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The Year's Best Science Fiction #2
The Year's Best Science Fiction, Volume 2
Multi-award-winning editor and Locus Magazine critic Jonathan Strahan presents the second definitive collection of best short science fiction. With short works from some of the most lauded science fiction authors, as well as rising stars, this science fiction collection displays the top talent and cutting-edge cultural moments that affect our lives, dreams, and stories. These brilliant authors examine the way we live now, our hopes, and struggles, all through the lens of the future. An assemblage of future classics, this star-studded anthology is a must-read for anyone who enjoys the vast and exciting world of science fiction.
Contents:
* Selection and “Introduction • essay by Jonathan Strahan
* The Bahrain Underground Bazaar / by Nadia Afifi (Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 11/12/20)
* If You Take My Meaning / by Charlie Jane Anders (Originally published in Tor.com, 2/12/20)
* It Came From Cruden Farm / by Max Barry (Originally published in Slate Future Tense, 2/29/20)
* The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie / by Pat Cadigan (Originally published in Avatars Inc)
* An Important Failure / by Rebecca Campbell (Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine, 8/20)
* Schrödinger’s Catastrophe / by Gene Doucette (Originally published in Lightspeed Magazine, 11/20)
* Midstrathe Exploding / by Andy Dudak (Originally published in Analog: Science Fiction and Fact, 3-4/20)
* The Pill / by Meg Elison (Originally published in Big Girl Plus… [PM Press])
* GO. NOW. FIX. / by Timons Esaias (Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, 1-2/20)
* Drones to Ploughshares / by Sarah Gailey (Originally published in Motherboard Vice, 4/02/20)
* The Transition of OSOOSI / by Ozzie M. Gartrell (Originally published in Fiyah Lit Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction Issue #13)
* Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super / by A.T. Greenblatt (Originally published in Uncanny Magazine, 5-6/20)
* How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar / by Rich Larson (Originally published in Tor.com, 1/15/20)
* The Mermaid Astronaut / by Yoon Ha Lee (Originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies 298)
* 50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know / by Ken Liu (Originally published in Uncanny Magazine, 11-12/20)
* Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love / by Usman T. Malik (Originally published in Wired, 12/11/20)
* Yellow and the Perception of Reality / by Maureen McHugh (Originally published in Tor.com, 7/22/20)
* A Mastery of German / by Marian Denise Moore (Originally published in Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora)
* Father / by Ray Nayler (Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, 7-8/20)
* How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary / by Tochi Onyebuchi (Originally published in Slate Future Tense, 8/29/20)
* Don’t Mind Me / by Suzanne Palmer (Originally published in Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends [MIT Press])
* A Guide for Working Breeds / by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Originally published in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution)
* Polished Performance / by Alastair Reynolds (Originally published in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution)
* The Suicide of Our Troubles / by Karl Schroeder (Originally published in Slate Future Tense, 11/28/20)
* Airbody / by Sameem Siddiqui (Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine, 4/20)
* Sparklybits / by Nick Wolven (Originally published in Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends [MIT Press])
* The Search for [Flight X] / by Neon Yang (Originally published in Avatars Inc.)
.
Contents:
* Selection and “Introduction • essay by Jonathan Strahan
* The Bahrain Underground Bazaar / by Nadia Afifi (Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 11/12/20)
* If You Take My Meaning / by Charlie Jane Anders (Originally published in Tor.com, 2/12/20)
* It Came From Cruden Farm / by Max Barry (Originally published in Slate Future Tense, 2/29/20)
* The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie / by Pat Cadigan (Originally published in Avatars Inc)
* An Important Failure / by Rebecca Campbell (Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine, 8/20)
* Schrödinger’s Catastrophe / by Gene Doucette (Originally published in Lightspeed Magazine, 11/20)
* Midstrathe Exploding / by Andy Dudak (Originally published in Analog: Science Fiction and Fact, 3-4/20)
* The Pill / by Meg Elison (Originally published in Big Girl Plus… [PM Press])
* GO. NOW. FIX. / by Timons Esaias (Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, 1-2/20)
* Drones to Ploughshares / by Sarah Gailey (Originally published in Motherboard Vice, 4/02/20)
* The Transition of OSOOSI / by Ozzie M. Gartrell (Originally published in Fiyah Lit Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction Issue #13)
* Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super / by A.T. Greenblatt (Originally published in Uncanny Magazine, 5-6/20)
* How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar / by Rich Larson (Originally published in Tor.com, 1/15/20)
* The Mermaid Astronaut / by Yoon Ha Lee (Originally published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies 298)
* 50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know / by Ken Liu (Originally published in Uncanny Magazine, 11-12/20)
* Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love / by Usman T. Malik (Originally published in Wired, 12/11/20)
* Yellow and the Perception of Reality / by Maureen McHugh (Originally published in Tor.com, 7/22/20)
* A Mastery of German / by Marian Denise Moore (Originally published in Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora)
* Father / by Ray Nayler (Originally published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, 7-8/20)
* How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary / by Tochi Onyebuchi (Originally published in Slate Future Tense, 8/29/20)
* Don’t Mind Me / by Suzanne Palmer (Originally published in Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends [MIT Press])
* A Guide for Working Breeds / by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Originally published in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution)
* Polished Performance / by Alastair Reynolds (Originally published in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution)
* The Suicide of Our Troubles / by Karl Schroeder (Originally published in Slate Future Tense, 11/28/20)
* Airbody / by Sameem Siddiqui (Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine, 4/20)
* Sparklybits / by Nick Wolven (Originally published in Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends [MIT Press])
* The Search for [Flight X] / by Neon Yang (Originally published in Avatars Inc.)
.
624 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2021
83 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
May 4, 2024
A very substantial volume, and a step up in the quality of stories from 2019's inaugural volume, I thought. All of these stories were first published in 2020. Here are my favorites from 2020's book, listed roughly in descending order:
• "A Guide for Working Breeds" • short story by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Wonderfully entertaining story about 2 robots, and one of my two favorites of the year. Copy online at https://www.tor.com/2020/03/17/a-guid... 5 stars!
• "It Came from Cruden Farm" • short story by Max Barry. What if the Air Force really was keeping an alien at Area 51, and what if they had a really good reason to keep it out of sight? 4.5 stars, online at https://slate.com/technology/2020/02/...
• "Father"• short story by Ray Nayler. Another entry in his alternate history of WW2. A boy left fatherless after the war wins a VA lottery. 4 stars, recommended reading. Online at https://www.raynayler.net/father.html
• "Sparklybits" • novelette by Nick Wolven. A very unusual group-mom arrangement faces a challenge from a pre-teen computer-nerd. Sparklybits are involved. 4 stars, recommended reading.
• "The Suicide of Our Troubles" • short story by Karl Schroeder. A novel solution to pollution remediation that just might work. Recommended and online at https://slate.com/technology/2020/11/...
-- plus many more just a bit behind these, and just a couple that didn't work for me at all.
Also see Jeppe Larsen's nice story-by-story review here at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... –a good illustration that you will be certain to have a different list of favorites! If you like short SF, this book is a must-read.
Story histories and details: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?...
Note that more of these stories are available online.
• "A Guide for Working Breeds" • short story by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Wonderfully entertaining story about 2 robots, and one of my two favorites of the year. Copy online at https://www.tor.com/2020/03/17/a-guid... 5 stars!
• "It Came from Cruden Farm" • short story by Max Barry. What if the Air Force really was keeping an alien at Area 51, and what if they had a really good reason to keep it out of sight? 4.5 stars, online at https://slate.com/technology/2020/02/...
• "Father"• short story by Ray Nayler. Another entry in his alternate history of WW2. A boy left fatherless after the war wins a VA lottery. 4 stars, recommended reading. Online at https://www.raynayler.net/father.html
• "Sparklybits" • novelette by Nick Wolven. A very unusual group-mom arrangement faces a challenge from a pre-teen computer-nerd. Sparklybits are involved. 4 stars, recommended reading.
• "The Suicide of Our Troubles" • short story by Karl Schroeder. A novel solution to pollution remediation that just might work. Recommended and online at https://slate.com/technology/2020/11/...
-- plus many more just a bit behind these, and just a couple that didn't work for me at all.
Also see Jeppe Larsen's nice story-by-story review here at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... –a good illustration that you will be certain to have a different list of favorites! If you like short SF, this book is a must-read.
Story histories and details: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?...
Note that more of these stories are available online.
October 28, 2021
After Gardner Dozois passed away, Jonathan Strahan took over the duty of editing a 'The Year's Best Science Fiction'-collection. This is his second effort, collecting the best short stories that appeared in 2020, and I must say it was -once again- a winner. I even am forced to admit I like the Strahan-collections more than the Dozois ones. With the collections that Dozois put out there were always several stories in there that went over my head, that had no real resolution and that I therefore didn't enjoy. There's one or two of those stories here as well, but not as many as in Dozois' collection. Dozois collected more 'literary' works, but also more classical 'hard SF'. Those stories I tended to enjoy, but I did not really miss them here. Strahan has his finger on the 'zeitgeist' and collects stories from a very diverse range of authors, more diverse than Dozois managed and the stories almost all have a humanist bend, tending to the idealistic. Which I love. No cynicism here, but stories that like or love their characters, even if they come to a bad end.
There were a couple of stories set on other planets, but those were not 'hard SF', but focused on the personal relationships of the characters. Mainly the stories stayed closer to home (in space and in time). There's stories here about climate change, of course, and about the 'black lives matter'-movement (fitting for a 2020-collection), even some stories that mention the pandemic (I expect more of those in the next volume). Artificial intelligence was an important theme (with algorithms, the internet of things, and artificial ghosts popping up). This overlapped with another important thing: the nature of perception - do we perceive reality? And what if we live in 'augmented reality'? What if we add to reality? Or what if we take away from it (like parents editing their childrens perception to shelter them from 'wrong' information?). Could we use augmented reality to learn people to empathize with minorities, maybe even force them to? What if physics breaks down and we cannot trust our perceptions anymore? Also a couple of stories focused on telepresence: someone transferring their perception to another person, or to a robot on the bottom of the ocean. It think the SF-genre shows which theme's are important in the current debate - and with fake news, social media bubbles and the growth of algorithm based AI I can see where the authors got their inspiration. I found it encouraging however that a lot of the authors managed to infuse their stories with hope.
What were some of the stand outs for me?
'An Important Failure' by Rebecca Campbell took something that I didn't realise: that due to climate change trees will grow differently and the wood people use to make the best violins will no longer be available - and used this as the basis for a touching story.
'The Pill' by Meg Elison shows a scary future. I there's a pill that makes you lose your fat, but you have a one in ten chance to die from the treatment, would you take it?
'It came from Cruden Farm' by Max Barry was a nice bit of satire.
'Schrödinger's Catastrophe' by Gene Doucette was high concept SF. A rescue operation in space on a ship where the laws of nature do not seem to function any longer.
'The Bahrain Underground Bazaar' by Nadia Afifi takes SF to the Middle-East in a tale about accepting ones mortality.
'GO. NOW. FIX.' by Timons Esaias has the internet of things at work in a crashing plane, and a bot shaped like a Panda plays an important part.
'How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobučar' by Rich Larson was a fascinating heist story with inventive technology
'Don't Mind Me' by Suzanne Palmer was chilling - what if Christian parents have technology to shield their children from subjects on school? How could their children rebel?
'The Suicide of Our Troubles' by Karl Schroeder was stuffed with idea's about blockchains and the internet of things and how value is calculated. Could this technology be used to clear up the mess we made?
'If You Take My Meaning' by Charlie Jane Anders was a beautiful tale set on another planet where two young people undergo the implanation of alien tentacles that make it possible for them to share their memories ...
All in all a great collection. I think every SF-writer, especially those writing short stories, should read these colletions. They show what can be done with the genre and the directions other authors are taking it. I look forward to Volume 3 and will pre-order that one as soon as that is possible.
There were a couple of stories set on other planets, but those were not 'hard SF', but focused on the personal relationships of the characters. Mainly the stories stayed closer to home (in space and in time). There's stories here about climate change, of course, and about the 'black lives matter'-movement (fitting for a 2020-collection), even some stories that mention the pandemic (I expect more of those in the next volume). Artificial intelligence was an important theme (with algorithms, the internet of things, and artificial ghosts popping up). This overlapped with another important thing: the nature of perception - do we perceive reality? And what if we live in 'augmented reality'? What if we add to reality? Or what if we take away from it (like parents editing their childrens perception to shelter them from 'wrong' information?). Could we use augmented reality to learn people to empathize with minorities, maybe even force them to? What if physics breaks down and we cannot trust our perceptions anymore? Also a couple of stories focused on telepresence: someone transferring their perception to another person, or to a robot on the bottom of the ocean. It think the SF-genre shows which theme's are important in the current debate - and with fake news, social media bubbles and the growth of algorithm based AI I can see where the authors got their inspiration. I found it encouraging however that a lot of the authors managed to infuse their stories with hope.
What were some of the stand outs for me?
'An Important Failure' by Rebecca Campbell took something that I didn't realise: that due to climate change trees will grow differently and the wood people use to make the best violins will no longer be available - and used this as the basis for a touching story.
'The Pill' by Meg Elison shows a scary future. I there's a pill that makes you lose your fat, but you have a one in ten chance to die from the treatment, would you take it?
'It came from Cruden Farm' by Max Barry was a nice bit of satire.
'Schrödinger's Catastrophe' by Gene Doucette was high concept SF. A rescue operation in space on a ship where the laws of nature do not seem to function any longer.
'The Bahrain Underground Bazaar' by Nadia Afifi takes SF to the Middle-East in a tale about accepting ones mortality.
'GO. NOW. FIX.' by Timons Esaias has the internet of things at work in a crashing plane, and a bot shaped like a Panda plays an important part.
'How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobučar' by Rich Larson was a fascinating heist story with inventive technology
'Don't Mind Me' by Suzanne Palmer was chilling - what if Christian parents have technology to shield their children from subjects on school? How could their children rebel?
'The Suicide of Our Troubles' by Karl Schroeder was stuffed with idea's about blockchains and the internet of things and how value is calculated. Could this technology be used to clear up the mess we made?
'If You Take My Meaning' by Charlie Jane Anders was a beautiful tale set on another planet where two young people undergo the implanation of alien tentacles that make it possible for them to share their memories ...
All in all a great collection. I think every SF-writer, especially those writing short stories, should read these colletions. They show what can be done with the genre and the directions other authors are taking it. I look forward to Volume 3 and will pre-order that one as soon as that is possible.
June 23, 2022
Strahan’s collections continue to be the benchmark by which I measure all other anthologies. Lots of familiar and new voices. I’m really hoping we see a third volume, so hopefully Strahan can find an interested publisher.
All sci fi fans would do well to have this on their bedside table to pick away at over the year.
All sci fi fans would do well to have this on their bedside table to pick away at over the year.
April 30, 2022
This is one of the best "years best" anthologies I have read in a long time. 2020 was really just a great year for short science fiction and Strahan has managed to select a wide range of stories that are very different in theme, style and premise but all worth reading. Last years selection was also really good, but a bit one-sided in terms of overall themes - this collection is even better. Not every story is a masterpiece, but even the ones I didn't personally like were still worth reading.
"A Guide for Working Breeds" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad is a story that somewhat perfectly represents the trend of robot AI stories that have been massively published in the last few years. The short story is a chat transcript between a young/new worker robot and its more experienced mentor. They talk about various issues with the work, their boss, customers and so forth. For what it is it works well, but I found the robots to be a bit too much humanlike in their emotions and worries. 3/5
"An Important Failure" by Rebecca Campbell is a beautifully written story about a man in a post-apocalyptic world wanting to build the perfect violin. While such a task might seem meaningless in a world destroyed by climate breakdown, it spurs a bit of hope. 4/5
"Drones to Ploughshares" by Sarah Gailey is another story about AI drones with a personality. I think it works better here because the premise of the story is about drones going out of their programming and becoming more independent while not becoming almost humanlike. 4/5
"The Pill" by Meg Elison is one of these stories that introduces a simple but efficient premise and rolls with the greater consequences. He we get a simple pill that will make people lose weight, but there is a 10% risk of death. We follow an overweight girl and her struggles with her family as everyone but herself seems to want this pill, even though it might - and in one case does - kill them. I think the premise is a solid base for exploring the ramifications of various treatments and how group pressure work on a soceity level. I still have a bit of an issue in believing that a pill with 10% fatality rate will get so easily approved and widely used as is presented here. 3/5
"The Mermaid Astronaut" by Yoon Ha Lee retells the fairytale of the Little Mermaid just with space travel. Yoon Ha Lee writes really but I didn't find the story that interesting. 2/5
"It Came From Cruden Farm" by Max Barry is a very satirical stab at Trumpism by using a super obvious premise of having the newly elected president ask his staff whether the US actually has alien at Area 51. Because now he is the president and he wants to know. Turns out they do, but it is not as cool as it sounds. The aliens has basically become a raging racist by watching too much Fox News. The story is genuinely funny but the point is very much on the nose. 3/5
"Schrödinger’s Catastroph" by Gene Doucette is like a mix of of The Orville and Twilight Zone. Reminded me a bit of the Star Trek TNG episode "Remember Me". Onboard the starship USFS Erwin reality and the laws of physics starts to break in random ways. Corporal Alice Aste is sent to figure out what is going on with their distress call, and she finds herself about a ship where nothing makes sense. There are some really original and funny ideas, especially with the ships computer, and it is genuinely funny to read with lots of science fiction references sprinkled in there. 4/5
"Airbody" by Sameem Siddiqui asks the rather simple question - what if we made an AirBnb but for other peoples bodies. Funny idea, but the story wasn't super interesting. 2/5
"Midstrathe Exploding" by Andy Dudak was a very strange story about a redshiftet city. Cool idea I guess. 2/5
"The Bahrain Underground Bazaar" by Nadia Afifi is an amazing story about a woman with terminal cancer who goes to a sort of advanced VR café to experience other peoples deaths. In this future everyone has a brain implant recording their life and those recordings are then sold and resold by tech companies for various uses. Among this a grey market for death experiences. A story that combines interesting sf elements with an emotinal impactful story. 5/5
"50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know" by Ken Liu is pretty much what the title says. A list of things for AIs. Meh. 1/5
"Polished Performance" by Alastair Reynolds combines a classic tale of the generation starship with the current trend of stories with humanised robots. In this scenario almost all of the real humans are dead due to a malfunction and the robots have to find a way to act like humans, because they know they will be deactivated at their destination planet if the humans there discover the truth. A great take on this split between human and robot logic. 4/5
"GO. NOW. FIX" by Timons Esaias is also about robots and AI, but here without the human personality traits. These are pure machines and act like it. Story takes place aboard an airplane when some sort of accident occurs. A "smart" pillow leads the way and co-ordinate with all the other various smart devices onboard and saves the day. 4/5
"How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar" by Rich Larson is basically a heist story about stealing a specific piece of artwork. It is okay, but nothing special. 2/5
"The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie" by Pat Cadigan deals with avatars taking care of dying patients. Another okay decent story but nothing special for me. 2/5
"Yellow and the Perception of Reality" by Maureen McHugh mixes philosopical questions about the nature of reality with very real issues of mental health. 4/5
"Father" by Ray Nayler is yet another story about a very humanlike robot. Set in an alternate 50's and draws thick parallels to racial issues at the time. A bit over the top for my taste in terms of its message. 2/5
"Dont mind me" by Suzanne Palmer is a somewhat simplistic story twith little nuances. It is about very conservative Christian parents who have installed a mind control device in their sons brain. The message about religious indoctrination is just delivered in a very hamfisted didactic way. 2/5
"The Suicide of Our Troubles" by Karl Schroeder has a rather interesting concept of combining cryptocurrencies with augmented reality to help clean up pollution by more or less gamifying it. The story was a little confusing though. 3/5
"The Transition of OSOOSI" by Ozzie M. Gartrell has an almost 80s cyberpunk feel to it, but deals with very present day issues of racial inequality. In this story the US is basically an apartheid system where non-whites are second-class citizens. A black rights activist has a plan for hacking everyones implants to force them to feel the oppression. Sometimes these kind of message type story can be a little didactic, but I think in this case it works well. Especially because the straight up cyberpunk thriller elements works well on its own. 4/5
"If You Take My Meaning" by Charlie Jane Anders was a bit confusing and I think because it is part of a series. It is about a woman seeking out an alien transformation so she can connect with other humans in a telepathic way. 2/5
"Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" by A.T. Greenblatt is a superhero story about a young man discovering he has some modest superpowers and seeks to join the others. Though life as a superhero is not exactly as he imagined it. Funny story. 3/5
"Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love" by Usman T. Malik is a short moving story about a man who with the help of an AI copy of his personality manages to both handle his job in space and take care of his mother with dementia. 3/5
"A Mastery of German" by Marian Denise Moore has an interesting premise with a research group who may have found a way for people to transfer their memories to other people with whom they share some ancestry. But there are of course some ethical issues at play here, because even if you wanted to share ones knowledge of speaking German, some other personal memories might tag along. 3/5
"How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary" by Tochi Onyebuchi is a recount of a scenario where data scientists with help for algorithms try to determine the monetary compensation people in the US should get for years of racial discrimination. Turns out it is quite a lot. 3/5
"Sparklybits" by Nick Wolven has some very interesting concepts with sort of a co-op motherhood where 4-5 different woman have a single son. The dynamics here are interesting, though the story deals most with the kids mental issues and how an AI is helping him. 3/5
"The Search for [Flight X]" by Neon Yang is a story I am not sure what to say about. Maybe I didn't get it, but it was just confusing about a search for a lost airplane. I fail to see the point. 1/5
"A Guide for Working Breeds" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad is a story that somewhat perfectly represents the trend of robot AI stories that have been massively published in the last few years. The short story is a chat transcript between a young/new worker robot and its more experienced mentor. They talk about various issues with the work, their boss, customers and so forth. For what it is it works well, but I found the robots to be a bit too much humanlike in their emotions and worries. 3/5
"An Important Failure" by Rebecca Campbell is a beautifully written story about a man in a post-apocalyptic world wanting to build the perfect violin. While such a task might seem meaningless in a world destroyed by climate breakdown, it spurs a bit of hope. 4/5
"Drones to Ploughshares" by Sarah Gailey is another story about AI drones with a personality. I think it works better here because the premise of the story is about drones going out of their programming and becoming more independent while not becoming almost humanlike. 4/5
"The Pill" by Meg Elison is one of these stories that introduces a simple but efficient premise and rolls with the greater consequences. He we get a simple pill that will make people lose weight, but there is a 10% risk of death. We follow an overweight girl and her struggles with her family as everyone but herself seems to want this pill, even though it might - and in one case does - kill them. I think the premise is a solid base for exploring the ramifications of various treatments and how group pressure work on a soceity level. I still have a bit of an issue in believing that a pill with 10% fatality rate will get so easily approved and widely used as is presented here. 3/5
"The Mermaid Astronaut" by Yoon Ha Lee retells the fairytale of the Little Mermaid just with space travel. Yoon Ha Lee writes really but I didn't find the story that interesting. 2/5
"It Came From Cruden Farm" by Max Barry is a very satirical stab at Trumpism by using a super obvious premise of having the newly elected president ask his staff whether the US actually has alien at Area 51. Because now he is the president and he wants to know. Turns out they do, but it is not as cool as it sounds. The aliens has basically become a raging racist by watching too much Fox News. The story is genuinely funny but the point is very much on the nose. 3/5
"Schrödinger’s Catastroph" by Gene Doucette is like a mix of of The Orville and Twilight Zone. Reminded me a bit of the Star Trek TNG episode "Remember Me". Onboard the starship USFS Erwin reality and the laws of physics starts to break in random ways. Corporal Alice Aste is sent to figure out what is going on with their distress call, and she finds herself about a ship where nothing makes sense. There are some really original and funny ideas, especially with the ships computer, and it is genuinely funny to read with lots of science fiction references sprinkled in there. 4/5
"Airbody" by Sameem Siddiqui asks the rather simple question - what if we made an AirBnb but for other peoples bodies. Funny idea, but the story wasn't super interesting. 2/5
"Midstrathe Exploding" by Andy Dudak was a very strange story about a redshiftet city. Cool idea I guess. 2/5
"The Bahrain Underground Bazaar" by Nadia Afifi is an amazing story about a woman with terminal cancer who goes to a sort of advanced VR café to experience other peoples deaths. In this future everyone has a brain implant recording their life and those recordings are then sold and resold by tech companies for various uses. Among this a grey market for death experiences. A story that combines interesting sf elements with an emotinal impactful story. 5/5
"50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know" by Ken Liu is pretty much what the title says. A list of things for AIs. Meh. 1/5
"Polished Performance" by Alastair Reynolds combines a classic tale of the generation starship with the current trend of stories with humanised robots. In this scenario almost all of the real humans are dead due to a malfunction and the robots have to find a way to act like humans, because they know they will be deactivated at their destination planet if the humans there discover the truth. A great take on this split between human and robot logic. 4/5
"GO. NOW. FIX" by Timons Esaias is also about robots and AI, but here without the human personality traits. These are pure machines and act like it. Story takes place aboard an airplane when some sort of accident occurs. A "smart" pillow leads the way and co-ordinate with all the other various smart devices onboard and saves the day. 4/5
"How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar" by Rich Larson is basically a heist story about stealing a specific piece of artwork. It is okay, but nothing special. 2/5
"The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie" by Pat Cadigan deals with avatars taking care of dying patients. Another okay decent story but nothing special for me. 2/5
"Yellow and the Perception of Reality" by Maureen McHugh mixes philosopical questions about the nature of reality with very real issues of mental health. 4/5
"Father" by Ray Nayler is yet another story about a very humanlike robot. Set in an alternate 50's and draws thick parallels to racial issues at the time. A bit over the top for my taste in terms of its message. 2/5
"Dont mind me" by Suzanne Palmer is a somewhat simplistic story twith little nuances. It is about very conservative Christian parents who have installed a mind control device in their sons brain. The message about religious indoctrination is just delivered in a very hamfisted didactic way. 2/5
"The Suicide of Our Troubles" by Karl Schroeder has a rather interesting concept of combining cryptocurrencies with augmented reality to help clean up pollution by more or less gamifying it. The story was a little confusing though. 3/5
"The Transition of OSOOSI" by Ozzie M. Gartrell has an almost 80s cyberpunk feel to it, but deals with very present day issues of racial inequality. In this story the US is basically an apartheid system where non-whites are second-class citizens. A black rights activist has a plan for hacking everyones implants to force them to feel the oppression. Sometimes these kind of message type story can be a little didactic, but I think in this case it works well. Especially because the straight up cyberpunk thriller elements works well on its own. 4/5
"If You Take My Meaning" by Charlie Jane Anders was a bit confusing and I think because it is part of a series. It is about a woman seeking out an alien transformation so she can connect with other humans in a telepathic way. 2/5
"Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super" by A.T. Greenblatt is a superhero story about a young man discovering he has some modest superpowers and seeks to join the others. Though life as a superhero is not exactly as he imagined it. Funny story. 3/5
"Beyond These Stars Other Tribulations of Love" by Usman T. Malik is a short moving story about a man who with the help of an AI copy of his personality manages to both handle his job in space and take care of his mother with dementia. 3/5
"A Mastery of German" by Marian Denise Moore has an interesting premise with a research group who may have found a way for people to transfer their memories to other people with whom they share some ancestry. But there are of course some ethical issues at play here, because even if you wanted to share ones knowledge of speaking German, some other personal memories might tag along. 3/5
"How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary" by Tochi Onyebuchi is a recount of a scenario where data scientists with help for algorithms try to determine the monetary compensation people in the US should get for years of racial discrimination. Turns out it is quite a lot. 3/5
"Sparklybits" by Nick Wolven has some very interesting concepts with sort of a co-op motherhood where 4-5 different woman have a single son. The dynamics here are interesting, though the story deals most with the kids mental issues and how an AI is helping him. 3/5
"The Search for [Flight X]" by Neon Yang is a story I am not sure what to say about. Maybe I didn't get it, but it was just confusing about a search for a lost airplane. I fail to see the point. 1/5
October 7, 2021
If you want to know the state of science fiction in the pandemic time, read this book.
It's a compilation of the best of the short fiction published during 2020. Granted, some of it was written before the virus hit, but all was published in that pandemic year.
These are very much science fiction stories, not fantasy. Some are 'hard' science fiction stories set in space or dealing with complex issues of AI and robotics. Others are 'softer' stories that deal with transgender issues or Black reparations. But they are all representative of what's going on today.
Some are funny, like “Schrodinger's Catastrophe”, “Polished Performance”, or “It Came From Cruden Farm”, some are fantastical, like “Midstrathe Exploding”, and some are heartbreaking, like “Yellow and the Perception of Reality”. These are stories by both veteran and newbie authors. All are fairly short, so you get a good, quick representation of the field in one volume.
It's a compilation of the best of the short fiction published during 2020. Granted, some of it was written before the virus hit, but all was published in that pandemic year.
These are very much science fiction stories, not fantasy. Some are 'hard' science fiction stories set in space or dealing with complex issues of AI and robotics. Others are 'softer' stories that deal with transgender issues or Black reparations. But they are all representative of what's going on today.
Some are funny, like “Schrodinger's Catastrophe”, “Polished Performance”, or “It Came From Cruden Farm”, some are fantastical, like “Midstrathe Exploding”, and some are heartbreaking, like “Yellow and the Perception of Reality”. These are stories by both veteran and newbie authors. All are fairly short, so you get a good, quick representation of the field in one volume.
January 9, 2022
The editor is an absolute gem for publishing stories written outside of the US and Europe. I really liked this collection, I can’t wait to pick up more that have been edited by him.
A guide to working breeds: 4.5/5
this was pleasant! Light start to the collection, and I loved the worldbuilding the author established in such a short time! Stories told through text messages aren’t usually my thing, it worked well here. Unsure if I’m entirely pleased the word “chonkster” made it into professionally published science fiction. I also ended the story shipping the two robots which was almost certainly not the intent, but I can’t resist a good sunshine and grump dynamic.
An important failure 4/5
I think this is the first sci fi story I’ve read that features a family of weed farmers.
Drones to Ploughshares 4/5
Robots discovering their pronouns? What will they do 😳 Pretty standard exploration of robotic sentience, but set in a communal farmstead living outside the laws of society.
The Pill 4/5
Refreshing use of profanity. Consistent humor. I enjoyed the body acceptance aspects of the story, and the fair bit of body horror. It absolutely is one that makes you think. The “house” the protagonist joins is almost certainly exploitative, but it’s undeniably interesting. This one does a lovely job at inviting you to question your views around fatness.
The mermaid astronaut 4/5
A mermaid with a koi tale! Little Mermaid retelling. I love the concept of spacefaring engineer-priests and always appreciate genderless alien companions. I did think the ending was rather abrupt.
It came from Cruden Farm 4/5
Petition for science fiction stories to stop name-dropping Trump. However. This one gets a pass because it was extraordinarily funny and had solid commentary on radicalization.
Schrodinger's Catastrophe 3.5/5
This one hurt my brain (in a good way) The different storytelling functions of the ship computer were cool!! As was the ending.
Midstrathe Exploding 4/5
A bit too short for me to get a grasp of the characters. But I’m a sucker for death cults, and I enjoyed the ending.
Bahrain Underground Bazaar 3.5/5
The story was cool conceptually, and I do enjoy following around older characters. I was a little miffed by the “call of the void” being listed as the cause for the Bedouin women’s death, as someone with OCD my intrusive thoughts are sometimes described with the same phenomenon, so the character worrying she wanted to jump and then actually doing so didn’t make much sense.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know. 3.5/5
The hidden girl is one of my favorite collections of all time but Ken Liu is just not hitting as hard for me as of late. The author's note put some of the choices into perspective, and I did like the obituary framing!
It would have been a three overall but there’s a mention of a character from Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis/Lilith’s Brood series that bumped it up a half star :)
Polished performance 3.5/5
Great fun! Did leave me wondering why Ruby was as astute as she was with a cognition engine so low. Maybe the point was that the cognition engines don’t measure accurately? I don’t know, the moral might have worked better if humanoid robots were given preferential treatment.
Go. Now. Fix. 5/5
A favorite story in the collection solely for the imagery of a panda pillow saving the victims of a plane crash. Just the right blend of humor, warmth, and science fiction.
Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam as a Super 3.5/5
For no discernible reason other than the shared focus on superheroes, this one reminded me of The Boys.
How Quini the Squid Misplaced his Klobucar 4.5/5
Near futuristic earth with altered technology and geopolitics my beloved! I love the casual trans representation and the handling of the protagonist's gender as a whole. I found myself trying to place what gender the main character was for the entire first half of the story, I didn’t realize until I finished that this was likely intentional.
The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie 3/5
It was ok.
Yellow and the perception of reality 3.5/5
While I usually enjoy stories about sisters, I didn’t connect to the characters in this one emotionally. I did like the octopus.
Father 5/5
The last line of this one made me want to cry. The world-building here was immersive, I love alternate history. And I appreciated that the important work Hedy Lamarr did for the allied powers was actually recognized in this timeline.
Don’t Mind me 4.5/5
A hyperbolic imagining of a current debate around parental control of what children are taught at school. I think the ending was too optimistic which isn’t why it isn’t a five. I don’t think anyone who could stomach putting an implant in their kid's head to censor information would change their mind so easily based on that same child’s complaint.
The Suicide of our troubles 4/5
Environmental pollutants are personified with holographic avatars, and an imaginative system of immersive VR is used not just to isolate, but to connect and to make people better.
Airbody 4/5
I loved the desi culture in this. Meena’s farewell statement was something I relate to. I loved her prickly exterior, and the complicated love she had for Hainya. And the word play of the title made me smile.
The Transition of Osoosi 3/5
The empathy-sharing concept is rather interesting. But for reasons I can’t really articulate, I didn’t love this one. I think maybe it’s the length since this was one of the longer stories in the collection.
If you take my meaning 3.5/5
ALIENS. My absolute favorite science fiction concept. I like Charlie Jane Anders a lot, but this would have worked better as a whole novel. It felt a little disorienting being thrown into the middle of a story.
Beyond the Stars 4/5
The love between a mother and a son. Poignant.
A mastery of german 3.5/5
It was alright.
How to pay reparations 4/5
This one is intensely applicable to modern America, I’m always a little shocked to see the pandemic mentioned in published works.
Sparklybits 4/5
A family co-op but make it elitist?
The Search for [Flight X] 3.5/5
Fresh storytelling medium, but I wouldn’t have chosen this for best stories of the year.
A guide to working breeds: 4.5/5
this was pleasant! Light start to the collection, and I loved the worldbuilding the author established in such a short time! Stories told through text messages aren’t usually my thing, it worked well here. Unsure if I’m entirely pleased the word “chonkster” made it into professionally published science fiction. I also ended the story shipping the two robots which was almost certainly not the intent, but I can’t resist a good sunshine and grump dynamic.
An important failure 4/5
I think this is the first sci fi story I’ve read that features a family of weed farmers.
Drones to Ploughshares 4/5
Robots discovering their pronouns? What will they do 😳 Pretty standard exploration of robotic sentience, but set in a communal farmstead living outside the laws of society.
The Pill 4/5
Refreshing use of profanity. Consistent humor. I enjoyed the body acceptance aspects of the story, and the fair bit of body horror. It absolutely is one that makes you think. The “house” the protagonist joins is almost certainly exploitative, but it’s undeniably interesting. This one does a lovely job at inviting you to question your views around fatness.
The mermaid astronaut 4/5
A mermaid with a koi tale! Little Mermaid retelling. I love the concept of spacefaring engineer-priests and always appreciate genderless alien companions. I did think the ending was rather abrupt.
It came from Cruden Farm 4/5
Petition for science fiction stories to stop name-dropping Trump. However. This one gets a pass because it was extraordinarily funny and had solid commentary on radicalization.
Schrodinger's Catastrophe 3.5/5
This one hurt my brain (in a good way) The different storytelling functions of the ship computer were cool!! As was the ending.
Midstrathe Exploding 4/5
A bit too short for me to get a grasp of the characters. But I’m a sucker for death cults, and I enjoyed the ending.
Bahrain Underground Bazaar 3.5/5
The story was cool conceptually, and I do enjoy following around older characters. I was a little miffed by the “call of the void” being listed as the cause for the Bedouin women’s death, as someone with OCD my intrusive thoughts are sometimes described with the same phenomenon, so the character worrying she wanted to jump and then actually doing so didn’t make much sense.
50 Things Every AI Working with Humans Should Know. 3.5/5
The hidden girl is one of my favorite collections of all time but Ken Liu is just not hitting as hard for me as of late. The author's note put some of the choices into perspective, and I did like the obituary framing!
It would have been a three overall but there’s a mention of a character from Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis/Lilith’s Brood series that bumped it up a half star :)
Polished performance 3.5/5
Great fun! Did leave me wondering why Ruby was as astute as she was with a cognition engine so low. Maybe the point was that the cognition engines don’t measure accurately? I don’t know, the moral might have worked better if humanoid robots were given preferential treatment.
Go. Now. Fix. 5/5
A favorite story in the collection solely for the imagery of a panda pillow saving the victims of a plane crash. Just the right blend of humor, warmth, and science fiction.
Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam as a Super 3.5/5
For no discernible reason other than the shared focus on superheroes, this one reminded me of The Boys.
How Quini the Squid Misplaced his Klobucar 4.5/5
Near futuristic earth with altered technology and geopolitics my beloved! I love the casual trans representation and the handling of the protagonist's gender as a whole. I found myself trying to place what gender the main character was for the entire first half of the story, I didn’t realize until I finished that this was likely intentional.
The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie 3/5
It was ok.
Yellow and the perception of reality 3.5/5
While I usually enjoy stories about sisters, I didn’t connect to the characters in this one emotionally. I did like the octopus.
Father 5/5
The last line of this one made me want to cry. The world-building here was immersive, I love alternate history. And I appreciated that the important work Hedy Lamarr did for the allied powers was actually recognized in this timeline.
Don’t Mind me 4.5/5
A hyperbolic imagining of a current debate around parental control of what children are taught at school. I think the ending was too optimistic which isn’t why it isn’t a five. I don’t think anyone who could stomach putting an implant in their kid's head to censor information would change their mind so easily based on that same child’s complaint.
The Suicide of our troubles 4/5
Environmental pollutants are personified with holographic avatars, and an imaginative system of immersive VR is used not just to isolate, but to connect and to make people better.
Airbody 4/5
I loved the desi culture in this. Meena’s farewell statement was something I relate to. I loved her prickly exterior, and the complicated love she had for Hainya. And the word play of the title made me smile.
The Transition of Osoosi 3/5
The empathy-sharing concept is rather interesting. But for reasons I can’t really articulate, I didn’t love this one. I think maybe it’s the length since this was one of the longer stories in the collection.
If you take my meaning 3.5/5
ALIENS. My absolute favorite science fiction concept. I like Charlie Jane Anders a lot, but this would have worked better as a whole novel. It felt a little disorienting being thrown into the middle of a story.
Beyond the Stars 4/5
The love between a mother and a son. Poignant.
A mastery of german 3.5/5
It was alright.
How to pay reparations 4/5
This one is intensely applicable to modern America, I’m always a little shocked to see the pandemic mentioned in published works.
Sparklybits 4/5
A family co-op but make it elitist?
The Search for [Flight X] 3.5/5
Fresh storytelling medium, but I wouldn’t have chosen this for best stories of the year.
September 22, 2022
Very nice collection!
March 6, 2023
Probably one of the best short story collections I've read in a long time. The variety of authors is amazing and there is some really memorable moments in these pages.
October 2, 2021
I adore short story collections, and I was particularly impressed by last year’s anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan. It follows the same format as last year, with the editor’s introduction including other recommended reading as well as general comments on the state of the publishing industry in 2020. And then we get into the real meat of it: 27 short stories that are, arguably, the best of the year. While some stories missed the mark a bit for me, they were all well-written and interesting.
The collection starts out with the absolutely amazing “A Guide for Working Breeds” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Can you die of cute? This is a story told mainly through chat transcripts between a robot mentor and its new mentee, and features so many dogs. Adorable, original and uplifting, this is one of my favorites in the collection. Also hitting high on the adorable scale is Timons Esaias’s “GO. NOW. FIX.” which stars a robotic pillow in the shape of a panda and a plane crash (just trust me on this one). And if you’re looking more for satire, “It Came From Cruden Farm” by Max Barry, about a newly inaugurated president who discovers that aliens exist, had me in stitches.
For more classic scifi, Yoon Ha Lee’s “The Mermaid Astronaut” is a gorgeously evocative retelling of The Little Mermaid. I’m still not sure how he fit so much emotion in to so few pages. I also adored the scifi romp of Gene Doucette’s “Schrödinger’s Catastrophe.” It had all the feels of some of my favorite TNG episodes, plus some hilarious absurdity mixed in with a tightly-paced action story. “Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super” by A.T. Greenblatt is about Sam, who’s recently discovered he has the completely useless superpower of setting his head on fire. In a society where most Supers go live out their days in seclusion, Sam instead decides to join the local Super team and help people… only it’s not exactly what he thought it would be like. This is a lovely story about accepting yourself.
Of course, where would we be without a lot of whizzbang scifi goodness, from the titular weight loss treatment in Meg Elison’s horrifying “The Pill,” to the devices in “Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer which make kids incapable of remembering certain things they hear, like swear words and that pesky climate change, to how cryptocurrency and AR can fix pollution in “The Suicide of Our Troubles” by Karl Schroeder, to AirBnb for bodies in Sameem Siddiqui’s “Airbody.”
And then there’s the ones that truly made me think. I’d previously read Marian Denise Moore’s “A Mastery of German” and found its exploration of ethics and racial memory just as fascinating as the first time. But the winner of the most thought-provoking goes to “How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary” by Tochi Onyebuchi. I’m still chewing over that one.
Overall, another excellent collection, and after two stellar anthologies, I’ll definitely be putting future editions on my autobuy list.
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
content notes:
“well they’re all good dogs
even the naughty ones”
The collection starts out with the absolutely amazing “A Guide for Working Breeds” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Can you die of cute? This is a story told mainly through chat transcripts between a robot mentor and its new mentee, and features so many dogs. Adorable, original and uplifting, this is one of my favorites in the collection. Also hitting high on the adorable scale is Timons Esaias’s “GO. NOW. FIX.” which stars a robotic pillow in the shape of a panda and a plane crash (just trust me on this one). And if you’re looking more for satire, “It Came From Cruden Farm” by Max Barry, about a newly inaugurated president who discovers that aliens exist, had me in stitches.
“I feel like I’m watching the Ten Commandments being written here, and unless I say something, a burning bush is going to be gendered for the next two thousand years.”
For more classic scifi, Yoon Ha Lee’s “The Mermaid Astronaut” is a gorgeously evocative retelling of The Little Mermaid. I’m still not sure how he fit so much emotion in to so few pages. I also adored the scifi romp of Gene Doucette’s “Schrödinger’s Catastrophe.” It had all the feels of some of my favorite TNG episodes, plus some hilarious absurdity mixed in with a tightly-paced action story. “Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super” by A.T. Greenblatt is about Sam, who’s recently discovered he has the completely useless superpower of setting his head on fire. In a society where most Supers go live out their days in seclusion, Sam instead decides to join the local Super team and help people… only it’s not exactly what he thought it would be like. This is a lovely story about accepting yourself.
“She frowned at the ham on the counter. “Are you behind this?”
“Why are you talking to a ham?” asked Donna. “That’s just weird.”
Of course, where would we be without a lot of whizzbang scifi goodness, from the titular weight loss treatment in Meg Elison’s horrifying “The Pill,” to the devices in “Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer which make kids incapable of remembering certain things they hear, like swear words and that pesky climate change, to how cryptocurrency and AR can fix pollution in “The Suicide of Our Troubles” by Karl Schroeder, to AirBnb for bodies in Sameem Siddiqui’s “Airbody.”
“I’ve never done so much math in my whole entire life.”
And then there’s the ones that truly made me think. I’d previously read Marian Denise Moore’s “A Mastery of German” and found its exploration of ethics and racial memory just as fascinating as the first time. But the winner of the most thought-provoking goes to “How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary” by Tochi Onyebuchi. I’m still chewing over that one.
Overall, another excellent collection, and after two stellar anthologies, I’ll definitely be putting future editions on my autobuy list.
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
content notes:
January 28, 2022
I only listened to two of the short stories from this collection, both about Artificial Intelligence, through the LeVar Burton Reads podcast. In "The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie" by Pat Cadigan, an AI magician is utilized to entertain hospice patients in deep space, and during a performance, the patient dies. The caretaker, who already had strikes against them, tries to explain what happened during a review and discovers that the AI saw a situation unfolding and took steps to offer comfort to the dying patient. I didn't vibe with the narrative- although LeVar offers commentary at the end of the story, I didn't really get this story.
In "Drones to Ploughshares" by Sarah Gailey, a sentient government surveillance drone is captured while out on a mission and must determine what to do next when offered freedom. Is it a trap? A sweet, but somewhat light story.
In "Drones to Ploughshares" by Sarah Gailey, a sentient government surveillance drone is captured while out on a mission and must determine what to do next when offered freedom. Is it a trap? A sweet, but somewhat light story.
December 15, 2023
I'd read a few of the stories before but overall, this was a solid collection which offered a nice variety. It really reminds how expansive Science Fiction is as a genre and that the age-old art of short story telling continues on in the 2020's.
October 4, 2021
What better way to read than to read a collection of short stories? You get variety and an appetizer-level introduction to writers you might not have connected with otherwise. This is a great collection of science fiction stories that offers a bit of everything.
Jonathan Strahan just a great job of putting together this stellar myriad of work and each story, no matter the plot twist or mind-bending exploration into far-reaching sci-fi hi-jinx, has something to offer - a theory you never imagined when applied to a standard narrative trope or a window into an old theory you never fully thought through.
For instance, we all know the general ideas around physics. But how many of us have really considered what might happen if all those laws stopped working or rather changed how they worked? Schrodinger’s Catastrophe by Gene Doucette does a great job of opening our eyes to the very special place we and our physics share in the universe.
The Bahrain Underground Bazaar by Nadia Afifi introduces us to a world where high-tech exists to give you experiences you can try out for fun. But what if those experiences are so potent as to change your own philosophy on the nature of life and death?
The Pill by Meg Elison and The Mermaid Astronaut by Yoon Ha Lee are particularly unique. Can you forever be thin with the right pill? And who would have thought that the idea of a mermaid being allowed to travel the stars could be such a charming tale?
What happens when the IoT can network together to save people on a failing airplane? We think it would be cool and transcendent to develop a superpower but what happens when you develop an unhelpful superpower and you’re recruited to the team of heroes only to be their accountant? Questions such as these are really fun to explore and within the package of a well-written narrative, the stories definitely take you places you haven’t been in your own imagination.
This is a great collection of stories! I highly recommend this book.
Jonathan Strahan just a great job of putting together this stellar myriad of work and each story, no matter the plot twist or mind-bending exploration into far-reaching sci-fi hi-jinx, has something to offer - a theory you never imagined when applied to a standard narrative trope or a window into an old theory you never fully thought through.
For instance, we all know the general ideas around physics. But how many of us have really considered what might happen if all those laws stopped working or rather changed how they worked? Schrodinger’s Catastrophe by Gene Doucette does a great job of opening our eyes to the very special place we and our physics share in the universe.
The Bahrain Underground Bazaar by Nadia Afifi introduces us to a world where high-tech exists to give you experiences you can try out for fun. But what if those experiences are so potent as to change your own philosophy on the nature of life and death?
The Pill by Meg Elison and The Mermaid Astronaut by Yoon Ha Lee are particularly unique. Can you forever be thin with the right pill? And who would have thought that the idea of a mermaid being allowed to travel the stars could be such a charming tale?
What happens when the IoT can network together to save people on a failing airplane? We think it would be cool and transcendent to develop a superpower but what happens when you develop an unhelpful superpower and you’re recruited to the team of heroes only to be their accountant? Questions such as these are really fun to explore and within the package of a well-written narrative, the stories definitely take you places you haven’t been in your own imagination.
This is a great collection of stories! I highly recommend this book.
October 28, 2021
"The Year's Best Science Fiction Vol. 2." edited by Jonathan Strahan is with out a doubt correctly named. This collection of 27 science fiction stories published in 2020 by some of the best authors was very enjoyable to read. The preface "Year in Review: 2020" written by Strahan was rather amazingly detailed and informative, but the rest was pure science fiction goodness . It feels unfair to point out individual stories without mentioning all of them. But here we go. The creative ability of sentient AI as the protagonist made for really interesting reading in "A Guide to for Working Breeds", "Drones for Plowshares", "Polished Performance", "Go. Now. Fix", "The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie", "The Suicide of our Troubles" , and "Sparklybits". The biopunk meets cyberpunk stories were had the perfect level of gritty realism in "How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar" and "The Transition of Osoosi". The role of the alien was amusingly entertaining in "It Came From Cruden Farm". Other stories include thoughtful and sometimes terrifying new technologies, more than human than human metallic robots, deep thoughts on the nature of reality, and of course a few tales of good old fashion space opera.
This collection introduced me to a number of authors whose books I look forward to actively obtaining and reading.
Many thanks to the editor, authors, and publisher for providing an advanced electronic review copy!
This collection introduced me to a number of authors whose books I look forward to actively obtaining and reading.
Many thanks to the editor, authors, and publisher for providing an advanced electronic review copy!
April 13, 2022
Vanskelig å vurdere en bok, når det egentlig er en samling av en rekke mindre noveller av ulike forfattere. Jeg vil si at det var noen veldig bra noveller der, og noen mindre bra.
Det jeg bemerket meg kanskje mest, var at bokens definisjon av "science fiction" var veldig løs. Det var en del historier som ganske åpenbart passet inn i sci-fi sjangeren, men så var det også en del s0m egentlig ikke passet inn. Det virker for meg som om at det var en rekke historier som hadde ett enkelt vanlig element fra sci-fi, men ut over det så passet det ikke inn i sjangeren i det hele tatt. Altså, at historien fikk automatisk innpass i sjangeren hvis den hadde ett eneste element fra science fiction, uten at helheten nødvendigvis passet inn. Det var for eksempel en historie om at man prøvde å rette opp i flere århundrer med rasisme i USA, ved å gi alle som hadde blitt påvirket en viss kompensasjonssum, og at denne summen ble, for å gjøre den så rettferdig som mulig, bestemt av en kunstig intelligens. Jeg skjønner at man dermed kan putte den i sci-fi boksen, men for meg er det ikke science fiction. Fortsatt en god historie, da.
Det jeg bemerket meg kanskje mest, var at bokens definisjon av "science fiction" var veldig løs. Det var en del historier som ganske åpenbart passet inn i sci-fi sjangeren, men så var det også en del s0m egentlig ikke passet inn. Det virker for meg som om at det var en rekke historier som hadde ett enkelt vanlig element fra sci-fi, men ut over det så passet det ikke inn i sjangeren i det hele tatt. Altså, at historien fikk automatisk innpass i sjangeren hvis den hadde ett eneste element fra science fiction, uten at helheten nødvendigvis passet inn. Det var for eksempel en historie om at man prøvde å rette opp i flere århundrer med rasisme i USA, ved å gi alle som hadde blitt påvirket en viss kompensasjonssum, og at denne summen ble, for å gjøre den så rettferdig som mulig, bestemt av en kunstig intelligens. Jeg skjønner at man dermed kan putte den i sci-fi boksen, men for meg er det ikke science fiction. Fortsatt en god historie, da.
June 29, 2022
My favourite stories were:
The Pill by Meg Elison. A weight loss drug provides the perfect body - for 90% of those who take it. The downside is its 10% mortality rate. Still, most people consider those odds worth taking. The protagonist becomes increasingly isolated and cast out from society due to her refusal to take it.
Schrodinger's Catastrophe by Gene Doucette. A ship strays into an area of space where the laws of physics are really weird. This is also available on the Lightspeed podcast.
AirBody by Sameem Siddiqui. An older Pakistani woman rents a young man's body to carry out a task in the U.S. Fantastic world-building, both cultural and scifi. This story is also available in audio via Clarkesworld and Escape Pod (Escape Pod has better narration).
Sparklybits by Nick Wolven. An autistic boy befriends an AI ghost. Again, the world-building feels very rich here.
The Pill by Meg Elison. A weight loss drug provides the perfect body - for 90% of those who take it. The downside is its 10% mortality rate. Still, most people consider those odds worth taking. The protagonist becomes increasingly isolated and cast out from society due to her refusal to take it.
Schrodinger's Catastrophe by Gene Doucette. A ship strays into an area of space where the laws of physics are really weird. This is also available on the Lightspeed podcast.
AirBody by Sameem Siddiqui. An older Pakistani woman rents a young man's body to carry out a task in the U.S. Fantastic world-building, both cultural and scifi. This story is also available in audio via Clarkesworld and Escape Pod (Escape Pod has better narration).
Sparklybits by Nick Wolven. An autistic boy befriends an AI ghost. Again, the world-building feels very rich here.
January 31, 2025
Difícil ponerle nota a este cuando hay cuentos de 5 y cuentos que apenas llegan al 3. Sonaré a señora mayor, pero este libro me confirma que no hay nada que me interese menos que las historias de robots e IAs. Todo lo bueno que se podía sacar de allí ya lo escribió Asimov y todos los cuentos relacionados en esta antología no hacen más que remover tierra trillada.
Por suerte no son la mayoría y todos los demás no sólo aguantan el tipo sino que lo sobrepasan. Cuentos curiosos, como "AirBody" o "Yellow and the Perception of Reality", trepidantes como "How Quini the Squid misplaced his Koblucar" o la joya de la corona de esta edición, en mi opinión: "The Pill" de Meg Ellison. Exactamente todo lo que la ficción especulativa debe ser, horripilante y brillante en como nos pone el espejo frente a la cara.
Por suerte no son la mayoría y todos los demás no sólo aguantan el tipo sino que lo sobrepasan. Cuentos curiosos, como "AirBody" o "Yellow and the Perception of Reality", trepidantes como "How Quini the Squid misplaced his Koblucar" o la joya de la corona de esta edición, en mi opinión: "The Pill" de Meg Ellison. Exactamente todo lo que la ficción especulativa debe ser, horripilante y brillante en como nos pone el espejo frente a la cara.
October 5, 2021
Strahan is a reliable editor, and brings home another win with this collection. I love the mix of perspectives this volume brings, and I am always partial to Meg Eilison and Yoon Ha Lee. I'm ready for my panda-shaped support bot and am delighted by so many stories that could be labeled "hopepunk"--a term that's gotten a drubbing recently for being Pollyannish, but is a new genre that so many readers have found solace and comfort in recently. I can't wait to discuss these stories with friends; this will be a great book club book.
February 26, 2022
A powerful selection of stories, especially for an anthology. Two particular themes seem to stick out to me: a focus on non-human narrators and the blurring of lines between consciousness and technology.
Best story: The Bahrain Underground Bazaar
Runner-Up: Don’t Mind Me
Other Recommendations:
Drones to Ploughshares
The Pill
Schrodinger’s Catastrophe
Polished Performance
How Quini the Squid Misplaced his Klobucar
The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie
Father
How to Pay Reparations: A Documentary
Best story: The Bahrain Underground Bazaar
Runner-Up: Don’t Mind Me
Other Recommendations:
Drones to Ploughshares
The Pill
Schrodinger’s Catastrophe
Polished Performance
How Quini the Squid Misplaced his Klobucar
The Final Performance of the Amazing Ralphie
Father
How to Pay Reparations: A Documentary
May 23, 2022
Finally finished this anthology.
Favourites:
Drones to Ploughshares / by Sarah Gailey
It Came From Cruden Farm / by Max Barry
Schrödinger’s Catastrophe / by Gene Doucette
How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar / by Rich Larson
Polished Performance / by Alastair Reynolds (previously read in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution)
GO. NOW. FIX. / by Timons Esaias
Favourites:
Drones to Ploughshares / by Sarah Gailey
It Came From Cruden Farm / by Max Barry
Schrödinger’s Catastrophe / by Gene Doucette
How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar / by Rich Larson
Polished Performance / by Alastair Reynolds (previously read in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution)
GO. NOW. FIX. / by Timons Esaias
February 16, 2024
When anyone asks me for a recommendation of an author or genre, I offer them books from my large library of anthologies. These treasure chests contain stories by authors who are not afraid to flex their writing skills and show us how a great write can build an experience in fewer words than many chapters. As an introduction to a "different" genre, readers are treated to gems to intice them to check the back library of writers to add to their personal TBR lists. Read the book, love the story, start your pwn library of greats.
August 22, 2024
It's obvious that I don't get on with modern short SF. I skipped about ⅔rds of the stories because they were so uninteresting. Modern short SF has become so bloated, long, earthbound, and domestic - often just ordinary fiction or fantasy with a minor science sheen. There was very little here that I could lose myself in.
I had read a few stories in other anthologies. Possibly the only stories that stuck in my mind were the ones by Alastair Reynolds and Pat Cardigan, plus the one that felt like a mash up of Bruce Sterling and Cory Doctorow (neither of whom were present).
I had read a few stories in other anthologies. Possibly the only stories that stuck in my mind were the ones by Alastair Reynolds and Pat Cardigan, plus the one that felt like a mash up of Bruce Sterling and Cory Doctorow (neither of whom were present).
November 4, 2021
Favorites from the collection:
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad – I know this one was sappy but it still made me tear up with happy tears.
The Pill by Meg Elison
It Came from Cruden Farm by Max Barry – I laughed so hard at this one!!
GO. NOW. FIX. by Timons Esaias – Another sappy one that just gave all the feels.
How to Pay Reparations: A Documentary by Tochi Onyebuchi – A delightful, although dark, mix of reality and absurdity.
A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad – I know this one was sappy but it still made me tear up with happy tears.
The Pill by Meg Elison
It Came from Cruden Farm by Max Barry – I laughed so hard at this one!!
GO. NOW. FIX. by Timons Esaias – Another sappy one that just gave all the feels.
How to Pay Reparations: A Documentary by Tochi Onyebuchi – A delightful, although dark, mix of reality and absurdity.
May 10, 2022
Another fantastic anthology. Fave stories:
GO. NOW. FIX. by Timons Esaias
“Drones to Ploughshares” by Sarah Gailey
“The Mermaid Astronaut” by Yoon Ha Lee
“Yellow and the Perception of Reality” by Maureen McHugh
“How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary” by Tochi Onyebuchi
“Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer
“A Guide for Working Breeds” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
“Polished Performance” by Alastair Reynolds
“The Suicide of Our Troubles” by Karl Schroeder
“Airbody” by Sameem Siddiqui
GO. NOW. FIX. by Timons Esaias
“Drones to Ploughshares” by Sarah Gailey
“The Mermaid Astronaut” by Yoon Ha Lee
“Yellow and the Perception of Reality” by Maureen McHugh
“How to Pay Reparations: a Documentary” by Tochi Onyebuchi
“Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer
“A Guide for Working Breeds” by Vina Jie-Min Prasad
“Polished Performance” by Alastair Reynolds
“The Suicide of Our Troubles” by Karl Schroeder
“Airbody” by Sameem Siddiqui
October 11, 2021
A great selection of SF stories from the past year. Favourites stories came from Max Barry, Pat Cadigan, A T Greenblatt and Rich Larson, whose story 'How Quini the Squid Misplaced his Klbucar'
is deserving in most of the Year's Bests anthologies this year. And if you love stories that have the nostalgic Golden Age feel, don't miss the lovely 'Father' by Ray Nayler.
is deserving in most of the Year's Bests anthologies this year. And if you love stories that have the nostalgic Golden Age feel, don't miss the lovely 'Father' by Ray Nayler.
November 14, 2021
I discovered Strahan a few years ago and I've grown to trust books with his name on them. This is a good collection with nice variety, and strong selections. Recommended.
Thanks very much for the free review copy!!
Thanks very much for the free review copy!!
September 25, 2022
Ratings:
'How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar' by Rich Larson - 5 stars.
'A Guide for Working Breeds' by Vina Jie-Min Prasad - 4 stars.
'The Pill' by Meg Elison - 4 stars.
'Polished Performance' by Alastair Reynolds - 4 stars.
'Don't Mind Me' by Suzanne Palmer - 4 stars.
‘Father’ by Ray Nayler - 4 stars.
'A Mastery of German' by Marian Denise Moore - 4 stars.
'An Important Failure' by Rebeccca Campbell - 3 stars.
'Drones to Ploughshares' by Sarah Gailey - 3 stars.
'The Mermaid Astronaut' by Yoon Ha Lee - 3 stars.
'GO. NOW. FIX.' by Timons Esaias - 3 stars.
'Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super' by A.T. Greenblatt - 3 stars.
'50 Thing Every AI Working with Humans Should Know' by Ken Liu - 2 stars.
'Yellow and the Perception of Reality' by Maureen McHugh - 2 stars.
'AirBody' by Sameem Siddiqui - 2 stars.
'If You Take My Meaning' by Charlie Jane Anders - 1 star.
'How Quini the Squid Misplaced His Klobucar' by Rich Larson - 5 stars.
'A Guide for Working Breeds' by Vina Jie-Min Prasad - 4 stars.
'The Pill' by Meg Elison - 4 stars.
'Polished Performance' by Alastair Reynolds - 4 stars.
'Don't Mind Me' by Suzanne Palmer - 4 stars.
‘Father’ by Ray Nayler - 4 stars.
'A Mastery of German' by Marian Denise Moore - 4 stars.
'An Important Failure' by Rebeccca Campbell - 3 stars.
'Drones to Ploughshares' by Sarah Gailey - 3 stars.
'The Mermaid Astronaut' by Yoon Ha Lee - 3 stars.
'GO. NOW. FIX.' by Timons Esaias - 3 stars.
'Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super' by A.T. Greenblatt - 3 stars.
'50 Thing Every AI Working with Humans Should Know' by Ken Liu - 2 stars.
'Yellow and the Perception of Reality' by Maureen McHugh - 2 stars.
'AirBody' by Sameem Siddiqui - 2 stars.
'If You Take My Meaning' by Charlie Jane Anders - 1 star.
October 14, 2021
Max Barry, Pat Cadigan, Yoon Ha Lee, Ken Liu, Tochi Onyebuchi, and others, with a lot of climate change and posthumanism. A good overview of what’s going on.
January 9, 2022
I liked "The Mermaid Astronaut" by Yoon Ha Lee, "Polished Performance" by Alastair Reynolds, "Father," by Ray Nayler, and "The Suicide of our Troubles" by Karl Schroeder.
April 6, 2023
I enjoy filling the gaps between novels with short stories.
There are some very good stories and new authors in this volume
There are some very good stories and new authors in this volume
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