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Year's Best SF 9 Mass Market Paperback – May 25, 2004

by David G. Hartwell (Author), Kathryn Cramer (Author)

3.7 43 ratings

Book 9 of 17: Year's Best SF Series

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The Future Boldly Imagined From Breathtaking New Perspectives

The world as we will know it is far different from the future once predicted in simpler times. For this newest collection of the finest short form SF to appear in print over the preceding year, acclaimed editors and anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer have gathered remarkable works that reflect a new sensibility. Courageous and diverse stories from some of the finest authors in the field grace this amazing volume -- adventures and discoveries, parables and warnings, carrying those eager to fly to far ends of a vast, ever-shifting universe of alien worlds, strange cultures, and mind-bending technologies. Tomorrow has never been as spellbinding, terrifying, or transforming as it is here, today, in these extraordinary pages. Hang on!

New tales from:
Kage Baker • Gregory Benford • Terry BissonRick Moody • Michael Swanwick • John Varley and many more

Book 9 of 17

Year's Best SF Series
Print length

512 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper Voyager
Publication date

May 25, 2004
Dimensions

4.19 x 1.02 x 6.75 inches
ISBN-10

006057559X
ISBN-13

978-0060575595
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David G. Hartwell
36
Mass Market Paperback
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Bruce Sterling
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David G. Hartwell
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David G. Hartwell is a senior editor of Tor/Forge Books. His doctorate is in Comparative Medieval Literature. He is the proprietor of Dragon Press, publisher and bookseller, which publishes The New York Review of Science Fiction, and the president of David G. Hartwell, Inc. He is the author of Age of Wonders and the editor of many anthologies, including The Dark Descent, The World Treasury of Science Fiction, The Hard SF Renaissance, The Space Opera Renaissance, and a number of Christmas anthologies, among others. Recently he co-edited his fifteenth annual paperback volume of Year's Best SF, and co-edited the ninth Year's Best Fantasy. John Updike, reviewing The World Treasury of Science Fiction in The New Yorker, characterized him as a "loving expert." He is on the board of the IAFA, is co-chairman of the board of the World Fantasy Convention, and an administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He has won the Eaton Award, the World Fantasy Award, and has been nominated for the Hugo Award forty times to date, winning as Best Editor in 2006, 2008, and 2009.

Kathryn Cramer is a writer, critic, and anthologist, and was coeditor of the Year's Best Fantasy and Year's Best SF series. A consulting editor at Tor Books, she won a World Fantasy Award for her anthology The Architecture of Fear.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Voyager; First Edition (May 25, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 006057559X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060575595
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.19 x 1.02 x 6.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,614,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,762 in Science Fiction Short Stories
- #7,732 in Science Fiction Anthologies (Books)
- #33,351 in Short Stories Anthologies

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3.7 43 ratings

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Mary Rickert
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David G. Hartwell
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Kathryn Cramer
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Kathryn Cramer is a writer, anthologist, & Internet consultant who lives in Pleasantville, New York. She won a World Fantasy Award for best anthology for The Architecture of Fear, co-edited with Peter Pautz; she was nominated for a World Fantasy Award for her anthology Walls of Fear. She co-edited several anthologies of Christmas and fantasy stories with David G. Hartwell and now does the annual Year's Best Fantasy and Year's Best SF with him. She is on the editorial board of The New York Review of Science Fiction, (for which she has been nominated for the Hugo Award many times). She is a consultant with the Scientific Information Group for Wolfram Research.
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Sam G

Best Year's Best SF in Years

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2006

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I have been reading Year's Best book from Year's Best SF 3. I was somewhat disappointed with stories in SF 7 and 8, but SF 9 delivers extremely interesting and thoughtful stories. I really enjoyed stories by Gene Wolfe, George Benford, and my favorite "Four Short Stories" by Joe Haldeman. Buy and read this book, you will not be disappointed.

4 people found this helpful

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Adam C

Some really good stories

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2014

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Excellent collection at a great price, perfect for portable devices. For someone who doesn't have a lot of money to spend at Barnes & Noble, this is a great alternative.

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2015

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Most of the stories are good but Albertine needs to be skipped or just burned. It's a long diatribe and virtually impossible to read.

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Joel M. Cohen

Great Classic SciFi collection

Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2015

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Lots of good stories by notable authors and a bargain in kindle form. I will buy more of this series by such a good and knowledgeble editor.

One person found this helpful

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Hevad

at best a mediocre set of short stories

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2014

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very little real content, at best a mediocre set of short stories. It looked good initially, but turned out to be lackluster. did not read past the intro and first chapter, really not interested.

One person found this helpful

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Michael J. Mazza

Butler, Swanwick, and others deliver some great tales

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2005

"Year's Best SF 9," edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, collects 20 stories into a 500 page anthology. The stories range in length from 6 to 71 pages. Some of the highlights are as follows.

"Amnesty," by Octavia E. Butler: looks at relations between humans and a radically different intelligent species of communal life forms that have invaded Earth. This story deals with issues of power, control, language, and communication; it is as penetrating and thought-provoking as Butler's other great works. "Birth Days," by Geoff Ryman: explores human reproduction, homosexuality, and biological research and experimentation. "Ej-Es," by Nancy Kress: a very moving story about a team investigating a seemingly failed human colony; the story addresses themes of disease, communication, cultural difference, and the human brain. "Rogue Farm," by Charles Stross: a funny tale about a farming couple defending their property against a mutant creature; this story is full of bizarre dialogue and images. "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons," by John Varley: an entomologist is enlisted to discover the meaning behind an invasion of the Earth by weird, butterfly-collecting aliens. This story refers to and cleverly builds on the ideas in the science fiction classic "Flatland."

Also worthy of note--"The Day We Went Though the Transition," by Ricard de la Casa and Pedro Jorge Romero: a time travel story with a Spanish setting. This story also deals with terrorism. "A Night on the Barbary Coast," by Kage Baker: a colorful, highly entertaining tale about a pair of time-traveling cyborgs--who also happen to be father and daughter--on an adventure in 19th century San Francisco. "The Madwoman of Shuttlefield," by Allen M. Steele: a story of life in a human colony on a distant planet. This is a full-bodied, richly evocative tale that covers many aspects of life in the colony--food, architecture, government, etc. Steele creates memorable characters and powerfully drawn human relationships.

But my favorite piece in the anthology is the brilliant "Coyote at the End of History," by Michael Swanwick. This cluster of five short fable-like tales, reminiscent of Native American animal trickster tales, tells about Coyote and his relations with the "Star People." Sort of like folk tales from a distant future, these Coyote tales are ironic, deliciously funny, and surprisingly poignant. Overall, "Year's Best SF 9" is a wonderfully diverse and mind-expanding anthology. This is the kind of book that reminds me why I fell in love with the science fiction genre in the first place. This collection offers excellent examples of why the short story is such an ideal format for science fiction.

6 people found this helpful

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Eclectic Book Works

Not even close to the best

Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2009

It is really very hard to understand how these editors have managed to survive their own ineptitude. These stories are cliche efforts by minor voices in science fiction. As a reader I feel deceived, robbed, and worst of all, bored. If I were a top notch science fiction writer (Brin, Card, etc.) I would be pissed. Calling this the "best" of the year is a gross insult to the truly talented folks working the field. For someone new to the genre it would be very likely to cause them to decide SF is not their thing. Criminal neglect. I gave it two stars rather than zero because there are a couple of good stories by real SF writers (why did those authors allow their stories to be published alongside hack amateurs?) MOST IRRITATING is that the editors have the gall to tell us, in the preface, that they have careful chosen only true science fiction stories, rather than crossing the line into fantasy. If you can't fix it, lie about it....

2 people found this helpful

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Antaeus

Imaginative Entertainment

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2014

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Some are truly short, some are longer, and some of them can leave you wanting more.

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Philip Friel

Another decent Year's Best from Hartwell and Kramer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 24, 2021

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Number 12 in the series of eighteen volumes of Year's Best SF short fiction anthologies, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer. Another pretty good anthology of stories, this time covering the best stories of 2006.

It starts off with the usual incisive short introduction by the editors, followed by the following selection of stories:

Nancy Kress: "Nano Comes to Clifford Falls" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Terry Bisson: "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (Originally in Golden Age SF: Tales of a Bygone Future, 2006)
Cory Doctorow: "When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth" (Originally in Flurb, 2006)
Heather Lindsley: "Just Do It!" (Originally in F&SF, 2006)
Gardner R. Dozois: "Counterfactual" (Originally in F&SF, 2006)
Edd Vick: "Moon Does Run" (Originally in Electric Velocipede, 2006)
Mary Rosenblum: "Home Movies" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Rudy Rucker: "Chu and the Nants" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Ian Creasey: "Silence in Florence" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Kameron Hurley: "The Women of Our Occupation" (Originally in Strange Horizons, 2006)
Claude Lalumière: "This Is the Ice Age" (Originally in Mythspring, 2006)
Eileen Gunn: "Speak, Geek" (Originally in Nature, 2006)
Joe Haldeman: "Expedition, with Recipes" (Originally in Elemental, 2006)
Liz Williams: "The Age of Ice" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Michael Flynn: "Dawn, and Sunset, and the Colours of the Earth" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Gregory Benford: "Applied Mathematical Theology" (Originally in Nature, 2006)
Carol Emshwiller: "Quill" (Originally in Firebirds Rising, 2006)
Alastair Reynolds: "Tiger, Burning" (Originally in Forbidden Planets, 2006)
Paul J. McAuley: "Dead Men Walking" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Daryl Gregory: "Damascus" (Originally in F&SF, 2006)
Michael Swanwick: "Tin Marsh" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Ian R. MacLeod: "Taking Good Care of Myself" (Originally in Nature, 2006)
Stephen Baxter: "The Lowland Expedition" (Originally in Analog, 2006)
Wil McCarthy: "Heisenberg Elementary" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Robert Reed: "Rwanda" (Originally in Asimov's, 2006)
Charlie Rosenkrantz: "Preemption" (Originally in Analog, 2006)

It's the usual form as with most anthologies, some stories I liked, others I didn't like so much. And Hartwell anthologies, like Dozois, almost always have a higher than average strike rate for stories that I like (I won't say good vs bad stories, as one man's nectar is often another man's poison). As with most anthologies, there are authors here that I haven't encountered before (some impressed me, some not so much), as well as authors that I do know (the same applies to them).

Some of my favourite authors have stories in this anthology - Nancy Kress, Alastair Reynolds (my favourite story in this volume), Stephen Baxter, Joe Haldeman, Ian R. MacLeod, Robert Reed, Michael Swanwick, Wil McCarthy, Paul J. McAuley, Gregory Benford, Gardner R. Dozois - and for the most part, they delivered. Other well-known authors also impressed - Terry Bisson, Cory Doctorow, Liz Williams, Michael Flynn. Without going into detailed reviews of each story, I really enjoyed some and quite liked most of the others. So I give the anthology a sound score of 3.5-4/5.

A word of warning. The link to the Kindle version does NOT work. It doesn't link to this anthology (Vol. 12), but to the first volume in the series. As far as I'm aware, there is no Kindle version for Vol. 12. Amazon - FIX THIS ASAP. If there is a Vol. 12, link to it. If not, remove the erroneous Kindle link, so we can actually request that a Kindle version be provided.

Darth Maciek

A 2,5 stars collection, rather disappointing, less successful than the eight previous yearly Hartwell/Cramer anthologies

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 15, 2015

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I was mostly disappointed by this 2003 collection, definitely less satisfying than the previous ones. Reading it was mostly not fun at all. It is inferior to Gardner Dozois anthology from the same year (stories which figure also in Gardner Dozois 2003 yearly collection are marked with letters GD). Most stories are very predictable, poorly written or without ending. Most writers seem to chase actuality (9/11, Iraq war) rather than looking into the future. Only four stories are really worth to be read – the rest, if you skip it, will not be missed. Below, more of my impressions, with some LIMITED SPOILERS.
-----------------------------------
"Amnesty" by Octavia E. Butler – Earth was invaded by nearly indestructible and extremely alien Communities; a woman who has a long (and very tragic) history of living amongst aliens meets some people willing to work for them. I didn't like the immensely stupid (and false) cliché about US government routinely abducting, detaining and torturing its own citizens, but other than that this is a GOOD, solid, honest thing. One precision here: in the introduction it is signalled that this is a sequel of the very classical "Blood child" – that is absolutely NOT true, this story is definitely not related in any way to this shocking and ground breaking masterpiece!

"Birth days" by Geoff Ryman – a story about pregnant homosexual men carrying foetuses in the overstretched colons and oversized anuses… It totally GROSSED ME OUT! AVOID! (GD)

"The waters of Meribah" by Tony Ballantyne – Universe collapsed and people are living in a tight place, where incredibly weird laws are in force and grotesque experiments on humans are routine, like transforming a man in an alien creature – invented by the scientists. Many modern SF writers believe that if they pile one nonsense on another, they will get some kind of masterpiece – well, no, the result is just a pile of nonsense… AVOID!

"Ej-Es" by Nancy Kress – for once Nancy Kress couldn't write a story explaining why all the evil in the world is the fault of US government and Republican party, because here we go on a distant planet in a distant future to try to solve a case mixing medicine, ethics and philosophy. Nancy Kress knows how to write but I totally hate her politics (she is a very left winged gal). Therefore it is a high praise coming from me when I state that this is a VERY GOOD STORY, THE BEST IN THIS COLLECTION, even if I didn't like the author taking a big stinking dump on the religion (all of them in fact). (GD)

"Four short novels" by Joe Haldeman – a mostly humorous attempt to analyse four various ways in which humanity achieves immortality; a READABLE, witty thing

"Rogue farm" by Charles Stross – in rural England completely ravaged by scientific progress a couple of farmers face unexpected trouble; a well written GOOD story, but quite depressing... (GD)

"The violet's embryos" by Angélica Gorodischer – a rescue mission comes to find the survivors of the crash of a starship on a very hostile planet; it turns out the survivors live more comfortably than anyone could expect, thanks to a local entity, which grants wishes… As there is no women on the planet, the whole survivor society is homosexual… This story could be much better if only the writing style was not so darn pretentious and freakishly weird – still a READABLE thing, if only barely.

"Coyote at the end of history" by Michael Swanwick – a collection of mostly humoristic short stories about Coyote, the Trickster from American Indian lore, who must deal with visitors from outer space… A READABLE, thing.

"In fading suns and dying moons" by John Varley – aliens who created Earth and seeded it with life, come back to harvest what their leader desires… This is an amusing end of the world story and a GOOD read. Just one small remark – even during an alien invasion I really don't see US Army tolerating officers taking service when drunk or soldiers routinely disobeying orders by opening all the time fire without any consideration for engagement rules and even worse, goofing around dangerous aliens and teasing them without any reason. And of course, if there is a crucially important mission in time of an alien invasion and you have all the resources of USA at your disposition, you just send in a National Guard lieutenant without experience and with a drinking problem. Come on Mr Varley, that is just plain silly…

"Castaway" by Gene Wolfe – a man stranded on a hostile planet is rescued after twenty seven years – he keeps talking about a strange entity he met during this time… Weird, pretentious and boring, this story is an absolute fail – thanks God, it is a short one. AVOID.

"The hydrogen wall" by Gregory Benford – in the future, messages from numerous alien civilizations, in form of downloadable AIs, were received. A young woman gets assigned to have conversations with one of the most mysterious of those AIs, the Sagittarius Architecture. Many things in this story were extremely weird, others were quite ridiculous, but still, it is a READABLE thing.

"The day we went through the Transition" by Ricard de la Casa and Pedro Jorge Romero – translated from Spanish this is the story about a temporal police, fighting against the abuse of time travel; the idea is not new (Poul Anderson was there already in 1955) but its treatment is original; if you are not familiar with recent history of Spain, read a little bit about Santiago Carrillo, admiral Carrero Blanco and king Juan Carlos – it will help to understand this quite GOOD story.

"Nimby and the dimension hoppers" by Cory Doctorow – in the future, in a community of people living in accordance of "developed biological technology/no machinery" rules, start to appear intruders from very high technology future. It leads to a conflict, which could be interesting – but quickly becomes messy and rather idiotic. It bored me down finally. I rate it READABLE – but barely.

"Night of time" by Robert Reed – another of Reed's stories about the Jupiter-sized space-ship travelling through the Galaxy; this time a human specialist in memory recovery is contacted by an alien customer who forgot something, but he cannot remember what...))) A READABLE thing. (GD)

"A night on the Barbary Coast" by Kage Baker – one of the Company cycle stories about immortal time travelling agents; two such agents, who have a strained relationship, look for a gold miner in California in 1850; it will prove to be a really tough assignment… Very well written, full of humour and wit, this is a solid, honest GOOD story.

"Annuity Clinic" by Nigel Brown – in a near future old people living in low-grade nursing homes are forced to sell their high tech artificial body parts to pay their rent and food… This is the story of an old woman who is waiting for the removal of her artificial eye… Quite depressing but still, a READABLE thing.

"The madwoman of Shuttlefield" by Allen M. Steele – in a distant future a woman, who used to be a successful composer, emigrates to another planet, where life is very, very hard for the beginners. There she meets a reclusive, not entirely stable woman. This story follows on a novel and is in itself the introduction of further works – therefore it doesn't have a real beginning and neither does it have a real ending. That makes it into a READABLE but rather pointless thing, if you don't intend to read the rest of the cycle.

"Bread and bombs" by M. Rickert – once there was a war and now refugees from one country come live on the territory of their former enemies. It creates tensions. This is a very boring, pretentious, predictable and ultimately stupid thing, just another one in a seemingly unending flow of stories on the topic "immigration is good, those who oppose it are racists – except if they are not white, then they are right to defend their land". AVOID!

"The great game" by Stephen Baxter – this one is part of Xelee cycle and was clearly inspired by Iraq war; a bunch of warmongering admirals try to find a pretext to start a galactic scale war for the sake of war, without any other reason… Predictable and as stupid as humanly possible. AVOID!

"The Albertine Notes" by Rick Moody – after a terrorist attack destroyed Manhattan, people started to use massively a ned drug, the Albertine, which allows to relive past experiences and also live thing which will only happen in the future… Later, it turns out this drug is even more powerful… This is a long novella, very densely written (few dialogs, very long paragraphs), narrated in first person. There was a good story somewhere in it, but it was mercilessly drowned under a pretentious logorrhoea and crushed under a nonsensical plot. Also, author clearly has no idea what a "dirty bomb" is – ten seconds of research on internet would help here. This thing tired me and ten pages before the end I gave up. For me this is FAILED STORY. Try it at your own risk.
-------------------------------------------------------
CONCLUSION: This anthology is a disappointment. If you can find "Ej-Es", "Amnesty", "In fading suns and dying moons" and "A night on the Barbary Coast" somewhere else, you can easily skip this collection without losing much.

Doug Fowler

Consistent series

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 17, 2019

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Just the odd one or 2 stories I didn't take to. On the whole the series (of the ones I have read) the stories have proved to be of a good quality.

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Year's Best SF 9 Mass Market Paperback – May 25, 2004

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