ORBIT – Otherworldly Reads, Bold Ideas, and Tales. SF & F Short Stories and Novelettes discussion

In addition to the annual Dozois anthologies beginning in the 1980s, there have been other anthology series over the years with similar missions. Here is a useful blog post from 2018 about them all:

https://auxiliarymemory.com/2018/04/1...

Stephen wrote: "Here is a useful blog post from 2018 about them all..."

Thanks, that's great!

I have a printed copy of the most recent edition of the Neil Clarke anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 8, which came out last year and reprints stories from 2022, only a few of which I recognize when I scan the table of contents. (I haven’t read it yet.) The book has something of the heft and perhaps the ambition of Dozois’s later volumes. It’s over 600 pages and includes a “year in review” introduction.

Locus interview with Allan Kaster, who currently edits several annual anthologies:

https://locusmag.com/2025/03/spotligh...

Half-Price Books was having a 20% off Memorial Day sale, so I had to check it out. I found Volumes 1 and 7 of Terry Carr's "The Best Science Fiction of the Year" series & a copy of Orbit 8. Among the others were a few short novels by Grand Master Lester del Rey and Macroscope, a 1970 Hugo nominee.

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?...

Orbit 8 is one of the few, maybe even the only volume in the series that I have read. I had a copy of the SFBC hardcover years ago and I bought and reread a used paperback more recently. I’d say it’s something of a mixed bag, largely in a literary/new wavey vein, but there are a handful of very good stories, including the two by R. A. Lafferty. I’ve always considered “All Pieces of a River Shore” a favourite, with a neat central conception and (view spoiler)[a big goofy twist (hide spoiler)].

Visiting Kingston, Ontario for a couple of days with my wife, I picked up a used copy of Year's Best SF, edited by David G. Hartwell. This was the first volume of a series of annual anthologies that lasted until 2013 (Year's Best SF 18). I’ve read the last 4 in the series. This first one covers stories published in 1995. Looking forward to checking out the stories, sooner or later. The only title I remember having read in the table of contents is Le Guin’s Coming of Age in Karhide.

Stephen wrote: "Visiting Kingston, Ontario for a couple of days with my wife, I picked up a used copy of Year's Best SF, edited by David G. Hartwell. "

Good for you! Meanwhile, at Dave Hook's site there are reviews of several earliest SF anthologies, namely “From Off This World: Gems of Science Fiction Chosen from ‘Hall of Fame Classics’”, Oscar J. Friend & Leo Margulies editors, 1949 Merlin Press - https://adeeplookbydavehook.wordpress... and “The Other Side of the Moon”, August Derleth editor, 1949 Pellegrini & Cudahy https://adeeplookbydavehook.wordpress...

I read carefully through the article at the top of this thread, looking at the various "best of" series, mostly because I keep running across copies of books from the different series. I just found Nebula Winners Twelve and The 1980 Annual World's Best SF, Wollheim's DAW series after he and Carr split.

A trip to a different HPB store turned up World's Best Science Fiction Third Series, The Nebula Awards 18 and an interesting anthology called First Voyages made up of the first published stories of 20 different classic SF authors. Apparently there's an earlier version that only has 10 authors, but Damon Knight & the other editors expanded it to 20 for the second edition. Looks interesting.