Product Description
Brave New Worlds To Explore and Conquer

The astonishingly possible is once again showcased in a breathtaking volume of the best short form SF the past year had to offer. Contributed by some of the most revered and exciting voices in the genre -- and compiled by acclaimed editor and anthologist David G. Hartwell -- these stories of wonder and terror, astounding technologies and miraculous discovery, stretch the imagination into realms and universes never dreamed of before. Each tale is a dazzling gem, rocketing readers across light years and into unknown dimensions -- exploring the intricate cultures of alien races and the strange, secret workings of the human mind. And together they form an unparalleled whole -- a collection of luminous visions that shines more brightly than a newborn sun.

Customer Reviews (3)

Number Eight in a Winning SF Series
Working my way further backward through the Year's Best SF series, I have encountered and assimilated number eight.It was, as usual, delicious.I keep worrying that I will pass the year in which David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer adopted their very effective editorial approach.No worries yet.I enjoyed all 23 stories, my appreciation sharpened by the brief, but informative introductions to each story.

Before I go off to download Year's Best SF 7 into my iPhone Kindle app, let me take a few minutes to praise my five favorites:

Geoffry Landis's "At Dorado" is a time-shuffled love story about a spaceman who braves wormhole travel between the starts and the girl who waits for him.They fight before he leaves on his last trip.There is one chance to change this sad ending to a better one.

Ken Wharton's "Flight Correction" introduce a couple and their child living on the future Galapagos Islands in the shadow of a working space elevator.She studies birds, he drinks to forget his research failures, and both watch their child's love not quite hold them together.Then their professional and personal interests come together.

Ursula Le Guin's "The Seasons of the Ansarac" describes the life patterns of an alien species that migrates between two different climates--and cultures.There is a lesson to be learned from another alien race's efforts to "cure" the Ansarac from their instincts.Le Guins story is ethnographic and excellent, if a bit moralistically heavy-handed.It is my favorite.

Terry Bisson's "I Saw the Light" takes us along with an astronaut who leaves her dog behind when she travels to the moon to help decipher a Sentinel-like artifact.We learn that powerful aliens knew humanity in the past.And are eager to see what we have become.

Paul Di Filippo's "Ailoura" retells the "Puss and Boots" fairy tale in a futuristic setting.Clever technology, alien human-animal hybrids and an intriguing planetary setting bring new life to a familiar story.

The collection is recommended for science fiction fans and would be critics.I learned some things about storytelling from a few of these stories.I enjoyed them all.

Not Free SF Reader
As per the last several, Hartwell and Cramer point out they could have done three volumes this size with all the good stories they found.

The editors mention a couple of anthologies as decent, but mostly not for SF, and single out Peter Crowther's Mars Probes as the best of the lot for the year, although not with huge enthusiasm - however they have selected some stories from this book.

Not as many standout stories here this year, and as such, only a 3.77 average.

Year's Best SF 08 : In Paradise - Bruce Sterling
Year's Best SF 08 : Slow Life - Michael Swanwick
Year's Best SF 08 : Knapsack Poems - Eleanor Arnason
Year's Best SF 08 : At Dorado - Geoffrey A. Landis
Year's Best SF 08 : Coelacanths - Robert Reed
Year's Best SF 08 : Flight Correction - Ken Wharton
Year's Best SF 08 : Shoes - Robert Sheckley
Year's Best SF 08 : The Diamond Drill - Charles Sheffield
Year's Best SF 08 : The Seasons of the Ansarac - Ursula K. Le Guin
Year's Best SF 08 : Halo - Charles Stross
Year's Best SF 08 : I Saw the Light - Terry Bisson
Year's Best SF 08 : A Slow Day at the Gallery - A. M. Dellamonica
Year's Best SF 08 : Ailoura - Paul Di Filippo
Year's Best SF 08 : The Names of All the Spirits - J. R. Dunn
Year's Best SF 08 : Grandma - Carol Emshwiller
Year's Best SF 08 : Snow in the Desert - Neal Asher
Year's Best SF 08 : Singleton - Greg Egan
Year's Best SF 08 : Geropods - Robert Onopa
Year's Best SF 08 : Afterlife - Jack Williamson
Year's Best SF 08 : Shields of Mars - Gene Wolfe
Year's Best SF 08 : Patent Infringement - Nancy Kress
Year's Best SF 08 : Lost Sorceress of the Silent Citadel - Michael Moorcock

Phone dead? Let's walk instead.

3 out of 5


Flying first contact breakdown breakthrough confession comeback.

4 out of 5


Single bodied monster.

3 out of 5


Port wife.

3.5 out of 5


Life history lesson appearance.

3 out of 5


Space elevator a bit of an albatross.

4 out of 5


Smart footwear very annoying.

3.5 out of 5


Alien artifacts are a boy's best friend.

3.5 out of 5


Migratory pattern.

4 out of 5


Life aboard the Field Circus for Amber, with some occasional advice from dad.

5 out of 5


Moonlight message SETI trip.

4 out of 5


Alien art, human art, crazy people.

4 out of 5


Rejuvenation prevention murder motives.

4 out of 5


AIs, ain't Jacks worth it?

4 out of 5


Superpowers not inherited it seems, as a young girl is taken in by her famous grandmother after the death of her parents.

4 out of 5


Immortality bounty is more than a load of old bollocks.

4 out of 5


A scientist couple decide to have an artificial child, some years after a natural pregnancy miscarries.

"Carlos said breezily, Why not? There are so many others now. Sophie. Linus. Theo. Probably a hundred we don't even know about. It's not as if Ben's child won't have playmates. AdaiAutonomously Developing Artificial Intelligenceshad been appearing in a blaze of controversy every few months for the last four years. A Swiss researcher, Isabelle Schib, had taken the old models of morphogenesis that had led to software like Zelda, refined the technique by several orders of magnitude, and applied it to human genetic data. Wedded to sophisticated prosthetic bodies, Isabelle's creations inhabited the physical world and learnt from their experience, just like any other child."

There is plenty of discrimination, but their daughter has plans for all the other quantum branches in the long run, given the technology she has already.

4 out of 5


Old fashioned posse.

3.5 out of 5


Death scam skip.

3.5 out of 5


Planetary romance end.

4 out of 5


Gene litigant genie.

4 out of 5


Are your MacShards, gunning?

3 out of 5




4.5 out of 5

Best SF collection of the year
I used to regularly have a problem with being so captured by a book that I'd neglect relatively unimportant things like eating and sleeping. I hadn't had that experience in quite a while, but this collection brought it back. Nearly every story is excellent. This book doesn't have the range of the massive _Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection_, but it benefits from its comparative selectivity. If you're only planning to get one of the two, I'd go for this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Tales As Deep As Legend
And As New As DawnAcclaimed editor David G. Hartwell has gathered a harvest of shimmering beauty and powerful writing in this inaugural volume of the very best fantasy from the last year. Established masters rub elbows with rising stars in this outstanding collection of short stories rich with imagined lands and finely etched, unforgettable characters. Travel to distant realms -- and around the block -- with stories by: Terry Goodkin
Nicola Griffith
Nalo Hopkinson
George R.R. Martin
Robert Sheckley
Michael Swanwick
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great Way to Introduce or Expand Your Fantasy Reading
It is comforting to find the amount and quality of fantasy writing that is not based on sword and sorcery.There are many years of 'Best Fantasy' to enjoy.For those that enjoy these collections we have years of reading already available.

Lots to Enjoy!
I'm not an anthology fan, generally speaking, unless done by specific editors with whom I'm familar. I tried this on a whim. I found the selection varied and often engrossing. I was able to sample many authors I've thought of trying but didn't want to waste money in case I didn't like their style. This book gave me a taste of some of those authors. LOL. My library is already extensive. If all their work is as good as the stories in this book, room is going to be a real problem! :-)

Cheating? Maybe. Still some good material? Definitely!
Response to review below...

I can see the point of the reviewer below in regards to George R.R. Martin and Terry Goodkind's work as excerpted or relating to their best-selling series.But I think this review is missing some details.

First the collection is titled "Year's Best Fantasy", not "Best fantasy this editor could find from your very favorite authors that you have never seen before `cuz I picked their brains for fresh stuff and then they promised never to use any of it again in a series".This kind of anthology is ALWAYS made up of the good, the bad and the excerpted.

Second collections are great for those already in love with the genera, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they are really about drawing in the readers who do not normally seek out Fantasy books.Although I like Sci/Fi and Fantasy work just fine I would NEVER have picked up George R.R. Martin's beefy series Song of Ice and Fire series without this intro to the series. The series is just too far off my usual list of interest.

I do sympathize with the other reviewer, if you have read it already then if feels like you're being cheated.But you can't really think that every anthology ever would have only fresh new stories. If having excerpts pulls even a few readers over, then so much the better.

One of the best fantasy collections ever!
This is my all time favorite fantasy short story collection.It includes fantasy of all shapes and colors and has a surprisingly high density of really good stories from both newbies and old hands.
I'd recommend this book to anyone.I buy copies for my friends.

Must Have Been a Bad Year
Most of the stories in this edition of "Year's Best Fantasy Stories" are not terrible.Unfortunately, none of them are destined to be classics, either.By and large, the stories are readable but not memorable.Perhaps the sole exception is "Wrong Dreaming" by Kain Massin, which is an Australian tale of aboriginal magic that is very evocative and moving.Sarah Singleton's "Ebb Tide" is also moving, although its story of mermaid love has been done many times before.The contributions of the heavyweights, George R.R. Martin and Terry Goodkind, are excerpted or related to their best-selling series, and so are almost cheating.Read this one if you've not much else to read, but do not expect to be impressed. ... Read more

Product Description
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 Bisson Rick Moody • Michael Swanwick • John Varley and many more ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Some Good and Some Very Good SF Stories
Working my way backward through the Year's Best SF series, I have arrived at number nine.I enjoyed most of these twenty stories.The story introductions were of the usual high quality--I fear that Hartwell and Cramer are spoiling me in this regard.I take for granted how well they prepare me to understand each author, each author's other works, and the story to come in such brief, readable introductions.I may wander around disoriented in lesser anthologies, unable to find my way without them.

My five favorite stories from the collection are:

Most of Octavia Butler's "Amnesty" takes place in a group job interview as a long-time employee of the very alien "Communities" explains to six new recruits what they can expect.The aliens are imaginatively alien, the humans are all too human, and the flashbacks are very instructive.I can't believe that my favorite story basically takes place in a corporate meeting.

John Varley's "In Fading Suns and Dying Moons" introduces aliens whose strangeness is based on their superficial similarity to humans.Suddenly the Earth is host to successive lines of identical, mannequin-like figures combing the environment for butterflies.They can't be destroyed, don't have much to say, and are relentlessly thorough.There is nothing to do but wait for the last one to finish.

Gregory Benford's "The Hydrogen Wall" lets us look over the shoulder of Ruth, a trainee librarian trying to communicate with the Sagittarius Architecture, an unfathomably complex artificial intelligence downloaded from a space transmission.We are reminded that communication is two-way, and that hidden agendas are often the important ones.

Ricard de la Casa and Pedro Jorge Romero collaborate to bring us "The Day We Went Through the Transition," a time travel story that combines the convolutions of Robert Heinlein's "All You Zombies--" with the emotional resonance of The Time Traveler's Wife.It is worth feeling your way through.

Nigel Brown's "Annuity Clinic" introduces us to a grim future where elderly pensioners sell off their prostheses to pay for a diminishing quality of continued existence.Eloise finds escape, first through the web, and then through a half-remembered doll from her childhood.

I recommend this collection and feel well-repaid for the time I spent reading it.Although all of the stories were at least good, there were fewer great stories than I have encountered in other Year's Best SF editions.Not a complaint; just an observation.

Not Free SF Reader
The editors state : "We have remarked in the past that the average paperback anthology of fantasy or SF does not contain as many good stories as the average issue of Asimovs or Fantasy & Science Fiction."

Can't disagree with that. In general, those magazines do rate more highly than your standard original anthology for fiction.

An interesting strategy they seem to be pursuing is publishing the odd non-English work, translated.This year it seems that was a bit easier with a specific volume already done, Cosmos Latinos, and a couple of stories here come from that.

Live Without a Net, Stars, and Space, Inc. are anthologies mentioned.Anders, Resnick and Czerneda.

This volume is easily the lowest rated of the Hartwell anthologies so far, and only a 3.55 average, with a lot of decent, and a few average or worse, and nothing standing out.

Stating in the past that they are only choosing obvious SF gets a bit wobbly with the Swanwick, etc., I think.

Year's Best SF 09 : Amnesty - Octavia E. Butler
Year's Best SF 09 : Birthdays - Geoff Ryman
Year's Best SF 09 : The Waters of Meribah - Tony Ballantyne
Year's Best SF 09 : EJ-ES - Nancy Kress
Year's Best SF 09 : Four Short Novels - Joe Haldeman
Year's Best SF 09 : Rogue Farm - Charles Stross
Year's Best SF 09 : The Violet's Embryos - Angélica Gorodischer
Year's Best SF 09 : Coyote at the End of History - Michael Swanwick
Year's Best SF 09 : In Fading Suns and Dying Moons - John Varley
Year's Best SF 09 : Castaway - Gene Wolfe
Year's Best SF 09 : The Hydrogen Wall - Gregory Benford
Year's Best SF 09 : The Day We Went Through the Transition - Ricard de la Casa and Pedro Jorge Romero
Year's Best SF 09 : Nimby and the Dimension Hoppers - Cory Doctorow
Year's Best SF 09 : Night of Time - Robert Reed
Year's Best SF 09 : A Night on the Barbary Coast - Kage Baker
Year's Best SF 09 : Annuity Clinic - Nigel Brown
Year's Best SF 09 : The Madwoman of Shuttlefield - Allen M. Steele
Year's Best SF 09 : Bread and Bombs - M. Rickert
Year's Best SF 09 : The Great Game - Stephen Baxter
Year's Best SF 09 : The Albertine Notes - Rick Moody

Stranger Community close job.

3.5 out of 5


Reproductive success strategies.

4 out of 5


Alien Suit Compliance life force.

4 out of 5


Medical remains.

4 out of 5


Immortality maintenance.

3.5 out of 5


Pastoral life breakdown.

3.5 out of 5


Purple power creation.

3.5 out of 5


Canine fable overload.

2.5 out of 5


Multidimensional collection switchoff.

4 out of 5


Mind blown.

3 out of 5


Alien library mind analysis Artificial assist.

4 out of 5


Power armour chase all over the place.

4 out of 5


Ancient inhabitant needed.

4 out of 5


Botany monopoly Frisco misery

3 out of 5


Artificial extensions, Clever Dolly.

3.5 out of 5


Not too chicken for music to return.

4 out of 5


Bad snow and strange candy.

3 out of 5


Muddy Star Wars.

3 out of 5


Blasted drug memories.

3.5 out of 5




4 out of 5

Best Year's Best SF in Years
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.

Butler, Swanwick, and others deliver some great tales
"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.

This book ain't the one
I've been working hard on a Ph.D. so it was with great relish that I turned to this book after getting some time for myself.However, I was sorely disappointed with what I read.Octavia Butler's story started off quite decently but the ending was not up to the rest of the story.And it was downhill from there.I've never read two science fiction stories in a row I haven't liked but this book represented a series of them.Some of the stories had good potential but the writers didn't develop them well and some were just not good. It is my opinion that many of the stories would have been much better if the writers had a publisher/mentor like the early sci fi authors who critiqued their stories and helped make them better.Perhaps critiquing or mentoring is what sci fi needs more of.I have started another sci fi anthology and already it is better than this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 2342. ... Read more

Product Description
Here are 44 compelling tales of the fantastic--many never before anthologized--by such classic writers as L. Frank Baum and Charles Dickens through today's finest writers, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ and Michael Moorcock. ... Read more

Product Description
Featuring more than sixty groundbreaking short stories by modern science fiction's most important and influential writers, The Ascent of Wonder offers a definitive and incisive exploration of the SF genre's visionary core.

From Poe to Pohl, Wells to Wolfe, and Verne to Vinge, this hefty anthology fully charts the themes, trends, thoughts, and traditions that comprise the challenging yet rich literary form known as "hard SF."
... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Misleading Title
I found some great stories here that were new to me.It's a good collection of stories but there are a number of well-written stories here that are not Hard Science Fiction.The title is misleading.The editors seem to have no sympathy with the genre.In their introductions to the stories they seem to sneer at the whole genre from their elevated literary viewpoint.They are entitled to their opinions, but then, why did they do this collection?I suppose a collection entitled "A Gentle Introduction to the Better Sort of Science Fiction by Those Who Know Better Than You",or "Science Fiction that You Don't Need to be Embarrassed to Show your English-major Friends",wouldn't have much of a market.The snobbery and put-downs are really annoying.

So, as has been suggested, skip the editorial commentary, let the stories speak for themselves.

Not Free SF Reader
This is a monster collection. Also a very impressive anthology, as it weighs in at a 3.81 story average. This is after over SIXTY stories, that have been put together to illustrate different styles of hard SF story and story telling, put together in three sections.

There is commentary on each author and their manner of writing and career in general.

The editor also gives a different style grouping at the end, if you decide to look at it this way. A 1000 page tome basically that is a must have for those interested in the subject.

Ascent of Wonder : Nine Lives - Ursula K. Le Guin
Ascent of Wonder : Light of Other Days - Bob Shaw
Ascent of Wonder : Rappaccini's Daughter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Ascent of Wonder : The Star - Arthur C. Clarke
Ascent of Wonder : Proof - Hal Clement
Ascent of Wonder : It's Great to Be Back - Robert A. Heinlein
Ascent of Wonder : Procreation - Gene Wolfe
Ascent of Wonder : Mimsy Were the Borogoves - Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore
Ascent of Wonder : Davy Jones' Ambassador - Raymond Z. Gallun
Ascent of Wonder : The Life and Times of Multivac - Isaac Asimov
Ascent of Wonder : The Singing Diamond - Robert L. Forward
Ascent of Wonder : Down and Out on Ellfive Prime - Dean Ing
Ascent of Wonder : Send Me a Kiss By Wire - Hilbert Schenck
Ascent of Wonder : The Xi Effect - Philip Latham
Ascent of Wonder : A Descent into the Maelstrom - Edgar Allan Poe
Ascent of Wonder : Exposures - Gregory Benford
Ascent of Wonder : The Planners - Kate Wilhelm
Ascent of Wonder : Beep - James Blish
Ascent of Wonder : Drode's Equations - Richard Grant
Ascent of Wonder : The Weather Man - Theodore L. Thomas
Ascent of Wonder : Transit of Earth - Arthur C. Clarke
Ascent of Wonder : Prima Belladonna - J. G. Ballard
Ascent of Wonder : To Bring in the Steel - Donald M. Kingsbury
Ascent of Wonder : Gomez - C. M. Kornbluth
Ascent of Wonder : Waterclap - Isaac Asimov
Ascent of Wonder : Weyr Search - Anne McCaffrey
Ascent of Wonder : Message Found in a Copy of Flatland - Rudy Rucker
Ascent of Wonder : The Cold Equations - Tom Godwin
Ascent of Wonder : The Land Ironclads - H. G. Wells
Ascent of Wonder : The Hole Man - Larry Niven
Ascent of Wonder : Atomic Power - John W. Campbell
Ascent of Wonder : Stop Evolution in Its Tracks - John T. Sladek
Ascent of Wonder : The Hungry Guinea Pig - Miles J. Breuer
Ascent of Wonder : The Very Slow Time Machine - Ian Watson
Ascent of Wonder : The Beautiful and the Sublime - Bruce Sterling
Ascent of Wonder : The Author of the Acacia Seeds - Ursula K. Le Guin
Ascent of Wonder : Heat of Fusion - John M. Ford
Ascent of Wonder : Dolphin's Way - Gordon R. Dickson
Ascent of Wonder : All the Hues of Hell - Gene Wolfe
Ascent of Wonder : Occam's Scalpel - Theodore Sturgeon
Ascent of Wonder : giANTS - Edward Bryant
Ascent of Wonder : Time Fuze - Randall Garrett
Ascent of Wonder : Desertion - Clifford D. Simak
Ascent of Wonder : Kyrie - Poul Anderson
Ascent of Wonder : The Person from Porlock - Raymond F. Jones
Ascent of Wonder : Day Million - Frederik Pohl
Ascent of Wonder : The Cage of Sand - J. G. Ballard
Ascent of Wonder : The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats - James Tiptree Jr.
Ascent of Wonder : In the Year 2889 - Jules Verne
Ascent of Wonder : Surface Tension - James Blish
Ascent of Wonder : No No Not Rogov! - Cordwainer Smith
Ascent of Wonder : In a Petri Dish Upstairs - George Turner
Ascent of Wonder : With the Night Mail - Rudyard Kipling
Ascent of Wonder : The Longest Science-Fiction Story Ever Told - Arthur C. Clarke
Ascent of Wonder : The Pi Man - Alfred Bester
Ascent of Wonder : Relativistic Effects - Gregory Benford
Ascent of Wonder : Making Light - James P. Hogan
Ascent of Wonder : The Last Question - Isaac Asimov
Ascent of Wonder : The Indefatigable Frog - Philip K. Dick
Ascent of Wonder : Chromatic Aberration - John M. Ford
Ascent of Wonder : The Snowball Effect - Katherine MacLean
Ascent of Wonder : The Morphology of the Kirkham Wreck - Hilbert Schenck
Ascent of Wonder : Tangents - Greg Bear
Ascent of Wonder : Johnny Mnemonic - William Gibson
Ascent of Wonder : What Continues What Fails... - David Brin
Ascent of Wonder : Mammy Morgan Played the Organ; Her Daddy Beat the Drum - Michael F. Flynn
Ascent of Wonder : Bookworm Run! - Vernor Vinge


Clonepacks come in tens.

4 out of 5


A sad story of a use for 'slow glass' technology that traps light for an extended period of time.

3 out of 5


Chastity death touch defence.

3.5 out of 5


Jesuit crewing for amusement finds supernova technology treasure cache is Star of Bethlehem reference point.

3.5 out of 5


ET space chemistry tale.

4 out of 5


Groundhogs too dumb for lunar couple.

4 out of 5


Microverse maker.

4.5 out of 5


A technology discovery is beyond the adults, but definitely not the children, with unforeseen results.

4.5 out of 5


Busted bathysphere first contact prison escape passenger.

3.5 out of 5


Supercomputer overlord subservience breaking point.

4 out of 5


Asteroid music and metal from micros

4 out of 5


Drifters and grifters dragooned due to space station rain problem.

3.5 out of 5


Giant squid shagging.

4.5 out of 5


Spectrum shrinking supremely serious.

4 out of 5


Sea storm spinning around survival.

3.5 out of 5


Astronomical observations.

3 out of 5


Monkey brain business.

3 out of 5


Spook space tricks and tech of time communication.

4 out of 5


Mathematical understanding.

3.5 out of 5


Meterological political power struggles.

4 out of 5


Marsnaut's useful ending.

3.5 out of 5


Mutant girl, plant music, big spider.

3 out of 5


Whore governess troubleshooter happiness hire finds out space can be interesting.

4.5 out of 5


Unified field theory discovery lost in hormone wash, perhaps.

4 out of 5


Outer space undersea visit has terrorist plan. Extemporaneous Jupiter project plan convinces laser wielder to desist.

4 out of 5


Teleportin' time-shiftin' meteor shootin' dragon recruitin'.

4.5 out of 5


Lower down stranding.

3.5 out of 5


Kid is a waste of oxygen.

5 out of 5


Give tanks a try.

3.5 out of 5


Quantum black hole is ridiculous overkill.

3.5 out of 5


Gravity busted = very bad.

4 out of 5


Creationists are boring nerds.

3.5 out of 5


Pet. Very large.

3 out of 5


Step back before forward.

4 out of 5


Copying what a dragonfly does is rather complex.

3.5 out of 5


Lower order communication.

3.5 out of 5


Irradiated recollections.

4 out of 5


Interspecies communication has much wider importance.

5 out of 5


Physical ambiguity.

4 out of 5


People alteration protection.

3 out of 5


Bigger mutants the solution.

4 out of 5


Supralight supernova situation.

4.5 out of 5


Altered man mission adds a mutt.

4.5 out of 5


Supernova human alien telepathic communication ending prolonged.

4 out of 5


Alien scientific interference.

5 out of 5


Stored love.

3.5 out of 5


Cape Kennedy beached red.

4 out of 5


People experiments maybe more fun.

3.5 out of 5


Future seems like the same old, if you are there.

3 out of 5


Mini water men fancy space travel.

3.5 out of 5


Soviet science couple's brain needle journey.

4 out of 5


Orbital-Earthworm relationships and differences with brainwashing meltdown muscular mayhem.

4 out of 5


Postal progress still has the odd issue.

4 out of 5


Recursive rejection.

4 out of 5


Prose patterns.

3 out of 5


Jury rigged for continuing speed perhaps pointless.

4 out of 5


World project.

3.5 out of 5


Immortal humans breed too fast for the universe.

4 out of 5


Zeno even immune to amphibian Atom.

3.5 out of 5


Colors and war.

3 out of 5


Sociology maybe can do something.

3 out of 5


Chrononauts sea save.

3.5 out of 5


Tesseract visions.

3.5 out of 5


Memory boy, samurai girl, cyborg dolphin hook up.

4 out of 5


Black hole and baby making.

4 out of 5


Ghost physics.

4 out of 5


Chimp gets computer brain, leaves because he prefers sf and Tarzan to history.

4 out of 5

The Definitive Hard Science Fiction Collection
If you're a fan of hard science fiction, you need to own "The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF." Period. Even if you have, as I do, a large collection of hardcover and paperback science fiction books that collectively contain many of the stories reprinted in this volume, you still need it.

As you might expect, many of the stories are from the "Golden Age" of the 1940's and `50's: you'll find classics such as Hal Clement's "Proof" (1942), James Blish's "Surface Tension" (1952) and Tom Godwin's haunting "The Cold Equations" (1954). Representing later years are such riveting tales as Theodore L. Thomas' "The Weather Man" (1962), Bob Shaw's "Light of Other Days" (1966) and Donald Kingsbury's "To Bring In the Steel" (1978). The 67 stories in "The Ascent of Wonder" make up a fantastic smorgasbord of the best hard science fiction of all time. But wait, there's more...there are three essays, totaling about 30 pages, on hard science fiction, written by editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer and noted author Gregory Benford. Each story also contains a relatively short (half a page or so) but exceptionally insightful introduction. These alone make "The Ascent of Wonder" worth having.

With 990 pages of small, dense type, this volume is big and heavy. But even if you have to put an extra brace on your bookshelf to hold the weight, you should buy it. Quite simply, there is no better compilation of the imaginative, speculative, science-based stories that form the genre's "visionary core."

Semi-Hard Sort-of New Wave Science Fiction
This is a massive and ambitious work.High quality and a lot for the money.I felt somewhat deceived by the title though.Many of the stories seem to define Hard Science Fiction by illustrating an exception to the rules.The editors seem to have gone out of their way to include nontypical examples and surprise us with authors that we didn't expect.H.G.Wells? OK.Rudyard Kipling?I don't think so.J.G.Ballard.Not really.At least, not MY definition.See my list: The Scientist/Engineer/Inventor Hero in Science Fiction

This book ROCKS.
Excellent!!!! WELL worth the money. I've been slowly chipping away at it for over a year now. You really get alot of book for the money here, and most of the stories are very interesting. The editor's notes/prefaces are also very good and informative, I've learned alot about the genre. Don't even try to get it from the library, you have to buy it to savor it in stages. Good luck, it's a mind-blower! ... Read more

Product Description
This volume, covering the period from the 1890s to the future, includes stories from founding fathers of the field like H.G. Wells and C.S. Lewis; beloved mainstays of the genre, such as Philip Jose Farmer, Roger Zelazny and Jack Vance; and, notable female writers, including Nancy Kress, and authors like Bruce Sterling, William Gibson and James Morrow, who have hit their stride in the last two decades. Also featured in this title are those widely recognised outside the genre, the celebrated writing of E.M. Forster and Michael Shaara, as well as translations of foreign writers' formative work including that of Wolfgang Jeschke and Dino Buzzati. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
A fine collection of stories, and Hartwell even includes a few of non-English origin, which is a nice bonus. These Mammoth books are generally good value it seems.

Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Beam Us Home - James Tiptree Jr.
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : The Music Master of Babylon - Edgar Pangborn
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Hot Planet - Hal Clement
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : The Hounds of Tindalos - Frank Belknap Long
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : The Angel of Violence - Adam Wisniewski
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Nobody Bothers Gus - Algis Budrys
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : As Easy as A.B.C. - Rudyard Kipling
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Ginungagap - Michael Swanwick
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Minister Without Portfolio - Mildred Clingerman
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Time in Advance - William Tenn
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Good Night Sophie - Lino Aldani
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Fire Watch - Connie Willis
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Goat Song - Poul Anderson
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : The Scarlet Plague - Jack London
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Repent Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman - Harlan Ellison
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Blood's a Rover - Chad Oliver
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Sail the Tide of Mourning - Richard A. Lupoff
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Great Work of Time - John Crowley
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : The Dimple in Draco - Philip Latham
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Consider Her Ways - John Wyndham
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Something Ending - Eddy C. Bertin
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Sundance - Robert Silverberg
Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction : Swarm - Bruce Sterling


Dogstar biowar ending.

4 out of 5


An elderly survivor of some nuking lives in a museum, and one day comes across a couple of primitive kids, nascent musicians.

4 out of 5



Vulcan solution.

3.5 out of 5


Author's drug doom by dimension dogs.

4 out of 5


Life and chess simulation layers.

4 out of 5


Isolated superman notices a pitcher of his species.

4 out of 5


Air travel advancing control.

4 out of 5


Black hole alien visiting lady bomb is decapitated. Sense of self maintained, now becomes filthy rich spider liaision.

4.5 out of 5


Cooking and crochet sanity saves planet.

3 out of 5


Precrime interstellar hard time.

4 out of 5


Dream movie star's reality ego adjustment.

5 out of 5


Time travel retrieval.

3 out of 5


Computer go between has decent pipes.

3 out of 5


Old man one of the few survivors, post-apocalyptic wise, sees superstition everywhere.

4 out of 5


Joker fan not keen on digital watches, but does quite like a jelly bean.

3.5 out of 5


Fire walking is not for amateurs, and pretending to be a god is chancy without the whole invulnerability and immortality thing. Having secret galaxy shaping masters is more of a mental injury, though.

3.5 out of 5


Super Australian fish ship's Serpent journey.

4 out of 5


Time travel profiteering problematic.

3.5 out of 5


Interesting discovery a long way off.

3 out of 5


Rat killing means ex-men, even if only in the mind, and the unmoderated female influence ain't much fun at all.

4.5 out of 5


Existence denial goes down easier with beer.

3 out of 5


Genocidal possibility is troubling, even if not real.

3.5 out of 5


Interspecies business shocks.

4 out of 5
... Read more

Product Description

The door to fantastic worlds, skewed realities, and breathtaking other realms is opened wide to you once more in this third anthology of the finest short fantasy fiction to emerge over the past year, compiled by acclaimed editor David G. Hartwell. Rarely has a more magnificent collection of tales been contained between book covers -- phenomenal visions of the impossible-made-possible by some of the field's most accomplished literary artists and stellar talents on the rise. Year's Best Fantasy 3 is a heady brew of magic and wonder, strange journeys and epic quests, boldly concocted by the likes of Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Swanwick, Tanith Lee, and others. Step into a dimension beyond the limits of ordinary imagination . . . and be amazed!. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

good anthology
Usually I buy an anthology just for one or two stories by my favourite authors.I picked this one up for the Nalo Hopkinson story, 'Shift,' which turned out to be about Ariel & Caliban from The Tempest, but I was pleasantly surprised to find several other stories I liked.Neil Gaiman's story is good, of course, and is a tribute to Ray Bradbury, about a gathering of the seasons.Michael Swanwick has two stories in this Year's Best, and both turn out to be really short; 'Five British Dinosaurs' and 'Cecil Rhodes in Hell' are both funny, but in different ways.'The Pagodas of Ciboure' I had read in some other anthology a long time ago, and liked.What city dweller knew slugs could be so fearsome?I was a little disappointed in the Ellen Klages story, since I was hoping for a lot from it, but Naomi Kritzer's 'Comrade Grandmother' made up for it.It's a terrific story about Baba Yaga's participation in World War II.And of course there's an Ursula K Le Guin story too.All in all, a great anthology.

Another winning collection of short fantasy
Once again, it's time for the annual Year's Best Fantasy volume, edited by David G. Hartwell.This year's version, volume 3, has even more goodness than last year's version did.Twenty-nine stories in all, ranging from short 3-page stories to 40 page ones, by some of the biggest names in the field.This is the perfect sampler to see what's going on in the Fantasy world, to see who the up-and-comers are, and get a taste of what they're offering.On the strength of some of the stories in this volume, I'm definitely going to check out a couple that I've never tried before.

I'd say that this volume is better than last year's edition, just because there weren't any stories that I didn't like.There were some that were weaker than others, of course, but no real clunkers in the bunch.It has fantasy for every taste, from urban fantasy to other worlds, if you've got a taste for the stuff, this book will satiate it.I will, of course, include a list of the stories at the end of the review so you can check them out and see if there are any authors that you particularly like.

I love the short fiction format, especially when it's done well.There are some standout entries in this year's edition, capped off with a short little piece by Michael Swanwick called "Five British Dinosaurs."This one is extremely short, but a lot is carried in a small package.It's about the discovery of dinosaur bones in Great Britain in the 19th century, along with the discovery that there are some living specimens hanging around in the British aristocracy.This story is hilarious and I found myself laughing throughout it's brief span.The thought of a walking dinosaur speaking in proper British English, disputing the reconstruction of the bones of his ancestors, is priceless.Swanwick gives the dinosaurs a lot of personality, along with a lot of arrogance."Things were definitely better run in the Mesozoic?But mammals knew their place then."Swanwick has the honour of being the only person with two stories included, but they are both very short and so I figure Hartwell decided that he could afford the space.

Another standout is Steve Popkes and his story, " A Fable of Saviour & Reptile."This is a re-telling of the Jesus story, from the point of view of a talking turtle that befriends Jesus when he's young.The turtle is suitably haughty, given his long life span and his infinite patience (given the fact that it takes him a long time to get anywhere).It's an interesting take on the whole Messiah story, but if you can get past the irreligious tone of the story, it is very heartwarming.Hartwell warns in his prologue to it "Do note the word 'fable' in the title."While it gives an alternate view of Jesus and his life (including filling in the missing thirty or so years that the Bible doesn't include), it is very respectful the idea behind the story.The turtle is characterized wonderfully, and Jesus is too if you can get past the fact that he does drink when he's younger (getting a little drunk with the turtle) and he has a wife and son.It's a story about the power of myth and how humans can attach meaning to anything if it will help them get through life and possibly throw off the yoke of oppression.There are some very touching moments and conversations between the two of them, especially when the turtle comforts Jesus in his cell right before he's crucified.This is probably the best story in the book, and I am definitely going to track down some more by this guy.

Other particularly good stories are Kage Baker's "Her Father's Eyes" (a tale of a young girl and the boy she meets and befriends on a plane), Neil Gaiman's "October in the Chair" (a typical Gaiman tale about stories and the people who tell them, this time a group of god-like beings), and "A Prayer for Captain LaHire" by Patrice E. Sarath (a story of three knights who followed Joan of Arc until she burned, and the horror that they discover a fourth disciple has unleashed).Finally, there is P.D. Cacek's "A Book, by its Cover."This is a wonderful little tale about a Jewish boy in the aftermath of Kristallnacht in Berlin, and the bookshop owner who he believes is doing evil things afterward.It's has a wonderful message about books and the effects that they can have on a person.

If there are any weaknesses in the book, they are purely my personal feeling.I'm not a big fan of Tanith Lee, though I know that she is very popular.Thus, her story "Persian Eyes" didn't do a whole lot for me.In it, a Roman noble family is destroyed by the work of a slave girl and her magic eyes.It was more interesting to me than her entry in last year's book, but not by much.Also, "The Pagodas of Ciboure" just dragged on a little too long for my tastes.In it, a sick boy is healed by some French fairy creatures called "pagodas," though he has to save them from an onslaught of slugs first.It's cute, and it's well-told, but it's just too long.

That being said, I did enjoy even those stories.This is just a top-notch collection of short fantasy.Hartwell has done it again, pulling together a varied group of stories that can't help but satisfy.If you're a fantasy fan and like the short fiction genre, this is definitely the book for you.Hartwell has another winner, and I can't wait for next year's edition.

David Roy

Excellent Anthology
Most of the anthologies I've read in the genre of Fantasy/Scifi and horror are mixed bags of personal likes and dislikes of the editors...some of which are a bit too gory, too 'realistic' or just have what I'd like to call 'fantasy around the edges'. This series is really 'the best'...not the usual commercially bland mixes (see, Bob Silverberg's Legends), but a good mix of quirky, new authors as well as some well known names (Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee) with a nice blend of both light hearted and serious fantastic tales. Standouts would be: Gene Wolfe's From the Cradle, Naomi Kritzer's Comrade Grandmother, and Michael Swanwick's Five British Dinosaurs. ... Read more

Product Description
Stories from 22 of today's best sf authors, including William Gibson, Greg Egan, Brian Stableford, etc. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Free SF Reader
The Color of Evil is the first part of the split up anthology 'The Dark Descent', and a good part it is too, averaging 3.76.

The introduction to the latter is also reproduced.

Hartwell says this grew out of some conversations at conventions, etc. where he asked horror writers who influenced them, and in the main, they said writers who were short story writers. Goes on to say this was the main form of horror fiction until the 80s came, and the novel became dominant, before a big flameout, but still won't be changing back.

So, he thought the late 80s was a good time to take stock of the history of the horror short story, and what he sees as three major variant types, this being the first. This covers a couple of centuries, and has three standout stories.

Color Of Evil : The Reach [Do the Dead Sing?] - Stephen King
Color Of Evil : Evening Primrose - John Collier
Color Of Evil : The Ash-Tree - M. R. James
Color Of Evil : The New Mother - Lucy Lane Clifford
Color Of Evil : There's a Long Long Trail A-Winding - Russell Kirk
Color Of Evil : The Call of Cthulhu [short story] - H. P. Lovecraft
Color Of Evil : The Summer People - Shirley Jackson
Color Of Evil : The Whimper of Whipped Dogs - Harlan Ellison
Color Of Evil : Young Goodman Brown - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Color Of Evil : Mr. Justice Harbottle - Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Color Of Evil : The Crowd - Ray Bradbury
Color Of Evil : The Autopsy - Michael Shea
Color Of Evil : John Charrington's Wedding - Edith Nesbit
Color Of Evil : Sticks - Karl Edward Wagner
Color Of Evil : Larger Than Oneself - Robert Aickman
Color Of Evil : Belsen Express - Fritz Leiber
Color Of Evil : Yours Truly Jack the Ripper - Robert Bloch
Color Of Evil : If Damon Comes - Charles L. Grant
Color Of Evil : Vandy Vandy - Manly Wade Wellman


Mainland ghost, gran.

4 out of 5


Shop people.

3 out of 5


Keep dead witches and bloody big spiders away from the house.

4 out of 5


Wooden tail tale.

2.5 out of 5


I'm axeing for help, Frank.

4 out of 5


Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

4.5 out of 5


Could be worse, could be Crystal Lake.

3.5 out of 5


City god call.

3.5 out of 5


Witchocrites.

3 out of 5


Hanging judge, yes.

3.5 out of 5


Accident cycle.

3.5 out of 5


Bodysnatcher's new home in serious need of repair.

5 out of 5


Best if the groom's still alive, really.

3.5 out of 5


Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of the Old Ones? Kent Allard's nephew!

4 out of 5


Religious synthesis forum, very weird.

3 out of 5


Ratzi gas delayed, no chamber.

3.5 out of 5


Doc, you are actually right at the sharp end, stoopid.

4.5 out of 5


Cat, kid, you can have the lot, woman.

3.5 out of 5


Washington gives no quarter, warlock.

4 out of 5



4.5 out of 5 ... Read more

Product Description
The second volume of the acclaimed anthology is a rare and haunting collection including "Aura" by Carlos Fuentes, "Barbara of the House of Grebe" by Thomas Hardy, and "Torturing Mr. Amberwell" by Thomas M. Disch." Reprint. ... Read more

Product Description
For years, those bringing SF into the classroom have had to improvise their course materials from anthologies and collections not designed for classwork. Now, David G. Hartwell, award-winning anthologist, and Professor Milton T. Wolf, Vice President of the Science Fiction Research Association, present a carefully selected reading anthology reflecting the SF field in all its modern diversity. Here are Golden Age writers like John W. Campbell and Jack Williamson, and here also are towering latter-day titans like Gene Wolfe and Ursula K. Le Guin, along with today's popular writers such as Greg Bear, Robert Jordan, and Vernor Vinge.
Amazon.com Review
Should a textbook be this fun to read? If it's a sciencefiction anthology put together by the Science Fiction ResearchAssociation, the answer is yes! This hefty (798 pages) tome is meantto be both a primer to the SF of the '90s as well as an enjoyable bookin its own right, and it succeeds fully on both counts. With more than30 "classic" stories from the current decade supplemented by criticalessays from some of the genre's finest writers, this book is both ascholarly resource and road map to some of the best short fiction inrecent years. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Superb!
Visions of Wonder is one of my most prized books! I've had it for years now, after initially buying it for an SF class I took in university. I often re-read stories in the anthology, and look up the authors' other works and read them as well. If you are a lover of quality SF and Fantasy, this is a must-have volume of fascinating stories and ideas. I couldn't recommend it more highly!

Feeble effort
The best in this anthology (e.g. "Island of Dr. Death", "Mr. Boy", "Sur" and "Souls") can easily be found elsewhere. Most of the remainder should never have been born, let alone exhumed. The critical essays, with one exception, (Joanna Russ') define the abc's of meretriciousness -- absurd, boring, challenged ... It's a shame, really, since Hartwell has edited one of the best anthologies of this type -- "The Dark Descent".If you haven't tried that one, best check it out and leave this one behind.

Interesting anthology
David G. Hartwell has been a rather well-known editor in the science fiction field for quite a long time, and in Visions of Wonder he collects quite a few fine stories and authors, which include such contemporary luminaries as Lucius Shepard, James Patrick Kelly, Greg Bear, Terry Bisson, and Nancy Kress, along with an older crowd consisting of Brian Aldiss, Algis Budrys, Kate Wilhelm, and Philip Jose Farmer. A series of essays (my favorite of which, probably, is Samuel R. Delany's) is also included in this book, which examines the state that science fiction was in, is now in, and postulates various theories about what science fiction might become in the future. Does the collection work as a whole? Generally speaking (with a few rough areas), yes. With standout stories such as "Mr. Boy" by the very excellent J.P. Kelly, this anthology includes some very interesting and genre-spanning fiction, and, in the end, is an anthology that I am very willing to recommend.

A good mix of speculative fiction and scholarly articles.
This is a memorable collection. From new stories like "Blood Music" and "Bears Discover Fire" to classics like "The Girl Who was Plugged In," the stories are sometimes disturbing butalways engrossing. The scholarly articles are insightful from an academicstandpoint, especially "What do you mean, 'human'?" This isdefinitely a "keeper." If scholarly articles bore you, don't readthem. But you'll never know what you missed!

Good, but peculiar.
Actually it is quite intent on the reader saying it's peculiar. Ostensibly for sf classes it nevertheless says its for non-academics like myself. Actually the choices weren't as peculiar as I'd expected. It is slanted towards recent stories though. Science fiction is starting to throw the old authors off too much for my taste. For instance the first story I read in this wasBears Discover Fire by Bisson. Although good ,maybe even great, the sf sites on the web made it sound like the best short science fiction story ever. I feel bad that I expected that because it is enjoyable even if it isn't the best. Still there were good stories (including Bears...)in here & good essays. I have no interest in reading any Delaney, but his essay was interesting. Especially when he talked about the proper way to visualize spaceports in the original Foundation trilogy. I always thought I was visualizing them wrong. Knight's essay appealed to my love of history, & of what I know educated men of the past snickered as much at tales of distant lands in much the same way some snicker at sf. Meanwhile Merril's had a trippy Beatles' feel that was uninformative, but amusing. Worth reading, but maybe not worth buying considering the price. One last thing I'm sad to see how few comments anthologies receive. I hope that's not because noone's reading them. Outside magazines like F&Sf, Sf Age, Analog, & Asimov anthologies are the thing for sf short stories. I hope that "message" didn't ruin my review since this was largely a book about short fiction & anthologies. ... Read more

Product Description
Purple softcover, 128 pages. ... Read more