The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection [Paperback]

Gardner Dozois (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Year's Best Science Fiction | Publication Date: May 15, 1998

Gardner Dozois, science fiction's foremost editor, consistently selects the field's best work each year with this showcase anthology. This year's collection presents sterling work from veterans and newcomers alike, including Stephen Baxter, Alan Brennert, Carolyn Ives Gilman, James Patrick Kelly, Geoffrey A. Landis, Paul J. McAuley, Robert Reed, William Sanders, Howard Waldrop, and many others. Rounded out with Dozois's insightful Summation of the Year in SF and a long list of Honorable Mentions, this anthology is the book for every science fiction fan.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Each year science fiction's premiere short fiction editor, Gardner Dozois, collects dozens of excellent stories in a chunky volume that is eagerly anticipated by readers and writers alike. The 15th annual collection includes 28 stories in all, culled from the pages of Dozois's magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, as well as from competing publications, anthologies, and even a few online fiction zines. The names read like a Who's Who of the sci-fi field: Robert Silverberg, Nancy Kress, Greg Egan, Peter F. Hamilton, Gregory Benford, Walter Jon Williams, and more. The stories are the best of the best, selected with Dozois's always keen eye for excellence. The anthology also includes an invaluable summation about the state of the science fiction publishing field, and a list of honorable mentions (think of them as almost-made-its) for 1997. --Craig Engler

From Publishers Weekly

There's little doubt that Dozois (Dying for It) is to the 1980s and 1990s what John W. Campbell Jr., was to the 1940s and 1950sAthe finest editor in the world of short SF. Asimov's, which he edits, routinely earns half or more of the short-fiction nominations for the Hugo and Nebula awards each year, and his anthologies are equally strong. This collection features nine clearly deserving stories from Asimov's, plus 19 other excellent pieces from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Analog, Science Fiction Age, Interzone and a variety of original anthologies and less well-known magazines. The stories range widely in type, from the highly literate work of John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly to the hard SF of G. David Nordley and Geoffrey A. Landis; from the alternate history of William Sanders and Howard Waldrop to the upscale space opera of Walter Jon Williams and Robert Reed. Among the best-known writers represented are Robert Silverberg, Nancy Kress and Gregory Benford. Of particular interest is the large number of non-American writers. Brits Paul J. McAuley, Stephen Baxter, Peter F. Hamilton, Gwyneth Jones, Ian McDonald and Brian Stableford, along with the hot Australian writer Greg Egan (represented by two stories), contribute nearly half the volume. Also included are Dozois's usual summation of the year in SF and his valuable list of honorable mentions. This anthology represents contemporary SF at its very best. (June) FYI: Dozois is a nine-time winner of the Hugo Award for best editor.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st- edition (May 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312190336
• ISBN-13: 978-0312190330
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,883,909 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stil great!, November 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection (Paperback)

I'm going to briefly review the individual stories since it's an anthology. Don't worry I'm going to try to give little away.

Silverberg's story was not to my taste and it became part of his novel "The Alien Years".

Second Skin was a great example of spy story sf once I warmed up to it, my advice don't judge this story till you're done.

Nancy Kress is perhaps the best sf short fiction author of the '90's, & as always her story does a great job of being both genuinely human and science fictional.

Reasons to be Cheerful is disturbing, I wish I'd never read it.

Moon six has it all, but for some reason it's a hair shy of being one of my favorites in this collection. It is very good though.

Bill Johnson won a Hugo for his story about an unusual small town and that pleases me since I disike bleak urban sf. My only complaint is that the story seemed to lead itself to a sequel or ,perhaps, novel too strongly.

Escape Route had technobabble, starship captains, and aliens without seeming like a Star Trek ripoff. It is pretty good.

James P. Kelly's story was nice, but for some reason I didn't "buy" it.

A Spy in Europa is an entertaining mixture of hard sf, Jame Bond, and Jaws.

The Undiscovered was probably the best alternate history story of its year. I'm glad the author afterward was included because it's one of my favorite parts of the story.

ECHOES is sad and hopeful, science fictional yet human, it's wonderful & surprise it's buy a TV writer!

I wish I had read Marusek's stuff earlier because I liked his story about a device "Getting to Know You".

"Balinese Dancer" was a weird feminist? story.

Like many Robert Reed stories "Marrow" is so excellent I'm surprised the guy has never won a major award. However like many Reed stories it's somewhat unnerving so maybe that's the answer.

"Heart of Whitenesse" is one of those Waldrop stories I just don't get.

Swanwick's story was a pretty good far future story, but swanwick sort of turns me off.

I think I have a much more negative view of the future described in "Pipes of Pan" than the author does, but otherwise it is an intriguing piece of biological and cultural speculation.

Croosing Chao Meng fu was a well done adventure with rock climbing, yep Joel and Crow ROCK CLIMBING.

Yeyuka was a good self sacrifice story, but cold like most Egan.

Frost Painting had nice imagery, but was too New Age involved for me.

Lethe was nicely moody & poetic, but a bit confusing.

Winter fire is probably unusual for Landis in that it's too depresssing for me and is about a future Bosnia-type war.

Nevermore was too graphic a love story for me.

Open Veins was an interesting "Hitchcockian?" near future story.

Not entirely to my taste, but "After Kerry" is one of the most emotionally powerful sf stories I've ever read.

The Masque of Agamemnon is like a star trek episode, but I like Star Trek episodes so I liked it.

Gulliver at Home seemed sort-of forced and artificial yet I found it's outer vs. inner space debate interesting.

A Cold Dry Cradle is a fairly realistic story about a trip to Mars, but I'm glad exotic Martian life was in it to make it interesting.

My favorite stories were Second Skin, Echoes, And Marrow. It seemed like there were more adventure stories than usual, but surprisingly they were some of the best. In conclusion despite a few strange omissions and inclusions it is a great anthology.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Year's Best Science Fiction, February 19, 2009

By 

Francis D. Groboski (Lisbon, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection (Vol 15) (Hardcover)

This annual series remains a highlight of my science fiction collection. Another good deal thru the Amazon "Used" collections/selections.

5.0 out of 5 stars The title says it all: the *best*, October 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection (Paperback)

Most of the best science fiction being written today comes in the form of short stories, and this enormous anthology collects them. It's a must-buy for anybody who wants to read the best new SF of the year