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Customer Reviews (2)

Hard to read
Whilst the stories in this volume are for the most part well written. The problem that I had with it is that the font is way to small. I do most of my reading at night and even with my reading glasses I struggled with this book.

Not Free SF Reader
The editor says in the introduction they changed format possibly to present more work, and says he'd really like to publish half a million words.He doesn't say how large the wordcount was in the last book, or in this one, but presumably this is bigger.

Changing format of course will piss off collectors who like to have consistent looks, and the electronic collectors too, who as far as I can see now don't have one to buy.

He saysthey have deliberately chosen a wide range of stories (which certainly apperas to be true), and stayed away from novella type work for length reasons.

Fantasy collections that have a lot of mundane stuff are never going to rate amazingly highly for me, but there are some pleasant surprises - Pimpf I had read before, and that is a cool story, and another Eternal Champion milieu tale from Moorcock.

The standout is Laird Barron's Hallucigenia, and he is singled out as possibly being a major talent.Given the three stories of his I have read so far (5,4,3) for a 4 average, sounds pretty reasonable to me.His story here is what I would call something like a cross between Lucius Shepard and Brian Lumley, and definitely great.

Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Build-a-Bear - Gene Wolfe
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Pimpf - Charles Stross
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Four Fables - Peter S. Beagle
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : The Potter's Daughter - Martha Wells
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Thin On the Ground - Howard Waldrop
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Pol Pot's Beautiful Daughter - Geoff Ryman
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : The Osteomancer's Son - Greg van Eekhout
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Yours Etc - Gavin Grant
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Sea Air - Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : I'll Give You My Word - Diana Wynne Jones
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Bea and her Bird Brother - Gene Wolfe
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : The Bonny Boy - Ian R. Macleod
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Ghost Mission - L. E.Modesitt, Jr.
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Christmas Witch - M. Rickert
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : The Roaming Forest - Michael Moorcock
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Show Me Yours - Robert Reed
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : The Lepidopterist - Lucius Shepard
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : The Double-Edged Sword - Sharon Shinn
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : Hallucigenia - LairdBarron
Year's Best Fantasy 7 : An Episode of Stardust - Michael Swanwick


Competitive teddies.

3 out of 5


Bob Howard manages to get told off for not playing MMORPG's enough at work, given that is his current assignment, to stop real monsters gaining a foothold there.

He even gets an intern, asthe Laundry finds a kid who gets in deeper than he should while playing and hacking, and hands him to Bob. They go on a bit of a dungeon bash to save the day.

4 out of 5


Bad jokes two many.

3 out of 5


Fairy girl's hands like clay.

2 out of 5


Mexican trip brain sucker cutoff escape.

3.5 out of 5


Surfeit of spirits.

3 out of 5


Hierarch restructuring.

4 out of 5


Dead girl ghost correspondence.

3 out of 5


Garden monster penchant for swimming is infectious.

3 out of 5


Coven trap fraternal dictionary defense.

4 out of 5


Hereditary problems.

2.5 out of 5


Orphan changes.

3.5 out of 5


Poetic sp00k sp00ks.

3.5 out of 5


Bad bone girl.

3.5 out of 5


Rackhir the Red Archer travelling meets a princess of Immryr, luckily for him with what they get involved in.

4 out of 5


Time for drug revenge.

3.5 out of 5


Cocoon people's master conquest plan cropped at the top.

4 out of 5


Paralysis no longer in the cards.

3.5 out of 5


Things that are definitely not better than a kick in the head by an equine?

Being taken over by entities from the Outer Dark.

5 out of 5


Just a vixen for a con.

4 out of 5





3.5 out of 5
... Read more

Product Description
The third and final volume of the Foundations of Fear anthology series features the such works as "In the Hills, the Cities" by Clive Barker, "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler, and "Duel" by Richard Matheson. Reprint. PW. ... Read more

Product Description
Hartwell and acclaimed Australian anthologist Damien Broderick are bringing a higher profile to Australian SF with Centaurus, a showcase of some of the most original voices in SF. Included are stories from Peter Carey, Greg Egan, Terry Dowling, A. Bertram Chandler, Phillippa C. Maddern, Rosaleen Love, Sean McMullen, Lucy Sussex, and George Turner.Amazon.com Review
The anthology Centaurus: The Best of Australian SF is abanquet of thought-provoking science fiction from Australia. Readerswho so far have been unaware of the developing world of Australian SFwill be engrossed by this diverse selection of stories chosen by WorldFantasy Award-winning editor David G. Hartwell and acclaimedAustralian writer Damien Broderick. Yes, Australian star Greg Eganappears, with a story ("Wang's Carpets") that embodies his humanisticapproach to hard SF. But Centaurus also presents rising starswhose works deal with landscapes, concerns, and themesAustralian. Take, for example, Leanne Frahm's "Borderline." Her storyof a widower who has little in common with his ambitious,city-dwelling offspring, yet who wants to protect them even if itmeans confronting his worst fears, is made richer by its plainspokenAustralian dialect. Both "The Mountain Movers" by A. Bertram Chandlerand Terry Dowling's "Privateer's Moon" drench readers in theother-worldliness of Australian landscapes. The editors bookend thevolume with stunning stories by George Turner ("Flowering Mandrake"),one of Australia's earliest internationally known SF writers, andPeter Carey ("The Chance"), winner of the Booker Prize for his novelOscar andLucinda. Every story has its own introduction, and each editorprovides an introduction to the volume. Centaurus is full ofimaginative fare from writers with a colorful regionalperspective. --Blaise Selby ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Australian SF Reader
Really bloody good, mate.


This is a very impressive collection. Average rating 4.15 out of 5. The editors are fairly aggressive in saying that this is the best oz sf collection put together, but it appears they are pretty much right. Van Ikin's Australian Science Fiction, taking the 'modern' section and not the excerpts, which would be an unfair comparison, is a touch under 4. Looking at what I have read of Gerrand's Best Australian Science Fiction Writing that will be be a decent score, but not likely this high.

Not that I have read all the older anthologies, either, but I will sometime. The fact is though, that Egan and Dowling mostly were not in those. The second editions of the Strahan and Congreve et. al. Year's Bests in each case are around the 3.75 mark or so, and the McNamara collections a bit under that. However, that is to be expected, given they are looking at the 'new', not the best of what is available, and all are collections that a fan (or student) of oz sf will want to have.

Centaurus : Flowering Mandrake - George Turner
Centaurus : The Mountain Movers - A. Bertram Chandler
Centaurus : Things Fall Apart - Philippa C. Maddern
Centaurus : Written in Blood - Chris Lawson
Centaurus : Pie Row Joe - Kevin McKay
Centaurus : A Map of the Mines of Barnath - Sean Williams
Centaurus : My Lady Tongue - Lucy Sussex
Centaurus : Wang's Carpets - Greg Egan
Centaurus : The Dominant Style - Sean McMullen
Centaurus : Borderline - Leanne Frahm
Centaurus : Privateers' Moon - Terry Dowling
Centaurus : Re-deem the Time - David J. Lake
Centaurus : Matters of Consequence - Shane Dix
Centaurus : The Total Devotion Machine - Rosaleen Love
Centaurus : The Colonel's Tiger - Hal Colebatch
Centaurus : The Soldier in the Machine - Russell Blackford
Centaurus : From Whom All Blessings Flow - Stephen Dedman
Centaurus : Looking Forward to the Harvest - Cherry Wilder
Centaurus : The Magi - Damien Broderick
Centaurus : The Chance - Peter Carey


Vegetable methuselah's Kal-Elesque odyssey, and brief Phoenix rising.

5 out of 5


A Waltzing Spaceshipa goes The Rock.

4.5 out of 5


Dying bequest gives hope to bizarre scientific research.

4 out of 5


Religious DNA transcription is a killer vulnerability.

4.5 out of 5


Firestarter's mistake, mate.

4 out of 5


A man goes looking for his brother, but all is definitely nowhere even close to being remotely anything like it seems in a really large, very strange underground structure.

3.5 out of 5


Separatist scout girl breaks leg, nicks rescuers Shakespeare, does him, leaves, gets married.

4 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


Genetically regulated society's cyborg wildcard.

4 out of 5


Interdimensional megavirus.

5 out of 5


An inventor who has a device that can access haldane field information is involved in complicated politics, but overreaches in his archaeological collecting. He changes his will to leave some very important things to Tom.

5 out of 5


Space race wimpout = backwards people.

4.5 out of 5


Obsessed woman's child simulation exam.

4 out of 5


Standover nannybot.

4 out of 5


Pacified revisionist pacifists slow to believe in The Cat Men From Outer Space.

3.5 out of 5


Paracognitive reflex research enhanced by music and dance.

5 out of 5


Interdimensional matriarchal world's menstrual communion feared and underrated.

4 out of 5


Postcrash time viewing. With androids.

3.5 out of 5


Long space exploration voyages and religion don't mix.

3 out of 5


Locals realise alien body changers worse than yanks.

3 out of 5

Aussie sf writers - what's all the fuss about?
I am one of the authors represented in Centaurus, and obviously I'm biased to that extent.

All right...now that's out of the way, I honestly believe that this is one of the better science fiction anthologies around and that the authors whose work it contains are worth getting to know. Since the start of the 1990s, Australian science fiction has had a huge renaissance, with such writers as Greg Egan, Sean Williams and Sean McMullen becoming prominent internationally and others having success on a lesser scale, both at home and overseas. This book includes work from all the main Aussie writers of the past few decades, and includes some of their best pieces going back to the 1970s. Most of these are substantial stories - they are robust and gutsy, with some strong themes and characters. What's more, you won't find a better opportunity to sample good work by all the Australian writers in one place, and to judge for yourself what the fuss is about. ... Read more

Product Description
July 1977, second of four issues. Cover art by Vincent diFate illustrating "Monad Gestalt" by Gordon R. Dickson. Also: Rime Isle [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] (serial, part 2 of 2) by Fritz Leiber; Tin Ear by Spider Robinson; Waiting at the Speed of Light by Roger Lovin; book reviews by Robert Silverberg; The Media Scene (essay) by Charles N. Brown; A Fan's Notes (essay) by Ginjer Buchanan; The Spirit Was Willing (essay) by Jack Gaughan; Camera Obscura by Thomas F. Monteleone. Interior art by Freff, Jack Gaughan, Vincent diFate, Douglas Beekman, George R. Schelling. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

LOVE THE DESTROYER
Without even knowing what other stories this volume may contain, I recommend it wholeheartedly as being the place to find How Love Came to Professor Guildea by Robert Hichens.

Guildea is one of the most original tales I have ever encountered. Hippolytus in legend was destroyed by Aphrodite for neglecting her rites, but the rites of Aphrodite are the rites of love in the full sexual sense. This tale is as completely asexual as has ever seen print, and whatever the strange entity is through which Guildea meets his end the transaction it demands is affection, in the way a pet animal demands that. You can cut the story as various kinds of parable, and what gives it a lot of its atmosphere is that it suggests several possibilities and comes down firmly on the side of none. Guildea encounters whatever it is he encounters around the time of his meeting with the equally chaste and celibate Father Murchison, and the friendship between them is one of intellectual respect and compatibility. Murchison deals in love of all mankind as enjoined by his Christianity, Guildea is contemptuous but innocent of hatred. The unseen visitation makes its demands solely on Guildea. What brought it to him? Why does it focus on Guildea and not at all on Murchison? There might be an erotic sub-plot, but I for one wouldn't bet on that.

At 30 or so pages, 'Guildea' is more than a short story. It leaves me weighing up the possibilities and getting nowhere. Is it a lesson for atheists? A creature of this kind has nothing to do with Christianity that I can see, certainly not with the kind espoused by Murchison. To read it as some platitudinous morality-tale to the effect that one ought to love someone just seems to me to diminish a narrative with a remarkable sense of atmosphere and mystery. The precise meaning of it all may be clearer to some readers than it is to me, but for me clarity is the last thing I want from this weird little story.

I sought it here, I sought it there. You'll find it here, I believe, but if you can find it anywhere I recommend whatever book you find it in.

A Good Collection of Horror
The editor does an excellent job in collecting a wide variety of storys through-out the horror genre.Not only is each story presented, a small discussion on the contribution to field of horror writing isdiscussed.

As a fan of true horor literature - I recommend this book. Nowadays it is difficult to find a good horror book or stories that don'tinvolve mutilations, death and other unique ways to cause the reader toreact on a few brief descriptions - as opposed to the entire content of thestory. ... Read more

Product Description
Thirteen terrifying American ghost stories include Ambrose Bierce's ""Bodies of the Dead,"" Alexander Harvey's ""The Golden Rat,"" and Edith Wharton's ""Kerfol,"" along with tales by Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Willa Cather, and others. Original." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Literary ghost-and-horror tales
Interesting - this book does include the category "Children's Books"; no wonder another reviewer complained about the big words! This is NOT a collection of tales for children (although bloody-minded kids like I was would certainly enjoy it!); no, this one contains a nice assortment of ghost and horror tales by some truly fine authors, including Edith Wharton, Willa Cather, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allen Poe, and Ambrose Bierce.

Lafcadio Hearn's "The Boy Who Drew Cats" has been a long-time favorite of mine, and I was delighted to find it here. Poe's story is "Berenice" (aka "the one about the teeth"), which I find more chilling every time I read it. F. Marion Crawford's "The Doll's Ghost" is a rather sweet story (and utterly unlike his "Upper Berth," which, alas, is NOT in this collection, but is well worth hunting up - unless you're planning on taking a sea voyage any time soon). Bierce's "Bodies of the Dead" is perhaps the scariest tale of all, for it's a collection of vignettes about assorted strangeness having to do with dead bodies - and they're all recounted as if factual (which they may be, for all I know).

Great American ghost stories, indeed!

Good for 11+
I do not recommend this book to anyone younger than 11. It has tough wordsand adult authors. ... Read more

Product Description
There is magic in our world
. . . and in others.

The fertile imagination can cultivate wondrous things, aided by ancient myths and memory, enduring childhood dreams and desires, and the power of cultural archetypes. Once again, award-winning editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer reap a magnificent crop of superior fantasy short fiction -- the finest to blossom over the past twelve months. A cornucopia of remarkable tales from some of the field#146;s most acclaimed artists -- Neil Gaiman, Octavia Butler, Tanith Lee, and Michael Swanwick, to name but a few -- as well as stunning new works from emerging young talents, Year's Best Fantasy 4 is a collection as magical as its illustrious predecessors, a feast for every true connoisseur of fantastic literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A jaunt thru the interestingly bizarre
It has been a long time since I read some fantasy fiction, so I was surprised at what a good impression this collection made.There were enough unusual and twisted and mature pieces here to keep me reading. There are also pieces that can work for teenage readers as well as adults - I read two of them to a group of 6th graders."Dragon's Gate" by Pat Murphy was just perfect for my students - it is a story that features a young teen girl who tracks down a dragon and makes friends with the creature.It is well written and plays with a few cliches in an interesting manner. "Catskin" by Kelly Link displayed an outrageous sensibility - very imaginative and, so far as I can tell, unique.

Famous Neil Gaiman contributes a well-written little story about a group of men in a London club that builds well to a mediocre ending.Terry Dowling writes about a "sciamantium", a mirrored room from that supposedly leads to supernatural revelations.Another really good one is "Moonblind" by Tanith Lee, in which the hunters of a village conducts periodic hunts of werewolves.One of the hunters finds a baby werewolf, and contrary to all tradition, decides to hide it and nurture it.Brendan Duffy's story is another strange one - about a spritelike creature created by a scientist in a previous century.There are discussions of "ovism vs. preformation" and the church's views on science."Fable from a Cage" by Tim Pratt was another good, strange chiller.Lucius Shepard was part of the cyberpunk movement, and he writes in an overblown style that has its charms.He contributes a weird, violent piece set in South America.In Ellen Klage's story, a girl gets picked on and pushed around by her bitchy, trophy wife stepmother. A black maid befriends her and shows her some old school magic spells and tricks, which turn out to work all too well.In Robert Sheckley's "The Tales of Zanthius", the author creates an interesting rural community populated by people, zombies, werewolves, and witches.In a story by Gene Wolfe, an insane psychiatrist travels thru a violent dream world - pretty good.

All in all, this was a good collection - more interestingly bizarre than I had expected. Looks like I should add some occasional fantasy to my reading diet.

A few good stories
Maybe I have completely different tastes than the editors of this anthology, or maybe there just wasn't a whole lot of excellent fantasy published in 2003 but I found Year's Best Fantasy 4 to be a hit and miss affair.Many of the stories are decent but nothing special.A few are pretty bad.Even the usually reliable Neil Gaiman has a misfire with the dull "Closing Time."Kelly Link's "Catskin" is just plain bizarre (but I suspect it's supposed to be).Among the few excellent stories are the Nebula Award winner "Basement Magic" by Ellen Klages, a clever update on the fairy-godmother story;
One Thing About the Night" by Terry Dowling, a creepy ghost story involving a mirrored room; and "Dragon's Gate" by Pat Murphy, a well-told high-fantasy quest adventure.There are also some good stories by Lucius Shepard and Terry Bisson.I should also mention the editor's introductions to the stories often contain plot spoilers so I recommend reading those after reading the story.

Some good stories, though not as good as last year's
Having recently finished David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer's Year's Best SF 9 because of Kage Baker's story, imagine my horror when I discovered that, for the first time since Book 1 of their Year's Best Fantasy series, there would not be a Baker story in this year's edition.I decided to soldier on, however, as the other stories have always been exceptional.I would just have to read a book that did not contain a Baker story.*shudder*

Now, all kidding aside (I love Baker, but I'm definitely exaggerating above), the stories in Year's Best Fantasy 4 did not grip me like they have in past years.In fact, going back and writing out the story titles and authors for the list below, I'm having trouble remembering what a few of them are about.Some are charming in their own way, but didn't excite me.Others left me with disturbing images (and not the pleasurably disturbing ones that good horror novels leave)."Catskin," by Kelly Link, is about a witch's son and the cat that has become the dead witch's revenge.The cat creates a cat suit for the boy out of the skin of all the other dead cats that the witch had taken care of, and they go out to avenge the witch, dealing with the other witch who poisoned her.Not my cup of tea.Even the mostly reliable Michael Swanwick's story isn't up to his usual standard, though it is mildly entertaining."King Dragon" is about a world of elves and dragons, but this world is brutally technological.The dragons are intelligent, but they are also mechanical constructs.In an attack on a village, one of the dragons crash-lands, demands that the village cater to him in order to eventually fix him, and takes a boy to be his eyes, ears, and feet.The boy becomes very powerful in the village, a resistance group forms and the boy has to eventually decide whether he likes the power he has (despite the horror of his master) or if he is loyal to his village.It's an interesting story, but I found I didn't really like the atmosphere that much.

So what's good about Year's Best Fantasy 4?There are three really good ones."Basement Magic," by Ellen Klages, is about a young girl with a horrible stepmother, and a maid who knows just a little bit of that voodoo that you do so well.She quickly befriends the girl and, after seeing how the stepmother treats the girl, decides to help protect the girl with a couple of spells.The girl takes things just a little too far, however.This tale was very sweet, but not too sweet.The characters are interesting and I just loved the friendship that grew between these two people.The ending is actually quite surprising, and sad in a way.I loved it.

Another good one is "Dragon's Gate," by Pat Murphy.In this one, a girl tells a story of the ice women in a bar near the glacier.They are upset and her mother goes into a coma-like state.The girl must travel up the mountain pass and get some blood from the dragon there, the dragon that has killed every expedition that has gone after it.Upon getting there, the girl finds things a lot different then she expected.The story has a nice twist to it, with the dragon being a credible character in its own right.The little bit of history of the area is interesting, also tying directly into the outcome of the story, which is nice too.Excellent stuff.

Finally (both in this review and the book itself), there is "Almost Home," by Terry Bisson.This story is a voyage of discovery and the beginning of a new life.Troy and Bug are two boys who enjoy fishing in "Scum Lake," a big pond that's out by the old horse track.Troy discovers that various aspects of the track (the announcers' booth and other bits) are beginning to form what looks like an aeroplane (you know, one of those older types).When it finally forms, they are able to take Troy's deformed cousin for a ride.They discover, past the seemingly endless desert, a community that is almost, but not quite, exactly like theirs.The story only contains these three characters, and Bisson captures the wonder and the fear of kids going on an exploration of the unknown vividly.It's kind of sad, but contains an uplifting ending.It's also quite imaginative, with this plane being powered by electrolytes from soda pop.This was an excellent ending for the book.

Very few of the stories in Year's Best Fantasy 4 left me cold.There's "Catskin" as mentioned above, but also Neil Gaiman's story ("Closing Time") also did.Perhaps this is because I'm getting tired of the motif of people within the story telling a weird story themselves.It's starting to get a bit old, and since the story that was being told didn't inspire me, it just sort of fell flat.Others were ok, but nothing special.Surprisingly, Tanith Lee's story ("Moonblind") was one that I actually enjoyed, which just may indicate that my feelings about a Year's Best Fantasy book may be inversely proportional to how much I like Lee's story.The past two books have contained Lee stories that I didn't like, and I liked those volumes a lot better than this one.

Still, my disappointment with this year's edition does not mean it's not worth picking up.It's still a great collection, just not as good as past years'.If you're a short fantasy fan (as in a fan of short fantasy, not meaning a height-challenged fan), I would definitely recommend that you pick this book up.Just make sure you pick up the first three as well.There's some good stuff there.

David Roy ... Read more

Product Description
The editor of Foundations of Fear compiles thirty-eight unique tales of magic and fantasy by such authors as William Morris, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Mark Twain. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Has Frank R. Stockton's "The Griffin and the Minor Canon"!
This book has over 600 pages with gold edges and many, many short stories, including the minor masterpiece "The Griffin and the Minor Canon" by Frank R. Stockton ... Read more

Product Description

Magic lives in remarkable realms -- and in the short fiction of today's top fantasists. In this fifth breathtaking volume of the year's best flights of the fantastic, award-winning editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer present a dazzling new array of wonders -- stories that break through the time-honored conventions of the genre to carry the reader to astonishing places that only the most ingenious minds could conceive.

In the able hands of Neil Gaiman, Kage Baker, Tim Powers, and others, miracles become tangible and true, impossible creatures roam unfettered, and fairy tales are reshaped, sharpened, and freed from the restrictive bonds of childhood.

Lose yourself in these pages and in these worlds -- and discover the power, the beauty, the unparalleled enchantment of fantasy at its finest.

Customer Reviews (2)

Another year, another collection of great fantasy stories
For the past five years, editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer put together a new Year's Best Fantasy book, and every year it is a thoroughly enjoyable read.I may not agree with all of their choices, but I rarely find a story that I really didn't want to read.This year's 5th edition is no different.There aren't as many stories in it that make me stand up and pay attention, but all of them are quite good, even the ones that I have a bit of a problem with (stand up Joel Lane).Even better is the wide range of sources the editors draw from for their choices.A great number of them came from the book Flights, which I haven't read, so there weren't too many stories that I was already familiar with (though since I am now subscribing to three different short story magazines, some of them have been read before).

Thankfully, some of the regular contributors to these anthologies (Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee) don't annoy me like they have in the past.Lee's writing has never been my favourite (though I did like her "Moonblind" in last year's book), but "Elvenbrood is a very strong story about a shattered family who is attempting to move on, and the weird things in the woods outside that want the daughter as part of a pact that the father made.Gaiman finally moves on from the "weird character in the story tells a story" motif, though just barely, with "The Problem of Susan."Like "Beyond the River" (discussed below), this is a story of an interviewer visiting an author, though Gaiman's story goes in a different direction and takes a bit more of a horrific turn at the end.

The one story I had a problem with was "Beyond the River," by Joel Lane.A young journalist goes to visit an old children's book writer for an article on her life, as well as the breach of contract charges that have been brought up against her by the company that has bought her books.It seems they want to re-issue them with a lot of changes to make them more "accessible" to the modern reader, which she refuses to do.It's a pointed story about the publishing business, but it has a major misstep that threw me out of the story.It takes a weird turn when the interviewer, a woman, is asked to spend the night at Susanne's house because it's late, and the interviewer starts talking about whether or not the invitation was sexual or a seduction.While this may be a normal first question in a male-female meeting, it's not in a female-female meeting when there has been no hint of sexual tension before that, and there has been no hint that either of the characters are gay.It felt completely out of left field.Plus, the storyline is tremendously heavy-handed in its vilification of the mass-publishing market and how book lines can become mass-produced.The world that Susanne introduces the interviewer to is kind of interesting in a fairy-tale sort of way, but these two things made the story much less enjoyable to read than it should have been.

For me, one of the strongest stories in the book (I'll refrain from mentioning Kage Baker's story here, though it is well worth reading) was "Life in Stone," by Tim Pratt.It's the story of an immortal that wants to die, and the assassin he hires to do it.The immortal hid his soul away hundreds of years ago, and can't die until its container is destroyed.Unfortunately, he can't remember where he hid it.Mr. Zealand, the assassin, is trying to find it, based on obscure clues that Archibald Grace, the immortal, can remember.Usually, this sends Zealand on a dangerous wild goose chase, like at the beginning of the story where he has to fight something straight out of Lovecraft.When Grace's long-lost daughter, Hannah, gets involved, things get even trickier.I loved the tender relationship between Zealand and Grace, especially contrasted with the harsh way that Zealand treats Hannah.The ending is also quite good, with things not quite turning out the way you think they will.

Another real winner was "A Hint of Jasmine," by the ever-reliable Richard Parks.I'm really starting to like his stories, as his current ones in Realms of Fantasy have been quite inspired.This story is a ghost story about past regrets.Eli is a ghost hunter, and he's asked to an old southern mansion by an old classmate and her daughter.Around the end of the Civil War, there was a slave massacre, and the ghosts of the slaves continue to haunt the mansion.However, there is much more to the story, including the story of the two women, then meets the eye.Why was Eli called here, and what do the women really want?This is not a horror story at all, despite being about ghosts.Instead, it's about family and heritage, and the relationship between a woman and her daughter.All of the characters are done beautifully, and the mystery just continues to build until Eli figures out what is going on.The prose is good and Parks has created yet another interesting plot to put them through.Well-recommended.

Year's Best Fantasy 5 is another winning collection of fantasy short stories, with every story offering something to the reader.There are also a lot of famous names in the fantasy field included in this volume, so there should be something for everyone.Unless you have an aversion to short fiction, this is one you have to pick up.

David Roy

Worlds of Wonder
I am only through the first six stories and all I can say is WOW!Usually, I question the selections by some best of anthologies, but Mr. Hartwell and Ms. Cramer hit a home run with their selections.So, far, Robert Reed has taken me to an alternate world where dragons are its dinosaurs; John Kessel has taken me on a Wonka-like ride to the kindest bank in the universe; and, Dale Bailey has taken me to the end of the world with a mixture of sex and booze.Great! ... Read more

Product Description
Enjoy today's most awesome and innovative science fiction, chosen by acclaimed editor David G. Hartwell from the best short fiction published over the last year.

Like its two distinguished processors, Year's Best SF 3 is a cybercopia of astonishing stories from familiar favorites and rising stars, all calculated to blow your mind, scorch your, senses, erase your inhibitions, and reinitialize your intelligence.

With stories from:

Gregory Benford, Terry Bisson, Greg Egan, William Gibson, Nancy Kress, Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe and more...Amazon.com Review
This is the third installment of David G. Hartwell's annual Year's Bestcollection, and he writes that it is "full of science fiction--every storyin the book is clearly that and not something else."

Hartwell chose 22 stories this time around, a healthy increase from lastyear's collection. (This doesn't represent more pages, but ratherin selecting stories of shorter length, Hartwell was able to fit more ofthem into the same space.) As usual, Hartwell does a masterful job ofpicking wonderful works from a variety of venues, and the names hereinclude Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, and Gene Wolfe. This is the perfectcollection for readers seeking stories that are quintessentially science fiction. Year's Best SF is rapidly becoming one of the most important annual anthologies in the science fiction field. --Craig Engler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Not Free SF Reader
If Free Space and Decalog 5 were some of the best anthologies of the year, then it was a poor year for anthologies, that is for sure.Not that very many ever come out in general.

It would seem from the couple of Year's Bests for this year not the best year for SF stories in general, as far as outstanding pieces of work go.Lots of good stories here is all.Again he has been able to avoid including average pieces, in general.

Overall score here is just 3.73 there, which is below the general Year's Best standard.

Year's Best SF 03 : Petting Zoo - Gene Wolfe
Year's Best SF 03 : The Wisdom of Old Earth - Michael Swanwick
Year's Best SF 03 : The Firefly Tree - Jack Williamson
Year's Best SF 03 : Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City - William Gibson
Year's Best SF 03 : The Nostalginauts - S. N. Dyer
Year's Best SF 03 : Guest Law - John C. Wright
Year's Best SF 03 : The Voice - Gregory Benford
Year's Best SF 03 : Yeyuka - Greg Egan
Year's Best SF 03 : An Office Romance - Terry Bisson
Year's Best SF 03 : Itsy Bitsy Spider - James Patrick Kelly
Year's Best SF 03 : Beauty in the Night - Robert Silverberg
Year's Best SF 03 : Mr. Pale - Ray Bradbury
Year's Best SF 03 : The Pipes of Pan - Brian M. Stableford
Year's Best SF 03 : Always True to Thee in My Fashion - Nancy Kress
Year's Best SF 03 : Canary Land - Tom Purdom
Year's Best SF 03 : Universal Emulators - Tom Cool
Year's Best SF 03 : Fair Verona - R. Garcia y Robertson
Year's Best SF 03 : Great Western - Kim Newman
Year's Best SF 03 : Turnover - Geoffrey A. Landis
Year's Best SF 03 : The Mendelian Lamp Case - Paul Levinson
Year's Best SF 03 : Kiss Me - Katherine MacLean
Year's Best SF 03 : London Bone - Michael Moorcock


The good old days when we ruled the Earth.

4 out of 5


Posthuman a tad fragile on holiday.

3.5 out of 5


Visitor flaming.

3.5 out of 5


Ordinary urban art.

3 out of 5


Past prom obsession.

3 out of 5


Anti-buccaneering intelligence is powerful.

4 out of 5


Readings not illegal, yknow. Just anti, thats all. So they let me off with six weeks of grouping.

3.5 out of 5


Medical technology advances are making surgery unnecessary in the wealthier countries. A surgeon takes a trip overseas to somewhere less fortunate to do some work, and comes across an interesting project.

4 out of 5


Micros3rf working environment.

3 out of 5


Girlbot minder actor's filial substitute.

3.5 out of 5


Quisling proxy punishment payback.

4 out of 5


Blowup useless death.

4 out of 5


Growth target overrun epidemic.

3.5 out of 5


Emotional models.

3.5 out of 5


Immigrant music.

4 out of 5


Double substitution original disposal iteration complications.

4 out of 5


Virtual hunt escape reality run riches.

4 out of 5


Railway intimidation resistance.

4 out of 5


Pretty boy assistance explanation.

4 out of 5


Bioluminescent bombs.

4 out of 5


Frog research.

4 out of 5


Antique people bit popularity.

4 out of 5

A Good Batch of Stories
The one piece of dross comes from an unexpected source: William Gibson and his story "Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City". It's a minute, camera-eye examination of a cardboard structure in a Tokyo subway and obviously inspired by J.G. Ballard's work. I detected no point to the series of descriptions, or, indeed, anything of a fantastical or science fictional nature.

Nancy Kress' "Always True to Thee, in My Fashion" gives us a witty satire with a world where the seasonal variations of fashion cover not only clothes but also your pharmaceutically modulated attitudes.. The caged dinosaur of Gene Wolfe's "Petting Zoo" represents not only the lost childhood of the story's protagonist but a vitality lost from the race of man. Tom Cool gives us "Universal Emulators" with its future of economic hypercompetition that has created a black market for those who impersonate, in every way, the few employed professionals. In effect, the emulators grant them an extra set of hands. Its plot and characters would have done Roger Zelazny proud.

The voice ofpast science fiction writers echos through many of the anthology's best stories. Jack London's_The Sea Wolf_ provides the inspiration for Michael Swanwick's "The Wisdom of Old Earth". Its heroine realizes, despite whatever dangers she overcomes guiding posthumans through the Pennsylvania's jungles, she will never bootstrap herself into being their equal. H.G. Wells looms over Robert Silverberg's "Beauty in the Night".Its child hero undertakes the first successful assassination of the brutal aliens that have occupied Earth, but his reasons have more to do with his oppressive father rather than the aliens' behavior. John C. Wright's "Guest Law" is a welcome return to the flashy decadence of Cordwainer Smith's fiction. Its hero, a slave-engineer, watches in disgust as his aristocratic overlords corrupt the customary requirements of hospitality to justify piracy in deep space. Gregory Benford's "The Voice" responds to Ray Bradbury's _Fahrenheit 451_. Here the convenience of implanted intelligent agents, hooked up to a computer network, led to literacy fading, and not a repressive regime of firemen. Benford agrees with Bradbury about literacy's value but also undercuts him on the supremacy of writing as a means of communication.

James Patrick Kelly and Brian Stableford tackle similar themes in two excellent tales about children, the needs they fufill for parents, and the possiblity of replacing them with surrogates. The heroine of Kelly's "Itsy Bitsy Spider", estranged from her actor father for 23 ages, is horrified to discover that her enfeebled father's legal guardian is also equipped to simulate her as a child. Stableford's "The Pipes of Pan" has a future recovering from ecological catastrophe where real children are not allowed. However, parents can have children genetically altered to never age and reproduce. But thosechildren suddenly start growing up.

Jack Williamson's "The Firefly Tree" is a Bradbury-like tale of aliens who travel far but whose invitation to join an intergalactice republic goes no further than a farm boy. Though I usually hate stories narrated by smart-alecky teenagers, I didn't mind S.N. Dyer's "The Nostalginauts" with its problem of time travelers going back 25 years to reminisce about their younger selves. The technological speculations of Greg Egan's "Yeyuka" are interesting. However, I didn't find the political criticisms inherent in this story of First World companies exploiting the misery of a Third World cancer epidemic that convincing or plausible, and they seemed a bit of a repeat of those in his novel _Distress_. While Terry Bisson's "An Office Romance" was fun and poked fun at, in passing, Microsoft and those who find the computer screen a satisfying substitute for the world outside, its romance, in the bowels of a computer system, reminded me of _Tron_ in that both stories borrowed computer terminology to create a cyberverse that only superficially resembles the real thing.

Inspiring two works in this book, Ray Bradbury also puts in a direct appearance with "Mr. Pale". As to be expected with Bradbury, its superficial science fiction trappings clothe a fantasy tale of a doctor encountering a desperate Death aboard a spaceship.

The abrupt ending of Tom Purdom's "Canary Land" is at odds with what, at first, seems a tale of corporate espionage on the moon. However, Purdom's real story centers around the bitter experiences of an American immigrant to an Asian dominated lunar society and how his life replays the themes of past immigrants. R. Garcia y Robertson's "Fair Verona" features a virtual-reality obsessed hunting guide who discovers that the joys of his Renaissance Verona might not live up to rescuing a real damsel in danger of being murdered. Kim Newman's "Great Western" has some problems. Rather than just examine the real effects of an alteration to past events, it seeks to gain some signifcance by throwing together a mishmash of non-contemporenous events and cultural icons. Here we have mad cow disease, British political disputes about privatization, and the aftermath of a war fought to free England's serfs. Newman makes the whole thing readable by using the plot of the movie and novel _Shane_, but it doesn't say anything interesting about culture or history.

Paul Levinson's "The Mendelian Lamp Case" has a great premise: a forensic scientist encountering a centuries-old battle between groups that practice genetic engineering via old practices of selective breeding. However, while the biological speculations are detailed and interesting, Levinson should have provided more details about the Amish genetic engineers and their foes. It would have been nice to know their exact motives for spreading allergies, disease, and general social unrest. Michael Moorcock's "London Bone" has plenty of interesting details about London geography and history.However, I think a little too much of the cantankerous Moorcock showed through in its complaints about British and American culture.

The anthology also has a couple of humorous stories. "Turnover", by Geoffrey A. Landis centers around a real scientific question about the seemingly uniform age of Venus' craters. Katherine MacLean's puzzling, but somewhat funny, "Kiss Me" involves several questions about frogs, including what happens when you kiss them.

A good bet for solid science-fiction stories
As with most anthologies, there are some hits and misses depending on the reader's personal taste.Easily recognizable SF conventions are recognizable in some, but a new, intriguing spin is put on them to putthings in a new light.Some stories, however, are just bizarre. "Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City" by William Gibson is justthat, thirteen views of a city at different angles and locations.Myfavorites were "Petting Zoo" by Gene Wolfe, "The FireflyTree" by Jack Williamson, "The Nostalginauts' by S.N. Dyer,"The Voice" by Gregory Benford, "Mr. Pale" by RayBradbury, and "Great Western" by Kim Newman.There were othergood ones, but these stand out.

Taken together the 2 yrs bests make a wonderful whole.
They complement each others strengths & weakness quite well. Dozoischooses more long serious stuff while Hartwell chooses more short humorousstuff. Humor & shorts was the one area I thought Dozois' was weak, butHartwell's covers that pretty well. To be brutally honest though this isn'tquite as impressive as Dozois' usually is. There were fewer stories Ihated, but also fewer that impressed me. In its defense it did a better jobwith the truly SHORT stories & three of that kind were by"legends" in the field. Legendsmeaning those respected fordecades. Williamson's surprised me by being more aware of the modern worldthen I expect a 90 yr old be. If that's sounds insulting let me say it wasmore aware of the modern world then I'll probably be at 90. It was nice tosee a Katherine MacLean story anywhere since her works have largelydisappeared. Vintage Bradbury's still in print so it wasn't reallynecessary to pick one of his stories except to have a big name linked tothe anthology. Bisson's story about office romance is the kind of story Iusually don't like, but I was surprised to find it was one of the ones Iliked best. It was a great deal more risque then the others & sincesome seemed Young Adult I was surprised by it. By the way the risque partswere what I meant by "kind of story I usually don't like" wellthat & the computer jargon was a bit heavy. The Kress, Dyer, &Purdom I enjoyed in Asimov's. Tom Cool's was also good, but that name is sogoofy I'm guessing it has to be real. Benford's "Voice" retreadold ground, but I liked it anyway. I could go on & on & rate eachstory, but I'll stop there. In Dozois' a story generally amazes orinfuriates me, in Hartwell's I generally liked it or was indifferent. Ididn't avoid reading some the way I do with Dozois' so I'm of a mostlymixed opinion. Nevertheless if Rusch is coming out with one I think I'dprobably stop buying this one before I'd stop buying Dozois'. One lastthing "Turnover" by Landis was neat in that it talked about ascientific debate I'd just recently heard about, but I think he wrote"Ouroboros" which was the best short/humorous story I'd read lastyear. I hope it's in Dozois', but his isn't really good with short humorousstories. Oh well I still have the issue of Asimov's it's in I was justhoping it would get recognition. I just mentioned that because somereviewer was saying Landis wrote more worthy stories that year, but Ithought I understood the choice since he was trying to counter-balanceDozois'lack of short/humorous stories. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of holiday chillers follows the stories of a doctor who makes a house call to a ghost, a psychic detective who must exorcise a well-known holiday icon, and a boy who learns a faraway planet's history from his pet. Reprint. ... Read more

Product Description
The editor of Spirits of Christmas collects new works from Gene Wolfe, Alan Dean Foster, Patricia A. McKillip, Charles de Lint, and others, including stories of strange virgin births and high-tech holidays on other planets. ... Read more

Product Description
Undreamed-Of Wonders From
The Farthest Reaches Of ImaginationIn this second volume of the previous year's finest short fantastic fiction, acclaimed editor and anthologist David G. Hartwell showcases new works by stellar literary artists -- acknowledged masters of the genre and exceptionally talented newcomers alike. Astonishing worlds come alive in these pages -- realms of strange creatures and remarkable sorceries, as well as twisted shadow versions of our inhabited earthly plain. A bold and breathtaking compendium of tales -- including a new Earthsea story from the incomparable Ursula K. Le Guin -- Years's Best Fantasy 2 is the state-of-the-art of a unique and winning genre, offering unforgettable excursions into new realities wondrous, bizarre, enchanting...and terrifying.

Customer Reviews (1)

Short and sweet fantasy
I don't read too many short story collections.I'm usually too immersed in novels to take the time to read them.However, last year, I was browsing through the bookstore and saw an intriguing cover for Year's Best Fantasy, edited by David G. Hartwell.I picked it up on a whim, and loved it to pieces.I made a point to keep an eye out for this year's volume, and scooped it up as soon as I got a chance.This collection is just as good as last year's, and well worth a look-see from the choosy fantasy reader.

This book contains all sorts of fantasy types.There are urban fantasies that take place in the modern day with fantastical elements, fantasies that have traditional wizard type characters, religious fantasy, and many more.It's all here in this one volume. All of the stories (bar two) are at the very least interesting.The overall quality of this book is excellent, however, with most of the stories (with the exception of the Ursula Le Guin story at the beginning) being short enough for you to read right before bed.

The best story in this book is the first one, "The Finder" by Ursula Le Guin.It's reprinted from her Tales From Earthsea collection of stories.After reading it, I had the urge to go out and read the rest of the Earthsea books, as it was that good.It's the story of Otter, a young son of a shipbuilder.The story takes place in the distant past in relation to the other Earthsea books, in a time when magic was looked down upon and feared.Otter has some magic power, especially the ability to "find" things by thinking about them.He is captured by the "king" of the area and given to the king's wizard in order to be made useful.The story becomes one of Otter's attempts to escape, how Otter learns to use his powers, and how he becomes a part of Earthsea history as well.The story is at times poignant, and at other times just plain fascinating.Le Guin has such a wonderful sense of character and setting that she literally draws you a picture.Otter is well-portrayed, going from young innocent boy to a responsible young man and teacher in the space of the story.The other characters are also interesting, including a truly evil antagonist who is still well-rounded, even though the reader hates him.He's not a cartoon character, which is very nice.This is the longest story in the book, at 95 pages, and it's worth every one of them.

Then there is "Apologue," a 2-page story by James Morrow, where three former big-city nemeses (a giant ape, a giant lizard, and a giant rhedosaur) return to New York to help out in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks.I couldn't believe that this much feeling could be contained in a 2-page story, but Morrow does it.It is a truly touching tale of formerly destructive beings doing what they can to help.It really is a moving experience to read this one.If you simply do not want to buy this book, then you should quickly read this story in the bookstore.It almost brought a tear to my eye.

Other particularly strong stories are "In the Shadow of Her Wings" by Ashok Banker (a story of political assassination and reincarnation in near-future India), "The Black Heart" by Patrick O'Leary (a story of good and evil at an airport, which takes a surprising turn at the end), and "To Others We Know Not Of," by Kate Riedel (a story of a married woman and a man from her past, returned to seek her help and explain why he left so long ago).These are the particularly noteworthy ones, though the rest of the stories are good as well (with the two exceptions below).

The two exceptions, for me anyway, were "Hell is the Absence of God," by Ted Chiang, and "Stitchery," by Devon Monk.Chiang's story takes place in a world where Heaven and Hell are real places, God is a real being with an intrusive agenda that has nothing to do with love, and angelic visitations are relatively common occurrences.These visitations don't always have good results, as sometimes they happen with so much force as to cause wholesale destruction, injuring and even killing people.Neil Fisk's wife is one of these casualties, and thus Neil completely loses his faith in God.This is the story of his attempt to be with her in the afterlife, because he knows that she's in heaven (when you die, your spirit visibly moves to one area or the other).He has to have true faith, or he won't be able to join her, but he can't get over his anger.The concept is intriguing, but the story never really holds together for me, and none of the characters are particularly likable or interesting."Stitchery" is just a rather dull story of a southern woman who can "stitch" people back together again once they have died, her two-headed lover, and a "granny" that she bought who knits wasted time together into a tapestry.Again, some of the concepts are intriguing but the story itself isn't very interesting.

Overall, though, I would certainly recommend getting this book.It has a great mix of stories, mostly well-told (and really, you should expect a clunker or two in any collection) with a nice mix of "name" authors and new people.If you like fantasy, you will find something to like in this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Who knows what awaits us tomorrow?

Much of the most innovative and exhilarating work performed in the boundary-less arena of SF is being done in the short form. This year's magnificent harvest—gathered, as always, by acclaimed award-winning editors and anthologists David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer—offers glimpses of worlds and tomorrows that would have been inconceivable just a few years ago. Brilliant, bold, unusual, and soaring flights into the hitherto unforeseen yet increasingly possible future, Year's Best SF 15 offers truly breathtaking stories by some of speculative fiction's brightest lights, including:

Stephen Baxter • Nancy Kress • Alastair Reynolds • Geoff Ryman • Bruce Sterling • Peter Watts • Robert Charles Wilson • Gene Wolfe• and others

Customer Reviews (3)

Poltical agenda not "Best of SF"
I have read all of the David Hartwell/Kathryn Cramer Year's best SF. In each book there were always more good stories than bad. Don't know what happen but this book was disappointing. Several stories based on parallel universes and alternate realities that simply end up being political tripe. Even had a "George Bush bashing line" along with make you fill guilty about being human. Only one story stood out. "The Island". Out of the fifteen books in the series this was the worst. I hope they get back to the best SF concept and leave political agenda out...

A great read, as usual
Sometimes the things we look forward to in life are the small things that regularly delight and surprise us.Such is one of the events I look forward annually, the publication of The Year's Best SF, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It is one of the earliest (and best) of the prior year anthologies published--early enough to accompany me on my late spring or early summer vacation.

I've been reading science fiction for over 50 years. If you know the field, you will know of these editors. Both have extensive experience, having edited many SF books and written significant essays contributing to the field. They can be counted on to select good stories for you.

The Year's Best SF typically opens with a short intro discussing the previous year in science fiction. Then the book introduces select representative shorter SF works by established regulars or important newly emergent authors with a short bio and comments placing the story in context for you, the reader. This year's (15) work follows that model. Of course, each person's taste will vary; in particular, I enjoyed the stories by Vandana Singh (mathematics, other dimensions), Ian Creasey (effect of physical modification for life on other planets), Alastair Reynolds (effect of changes in an alternate universe), Michael Casutt (what if an Apollo crew had discovered evidence of a prior visit), and Mary Robinette Kowal(clone story set in Korea).But know that you'll seldom find a bad story collected here.

If you want to read some of the best short work from the prior year while learning a bit more about science fiction in the process, this is one of the books you'll want to pick up every year.

Science Fiction in a Hard Place: 2009's Best
I enjoyed most of the 24 stories in David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer's collection of science fiction offerings from 2009.As usual, the introductions were a skillful blend of author bios, web sites, and references to relevant book-length fiction and story collections.My favorite six stories are described below.All six focus more on human beings in difficult circumstances than on traditional SF themes of technology and space exploration.

Robert Charles Wilson's "This Peaceable Land" accompanies a white man and his black employer on their journey through an American South where the Civil War never took place and slavery disappeared gradually as it became economically infeasible.They search for evidence of all those unwanted slaves who also disappeared.And nobody wants to talk about it.

Yoon Ha Lee's "The Unstrung Zither" is superficially about the interrogation of five captured terrorists.On a deeper level it is a different kind of story that progresses toward a harmonious conclusion rather than a logical one.

In Sarah Edwards' "Lady of the White-Spired City" we return with the emperor's emissary to the small village on a backward planet where she once lived with her husband and daughter.It is not possible for her to return home, but perhaps she can make a new one.

Charles Oberndorf's "Another Life" introduces a soldier who is awakened in a new body with memories backed up before he went into action.He can't bring himself to use his ticket home until he finds out how he died.And why he is alone.

Mary Robinette Kowal's "The Consciousness Problem" explores the relationship between a woman, her husband, and his clone.Why we love who we love seems less clear than ever.

Eric James Stone's "Attitude Adjustment" is appropriately described by the editors as "...good old-fashioned problem-solving space SF in the Astounding tradition, done well.It has a touch of the Heinleinesque in its characterization and resolution."

I recommend this collection to all appreciative readers of science fiction.It is a clear success for the contributing authors and for this experienced team of editors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Should be reissued
This is one of the best anthologies of horror tales ever compiled.It reflects the period approx 20 years ago when horror novels were becoming prominent for the first time, and so Hartwell compiled a very thorough and thoughtful collection of shorter fiction to survey the field.The range and quality level are both incredible.His introduction now seems somewhat dated, but he does offer some very insightful thoughts concerning styles of horror fiction and the various possible interpretations more careful readers may consider.My only complaint is the sheer weight of the book - at well over 1,000 pages, it is not easy to hold while reading!This should definitely be reissued with an updated introduction, more stories, and divided into two volumes."The Dark Descent" is probably the best single introduction to short horror fiction ever issued and it deserves another publication. ... Read more

Product Description
Travel to the Farthest Reaches of the Imagination

Acclaimed editor and anthologist David G. Hartwell is back with his fourth annual high-powered collection of the year's most inventive, entertaining, and awe-inspiring science fiction. In short, the best.

Here are stories from today's top name authors, plus exciting newcomers, all eager to land you on exotic planets, introduce you to strange new life forms, and show you scenes more amazing than anything you've imagined.