Customer Reviews

The Year's Best Science Fiction, Thirteenth Annual Collection

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I don't know what happened here, but most of these other reviews are for the wrong book. Only the three oldest reviews are for the right edition. The Product Description is for the right one(#13) but the Editorial Review by Amazon.com is for #17 as are 15 out of 20 of the Reader Reviews.

The table of contents for #13 is:

A WOMAN'S LIBERATION by Ursula K. Le Guin
STARSHIP DAY by Ian R. MacLeod
A PLACE WITH SHADE by Robert Reed
LUMINOUS by Greg Egan
THE PROMISE OF GOD by Michael F. Flynn
DEATH IN THE PROMISED LAND by Pat Cadigan
THE WHITE HILL by Joe Haldeman
SOME LIKE IT COLD by John Kessel
THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN FUTURE by Allen Steele
THE LINCOLN TRAIN by Maureen F. McHugh
WE WERE OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH JOY by David Marusek
RADIO WAVES by Michael Swanwick
WANG'S CARPETS by Greg Egan
CASTING AT PEGASUS by Mary Rosenblum
LOOKING FOR KELLY DAHL by Dan Simmons
THINK LIKE A DINOSAUR by James Patrick Kelly
COMING OF AGE IN KARHIDE by Ursula K. Le Guin
GENESIS by Poul Anderson
FEIGENBAUM NUMBER by Nancy Kress
HOME by Geoff Ryman
THERE ARE NO DEAD by Terr Bisson
RECORDING ANGEL by Paul J. McAuley
ELVIS BEARPAW'S LUCK by William Sanders
MORTIMER GRAY'S HISTORY OF DEATH by Brian Stableford

There's more than just a few modern classics here. They are:

McHugh's Hugo and Locus Award winning THE LINCOLN TRAIN
Kelly's Hugo Award winning THINK LIKE A DINOSAUR
Marusek's WE WERE OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH JOY
Bisson's THERE ARE NO DEAD
Egan's WANG'S CARPETS
Le Guin's A WOMEN'S LIBERATION
And the Hugo Award winning THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN FUTURE by Steele

There's some others which are really good (STARSHIP DAY comes to mind) and a few stinkers (Rosenblum's 'choppy' prose comes to mind), but when gathering 24 stories from any given year that is bound to happen.

Oddly there are no Nebula Award winners in this edition.

#13(1995) is perhaps the best of all of Gardner's Annuals. A recent discussion at the Asimov's Magazine website, which Gardner was still editing at the time, found most people liking #13 the best. It's odd to find a decade's best stories being those from mid-decade, it's always been the earlier or later years which defined any other decade. In that discussion over at Asimov's #12(1994) and #14(1996) were the other most popular of the Annuals, so that further illustrates just how good the short SF of the mid-nineties was.

I buy one of these big daddies every year and can never wait to start in on Gardner's Annual Summation. In fact, Spouse has to drive home because I can't wait until we get home to start reading. I GOTTA READ IT NOW! The Summation alone is ALMOST worth the price, I say "almost" because these puppies aren't cheap when they're hot off the presses. But, you now have the opportunity to buy these bad boys cheap.

If you're a student of SF this book is an absolute must. You get samples of everything going on in the genre AND that very in-depth Summation.

If you're simply a fan this book really isn't a must because there are stories which some people would hardly consider as being Science Fiction, but there's always that Summation. The Hartwell SF Annuals are probably more to your liking as far as being strictly SF. But then again, this particular edition doesn't have much of that "fluffy" stuff as compared to many of the other editions.

It's a great collection of stories. Buy it, you'll spend a lot less than I did.

Although I did not enjoy every story, I respected them. Meaning the ones I did not like I am sure someone else would. The ones I liked best were "Think Like a Dinosaur", "The Lincoln Train", "Genesis", & "Feigenbaum's Number". Although I'd like to say the title character in "Looking for Kelly Dahl" is quite interesting & memorable. "Think Like a Dinosaur" is good for people who liked the idea in Tom Godwin "The Cold Equation's", but thought it was sappy. It also has interesting aliens. "The Lincoln Train" introduced me to Maureen F. McHugh (which is a mixed blessing), still it's a good Alternate History story vividly written. Poul Anderson has written some of my most & most hated novels. Still "Genesis" is an interesting far future tale. My favorite part is more alternate history involved. "Feigenbaum's number" introduced me to Nancy Kress (mostly a good thing) it mixes math & Platonism. These stories (especially the Kress) are more emotional then I am used to sf being. Still it is a fairly varied mixture that even contains some hard sf. My only complaint is that he could have chosen less confusing stories that were under ten pages. (or just not included stories that short since he obviously doesn't like them that short)

These 24 stories from 1995 are arguably the best of the year's science fiction. The book opens with a summary of the year's important events in SF. Each story is introduced by well-written author bio, descriptions of the author's other publications and an enticing story preview. Dozois business as usual.

Four of my favorites:

Joe Haldeman's "For White Hill" seems like just another love story on the home planet Earth. Two lovers are attracted by their different approaches to life.

Greg Egan stretches the imagination with "Wang's Carpets," a new kind of life that exists in the same physical world as humans, but several layers of abstraction away from us. Sort of...

James Patrick Kelly's "Think Like a Dinosaur" has become a classic. Comparisons to Tom Goodwin's "The Cold Equations" are appropriate. I find Kelly's story more chilling. Being able to think--and act--like an alien is a matter of empathy.

Terry Bisson's "There Are No Dead" feels like Stephen King's Stand By Me distilled into a Ray Bradbury short story. It has its own logic.

This is a pretty good collection. There is a range of style and setting to the stories. It's likely that at least one will hit you from an unexpected direction. A friendly hit, most likely. The "Honorable Mentions" at the end of the book point to good stories from 1995 that Dozois couldn't find room for. You might enjoy tracking some of them down.

They've said what I wanted to about the stories themselves. I'm odd for younger readers in that I was reading Cordwainer Smith before I'd heard of Card or Bujold. This was therefore a great way to introduce me to great "new" authors like McHugh, Kress, MacLeod, etc. The summations are a great way to see what's going on in the science fiction, & sadly I think magazines may be in worse shape than Dozois indicates. I think he doesn't want to say how bad things are because he doesn't want pity subscriptions. I hope Amazon allows me to mention that some of the Kansas guy's favorite stories are by Poul Anderson & that he meant to say "most loved & most hated" not "most & most hated". If they refuse to print this because I mentioned that then this will be the last time I visit this site! I hate to be melodramatic like that, but I think this Customer Comment thing is a great way to talk about books & I'd hate for a flub to ruin someone's point. Sadly that small digression's probably killed the chance this will appear so to continue I'd like to say Hartwell's is a great complement to this & you should try it too. It's not quite as good, but it has a lot of short humorous work that Dozois tends to lack. I understand Dozois preference for novellas, but it's nice to have a collection of shorter work when you're too busy for novellas. The summary that Dozois has is one of his (Dozois') main advantages since it points you to good books & anthologies you may have missed & tells you about older generation authors that even I'm not familiar with. I said the others said everything about the stories, but I realize that's not quite true. Dozois chooses much more hard sf then people give him credit for. Granted "Elvis Bearpaw's Luck" is basically a darkly humorous Cherokeeized sendup of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" & like Swanwick's "Radio Waves" it's fantasy with sf elements, but so are some of Hartwell's choices. "Wang's Carpet" was hard sf, but felt incomplete & is now part of Diaspora where it probably makes more sense. His other story "Luminous" stands on its own. I liked "Starship Day" by MacLeod, but if I say much about it I'll ruin it. Well I hope amazon will forgive my minor digression & I hope you science fiction fans will keep sf magazines alive so anthologies like this will have a variety of stories to choose, but I won't hold my breath.

For this series, this is a down volume, with a Jekyll and Hyde personality. On one hand, it has three of my all time favorite stories ever : Wang's Carpets, Luminous, and the Death of Captain Future. On the other, it has three below average and three average stories, which is quite a lot for a best of the year selection. The Swanwick is a fantasy story, as far as I could see, too in fact, it won a fantasy award, as such. If I never see another story about someone's Marilyn Monroe fantasy, that would be too soon.

Kelly's Think Like A Dinosaur is also excellent.

Only a 3.67 average, for the stories, so I'd call this one, with the perhaps longer than usual detailed introduction around a 4.75 score.

Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : A Woman's Liberation - Ursula K. Le Guin
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Starship Day - Ian R. MacLeod
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : A Place with Shade - Robert Reed
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Luminous - Greg Egan
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : The Promise of God - Michael F. Flynn
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Death in the Promised Land - Pat Cadigan
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : For White Hill - Joe Haldeman
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Some Like It Cold - John Kessel
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : The Death of Captain Future - Allen M. Steele
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : The Lincoln Train - Maureen F. McHugh
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : We Were Out of Our Minds with Joy - David Marusek
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Radio Waves - Michael Swanwick
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Wang's Carpets - Greg Egan
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Casting at Pegasus - Mary Rosenblum
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Looking for Kelly Dahl - Dan Simmons
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Think Like a Dinosaur - James Patrick Kelly
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Coming of Age in Karhide by Sov Thade Tage em Ereb of Rer in Karhide on Gethen - Ursula K. Le Guin
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Genesis - Poul Anderson
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Feigenbaum Number - Nancy Kress
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Home - Geoff Ryman
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : There Are No Dead - Terry Bisson
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Recording Angel - Paul J. McAuley
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Elvis Bearpaw's Luck - William Sanders
Year's Best Science Fiction 13 : Mortimer Gray's History of Death - Brian M. Stableford

Slave teachings.

4 out of 5


Virtual maintenance check.

3.5 out of 5


Crazy changer chick.

3.5 out of 5


A pair of researchers have found a defect in mathematics, where something can be true and false at the same time. This leads to them going on the run to keep the power of changing reality out of corporate hands, and leads them to a startling discovery.

"Alison gave me a strange look. "You still don't get it, do you, Bruno? You're still thinking like a Platonist. The universe has only been around for fifteen billion years. It hasn't had time to create infinities. The far side can't go on forever-because somewhere beyond the defect, there are theorems that don't belong to any system. Theorems that have never been touched, never been tested, never been rendered true or false.

"And if we have to reach beyond the existing mathematics of the universe in order to surround the far side . . . then that's what we'll do. There's no reason why it shouldn't be possible-just so long as we get there first.""

5 out of 5


Cancerous relationship end.

2.5 out of 5


Digital deadly doings.

3.5 out of 5


Artists try for retro inspiration.

2.5 out of 5


Wasted rescue.

2 out of 5


Evil getaway.

3.5 out of 5


Slug seared.

3 out of 5


Corpsegrinding.

3 out of 5


A conservative transhuman polis sets out to search for alien life on other planets. The planet they find surprises them in a bit way, as the carpetlike inhabitants seem to grow by a pattern described by an obscure mathematician. Their nature allows them to perform as a Turing machine, and they are running one pretty impressive simulation.

A story you might just have to read a bit of twice.

5 out of 5


Flighty media disagreement.

3 out of 5


Student-teacher worldhunt.

4 out of 5


Lizard people's replication errors multiply.

4.5 out of 5


Puberty gender blues cured by dedicated fracking and food, even if the flavor can be a crapshoot.

4 out of 5


Bigarse AI can be slack, sneaky corner-cutters.

3.5 out of 5


Divergent personalities.

4 out of 5


VR escape.

3.5 out of 5


Reset button.

3.5 out of 5


Personality variations don't quite cut it, universal aims are worth a shot though.

4 out of 5


Bingo sacrifice.

4 out of 5


Immortal's morbid mortality research.

3.5 out of 5


A poignant satire, if you will.

"I bought the youngster a drink and told him the truth. Naturally, he refused to believe me, nor can I blame him.

Heroes are hard to find. We need to welcome them whenever they appear in our midst. You've just got to be careful to pick the right guy, because it's easy for someone to pretend to be what they're not.

Captain Future is dead.

Long live Captain Future."

The Kansas guy pretty much said what I think, except Poul Anderson wrote some good stuff. Also the hard sf by Egan was pretty good. "Recording Angel" was pretty good. I get the feeling this new series of McAuley's is in the Universe of this story. The summation was a little gloomy, but I'm hopeful the science fiction magazines won't die.