man of his own making.
Knight of Shallows by Rand B. Lee: 2
3rd worst story of the anthology: A man is tasked with tracking a version of himself that is killing his other selves across the multi-verse.
The Cat by Gene Wolfe: 2
The story of a girl that shares a mysterious link with her dead pet cat
The Monkey Treatment by George R. R. Martin: 5
1st best story of the anthology: No words I can write will do this story justice. Just read it and learn about the monkey treatment.
Nearly Departed by Pat Cadigan: 4
A story about exploring the mind of a dead artist.
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine by John Kessel: 4
A story about independence, regret, and memory in romance.
Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons: 3.5
Psychic vampires play a game which uses humans as mere pawns! The premise alone is amazing unfortunately the story devolves to a killer-victim chase.
Gemstone by Vernor Vinge: 4
A story about a unique alien encounter.
Black Air by Kim Stanley Robinson: 3
This one is also pushing it when it comes to be considered SF, more of a historical fiction story. A story about faith and how it is able to get a man to safe harbor.
December 2, 2024
"Cicada Queen" by BRUCE STERLING: 5*. Great coming of age set in a cyberpunk context. In less than 2 pages, you are already familiar with Landau, although the setting was really alien to me.
"Beyond the Dead Reef" by JAMES TIPTREE, JR.: 2*. A horror story that is not really good.
"Slow Birds" by IAN WATSON: 3*. An anticlimatic ending.
"Vulcan’s Forge" by POUL ANDERSON: 1*. Poul Anderson is not my favorite author.
"Man-Mountain Gentian" by HOWARD WALDROP: 1*. I just skipped this one
"Hardfought" by Greg Bear: 5*. Amazing space-war/love story.
"Manifest Destiny" by JOE HALDEMAN: 2*. Besides being written by Haldeman, who knows how to write, this is not a sci-fi story.
"Full Chicken Richness" by AVRAM DAVIDSON: 1*. Couldn't even finish it
"Multiples by ROBERT SILVERBERG: 2*. A story that doesn't go anywhere. The "multiples" idea was interesting, but the lack of real development of drama made it very dull.
"Cryptic" by JACK McDEVITT: 5*. A smart and interesting STEI story
"The Sidon in the Mirror" by CONNIE WILLIS: 5*. A mining town, a funny house and a 2 meters tall mirror with eigh fingers in each hand that knows how to play the piano. Just great!
"Golden Gate" by R.A. LAFFERTY: 2*. It could have been a funny story, but not in a SF collection.
"Blind Shemmy" by JACK DANN: 1*. I couldn't read further than the fifth page.
"In The Islands" by PAT MURPHY: 2*. I just skimmed through it, not a very interesting story.
"Nunc Dimittis" by TANITH LEE: 2*. A vampire story in a SF collection?
"Blood Music" by GREG BEAR: 4*. Very interesting and fast paced story.
"Her Furry Face" by LEIGH KENNEDY: 1*. A furry tale.
"Knight of Shallows" by RAND B. LEE: 2*. A boringly told parallel universes story
"The Cat" by GENE WOLFE: 4*. A revenche story set in the TBOTNS world. As with any Wolfe's story, I'm not sure I really understood the story.
"The Monkey Treatment" by GEORGE R.R. MARTIN: 4*. Fat man tries to lose fat without much sacrifice. I learned about several new dishes.
"Nearly Departed" by PAT CADIGAN: 4*. A very interesting cyberpunk story about a postmortem.
"Hearts Do Not In Eyes Shine" by JOHN KESSEL: 3*. A story about forgetting, with a very gullible woman as a main character.
"Carrion Comfort" by DAN SIMMONS: 5*. A fast paced story, that could perfectly be a great movie.
"Gemstone" by VERNOR VINGE: 4*. A girl has an alien pet.
"Black Air" by KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: 1*. I couldn't even finish this.
"Beyond the Dead Reef" by JAMES TIPTREE, JR.: 2*. A horror story that is not really good.
"Slow Birds" by IAN WATSON: 3*. An anticlimatic ending.
"Vulcan’s Forge" by POUL ANDERSON: 1*. Poul Anderson is not my favorite author.
"Man-Mountain Gentian" by HOWARD WALDROP: 1*. I just skipped this one
"Hardfought" by Greg Bear: 5*. Amazing space-war/love story.
"Manifest Destiny" by JOE HALDEMAN: 2*. Besides being written by Haldeman, who knows how to write, this is not a sci-fi story.
"Full Chicken Richness" by AVRAM DAVIDSON: 1*. Couldn't even finish it
"Multiples by ROBERT SILVERBERG: 2*. A story that doesn't go anywhere. The "multiples" idea was interesting, but the lack of real development of drama made it very dull.
"Cryptic" by JACK McDEVITT: 5*. A smart and interesting STEI story
"The Sidon in the Mirror" by CONNIE WILLIS: 5*. A mining town, a funny house and a 2 meters tall mirror with eigh fingers in each hand that knows how to play the piano. Just great!
"Golden Gate" by R.A. LAFFERTY: 2*. It could have been a funny story, but not in a SF collection.
"Blind Shemmy" by JACK DANN: 1*. I couldn't read further than the fifth page.
"In The Islands" by PAT MURPHY: 2*. I just skimmed through it, not a very interesting story.
"Nunc Dimittis" by TANITH LEE: 2*. A vampire story in a SF collection?
"Blood Music" by GREG BEAR: 4*. Very interesting and fast paced story.
"Her Furry Face" by LEIGH KENNEDY: 1*. A furry tale.
"Knight of Shallows" by RAND B. LEE: 2*. A boringly told parallel universes story
"The Cat" by GENE WOLFE: 4*. A revenche story set in the TBOTNS world. As with any Wolfe's story, I'm not sure I really understood the story.
"The Monkey Treatment" by GEORGE R.R. MARTIN: 4*. Fat man tries to lose fat without much sacrifice. I learned about several new dishes.
"Nearly Departed" by PAT CADIGAN: 4*. A very interesting cyberpunk story about a postmortem.
"Hearts Do Not In Eyes Shine" by JOHN KESSEL: 3*. A story about forgetting, with a very gullible woman as a main character.
"Carrion Comfort" by DAN SIMMONS: 5*. A fast paced story, that could perfectly be a great movie.
"Gemstone" by VERNOR VINGE: 4*. A girl has an alien pet.
"Black Air" by KIM STANLEY ROBINSON: 1*. I couldn't even finish this.
October 18, 2025
I've always admired Dozois's skill as an editor, having read various anthologies along with Asimov's SF magazine, so I decided to finally gather up all 35 volumes of his Year's Best Science Fiction series and start reading them.
The First Annual Collection gathers 25 stories from 1983, though one of my favorite bits here is actually his introduction ("Summation: 1983") where he summarizes the state of the short fiction and the SF/F publishing industry as a whole (including some juicy gossip bits!). It's obviously just his opinion, but having his perspective was enjoyable and amusing. Despite the title, there are actually several stories with not just fantasy elements in SF stories, but actual fantasy stories. The contents are still a majority science fiction, however.
One of my favorite aspects of this book was seeing not just writers in the full flush of their career, but many new and upcoming writers--but obviously, since this book came out 41 years ago, many of those new and upcoming writers are now the elder statesmen of the genre (including, amazingly, Robert Silverberg who is still alive today at 90 and had been writing for 30 years already at the time of the book).
In any case, most of these stories were good, enjoyable, or otherwise interesting, with only a few stories being not my cup of tea. One story was incredibly shocking ("Her Furry Face") but at least it did something. My very favorite stories were Kim Stanley Robinson's "Black Air" (following a young man during the Spanish Armada) and Dan Simmons's "Carrion Comfort" ("psychic" vampires!), and others I greatly enjoyed were Tanith Lee's "Nunc Dimittis," Jack McDevitt's "Cryptic," Howard Waldrop's "Man-Mountain Gentian." Another I found quite fun was Rand B. Lee's "Knight of Shallows."
The First Annual Collection gathers 25 stories from 1983, though one of my favorite bits here is actually his introduction ("Summation: 1983") where he summarizes the state of the short fiction and the SF/F publishing industry as a whole (including some juicy gossip bits!). It's obviously just his opinion, but having his perspective was enjoyable and amusing. Despite the title, there are actually several stories with not just fantasy elements in SF stories, but actual fantasy stories. The contents are still a majority science fiction, however.
One of my favorite aspects of this book was seeing not just writers in the full flush of their career, but many new and upcoming writers--but obviously, since this book came out 41 years ago, many of those new and upcoming writers are now the elder statesmen of the genre (including, amazingly, Robert Silverberg who is still alive today at 90 and had been writing for 30 years already at the time of the book).
In any case, most of these stories were good, enjoyable, or otherwise interesting, with only a few stories being not my cup of tea. One story was incredibly shocking ("Her Furry Face") but at least it did something. My very favorite stories were Kim Stanley Robinson's "Black Air" (following a young man during the Spanish Armada) and Dan Simmons's "Carrion Comfort" ("psychic" vampires!), and others I greatly enjoyed were Tanith Lee's "Nunc Dimittis," Jack McDevitt's "Cryptic," Howard Waldrop's "Man-Mountain Gentian." Another I found quite fun was Rand B. Lee's "Knight of Shallows."
May 20, 2025
Phew, this was a long read! The good news? For the most part, it was worth it. Some tales are 15-20 pages long and others are upward of 60. None are too long or wordy to make you give up on the book entirely though, so that's good.
Instead of boringly going through and rating each one, I'll give you my personal award winners:
My favorites:
Slow Birds - Just a really cool concepts and love how it was told.
Blind Shemmy - Loved it and would make a great Black Mirror ep.
Blood Music - Scary but so so good. Loved this one.
Least favorites:
Golden Gate - No clue what this one was about.
Cryptic - The name says it all. Boring and pointless.
Hardfought - Way over my head. Bailed after 10 pages.
Silliest/funniest - Full Chicken Riches - Hilariously great use of a time machine.
Most annoying dialog in a book - The Sidon In The Mirror - I get that part of the story makes use of how they talk but it was still annoying.
Biggest Aquaman Ripoff - In The Islands
Better than most of these sci-fi collections, so I'll likely read more of these Gardner Dozois anthologies.
Instead of boringly going through and rating each one, I'll give you my personal award winners:
My favorites:
Slow Birds - Just a really cool concepts and love how it was told.
Blind Shemmy - Loved it and would make a great Black Mirror ep.
Blood Music - Scary but so so good. Loved this one.
Least favorites:
Golden Gate - No clue what this one was about.
Cryptic - The name says it all. Boring and pointless.
Hardfought - Way over my head. Bailed after 10 pages.
Silliest/funniest - Full Chicken Riches - Hilariously great use of a time machine.
Most annoying dialog in a book - The Sidon In The Mirror - I get that part of the story makes use of how they talk but it was still annoying.
Biggest Aquaman Ripoff - In The Islands
Better than most of these sci-fi collections, so I'll likely read more of these Gardner Dozois anthologies.
February 22, 2020
I love these collections. My five-star rating may reflect only my enjoyment at these collections rather than objective analysis, but that’s true about everything. I was sad to learn that Dozois died recently, but realized there were about 35 years of these collections (plus best of the best) so I decided to make my way through all of them. In this first annual collection it’s interesting to see some writers that are currently well known but that here were just starting out eg, Kim Stanley Robinson it George R. R. Martin. Mainly I appreciate Gardner Dozois’ efforts at putting these collections of great reading together.
Note-I has thought these stories would be good sources of books to read, however my experience so far has been better short stories than novels, however I see a lot of writers whose books I had read and enjoyed before I saw them here, so I will keep trying.
Note-I has thought these stories would be good sources of books to read, however my experience so far has been better short stories than novels, however I see a lot of writers whose books I had read and enjoyed before I saw them here, so I will keep trying.
February 24, 2022
I've bought and read The Year's Best Science Fiction every year, however I could never get my hands on this one until I received it as a Christmas present a few months ago. Now that I've read this first one, the collection of all thirty-five editions is now complete.
This one has some stories that are great, some not so great.
Oddly enough, there are many stories here that have no science fiction elements at all, but instead they are more fantasy or even horror. However, I still enjoyed the entire book.
This one has some stories that are great, some not so great.
Oddly enough, there are many stories here that have no science fiction elements at all, but instead they are more fantasy or even horror. However, I still enjoyed the entire book.
January 10, 2021
Some very good short stories, but also some duds.
June 8, 2024
Favorites: Hardfought, for the aliens, The Sidon In The Mirror, for subtlety, Nunc Dimittis, because Tanith Lee writes impeccably erotic vampires, and Gemstone, because I'd like one as a pet.
February 20, 2019
***** Introduction: Summation: 1983 • essay by Gardner Dozois
***** Cicada Queen • [Shaper/Mechanist] • (1983) • novelette by Bruce Sterling
** Beyond the Dead Reef • [Quintana Roo] • (1983) • short story by James Tiptree, Jr.
**** Slow Birds • (1983) • novelette by Ian Watson
** Vulcan's Forge • (1983) • short story by Poul Anderson
*** Man-Mountain Gentian • (1983) • short story by Howard Waldrop
* Hardfought • (1983) • novella by Greg Bear
*** Manifest Destiny • (1983) • short story by Joe Haldeman
**** Full Chicken Richness • (1983) • short story by Avram Davidson
**** Multiples • (1983) • short story by Robert Silverberg
*** Cryptic • (1983) • short story by Jack McDevitt
**** The Sidon in the Mirror • (1983) • novelette by Connie Willis
** Golden Gate • (1982) • short story by R. A. Lafferty
*** Blind Shemmy • (1983) • novelette by Jack Dann
*** In the Islands • (1983) • short story by Pat Murphy
**** Nunc Dimittis • (1983) • novelette by Tanith Lee
***** Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear
**** Her Furry Face • (1983) • short story by Leigh Kennedy
**** Knight of Shallows • (1983) • novelette by Rand B. Lee
*** The Cat • [Solar Cycle] • (1983) • short story by Gene Wolfe
***** The Monkey Treatment • (1983) • novelette by George R. R. Martin
*** Nearly Departed • [Deadpan Allie] • (1983) • short story by Pat Cadigan
**** Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • (1983) • novelette by John Kessel
***** Carrion Comfort • (1983) • novelette by Dan Simmons
**** Gemstone • (1983) • novelette by Vernor Vinge
**** Black Air • (1983) • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson
I originally read this back in 1986, three years after most of the stories were published and a couple of years after the collection came out. I had met Bruce Sterling by then, and was on speaking terms with several of the other writers that appear in this collection and would appear in future ones, and had determined that I, too, would someday have a story included. Alas, the dream was not to be. While I did publish a few stories in the next three decades, none of them met Dozois' high standard and with his death this year, I no longer have the opportunity to try and meet that hurdle.
Dozois hadn’t started this from scratch. In the late 70s he had taken over a more modest Dutton-published Best SF series from Lester del Rey, ending up doing five additional volumes to the five that del Rey had edited. But what he did do was somehow convince Bluejay Books to commit to a much more massive compilation, nearly three times the Dutton volumes. I’m not sure about the logistics, but I suspect that it may have been due to offering a slightly lower rate per word, so that while individual authors included may not have reaped as much monetarily, they may have become better known because these volumes became nearly a necessary buy for anyone interested in the field. So, in this one case, the exposure may indeed have been worth the reduced rate. In any case, it was “found money”—i.e., authors had already earned 3-7 cents per word on the original publications.
It was fun to re-read. While I started picking these huge volumes up when they first appeared, but stopped buying them after about the 20th annual collection because they threatened to implode and collapse in on themselves due to their combined heft and breadth. Still, for someone without the time to commit to reading all the short fiction magazines, these were indispensable to keep up with the trends in the field.
As always, Dozois' summary provides the most objective measure of the good and bad the industry was going through at the time. His story selections remained strong. I only had real problems with one, Greg Bear's "Hardfought," which I found annoying more than interesting and found myself skimming, but that was more than made up for by Bear's "Blood Music," which I thought the best story of that year. Some of the other stories started off slow, and then I found myself caught up in them, like Ian Watson's "Slow Birds," Vernor Vinge's "Gemstone," and Dan Simmons' "Carrion Comfort."
***** Cicada Queen • [Shaper/Mechanist] • (1983) • novelette by Bruce Sterling
** Beyond the Dead Reef • [Quintana Roo] • (1983) • short story by James Tiptree, Jr.
**** Slow Birds • (1983) • novelette by Ian Watson
** Vulcan's Forge • (1983) • short story by Poul Anderson
*** Man-Mountain Gentian • (1983) • short story by Howard Waldrop
* Hardfought • (1983) • novella by Greg Bear
*** Manifest Destiny • (1983) • short story by Joe Haldeman
**** Full Chicken Richness • (1983) • short story by Avram Davidson
**** Multiples • (1983) • short story by Robert Silverberg
*** Cryptic • (1983) • short story by Jack McDevitt
**** The Sidon in the Mirror • (1983) • novelette by Connie Willis
** Golden Gate • (1982) • short story by R. A. Lafferty
*** Blind Shemmy • (1983) • novelette by Jack Dann
*** In the Islands • (1983) • short story by Pat Murphy
**** Nunc Dimittis • (1983) • novelette by Tanith Lee
***** Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear
**** Her Furry Face • (1983) • short story by Leigh Kennedy
**** Knight of Shallows • (1983) • novelette by Rand B. Lee
*** The Cat • [Solar Cycle] • (1983) • short story by Gene Wolfe
***** The Monkey Treatment • (1983) • novelette by George R. R. Martin
*** Nearly Departed • [Deadpan Allie] • (1983) • short story by Pat Cadigan
**** Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • (1983) • novelette by John Kessel
***** Carrion Comfort • (1983) • novelette by Dan Simmons
**** Gemstone • (1983) • novelette by Vernor Vinge
**** Black Air • (1983) • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson
I originally read this back in 1986, three years after most of the stories were published and a couple of years after the collection came out. I had met Bruce Sterling by then, and was on speaking terms with several of the other writers that appear in this collection and would appear in future ones, and had determined that I, too, would someday have a story included. Alas, the dream was not to be. While I did publish a few stories in the next three decades, none of them met Dozois' high standard and with his death this year, I no longer have the opportunity to try and meet that hurdle.
Dozois hadn’t started this from scratch. In the late 70s he had taken over a more modest Dutton-published Best SF series from Lester del Rey, ending up doing five additional volumes to the five that del Rey had edited. But what he did do was somehow convince Bluejay Books to commit to a much more massive compilation, nearly three times the Dutton volumes. I’m not sure about the logistics, but I suspect that it may have been due to offering a slightly lower rate per word, so that while individual authors included may not have reaped as much monetarily, they may have become better known because these volumes became nearly a necessary buy for anyone interested in the field. So, in this one case, the exposure may indeed have been worth the reduced rate. In any case, it was “found money”—i.e., authors had already earned 3-7 cents per word on the original publications.
It was fun to re-read. While I started picking these huge volumes up when they first appeared, but stopped buying them after about the 20th annual collection because they threatened to implode and collapse in on themselves due to their combined heft and breadth. Still, for someone without the time to commit to reading all the short fiction magazines, these were indispensable to keep up with the trends in the field.
As always, Dozois' summary provides the most objective measure of the good and bad the industry was going through at the time. His story selections remained strong. I only had real problems with one, Greg Bear's "Hardfought," which I found annoying more than interesting and found myself skimming, but that was more than made up for by Bear's "Blood Music," which I thought the best story of that year. Some of the other stories started off slow, and then I found myself caught up in them, like Ian Watson's "Slow Birds," Vernor Vinge's "Gemstone," and Dan Simmons' "Carrion Comfort."
September 5, 2024
Ponjelo me da ponovno pročitam sve po redu pa ću pisati recenzije u ovoj prvoj:
Dakle '93. dojmljive priče:
Anderson : Vulkanov oganj 3/5
Silverberg: Mnogoliki 5/5
Mcdevitt: Poruka 2/5
Laferti: Zlatna vrata 5/5
Dann: 'Šemi' Naslepo 5/5
Murphy: Na ostrvima 5/5
Cadigen: Samrtnik 2/5
Simmons: Uteha 2/5
Vinge: Dragi kamen 4/5
Stanley Robinson: Crni vazduh 4/5
Brin: Kugle 5/5
Clarke: Domoroci 2/5
'94.
Swanwick: Jednorogovo jaje 3/5
Bisson: Dva momka 5/5
Kodža: Ogledalo 4/5
'95.
Moorcock: Gle Čoveka 5/5
Zelazny: Kvjk...5/5
Anderson : Jarčeva pjesma 5/5
Miller: Velika glad 5/5
Smith: Zločin i slava 5/5
Sheckley: 5/5
'96
Fintushel: Ilem 3/5
McLeod: Dedica 5/5
Sanders: Na tragu 4/5
Ker: Azil 3/5
Haldeman: Povratna 4/5
Resnik: Sedam pogleda 5/5
Baxter: Lizeri
'97
Simmons: Smrt Kentaura 5/5
Castro: Skakavci 4/5
Holdstock: Posrebrenje 4/5
Simmons: Dva minuta 3/5
Karuters: Mesečeve kule 3/5
Hand: Bakhe 3/5
Masterton: Seksualni objekt 2/5
Newman: Slavna čudovišta 3/5
Wilson: Bob Dylan 4/5
Gaiman: Viteštvo 5/5
Somtow: Čui Čai 4/5
Mcdonald: Restoran 5/5
'98
Benford: Celzijus 233. 4/5
Kress: Broj 2/5
Sheckley: Dan kada 3/5
Patrick Kelly: Misliti kao Dinosaur 5/5
Mcdonald: Kilimanđaro 5/5
Simmons: Keli Dal 3/5
Silverberg: Vreli dani 3/5
'99
Dakle '93. dojmljive priče:
Anderson : Vulkanov oganj 3/5
Silverberg: Mnogoliki 5/5
Mcdevitt: Poruka 2/5
Laferti: Zlatna vrata 5/5
Dann: 'Šemi' Naslepo 5/5
Murphy: Na ostrvima 5/5
Cadigen: Samrtnik 2/5
Simmons: Uteha 2/5
Vinge: Dragi kamen 4/5
Stanley Robinson: Crni vazduh 4/5
Brin: Kugle 5/5
Clarke: Domoroci 2/5
'94.
Swanwick: Jednorogovo jaje 3/5
Bisson: Dva momka 5/5
Kodža: Ogledalo 4/5
'95.
Moorcock: Gle Čoveka 5/5
Zelazny: Kvjk...5/5
Anderson : Jarčeva pjesma 5/5
Miller: Velika glad 5/5
Smith: Zločin i slava 5/5
Sheckley: 5/5
'96
Fintushel: Ilem 3/5
McLeod: Dedica 5/5
Sanders: Na tragu 4/5
Ker: Azil 3/5
Haldeman: Povratna 4/5
Resnik: Sedam pogleda 5/5
Baxter: Lizeri
'97
Simmons: Smrt Kentaura 5/5
Castro: Skakavci 4/5
Holdstock: Posrebrenje 4/5
Simmons: Dva minuta 3/5
Karuters: Mesečeve kule 3/5
Hand: Bakhe 3/5
Masterton: Seksualni objekt 2/5
Newman: Slavna čudovišta 3/5
Wilson: Bob Dylan 4/5
Gaiman: Viteštvo 5/5
Somtow: Čui Čai 4/5
Mcdonald: Restoran 5/5
'98
Benford: Celzijus 233. 4/5
Kress: Broj 2/5
Sheckley: Dan kada 3/5
Patrick Kelly: Misliti kao Dinosaur 5/5
Mcdonald: Kilimanđaro 5/5
Simmons: Keli Dal 3/5
Silverberg: Vreli dani 3/5
'99
April 27, 2016
For those who want a straightforward rating and a simple recommendation list for these stories, here’s the short version. I give this collection 3.5 stars, and I recommend that you read the following stories (listed in the order they appear):
Cicada Queen (14k)
Slow Birds (10k)
Man-Mountain Gentian (6k)
Hardfought (23k)
Manifest Destiny (6.5k)
Cryptic (6k)
Golden Gate (5.5k)
Blood Music* (9k)
Knight of Shallows (13k)
The Monkey Treatment* (12k)
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine (8k)
Carrion Comfort* (16k)
Black Air (11k)
* These are the cream of the crop, in my view. (Oddly, they are all horror stories.)
Parentheses show the approximate number of words in each story.
I recommend avoiding: Vulcan’s Forge; The Sidon in the Mirror; Her Furry Face.
The other stories range from Decent to Pretty Good, and it’s entirely possible that one of them will strike other readers as much better than they did me. Out of this secondary group, I would suggest the following as quite interesting: Beyond the Dead Reef; Full Chicken Richness; Multiples; Gemstone.
For more detail on any one of these, please continue reading for a complete review.
[edit: You can view my entire review of these stories on Librarything as it will not fit within the allowed character limits here.]
Cicada Queen (14k)
Slow Birds (10k)
Man-Mountain Gentian (6k)
Hardfought (23k)
Manifest Destiny (6.5k)
Cryptic (6k)
Golden Gate (5.5k)
Blood Music* (9k)
Knight of Shallows (13k)
The Monkey Treatment* (12k)
Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine (8k)
Carrion Comfort* (16k)
Black Air (11k)
* These are the cream of the crop, in my view. (Oddly, they are all horror stories.)
Parentheses show the approximate number of words in each story.
I recommend avoiding: Vulcan’s Forge; The Sidon in the Mirror; Her Furry Face.
The other stories range from Decent to Pretty Good, and it’s entirely possible that one of them will strike other readers as much better than they did me. Out of this secondary group, I would suggest the following as quite interesting: Beyond the Dead Reef; Full Chicken Richness; Multiples; Gemstone.
For more detail on any one of these, please continue reading for a complete review.
[edit: You can view my entire review of these stories on Librarything as it will not fit within the allowed character limits here.]
February 16, 2013
Wow. I used to read these collections when I was in High School...yep, a ways back...now with my Kindle, it was easy to go all the way back to the one that began this series from Mr. Dozois. Lots of great stories in here. Most interesting thing for me, was his intros to each author, and reading, for example, the intro to George R. R. Martin's story, and seeing no references to any of the great works he has done since they came after that. Song of Ice and Fire? Nope...his story in here was excellent, I might add...so, do I want to continue the trip down memory lane and get vol. 2? Not sure...I may wait a while so I can catch up on other things...it will be there waiting for me.
March 29, 2013
Looking forward to the rest.
July 4, 2014
Excelente recopilacion de relatos publicada en 1983. Lo unico molesto es que no todos los relatos son de ciencia ficcion.
June 14, 2015
The best short stories of the year collected in one place. Dozois is the best editor in the genre.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews