Year's Best SF 3

by David G. Hartwell (Editor, Contributor)

Enjoy today's most awesome and innovative science fiction, chosen by acclaimed editor David G. Hartwell from the best short fiction published over the last year. Like its two distinguished processors, Year's Best SF 3 is a cybercopia of astonishing stories from familiar favorites and rising stars, all calculated to blow your mind, scorch your, senses, erase your inhibitions, and reinitialize your intelligence. With stories Gregory Benford, Terry Bisson, Greg Egan, William Gibson, Nancy Kress, Paul Levinson, Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe and more...

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

464 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

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

[Thomas R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some really good stories, but as I recall others that might make you go "really, that's one of the best of the year?" I tried this because I thought it might be more "hard-SF" than Dozois's. Also I read this years ago so this won't be exhaustive.

Petting Zoo - Don't remember it too well. It seems like I didn't think of it as one of Wolfe's better works.

The Wisdom of Old Earth - Don't remember this one offhand.

The Firefly Tree - Lovely. An aging master writer who continued to impress into his nineties.

Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City - Too experimental for me.

The Nostalginauts - Kind of kooky and fun, but maybe a tad minor for a "Year's Best."

Guest Law - Colorful.

The Voice - Clever, for good or ill it's like a "New Outer Limits" episode.

Yeyuka - Egan would later turn me off with his intense Dawkins-like rational-materialist preaching, but this one had an interesting ethical dilemma so wasn't bad.

An Office Romance - Funny and sexy. I don't usually go for stories that veer this much toward erotic, but I remember liking it.

Itsy Bitsy Spider - The future of aging?

Beauty in the Night - Lovely in its way.

Mr. Pale - Unlike Williamson Bradbury, sadly, went into something of a decline in old age. It's okay, but I think his name might have helped get it here.

The Pipes of Pan - Fascinating if maybe creepy.

Always True to Thee, in My Fashion - Not her best work, but clever if a bit arch.

I have had just two hours of sleep today so I'll mostly stop there. I will add I did Levinson's odd "Amish sci-fi" "The Mendelian Lamp Case."

[Roddy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s interesting that most ‘Year’s Best’ anthologies tend to feature one or two of the old guard or the big names of SF, and this volume is no exception. In other cases, there may be ulterior motives, since the likes of Robert Silverberg, Jack Williamson, Will Gibson and Moorcock etc, still swing a lot of weight, and publishers will – one assumes – be keen to feature these names in a publication which is likely to sell to hardcore fans more than anyone else.
One has to say though that the quality of the work from the establishment writers (apologies to Mr Moorcock, who will no doubt quail at the thought of having become the establishment) is exceedingly high, particularly in the case of Moorcock, Silverberg and Gibson. There are one or two stories whose inclusion as ‘Year’s Best’ I would question, but then, I’m sure that’s going to be the case for most readers. It would have been nice, I think though, to have seen more fresh blood since there were only two or three writers in this volume who were new to me.
1997 seems to be the year of relationships in SF, since quite a few of these tales have a romantic element. Let’s hope it was just a passing fad.

Petting Zoo (1997) Gene Wolfe (Return of the Dinosaurs, May 1997, ed. Martin H. Greenberg, Mike Resnick, )

A young boy illicitly recreates an intelligent, slightly purple, T.Rex and rides off on a voyage of mayhem. However, there are consequences.

The Wisdom of Old Earth (1997) Michael Swanwick (Asimov’s Dec 1997)

Post-humans getting back to nature try to experience what it is to be human and mortal again. Very poetic and not a little weird.

The Firefly Tree (1997) Jack Williamson (Science Fiction Age – May 1997)

Very poetic story about a young boy and a fabulous plant he discovers, which could be the First Contact between man and an intergalactic civilisation. Who will believe him when his dad is a dope farmer?

Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City (1997) William Gibson (New Worlds 1997)

A wonderful Ballard-esque tour through – as the title would suggest – thirteen (one imagines) photographs of a Far-East cardboard city where the residents have exploited the properties of boxes to the nth degree. Gibson always has an arty sharp visual side to his writing, which is more than usually evident here.
Quite marvellous.

The Nostalginauts (1997) shortstory by Sharon N. Farber [as by S. N. Dyer ] (Asimovs, March 1997)

A character-driven piece about time-travellers who can visit from the future, but only for a short time, insubstantially and with no sound, and only from 25 years ahead. This gives rise to a fashion of visiting one’s wedding or prom night, holding up pictures or messages from the future.

Guest Law (1997) novelette by John C. Wright (Asimovs July 1997)

More baroque technofabulousness, as a ship, piloted by the decadent and mannered hi-tech survivors of humanity, encounters another ship, and evokes the ‘Guest Law’ in order to receive the captn of the ship into their midst in mutual safety. Earth, it appears, is now controlled by machine intelligence and humanity is spread across space, living in ships and habitats.

The Voice (1997) shortstory by Gregory Benford (Science Fiction Age, May 1997)

An interesting concept of humans rediscovering written text after having been reliant on an inner ‘internet’ called The Voice. The Voice, however, seems to be resistant to the idea of humans reading for themselves.

Yeyuka (1997) shortstory by Greg Egan (Meanjin v56 #1)

Egan’s short stories can be compared with Ian Watson’s – not simply because they tend to be examinations of character within a Hard SF framework, but because they cover odd concepts, places and situations.
Here, a cancer surgeon, carrying a ring that guarantees him constant monitoring and medication goes to Africa where he finds the technology far behind that of Australia and the developed world. Very detailed. Very clever.

An Office Romance (1997) shortstory by Terry Bisson (Playboy, February 1997)

A very clever, witty and somewhat romantic story from Bisson, who posits a romance behind the windows of Windows in a future where we can immerse ourselves in an Office Environment, a place which is sometimes more real than real.


Itsy Bitsy Spider (1997) shortstory by James Patrick Kelly (Asimovs, June 1997)

Kelly decides to examine the emotive subject of Alzheimers, and how one might address it in the future, but this story is far more than that. It’s an examination of a relationship, and the way in which we all – consciously, deliberately or by means beyond our control – forget things from our past.


Beauty in the Night (1997) novelette by Robert Silverberg (Science Fiction Age, September 1997)

A wonderful poetic piece from Silverberg set in a future Salisbury where aliens have occupied the Earth and rearranged Stonehenge to their own alien configuration. A young man, fuelled by revenge against his brutal quisling father, sets out to kill one of the invaders.

Mr. Pale (1997) shortstory by Ray Bradbury (Driving Blind, Avon, 1997)

As is to be expected, a late tale from Bradbury with all the exoticism and poetry of his earlier years. Death is found travelling on a starship, having consigned the Earth to flames, but Death himself is dying. Should the Doctor try to save him?


The Pipes of Pan (1997) novelette by Brian Stableford (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1997)

An interesting story, a little steampunkish, set in a world where children’s growth has been retarded in an effort to deal with the population programme.

Always True to Thee, in My Fashion (1997) shortstory by Nancy Kress (Asimov's Science Fiction, January 1997)

Imagine that moods could be changed by designer drugs and that the fashion is set by designers for the following season. A relationship in this world is examined, revealing a great deal about the attitudes and motives of the narrator.

Canary Land (1997) novelette by Tom Purdom (Asimov's Science Fiction, January 1997)

A dense, complex piece involving music, gene patents, big business and espionage.

Universal Emulators (1997) shortstory by Tom Cool (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1997)

Beautifully written, this is another of the stories in this volume that looks at a relationship. In this world, one can hire someone to be you, to take over half your life and deal with a heavy workload, or make your wife fall in love with you.

Fair Verona (1997) novelette by R. Garcia y Robertson (Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 1997)

The narrator spends his time between living virtually in medieval Verona and taking rich clients on Wyevern hunts on an alien world. The Wyverns are collared are radio controlled so they are effectively harmless, until Tony is dragged from his game to find his client ripped to pieces by a Wyvern, and his own life as a witness on the line.

Great Western (1997) novelette by Kim Newman (New Worlds 1997)

An odd alternate Earth tale is which modern England becomes a parallel of the Wild West, with corrupt Reeves, evil squires, beleaguered widows running farms, and a gun-totin’ motorbike riding hero riding to the rescue.

Turnover (1997) shortstory by Geoffrey A. Landis (Interzone, January 1997)

A rather daft story about a Professor and her handsome assistant examining larval occurrences on Venus. Couldn’t see the point of it. Another story featuring relationships in this volume.

The Mendelian Lamp Case [Dr Phil D'Amato] (1997) novelette by Paul Levinson (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, April 1997)


One feels that this should really have been worked up onto a novel. It doesn’t read like a short story and seems rushed into an implausible conclusion. The overall premise is that the Amish, through extensive selective breeding, have created a new sustainable green technology, and can for instance use fire flies that will light the inside of one’s home.Marvellous idea. Not that well employed.

Kiss Me (1997) shortstory by Katherine MacLean (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, February 1997)

It’s well-written, amusing, and casts a cynical eye on the motivations of young women. MacLean is an SF veteran, and it’s no surprise that there is a retro feel to this story, harking back to some of the quirky ‘feel good’ stories of the 40s and 50s. It’s another short piece which focuses on (at least one half of) a relationship, but should it really be in a Year’s Best anthology?

London Bone (1997) novelette by Michael Moorcock (New Worlds 1997)

Moorcock, as Hartwell points out, is a major figure in British and International SF and fantasy. Here is a mature work which is not only a love letter to London itself, but a commentary perhaps on London society, with its obsession the facile and superficial. Ray, the narrator, is a dealer in services, providing tours and shows for jaded tourists and is offered a chance to be finance a lucrative deal. Under a disused site in Southwark some strange bones have been discovered, fused together by a chemical process and scrimshawed with figures of matchstick men, and these bits of bone are being sought by collectors. It’s a memorable piece which also manages to take a sideswipe at many of our more overhyped sacred cows such as Madonna. It may in its own way be a commentary on modern society’s penchant for feeding on its own remains, regurgitating the old bones rather than producing anything truly new and original. It is perhaps significant that Andrew Lloyd-Webber, regularly the subject of claims that he has plagiarised the work of earlier (and conveniently dead) composers, comes under Moorcock’s hammer, and is described as having gone bankrupt following the failure of his popularity and his last show ‘Dogs’.
It’s a marvellous piece, full of witty one-liners and snapshots from London’s real and imaginary past.

[George Berguño · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the introduction to this collection of science fiction stories, the editor David Hartwell states that 1997 was a difficult year for SF publications. Magazines continued to lose circulation, anthologies were on the whole mediocre, and there were few novellas of a high calibre. Having read and reviewed Hartwell’s previous two collections of Year’s Best (SF 1 and SF 2), it seems to me that 1997 was probably a difficult year for SF short fiction in general, because, of the first three Year’s Best collections, this one was decidedly the weakest.

Year’s Best SF 3 collects 22 stories, mainly from well established authors, and with a handful of new names thrown in. Though most of the stories made little impression on me, there were two gems. Firstly, John C Wright’s Guest Law is a tour-de-force; a most original conception from a relatively unknown author in 1997. It is a short story in the space opera tradition and with literary qualities reminiscent of A. E. Van Vogt and Cordwainer Smith. My personal favourite was Jack Williamson’s very short The Firefly Tree; a story that is subtle, symbolic and understated; a story that will reward multiple readings. Williamson started writing science fiction in the 1920s, and it warms the heart to see him producing masterpieces of short fiction seventy years on.

Three other stories deserve special mention. Gregory Benford’s The Voice was a very fine story, one that builds on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Greg Egan’s Yeyuka was also excellent; I particularly enjoyed the unique moral dilemma stemming from a unique set of technological circumstances. Finally, Brian Stableford’s The Pipes of Pan was another thought-provoking story. Here I would like to pay Stableford a much merited tribute. I believe that he was one of the finest SF short story writers of the 1990s, or of any decade for that matter, because I never came across a Stableford short story that was not finely crafted.

Admittedly, there were stories by Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson and Michael Moorcock; but I thought these stories were distinctly below their authors’ usual brilliance. Robert Silverberg’s long story Beauty in the Night was, possibly, the most problematic. Though the story was very well written, I could not find any science in it. Just because a story has aliens in it (in this case, ‘Entities’) is not sufficient reason to label it as science fiction. As for the ‘entity-killing gun’ – well, as this gadget is simply introduced without any explanation of its special qualities, the reader cannot be expected to take it seriously as science. But what was truly unforgivable about Silverberg’s story was that he left nothing to the reader’s imagination. He had to tell us again and again how much the protagonist hated his father; but he was unable to make this reader feel it through suggestion.

I do not know if I can recommend this book. Though there were a handful of delightful stories, most of them failed to surprise. If this collection is truly representative of the year’s best SF, then 1997 was a really sad year for the genre.

[SciFi Pinay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has a much more cohesive tone compared to Year's Best SF 1 even though the entries still vary in scifi subgenres. This time I'm more engaged and have gone through the stories much faster, but it could just be because of the traditional hard SF themes with great commentary that are more digestible for me. Some faves:

Petting Zoo (Gene Wolfe): a genetically revived T-rex behaves like Barney lol

The Nostalginauts (S.N. Dyer): If you were to go back in time to your teenage/younger self, what would you tell them about your current self?

The Voice (Gregory Benford): reading is nonexistent in the distant future

Yeyuka (Greg Egan): moral/ethical dilemma on treating a plague

An Office Romance (Terry Bisson): (cyber) literally

Itsy Bitsy Spider (James Patrick Kelly): Would you let the cybernetic child version of yourself care for your estranged senile parent?

Beauty in the Night (Robert Silverberg): the least clichéd alien invasion story

The Pipes of Pan (Brian Stableford): stunting children's growth to manage population and meet adults' desires to have children

Always True to Thee, in My Fashion (Nancy Kress): literally wear your emotions and take them off; "They loved each other for their multiplicity of selves, their basic and true complexity, expressed outwardly and so well through the art of change. That was what kept love fresh and romantic, wasn't it? Change. Growth. Variety."

Universal Emulators (Tom Cool): multitasking adulting with a body double has become a little too complicated

The Mendelian Lamp Case (Paul Levinson): pseudo X-Files episode on the Amish + biowar

Kiss Me (Katherine MacLean): frog alien invasion 😆🐸

Highly recommended!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of science fiction short stories, all from the distant year of 1998. As always, there are going to be some stories that don't do anything for me, and some that really work, and those may be totally different from somebody else's reactions, so star ratings are even more ridiculously subjective than most. However, I will say that I thought this was a better-than-average installment with more stories that I liked, and fewer that I disliked, than most of these anthologies.

I still think the standout is S.N. Dyer's The Nostalgianauts, the one that I also remembered most vividly from time since I last read this, it's a story about time travel, sort of, with an interesting twist and a lot of heart. Jack Williamson and Michael Swanwick's stories also appealed to me, I think, more than I expected them to and possibly more than they had the first time around. Paul Levinson gave a surprisingly good story, especially given my loathing of a novel of his. If he wrote more like this I might have had a better impression. Much of the other stories were fairly good reads, I though, although not standing out much in memory.

On the negative side, the biggest miss was Gibson's story, which was the same story I disliked in another short story collection recently.

But it's a pretty nice sampling of different tropes and styles in the genre and a few genuine gems.

[Casey Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first SciFi short story anthology I have read, and it was a bit of a mixed bag, a few of the stories I liked were:
Nostalginauts
The Voice
The Pipes of Pan (Hands down, this one was my favorite)
Universal Emulators
The Mendelian Lamp Case
London Bones

There were other alright ones in the mix as well, like Fair Verona, Great Western,0 and the Firefly Tree.

I would also say that nearly half the stories did almost nothing for me, which might be why it took nearly 2 years to make my way through this book.

[Earl Truss · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was hard deciding between one or two stars for this one. The stories seem to vary from terrible to almost OK. IMO some of them were not even science fiction and hardly even fantasy either. It makes me wonder if the following volumes will be worth reading.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting collection of stories and some of them really make you think (that they could really happen.)

[Charl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yum!

[Вероника Антонова]

Кошмарен превод на български, истинско изпитание е да се чете книгата. Съжалявам, г-н Пощаков, просто не сте се справил.

[Farnese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sono affezionata a questo libro, quindi forse ho aggiunto mezza stellina di troppo. Alcune storie sono davvero carine, altre per nulla entusiasmanti. Tutto sommato, una raccolta nella media.

[Xkander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gene WOLFE - Piccolo zoo ★★★☆☆ 16/2/2019
Michael SWANWICK - La saggezza della vecchia Terra ★★★☆☆ 19/2/2019
Jack WILLIAMSON - L'albero delle lucciole ★★★☆☆ 16/2/2019
William GIBSON - Tredici inquadrature di una città di cartone ★★★☆☆ 31/3/2019
Sharon N. FARBER - I nostalginauti ★★★★☆ 27/2/2019
John Charles WRIGHT - Trattato di accoglienza ★★★★☆ ../2019
Gregory BENFORD - La voce ★★★☆☆ ../2019
Greg EGAN - Yeyuka ★★★★☆ 10/10/2019
Terry BSSON - Storia d'amore in ufficio ★★☆☆☆ 14/10/2019
James Patrick KELLY - Ragnetto, bel ragnetto ★★★☆☆ ../2019
Robert SILVERBERG - Bellezza nella notte ★★★★☆ 03/01/2020
Ray BRADBURY - La signora pallida ★★☆☆☆ 01/01/2020
Brian Michael STABLEFORD - Il flauto di Pan ★★☆☆☆ 06/01/2020
Nancy KRESS - Sempre a te fedele, secondo la moda ... ../2020
Tom PURDOM - Terra di canarini ... ../2020
Tom COOL - Emulatori universali ... ../2020
Rodrigo Garcia ROBERTSON - La bella Verona ★★★★☆ 02?/2020
Kim NEWMAN - La Great Western ★★★☆☆ 10/04/2020
Geoffrey Alan LANDIS - Ricambio ★★☆☆☆ 17/04/2020
Paul LEVINSON - Il caso della lampada mendeliana ★★★★☆ 14/04/2020
Katherine MacLEAN - Baciami ★★☆☆☆ 19/04/2020
Michael MOORCOCK - Osso di Londra ★★★☆ 26/04/2020

[Patrick]

Read between 2006-2008:
"Petting Zoo" by Gene Wolfe
"The Wisdom of Old Earth" by Michael Swanwick
"The Firefly Tree" by Jack Williamson
"Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City" by William Gibson
"The Nostalginauts" by S.N. Dyer
"Guest Law" by John C. Wright
"The Voice" by Gregory Benford
"Yeyuka" by Greg Egan
"An Office Romance" by Terry Bisson
"Mr. Pale" by Ray Bradbury
"Great Western" by Kim Newman
"Turnover" by Geoffrey A. Landis
"Kiss Me" by Katherine MacLean
"London Bone" by Michael Moorcock

10/13/11: "Yeyuka" by Greg Egan (re-read).
6/13/21: "Universal Emulators" by Tom Cool.

[Eero · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with collections like this is that there is no unifying theme, and I often find that reading them sequentially becomes a bit of a chore, because I am constantly being yanked from one world to another. "Fair Verona" by R. Garcia y Robertson was the most pleasant surprise. Some stories by big name authors seemed rather slight, e.g. "Petting Zoo" by Gene Wolfe (or maybe I missed the point; the whole thing seemed to be a throwaway joke about a talking purple dinosaur. I get the reference but it has no meaning for me personally).

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites:
"Petting Zoo"/Gene Wolfe.
"The Wisdom of Old Earth"/Michael Swanwick.
"The Firefly Tree"/Jack Williamson.
"the Nostalginauts"/S.N.Dyer.
"Guest Law"/John C.Wright.
"the Voice"/Gregory Benford.
"An Office Romance"/Terry Bisson.
"Itsy Bitsy Spider"/James Patrick Kelly.
"Beauty in the Night"/Robert Silverberg.
"The Pipes of Pan"/Brian Stableford.
"Universal Emulators"/Tom Cool.
"Fair Verona"/R. Garcia y Robertson.
"Great Western"/Kim Newman.
"The Mendelian Lamp Case"/Paul Levinson.

[David Nichols · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some fine stories here, which I enjoyed reading after a long day's research at the David Library of the American Revolution (summer 1998); they include Nancy Kress's "Always True to Thee, in My Fashion," Michael Moorcock's "London Bone," Kim Newman's "Great Western," Michael Swanwick's "Wisdom of Old Earth" (set in eastern Pennsylvania, fairly close to where I read the story), and John Wright's superbly-written "Guest Law."

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highlights:
*** The Wisdom of Old Earth • (1997) • shortstory by Michael Swanwick
* The Nostalginauts • (1997) • shortstory by Sharon N. Farber [as by S. N. Dyer ]
* Guest Law • (1997) • novelette by John C. Wright
Universal Emulators • (1997) • shortstory by Tom Cool

[bluetyson]

Year's Best SF 3 by David G. Hartwell (1998)

[Iva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved The Firefly Tree, Guest Law, Yeyuka, The Voice, and Beauty in the Night.

[Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Guest Law" was my favorite.

[A~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot to review when I read so I can't comment on it specifically, except to say I finished it so it didn't stink. Still think the editor is a bit of a sf snob.

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reading the "Year's Best SF" series in order,and so far, of anthologies 1, 2, and 3, I think this volume has a higher percentage of stories I really enjoyed.

[Robert L Hutcherson Jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection!

Enjoyed the varieties of writing styles brought together here. Look forward to reading more of the series of these anthologies.

[John Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid collection of some of sci-fi's greatest hits.

[Rift Vegan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories in this collection just did not appeal to me. Eh.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0