Year's Best SF 7

by David G. Hartwell (Editor, Contributor), Kathryn Cramer (Editor, Contributor), Nancy Kress (Contributor)

Once again, the year's finest flights of speculative imagination are gathered in one extraordinary volume, compiled by acclaimed editor and anthologist David G. Hartwell. From some of the most renowned visionaries of contemporary SF -- as well as new writers who are already making an indelible mark -- comes an all-new compendium of unparalleled tales of the possible that will enthrall, astonish, terrify, and elate. Stories of strange worlds and mind-boggling futures, of awesome discoveries and apocalyptic disasters, of universes light years distant and deep within the human consciousness, are collected here as SF's brightest lights shine more radiantly than ever before.

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Short Stories, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy

512 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 4, 2002

About the author

David Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.

He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.

Reviews

[Ciprian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Year’s Best SF 7: A Five-Star Review

Year’s Best SF 7 is a captivating anthology that takes readers on a journey through the cosmos. The collection features a diverse range of stories, each unique in its approach to the genre. I particularly enjoyed “Russian Vine” by Simon Ings. An unique alien invasion story where the aliens, known as the Puscha, aim for a quiet, orderly, and beautiful Earth. The story is told from the perspective of Connie, a Puscha bureaucrat on Earth, who struggles with his role and relationships. The narrative intertwines personal and political themes, posing unanswerable questions and leaving a lasting impression with its haunting premise and beautiful prose. It’s a story that will leave you pondering long after you’ve finished reading.

The stories included in this anthology are:
* Nancy Kress - Computer Virus
* Terry Bisson - Charlie's Angels
* Richard Chwedyk - The Measure of All Things
* Simon Ings - Russian Vine
* Michael Swanwick - Under's Game
* Brian W. Aldiss - A Matter of Mathematics
* Edward M. Lerner - Creative Destruction
* David Morrell - Resurrection
* James Morrow - The Cat's Pajamas
* Michael Swanwick - The Dog Said Bow-Wow
* Ursula K. Le Guin - The Building
* Stephen Baxter - Gray Earth
* Terry Dowling - The Lagan Fishers
* Thomas M. Disch - In Xanadu
* Lisa Goldstein - The Go-Between
* Gene Wolfe - Viewpoint
* Gregory Benford - Anomalies
* Alastair Reynolds - Glacial
* James Patrick Kelly - Undone

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Year's Best SF7 is a collection of science fiction short stories edited by David G. Hartwell. These stories are written by several well-known authors as well as several more obscurely known authors. As with most such collections, I found several of the short stories very good and several that weren't to my taste. The authors in this book are:
Nancy Kress
Terry Bisson
Richard Chwedyk
Simon Ings
Michael Swanwick
Brian W. Aldiss
Edward M. Lerner
David Morrell
Ursula K. Le Guin
Stephen Baxter
Terry Dowling
Thomas M. Disch
Lisa Goldstein
Gene Wolfe
Gregory Benford
Alastair Reynolds
James Patrick Kelly
James K. Morrow

[christopherdrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could eat this stuff like candy. I think I said that already? Who knows. Anyway: some stand out work from Ursula K Leguin (of course) and Terry Dowling; the collection is hit and miss at the beginning, but once you hit Michael Swanwick's The Dog Said Bow-Wow, it's just home-run after home-run. 8/10 would def eat here again, as long as no one was trying to remove my brain in order to harvest neurons or whatever.

[Riccardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The overall quality was great, even though there were some stories I didn't really like.
These were my favourites (not in order):
"Computer virus" by Nancy Kress
"The measure of all things" by Richard Chwedyk
"Creative destruction" by Edward M. Lerner
"Resurrection" by David Morrell
"The building" by Ursula K. Le Guin
"Gray Earth" by Stephen Baxter
"The Lagan fishers" by Terry Dowling
"Anomalies" by Gregory Benford
"Glacial" by Alastair Reynolds
"Undone" by James Patrick Kelly

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of 'meh' in this collection, with one story I absolutely loathed. I did enjoy the insanity of James Morrow's "The Cat's Pajamas", and the Richard Chwedyk story is a sentimental favorite. Twenty years on, it's hard to recommend hunting this collection down unless you are looking for a specific story (like I did with the Chwedyk).

[Earl Truss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, this series continues to have a few good stories and some that were impossible to understand (for me anyway) in each volume.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked "The Measure of All Things" by Richard Chwedyk, "Viewpoint" by Gene Wolfe, and "Anomalies" by Gregory Benford

[Bill Borre]

"The Lagan Fishers" by Terry Dowling - wc

[Andrew (M) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The quality of short stories in this collection ranged from barely passable to excellent. That there were any mediocre stories at all was a big disappointment. Too many of them felt like unoriginal knock-offs of well known stories.

Here are my ratings for each story:

Computer Virus - 3 stars - Pretty neat, well written, although the ending was a bit of a let down.

Charlie's Angels - 3 stars - Maybe more if you like the faux-film noir private eye stuff.

The Measure of all things - 4.5 stars - Themes from "Jurassic Park" taken in a great new direction, this story was really touching.

Russian Vine - 4 stars - All about language, very cool twist on th alien invasion trope.

Under's Game - 2 stars - Yeah, "Ender's Game" isn't exactly logically consistent. Thanks for pointing that out with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

A Matter of Mathematics - 3 stars - Decent, but I really didn't feel much for the characters.

Creative Destruction - 4.5 stars - Terrific mystery/espionage story. This felt the most real of any of the story in this volume.

Resurrection - 2 stars - There was an episode of DS9 that told this story a million times better.

The Cat's Pajamas - 1 star - Nonsensical story, hamfisted social commentary, boring characters, and silly yet boring wordplay.

The Dog Said Bow-Wow - 3 stars - Fun, but nothing too special.

The Building - 3.5 stars - Interesting enough, but felt lacking in substance. Maybe I was supposed to want more, in which case it succeeds.

Gray Earth - 4 stars - Cool ideas in this quite simple story.

The Lagan Fishers - 2.5 stars - I was really liking this one until it turned into a "Solaris" rip-off.

In Xanadu - 2 stars - WTF? Mildly entertaining at best, something about this story just seemed half-baked.

The Go-Between - 3.5 stars - Nifty story with a pretty neat twist.

Viewpoint - 1.5 stars - Lousy "Running Man" clone, with a surprise ending that would only be surprising to someone who hadn't read the first twenty pages of the story.

Anomalies - 2.5 stars - a little too religious-ish, but intersting enough.

Glacial - 2.5 stars - Why include a sequel in a collection of short stories? This story was just ok, and included some pretty wild logical leaps. Maybe if you have read the preceding novella, you'd care about the characters.

Undone - 4 stars - This one was pretty goofy, but lots of fun. One of the most solid stories in the book.

[Angel S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stories I really liked from this book, and so I should read more from these authors:
Computer Virus by Nancy Kress (AI hostage situation)
Charlie's Angels by Terry Bisson (hard-boiled supernatural)
The Measure of All Things by Richard Chwedyk (biopet saurs)
Creative Destruction by Edward Lerner (murder mystery)
The Dog Said Bow-Wow by Michael Swanwick (con pulled on British royalty by a man and a talking dog)
Undone by James Patrick Kelly (woman that can travel through time)

These are the stories I did not particularly care for:
Russian Vine by Simon Ings (love affair between human and invading alien)
A Matter of Mathematics by Brian Aldiss (starts out good, but ends rather strange and confusing)

The rest were okay, but not great.

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1340425.html[return][return]this was a year when I think the shortlists were at least equal to if not better than Hartwell's selection - there are only two overlaps, Michael Swanwick's 'The Dog Said Bow-Wow' and James Patrick Kelly's 'Undone'. Other stories I liked from Hartwell's selection included Richard Chwedyk's 'The Measure of All Things' (to which the Nebula-winning 'Bronte's Egg' is a sequel) and Ursula Le Guin's 'The Building'.

[Owen Thaxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked teh steampunk story about dog-men romancing courtier women and a massive Queen of England stuffed to the guts in a maze of Buckhingham Palace. I liked the FAR-futurist story in which identity is fluid and rather than coinage, people trade not in compliments, but critiques. I liked teh story about teh ice worms creating a massive planet-sized cerebral network.

Those are teh three stories which I remember reading, something, like, three, four years ago? They're all quite stimulating and cool.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-readable favorites:
"Computer Virus"/ Nancy Kress,
"Charlies' Angels"/Terry Bison,
"the Measure of All Things"/Richard Chwedyk,
"Resurrection"/David Morell,
"the Dog Said Bow-Wow"/Michael Swanwick,
"The Building"/Ursula K. Le Guin,
"Gray Earth"/Stephen Baxter,
"The Go-Between"/Lisa Goldstein,
"Anomalies"/Gregory Benford,
"glacial"/Alistair Reynolds,
"Undone"/James Patrick Kelly.

[Rift Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Measure of All Things" by Richard Chwedyk
is worth the price of the entire book! His short story series, starting with "The Measure of All Things", about pet saurs, is moving and delightful and sad beyond sad... give me more Axel "The Sun is a STAR!"!!!
Chwedyk

Yeah, okay. There were other good stories in this collection. :)

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very good stories - two by my favourite, Michael Swanwick. Some are too American for an English reader, and I must admit I'd had enough when I was two thirds of the way through the book. This is still a very good selection.

[Cynthisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

From my old book log: "Not a huge short story fan, but it was ok."

[Dan Clore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially recommend:

James Morrow, "The Cat's Pajamas"
Michael Swanwick, "The Dog Said Bow-Wow"
Ursula LeGuin, "The Building"

[bluetyson]

Year's best SF 7 / edited by David G. Hartwell (2002)

[Steve Clark]

Mass Market Paperback

[Gilly Tay]

Really exciting. you will get to experience different authors with different styles all in one whole volume. Liked the compiled and its arrangement. NICE BOOK.