The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection (Paperback)

~ Gardner Dozois (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran editor Dozois, 15-time Hugo winner, offers 30 stories, several of them Hugo-nominated. The table of contents is dominated by familiar names like Michael Swanwick and Greg Egan, but occasionally leavened with relative newcomers like Hannu Rajaniemi and more obscure authors like James Alan Gardner. Settings range from the present-day (Nancy Kress's The Erdmann Nexus) to the distant future (Ian McDonald's The Tear) and alternate history (Aliete de Bodard's Butterfly, Falling at Dawn). Similarly the moods range from relatively upbeat (Dominic Green's Shining Armour) to pessimistic (Swanwick's From Babel's Fallen Glory We Fled). In some entries the SF elements appear to be almost an afterthought, but most earn their inclusion. Dozois also provides short biographies, a detailed overview of the year in SF and a lengthy list of honorable mentions. This is a worthy addition to a venerable series. (July)
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Review

Praise for Gardner Dozois and The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-fifth Annual Collection:

“The 25th installment of editor extraordinaire Dozois's annual collection packs a wallop.” –Publishers Weekly

"For more than a quarter century, Gardner Dozois's THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION OF THE YEAR has defined the field. It is the most important anthology, not only annually, but overall." --Charles N. Brown, publisher of Locus Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (June 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312551053
• ISBN-13: 978-0312551056
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,567 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars super, July 12, 2009

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This anthology always lives up to its title as there are thirty strong short stories with 628 pages of contributions included. The Summation of 2008 is a deep fascinating essay that focuses on the good with overall strong creative writings especially in book anthologies; and the bad being the collapse of several print magazines with those surviving cutting back the number of pages in each copy and reducing the number of releases per year. The stories are for the most part super but in spite of the rise of the on line magazines most of the compilation comes from print magazines and book anthologies. My personal favorites are those I had not previously read (thus I discount the excellent "Boojum" by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette, "The Gambler" by Paolo Bacogalupi, and "Eligible Boy" by Ian McDonald, etc.). "The Six Directions of Space" by Alastair Reynolds, "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed and the "Erdmann Nexus" by Nancy Kress are tremendous; the rest are quite good too. This collection with its Honorable Mention list and reference guide is a short story delight.

Harriet Klausner

25 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How far we've fallen, July 25, 2009

By	rbnn (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Gardner Dozois annual Year's Best Science Fiction series has for many years justly enjoyed acclaim and influence. In its early years it boldly and effectively highlighted strong, creative writers who shook up some of the stale tropes of science fiction. It supported and highlighted terrific authors like Greg Egan (who's brilliant "Caress" appeared in the eighth edition); Ted Chiang; and others.

The series was appreciated not only for its interesting selection of stories, but also for the quality of its physical presentation. The type was large and easy to read, the book was bound carefully, the paper was good. One felt reading it that the publishers cared about what was in it. This was in sharp contrast to the custom of the time, when anthologies typically appeared in low-quality mass-market paperback editions, with small, somewhat blurry print. I own all 26 of the Dozois collections, and the early ones from twenty years ago still look good.

For the past five years, however, the quality of the Dozois collections has been slowly deteriorating, and with this latest edition, it reached a nadir.

Most importantly, the stories are generally difficult to slog through. Their prose style tends to be awkward and sloppy. Dozois has lately been indulging an almost obsessive affection for profanity: nearly every story in this collection contains profanity or offensive language. There may be nothing wrong with the occasional swear word, if it fits the story, but it's becoming a joke in the sci-fi authoring community that to get published in Dozois, you have to stick in as many swear words as you can. (I realize pop-culture has become similarly infatuated with profanity, but I do not believe literature should follow this irritating fad).

Where Dozois has included mediocre and poorly-written crafted stories, he's also overlooked superb ones. Most egregious is the omission of Ted Chiang's haunting "Exhalation." Chiang's writing towers above the work in this collection - but at the same time, Chiang's work repays and perhaps requires close reading. Dozois, I get the sense, just skims the stories he selects, and seems to have no sense of the difference between an enthralling prose stylist, like Chiang, and pedestrian ones.

The physical quality of the book remains quite good by comparison with most paperbacks these days, but it's not nearly as good as it used to be. The paper is thinner and yellower than in the past. My eighth edition from more than a decade ago still looks better, with higher-quality, thicker paper, than this one does. On the other hand, sometimes paper quality varies a bit even within an edition, so maybe other readers will have a better experience.

Some would say I am being too harsh here. But the effect of the poor quality of this edition is not merely that it's a bad book that wastes readers' money. The tragedy is that, because of the high profile and wide distribution of the series, the anthology likely still has influence on science fiction writers trying to get published. Because the edition highlights weak, unsubtle writing, authors are more likely to write that way. And it's unfair to much better writers who are passed over because their characters don't swear at each other enough.

To be fair, not every story was unreadable if you can look past the ubiquitous profanity. James Alan Gardner's "The Ray Gun" was excellent and very cleverly plotted. Steven Baxter's story, "Turing's Apples," would have been worth reading but for its pointless inclusion of distasteful imagery (of course, without something disgusting, Dozois no doubt would not have selected it at all, so Baxter is in somewhat of a dilemma).

For a far, far better anthology, without the artistic compromises of this anthology, I recommend Eclipse 2.

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Collection of Engaging Science Fiction, September 23, 2009

By	John M. Ford "johnDC" (near DC, MD USA) - See all my reviews

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Gardner Dozois gives us the grand tour of top-notch science fiction stories from 2008. As in previous anthologies, he treats readers to a chapter-length summation of developments in the field during 2008, a set of well-chosen stories, and an impressive list of "Honorable Mentions" that motivated readers can track down and enjoy. I read all 30 stories and felt my time was well-spent with each one.

My six favorites from this year's collection all deal with our humanity, skillfully using the innovations of technology and the wonders of other worlds to examine our hearts:

Ted Kosmatka's "N-Words" explores love, pain and prejudice in a relationship between a woman and one of modern man's closest cousins.

Karl Schroeder's "The Hero" tells the story of a boy who pays forward a kindness.

Mary Robinnette Kowal's "Evil Robot Monkey" asks whether animals are made more human by increasing their intelligence or increasing our empathy.

Greg Egan's "Crystal Nights" shows that the evolution of a new species can be more effective and efficient if the right man is in charge.

Garth Nix's "Old Friends" shows us that our roots are at home, even when we don't want to return there.

Ian McDonald's "The Tear" is an action- and concept-packed tale of childhood friendship under change--after change, after change.

This collection is highly recommended. I enjoyed it all the more as a "guilty pleasure" read on my iPhone Kindle app while those around me assumed I was scheduling or engaging in some other grown-up activity.