Year's Best SF 4

by David G. Hartwell (Editor, Contributor)

Travel to the Farthest Reaches of the Imagination

Acclaimed editor and anthologist David G. Hartwell is back with his fourth annual high-powered collection of the year's most inventive, entertaining, and awe-inspiring science fiction. In short, the best.

Here are stories from today's top name authors, plus exciting newcomers, all eager to land you on exotic planets, introduce you to strange new life forms, and show you scenes more amazing than anything you've imagined.So sit back and blast off for an amazing trip with
Stephen Baxter
Gregory Benford
David Brin
Nancy Kress
Bruce Sterling
Michael Swanwick
and many more...

Contents

ix • Introduction (Year's Best SF 4) • (1999) • essay by David G. Hartwell
1 • Market Report • (1998) • novelette by Alexander Jablokov
31 • A Dance to Strange Musics • (1998) • novelette by Gregory Benford
65 • The Year of the Mouse • (1998) • shortstory by Norman Spinrad
75 • The Day Before They Came • (1998) • shortstory by Mary Soon Lee
83 • This Side of Independence • (1998) • shortstory by Rob Chilson
103 • The Twelfth Album • (1998) • shortstory by Stephen Baxter
119 • Story of Your Life • (1998) • novella by Ted Chiang
183 • Whiptail • (1998) • shortstory by Robert Reed
209 • The Eye of God • (1998) • novelette by Mary Rosenblum
243 • Rules of Engagement • (1998) • novelette by Michael F. Flynn
269 • Radiant Doors • (1998) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick
291 • Unravelling the Thread • (1998) • shortstory by Jean-Claude Dunyach (variant of Déchiffrer la trame 1997)
303 • That Thing Over There • (1998) • shortstory by Dominic Green
323 • The Allies • (1998) • novelette by Mark S. Geston
377 • My Pal Clunky • (1998) • shortstory by Ron Goulart
397 • Life in the Extreme • [Uplift Universe] • (1998) • shortstory by David Brin
417 • Near Enough to Home • (1998) • shortstory by Michael Skeet
437 • A Game of Consequences • (1998) • shortstory by David Langford
451 • State of Nature • (1998) • shortstory by Nancy Kress
461 • Maneki Neko • (1998) • shortstory by Bruce Sterling

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections, Short Story Collection

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 5, 1999

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

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good anthology, worth seeking out, if you're a fan of short SF. This is a partial reread. First read somewhere closer to the first publication date. 3.6 stars is the consensus rating here, and seems about right to me. Some standout stories:

• This Side of Independence • (1998) • short story by Rob Chilson. A bleak far-future story about the disassembly of Planet Earth. Online copy: https://my.u1lib.org/book/1341534/a7a83b
• Story of Your Life • (1998) • novella by Ted Chiang. One of his first big hits. Won the Nebula Award for Best Novella.
• Radiant Doors • (1998) • short story by Michael Swanwick. Stunningly bleak story about future refugees. Online copy: http://i.4pcdn.org/tg/1557540154159.pdf
• Maneki Neko • (1998) • short story by Bruce Sterling. 5-star, one of Sterling's best. Online at http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fic... . Don't miss!

On my reread list.....

[Rift Vegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Number 3 in this series, I did not enjoy at all, but I had already bought this one and I finally got around to reading it. And, hey... these stories are actually pretty good... And then you hit Ted Chiang's story "Story of Your Life", it's just amazing (so amazing I immediately bought his collection Stories of Your Life)!!! The next few stories, "Whiptail" by Robert Reed and "The Eye of God" by Mary Rosenblum, are interesting as well. Plus a David Brin story, "Life in the Extreme" (also called "Aficionado") from his Uplift universe.

Okay, number 4 may have renewed my interest in this series!

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Year's Best SF books are a reliable source for entertaining and thought-provoking short stories. This edition holds stories published in 1998.

Although you can always find something to enjoy, they're usually something of a mixed bag... a few you really like, a lot that are just okay, and a couple that you outright dislike. In volume 4, the standouts for me were "Radiant Doors," by Michael Swanwick, a dark and depressing but gripping story involving a bizarre refugee crisis and the limits of compassion and "The Story of Your Life", by Ted Chaing, the story of a mother and a linguist and her time being drafted to help bridge the communication gap between humans and an alien race, and "Maneki Neko" by Bruce Sterling, about a revolutionary AI gaining control and influence that may or may not be a good thing for people. Of those that rubbed me the wrong way, only "The Allies" by Mark S. Greston is really memorable for leaving a bad taste in my mouth, and even that one had a couple novel concepts.

Considering the year, there are a lot of rather prescient ideas being used to create stories, from the widespread increase in data-mining for niche marketing purposes, to flash mobs, and also a few old classic tropes, space opera, time travel, alternate timelines and speculations on different gender dynamics.

Something for everybody, in short.

[George Berguño · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to comment on one story and one story only. I know that this is a strange way to review an anthology, but the story I am going to discuss made a profound impression on me, and it justified the time I spent reading through other stories in this anthology that I did not enjoy. Besides, there is something that I have long wanted to say about SF and this one story, a novelette entitled The Allies by Mark S Geston, provides me with the opportunity.

I have been asked, now and then, if I could recommend a good SF novel that would allow the reader to ‘dip into’ the genre. The questioner in most cases is a reader of mainstream fiction who wants to find a temporary diversion in genre fiction. The difficulty, as I see it, is that reading SF is a commitment. Of course one can find pleasure in ‘dipping in’ from time to time, but the more profound enjoyment of SF can only be had by reading SF deeply and widely. SF is a literature of ideas, and part of the enjoyment of reading SF comes from tracing the evolution of an idea, as it passes from one writer to another. It does mean, of course, that you end up reading books that you would rather never have started in the first place. But every now and then you discover a story that moves you.

Mark S Geston’s The Allies takes place in a future world where a spaceship carrying 800,000 humans flees Earth to escape a war against an alien race. It is because the war seems altogether lost that humans decide to flee; but the important detail is that in their last-ditch attempt to save their lives, the humans abandon their dogs. After a long and fruitless search for a habitable planet, the captain of the ship decides to return to Earth. Imagine their surprise when, upon their return, they discover that not only are the aliens gone, but plants and animals of all species seem to be flourishing. Even animal species that had long been considered extinct had made a comeback. But there are two mysteries to this rediscovered Eden. First, it is clear that the animals hold humans in contempt. Second, the dogs have disappeared.

If I had not read Clifford D Simak’s City (1953), I would not have appreciated Mark S Geston’s story, because The Allies continues the meditation that Simak first began. I have already reviewed Simak’s City on this site, but it is worth reiterating that Simak’s book, written shortly after World War II, presented human beings as creatures flawed in their capacity for loyalty. In Simak’s story, it is the dogs who inherit the Earth and humans disappear. In my review of Simak’s book I claimed that City was a work of despair: humans are portrayed as creatures that are prepared to abandon Earth for the sake of personal gain on Jupiter. Admittedly, Mark S Geston’s vision is even more miserable. As the protagonist of the story tries to understand the first of the two mysteries, we are presented with an intensely pessimistic description of human beings’ relations to living creatures. In time the protagonist concludes that he doesn’t want to live on an Earth devoid of dogs; he feels incomplete without them.

I was profoundly moved by the final scene, in which the protagonist goes in search of the dogs. I thought the end of the story read like a description of the first encounter ever between a human and a dog. In a remote corner of the planet, these two species, alien to each other, make tentative contact. What an extraordinary moment that must have been, when human and dog discovered that not only could they live together, but that their capacity for survival was greatly enhanced by collaboration. It must be said that Mark S Geston’s final scene is a symbol of hope, though the overall canvas he paints is overwhelmingly bleak.

I recommend this book to committed readers of SF. Besides the story I have reviewed above, there are some very fine stories by Norman Spinrad, Stephen Baxter and David Brin. The volume also includes the wonderful Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the best of the best (in my humble opinion):
"The Twelfth Album"/Stephen Baxter.
"Story of Your Life"/Ted Chiang.
"Whiptail"/ Robert Reed. (Great use of evolutionary theory in SF).
"The Eye Of God"/Mary Rosenblum.
"Radiant Doors"/Robert Swanwick.(Very creepy).
"A Game of Consequences"/ David Langford. (More SF creepiness).
"State of Nature"/Nancy Kress.
"Maneki Neko"/Bruce Sterling

[Cat Randle · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a while since I read a SF anthology. This one gripped me. Usually, SF anthologies are a very mixed bag. Not all the stories are to the reader's taste. All these were quality in different ways. Yes, there are top-name authors and newcomers. It's the breath of stories that grabbed me. Mary Soon Le sparse and pithy The Day before they came, is a genius story about the day before the aliens arrived. Witty and using the technique David Lean used in Oliver where we understand the horror about to come without the day being described. Gregory Benfords Dance to Strange music describes a truly alien world and what happens to the people who try to understand it. It is worthy of a Black Mirror episode.
Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life was adapted into the film Arrival. It was wonderful to read the full work, and it is worth looking him up. Robert Reed Whiptail is a wonderful look at parthenogenesis and what happens when the species' survival depends on sexual reproduction.
Michael F Flynn's Rules of Engagement shows the start of giant robot mech writing. As a fan of Halo, I enjoyed the story, especially as it was from a retired veteran.
Mark S Geston has an unusual take on environmentalism with The Allies. His premise is humans are being wiped out. The animal kingdom is recruited to help. Humans have to leave. On their return, there is a mystery. The aliens have gone. Geston imagines a useful but concerning AI. The last two stories that grabbed me were the humourous My Pal Clunky, written in an old thriller style, taking a Potshot at Hollywood and robotic companions. The twist is twee, but it's nice to have a robot story where the robot comes out on top. The first of David Brin's uplifting stories, Life in the Extreme, is here and my final favourite is Bruce Stirling Maneki Neko. It is a story of a world where two economic systems are fighting it out, one is being helped by an AI. I prefer the AI Japanese-style world.
This collection is a gem, and there isn't a bad story in the lot. It is male-biased, and I personally don't accept the argument that David only publishes the stories, male or female it doesn't matter. Like that pesky Google hiring algorithm, female SF authors will have to be found elsewhere. Put that aside and this is a hidden gem and worth a holiday read. This book will appeal to SF fans, fans of the 90's SF and people who like their SF to keep them guessing.

[Jarosław Loretz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo przyzwoita antologia, której jedyną zauważalną wadą jest na tyle niefortunne ustawienie tekstów, że te najsłabsze i otwierają zbiór (Jablokov, Spinrad i Mary Soon Lee),i go zamykają (Brin, Skeet, Langford i Kress). Ale w sumie to drobiazg (oczywiście jeśli ktoś się nie zniechęci i od razu nie odłoży książki),bo reszta opowiadań naprawdę potrafi zadowolić nawet najbardziej wybrednego miłośnika fantastyki.

Bo mamy tutaj i obcą planetę-komputer z lewitującym oceanem (Benford),i umierającą, demontowaną Ziemię odciętą od słońca wieńcem orbitalnych kolonii (Rob Chilson),i wizytę obcych, posługujących się językiem zmieniającym ludziom synapsy w mózgu (Ted Chiang),i dwie opowieści o cywilizacjach teoretycznie kobiecych - ziemskiej postapo (Robert Reed) i obcej (Mary Rosenblum),i cwaną opowieść o świecie, gdzie Beatlesi trzymali się razem nieco dłużej (Baxter),i portale czasowe, z których wychodzą zmaltretowani dyktaturą mieszkańcy przyszłości (Swanwick),i zagadkowy dywan kurdyjski z VIII w. (Jean-Claude Dunyach),i tajemniczą cywilizację w starożytnym Tybecie (Dominic Green),i w końcu japońską sieć grzecznościowych powiązań, uznaną za mafijne układy przez asystentkę prokuratora z USA (Sterling). Wszystkie te opowiadania na swój sposób są oryginalne, ciekawe i dobrze napisane. A także solidnie przetłumaczone, bo w książce można znaleźć nazwiska z górnej translatorskiej półki (gatunkowej fantastyki).

Troszkę gorzej wypadają historie Flynna (tłumienie buntu w zdalnie sterowanym mechu),Gestona (obcy wybijają ludzkość i odtwarzają ekosystem) i Goularta (humoreska z robopsem-aktorem),ale nawet i one dają garść ciekawych pomysłów i czytają się po prostu dobrze.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not an exceptional anthology of the year in any way. The most interesting thing about it is that this is among the first collections of tales written in the internet age, and so the technology is recognizable. Otherwise the stories largely fell into the standard spectrum of tedious to pretty okay. The absolute bottom of the pile was Stephen Baxter's "12th Album", which just annoyed me to distraction. I honestly don't know which was the worst, the low risk premise, the irritating narrative style, the breathless Beatles fandom, each was equally awful. This was immediately followed by one of the few standouts of the collection, namely "The Story of Your Life", which was a solid 'pretty good', and certainly better than the dull film they made from it.

[Charl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful. Not a clinker in the whole book. Well worth the time.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked "The Eye of God" by Mary Rosenblum and "Life in the Extreme" by David Brin.

[Earl Truss · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there were still several terrible stories in this volume, there were also several almost outstanding stories.

[Jon Pennycook · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good collection (unlike more modern anthologies) - I only skipped a few stories. The film "Arrival" is based on one of the stories in here.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I finish reading science fiction, I usually have one of three reactions: (1) Meh. (2) Huh? or (3) Wow! When I started reading Year's Best SF 4 I seemed to have more of the first two reactions than the third. (The third is of course what I'm looking for, is why I read sf in the first place.) But as I progressed through the volume, the percentage of Wow! (or at least "Okay...neat-o") picked up. I'm slowly making my way through the entire series, reading them in the order they were published, and this is the weakest selection of the four I've read so far. Oh well. They can't all be winners, I guess.

[CJ Bowen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really fun stories in here: a Borges-esque piece called "Unraveling the Thread", the surprise ending of "The Day Before They Came, and the highlight being Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life". Some silly stuff, like the green commercial "Life in the Extreme", or the "real lesbians are fighters" story called "State of Nature". But it ended on the right note with some espionage sci-fi: Bruce Sterling's "Maneki Neko". Nifty.

[Bill Borre]

"The Year of the Mouse" by Norman Spinrad - Disney releases millions of balloon antennas into China forcing the political structure to cooperate for a share of the profits.

"The Day Before They Came" by Mary Soom Lee - Molly buys her son Justin a pair of smart shoes the day before the aliens came.

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book completed my convincing that Ted Chiang is an author of whose work I needed to track down a complete set. Most of the rest of the stories were largely forgettable. I love short stories, but most of these did nothing for me.

[David Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes Michael Swanwick's outstanding, if stunningly pessimistic, story "Radiant Doors"; Stephen Baxter's alternate-history piece "The Twelfth Album"; and Ted Chiang's award-winning "Story of Your Life."

[Jacque Holst · Rating 2 out of 5]

Curious

I found myself wondering why, or how the different stories made it into a book called Years Best SF. I found a few of the stories entertaining, mostly I wondered why anyone felt inspired to include them.

[Velveeta · Rating 4 out of 5]

the best shorts from 1998 scifi publications. very awesome stuff from some big names of the genre. enjoyable read and highly recommended.

[Claudiu]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/6570901

[A~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another year of collected short stories.
The editor is still a bit stuck up, but still quite a few well known artists here as well as some stories from unusual locations.

[bluetyson]

Year's Best SF 4 by David G. Hartwell (1999)