Science Fiction: The Best of 2003

by Karen Haber (Editor), Jonathan Strahan (Editor), Michael Swanwick (Contributor)

- Karen Haber is the bestselling co-author of "Science of the X-Men, and is a contributing writer to "The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. She was also the editor of the essay collections "Meditations on Middle Earth--which was nominated for the prestigious Hugo Award--and the recent "Exploring the Matrix.- Affordably priced collection appeals to readers hesitant to purchase high-priced "Best of" anthologies--same high quality of stories at a lower price.

Contents

Introduction essay by Karen Haber
The Fluted Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman
Flowers from Alice by Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow
The Tale of the Golden Eagle by David D. Levine
Bernardo's House by James Patrick Kelly
Confusions of Uñi by Ursula K. Le Guin
Jon by George Saunders
The Cookie Monster by Vernor Vinge
Legions in Time by Michael Swanwick
The Chop Line by Stephen Baxter
Calling Your Name by Howard Waldrop
The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford
Bump Ship by Susan Mosser (variant of Bumpship)
Only Partly Here by Lucius Shepard

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies

435 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 4, 2003

About the author

Karen Haber is the author of nine novels including Star Trek Voyager: Bless the Beasts, and co-author of Science of the X-Men. In 2001 she was nominated for a Hugo for Meditations on Middle Earth, an essay collection celebrating J.R.R. Tolkien. With her husband, Robert Silverberg, she co-edited Best Science Fiction of 2001, 2002, and the Best Fantasy of 2001 and 2002 for ibooks and later, co-edited the series with Jonathan Strahan through 2004.

Her recent work includes Crossing Infinity, a science fiction novel of gender identity and confusions. Other publications include Exploring the Matrix: Visions of the Cyber Present, a collection of essays by leading science fiction writers and artists, Kong Unbound: an original anthology, an essay in The Unauthorized X-Men edited by Len Wein, and Transitions: Todd Lockwood, a retrospective of the artist's work.

Her short fiction has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and many anthologies. She reviews art books for LOCUS magazine and profiles artists for various publications including Realms of Fantasy. She is currently at work on a major survey of fantasy and science fiction artists to be published in 2011.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the time of reading (2004) I probably would have given this book 5 stars, but now remembering the stories, some were two sensual, most too much science fiction for my modern brain. Would not re-read.

[MamaWings · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were a few stories worth a read in here but most of them were meh or worse. I’ve read excellent sf and fantasy all my life and this collection didn’t measure up. DNF

[Nicholas Whyte]

http://nhw.livejournal.com/211123.html[return][return]Not madly impressed; most of the stories I had read before as they were Hugo or Nebula finalists, or collected somewhere else, and the remaining ones were generally not up to much. (Honourable mentions though to "Flowers for Alice" by Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross, and especially to "Only Partly Here", by Lucius Shepard, the first successful genre story I've read about 9/11). There is also a surprisingly unprofessional level of misprints.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A war fought with the use of time travel, intelligences trapped in a computer program, a man whose synesthesia conjures up a kindred spirit, and a sentient house awaiting its master's return are just a few of the imaginative and fascinating concepts contained in this anthology. Some of the stories seemed more fantasy than science fiction, but I enjoyed almost all of them. A very satisfying collection.

[GD · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took about 4 months for me to read, but it was pretty enjoyable for the most part. None of the stories was bad, that I can remember, most of them were pretty interesting, and a couple were outstanding (Neil Gaiman, big surprise, and "The Chop Line" by Stephen Baxter was really freaky), hell of a buy for a 50 baht used impulse buy.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting concepts explored in this compilation.

[Tapanga Koe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did enjoy it, but the last two stories struck me as more fantasy than Sci-fi.

[Peter Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly uneven selection of last decades SF - the standouts are The Empire of Ice Cream, a nice existential chiller and Only Partly Here - a slow burning 9/11 gothic story.

[Monica Madaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I particularly liked Lucius Shepard's "Only Partly Here."