Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Starts slow, picks up steam, February 10, 2003
1. "New Light on the Drake Equations"...How do you take a story about a hermit sitting on a mountain waiting for aliens to contact him, and make it interesting? Not this way. Zzzz 2. "More Adventures on Other Planets"...Depressed and unpleasant scientist gets more depressed and unpleasant on a big virtual reality project. Turn the page, pass the Prozac. D 3. "On K2 with Kankaredes"...Mildly interesting man vs. nature yarn about mountaineers who let a giant alien bug tag along on a tough climb. C 4. Stories 4-8 too silly, confusing, boring, and/or unoriginal for me. Read at your own risk. 5. "The Chief Designer"...More fact than fiction, a mesmerizing and poignant account of the man who launched the Soviet space program. Top-flight character development. A+ 6. "Neutrino Drag"...Whimsical, fast paced story set in San Diego features two unforgettable aliens. B 7. "Glacial"...Zillions of worms tunnel innocently through ice on a distant planet...or do they?? Only their mad scientist knows for sure. This one has it all: brilliant concept, solid characters, suspenseful plot. A+ 8. "The Days Between"...Nightmarish space travel story marred only by its ultimate pointlessness. C 9. "One-Horse Town"...Well written, snappy, and literally multi-dimensional view of the Trojan War. A 10. "Moby Quilt"...Weird life in an alien ocean. Moves at the speed of mud. "Solaris" it's not. Zzzz 11. "Raven Dream"...Bittersweet, world-within-a-world story of loss and redemption. C 12. "Undone"...Maybe if I were smart enough to follow this convoluted story about time travel and shape shifting...no, I still wouldn't like it. D 13. "The Real Thing"...Near-in-the-future mogul (suspiciously reminiscent of Bill Gates) pollutes the Internet with diabolical, reality-bending commercialism. Gimme that old time Linux! Thematically heavy-handed, but cleverly written. B 14. "Interview: On Any Given Day"...Think they have problems now? Wait until you catch this terrifying glimpse of what's in store for the next batch of American teenagers. B 15. "Isabel of the Fall"...The Middle Ages make a comeback way in the future. Ingenious science blends surprisingly well with gloomy, gothic fable thick with religious overtones. B 16. "Into Greenwood"...Mind-blowing concept: sentient trees! Actually this spellbinding story is chock-full of great ideas. Convincing science and fascinating characters combine to create a totally believable --yet utterly alien--world. A+ 17. "Know How, Can Do"...What does it mean to be human? What is love? What are the implications of genetic engineering on our very souls? Amusing story about the world's smartest petri dish packs a philosophical wallop! A 18. "Russian Vine"...Aliens gain upper hand on Earth by making humans illiterate. Dubious premise supported by shaky explanations and flimsy plot. D 19. "The Two Dicks"...Alternate history story has a sweaty Philip K. Dick struggling to escape a confusing, sinister, and nightmarish reality. Hey-just like one of his characters! Plus, there's another notable Dick in the mix that we just don't hear from enough these days. A 20. "May Be Some Time"...Heroic British explorer from 1912 gets frozen in Antarctica and defrosted in 2045 NYC. Unfortunately, not much happens after that. However: the story is worth reading, believe it or not, because of the author's brilliant use of old-time British idiom. B 21. "Marcher"...This one must have sneaked in while Mr. Dozios was on break. Read at your own risk. 22. "The Human Front"...Promising alternate history set in World War III Scotland takes a turn for the absurd three-quarters of the way through. They should have called it a book two stories ago. D
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Year's Best Science Fiction - Essential Reading Every Year, September 23, 2002
This review is from: The Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection (Hardcover)
For fans of science fiction, The Year's Best Science Fiction - Nineteenth Annual Collection, is a bag of treats. As Jim Hopper of the San Diego Union-Tribune has said, "At list price, it's still the best value for top-notch SF, by the page or by the pound." Bear in mind, though, that when you buy in bulk, you are bound to get some gristle, fat and bone along with the red meat. Fortunately, (delicately mixing metaphors) the few bad apples do not spoil the rest of the barrel. These stories cover the full spectrum of science fiction. They range from the comic to the sublime. They cover time periods from tens of millions of years ago to countless years in the future. They range from the Earth to planets orbiting distant stars. They even cross from one parallel universe to another with the greatest of ease. These thought-provoking stories stretch the imagination. One selection, The Dog Said Bow, Wow, by Michael Swanwick (first appearing in Asimov's Science Fiction October/November, 2001 issue) won the 2002 Hugo Award for Best Short Story. The plot of this story is a straightforward adventure story, reminiscent of the 1971 Hugo winning novella Ill Met in Lankhmar, by Fritz Leiber. Set in a distant future where dogs have been modified to gain sentience, speech and the ability to walk upright, one dog, Sir Plus and his sidekick Darger, a human, embark on a swashbuckling adventure. However, lacking the tragic overtones of Ill Met in Lankhmar, which gave that story such depth, The Dog Said Bow, Wow, is light fare in comparison. In Summation: 2001, Gardner Dozois gives what amounts to a state of the union address for the science fiction publishing world. Covering everything from fanzines through the major publishing houses, this fifty-four-page summation provides more than a bare bones summary of who is still around, who has departed and who has entered the field. This summation provides a prosaic reminder of just how much science fiction is a small business. In a world of high tech wizardry, the dreamers of such technological futures rely little on rockets, lasers or robots. Science fiction is kept alive through the laborious work of diligent and creative authors. At the far end of this anthology is a listing of more than 300 stories, which were given an honorable mention. With the quantity and quality of science fiction available, the genre is alive and well. Overall, this is a solid collection of short fiction, regardless of genre. If a few of the stories have slow and clumsy spots, they are all readable. Surprising, even a few of the more predictable stories elicit a shiver or two by their conclusion. Pound for pound, this is a well-balanced meal filled with food for thought. Gardner Dozois, editor of Asimov's Science Fiction, has again assembled a solid collection of science fiction stories for The Year's Best Science Fiction - Nineteenth Annual Collection. Among the gems here are The Chief Designer, offering a glimpse at the Soviet Union's attempts at beating the Americans to the moon; and The Real Thing, a comic story of a future where information is the ultimate resource, whether or not it is factual. Ranging from new authors to old masters, these stories represent the best of the genre. Based on the past couple of decades, next year's collection is sure to fire the imaginations of countless readers and writers.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Collection of Short Fiction, November 2, 2002
Gadner Dozois' year-end SF anthologies are always a feast for short fiction lovers. They are packed with some of the very best short SF stories of the previous year. This year's volume is no exception. My favorite story from this year's collection is "The Chief Designer" by Andy Duncan. It details the secret history behind the Soviet space program. Duncan tells a beautiful and moving story that brought tears to my eyes by its conclusion. Also of a very high quality are "Isabel of the Fall" by Ian MacLeod, "The Human Front" by Ken MacLeod, "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" by Michael Swanwick, & "One Horse Town" by Howard Waldrop & Leigh Kennedy. While compiling the list of my favorite stories in this anthology, I realized the futility of the task. This book is packed with well-written and engaging stories. How could I not mention the stories from Robert Reed, James Patrick Kelly, Alastair Reynolds, Ian MacLeod (again), Chris Beckett, Michael Cassutt or Dan Simmons? They are all very good stories that deserve to be acclaimed loudly and enthusiastically. I noticed an interesting trend in myself while I was reading this volume. I enjoyed almost every single story while reading it in this volume more than when I read them in their original publication. In fact, I actively disliked several of them (the Reed, the Kelly, & the Reynolds) after the first reading. Yet after reading them in this collection, I can see what fantastic stories they are. I think that stories sometimes get lost in their original publication. If a person subscribes to several fiction magazines, the pressure to read each story may cause the reader to read too quickly and skim over a story. I rely on editors like Gardner Dozois to bring my attention to the very best stories of the year. This is a very strong volume. Dozois chooses excellent stories that represent the various schools of SF, providing an excellent overview of 'what's going on in SF'. If you're interested in short SF, you need to read this volume. Highly recommended.
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