The best stories of the year: here is a collection of the best science fiction prose written in 2005, by some of the genre's greatest authors, and selected by Rich Horton, a contributing reviewer to many of the field's most respected magazines. In this volume you'll find stories by James Patrick Kelly, Wil McCarthy, Susan Palwick, Tom Purdom, Robert Reed, Michael Swanwick, James Van Pelt, Howard Waldrop, Alastair Reynolds, Ian McDonald, Mary Rosenblum, Stephen Leigh and Joe Haldeman.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Horton's elegiac anthology of 15 mostly hard SF stories illuminates a broad spectrum of grief over love thwarted through time, space, human frailty or alien intervention, from the gentle melancholy of Michael Swanwick's "Triceratops Summer," which posits tame Technicolored time-warped dinosaurs in Vermont, to newcomer Leah Bobet's "Bliss," an agonizing riff on near-future drug addiction. Several selections address current political-social issues, like Mary Rosenblum's "Search Engine," which extrapolates today's technology to chilling, Big Brotherly results. The long closing story, Alastair Reynolds's "Understanding Space and Time," however, presents a ray of cosmic hope: the sole survivor of a plague that decimated humanity is rescued and healed by intergalactic entities and lives out millennia while seeking ultimate truths, returning to see mankind regenerated. This anthology reflects the concerns of the genre today—and the apparent inability of our society to do anything about them. Note that two of the same stories appear in a rival volume, Science Fiction: The Very Best of 2005, edited by Jonathan Strahan (Reviews, July 24). (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Horton's fine showcase ranges from Michael Swanwick's "Triceratops Summer," in which an "incident" leads to a herd of triceratops invading Vermont during the course of a summer, to Alastair Reynolds' "Understanding Space and Time," in which the last human in the universe undertakes a quest for enlightenment. Other impressive pieces include Robert Reed's "Finished," with its immortality treatment that fixes one in the mental state one is in when treated; James Patrick Kelly's "The Edge of Nowhere," about a genuine Nowhere and what happens there; and strong stories from such newer names as Susan Palwick ("The Fate of Mice," in which a superintelligent mouse's life changes forever) and Daniel Kaysen ("The Jenna Set," in which Palavatar, a telephone answering service, births a new theory of social relationships). The selection also constitutes an interesting overview of recent trends in the genre. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
SCIENCE FICITON: BEST OF THE YEAR,
This review is from: Science Fiction: The Best Of The Year, 2006 Edition (Audio CD)
An odd mixture of Science Fiction and semi Fantasy.
Science Fiction: The Best of the Year 2006 edition is perhaps a great collection of everything Sci-Fi. But much of it is what the editors and critics name it page fillers. All right, there are a few of these Page-Fillers but some of these stories are great. This is a huge accomplishment for Audio-realms and there is no reason why they partnership with Wild-side Press with the huge array of sci-fi stories. Audio Realms usually has contracts with Horror including the large collection of The Dark Worlds of H. P. Lovecraft all read by Wayne June and a few Fantasy tales. Of course there are rumors that the operators of Audio-realms is planning to do another Science fiction collection in a later date, perhaps 2007 edition or 2008 edition will be put in the aisles of Amazon in the future. This has 10 CDs with some of the best narrators of the field. Readers such as Audio Realms veteran Brian Holsopple, famous Nature and other documentary narrator Bob Souer to Stephanie Riggio and Kitzie Stern. Recorded in state-of-the-art sound system. THE BEST: Triceratops Summer by Michael Swanwick: Amazing Story The Edge of Nowhere by James Patrick Kelly: Weird, Tragic and A Total Art for the abstract telling of the story. Bliss by Leah Bobet The Inn at Mount Either by James van Pelt: A Great Story The Jenna Set by Daniel Kaysen Understanding Time and Space by Alastair Reynolds THE OK's: Heartwired by Joe Haldeman The Fate of Mice by Susan Palwick The Policeman's Daughter by Wil McCarthy Search Engine by Mary Rosenblum THE WEIRD or just A PAGE-FILLER: Bank Run by Tom Purdom: Note, there is no intro of the Title of the story or the Arthur. A Coffee Cup/Alien Invasion Story by Douglas Lain The King of Where-I-Go by Howard Waldrop Finished by Robert Reed You, by Anonymous by Stephen Leigh Now you might like some of the Ok's or The Weird and just Page-Fillers. But I would press you that you might get Science Fiction album that all of the CDs in it are completely blank. We had a few reports of customers and sci-fi fans getting the bad copies. Keep the receipt and not order a second, put a letter in the return box and explain the problem so the people of Amazon would have to shipped it to Audio Realms.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe too quick to the press?,
By DJA (Turkey) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition (Science Fiction: The Best of ... (Quality)) (Paperback)
Overall, I was satisfied with the selection and range of stories in this year's collection. You will recognize a number of stories if you read Asimov's SF or other leading SF magazines. My problem with this collection, and I know it's minor, is that there were a number of editorial errors. Dropped words were most noticable. I appreciate the need to get the book on the shelves, but sloppy publishing is never the answer.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Important Anthology,
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This review is from: Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition (Science Fiction: The Best of ... (Quality)) (Paperback)
I love literature of all types and have found myself being drawn to SF in the past few years. This series, and this issue more than any other I've read, proves that SF isn't frivolous. In this anthology, issues important to humanity are explored in fantastic setting. The writing is convincing, not fantastic. That is the beauty of great science fiction. It explores the nature of humanity in a highly creative and believable way. I won't go into the specifics of each story. Every one was a delightful romp through speculation, possibility and discovery. If you love SF, or are just curious about it, read this. Books like this prove that Science Fiction is a vital and important genre.
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