Years Best SF 11

Year's Best SF 11 (Eos Books, ISBN 978-0-06-087341-7). Edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

It's that time of the year again! Time for the onslaught of "annual best", "world's best" and award-related anthologies. And here I am with a pile of unread magazines, books, etc., from previous years. Let's see if I can get at least this collection and the megathology from Dozois read this year!

Introduction (Hartwell and Cramer): Not as good as the introductions by Dozois produces for his annual. Some of the predictions about the demise of the short story market (this seems to be an annual prediction by several editors). Less of the introduction is concerned with the field or even items that might be of interest to readers of science fiction (e.g., the exploration of the Solar System) than "real world" (current events) items. Oh well, I'll wait for the more complete Dozois introduction.

New Hope for the Dead (Dave Langford): Langford is known for his excellent fanzine (Ansible) and his reviews, but this shows that he is a polished writer of short fiction as well. Originally written as a short piece for a non-SF magazine, Langford pulls off a side-splitting tale of virtual reality, economic troubles and something that bothers us every day...spam! Good stuff. (First appearance: Nature.)

Deus Ex Homine (Hannu Rajaniemi): Oh no! Another story about the rapture of the nerds! And following on the Langford tale of VR! Well, much better than I expected, so I'll forgive the editors. I'm hoping that this is not a trend for collections these days. A tale of a ex-nerd-rapture "god" and how he is rehabilitated. (First appearance: Nova Scotia.)

When the Great Days Came (Gardner Dozois): I usually think of Dozois as an editor, but he writes stories. Now that he has retired from some of his editorial duties, maybe we'll see more stories like this one. When the end of the world comes, will be be more interested in the cold pizza? Through most of this story you'll be scratching your head and saying, "Why is this in a science fiction collection?" This tale, told from a rat point-of-view is quite clever. (First appearance: F&SF.)

Second Person, Present Tense (Daryl Gregory): The editors make the claim as this being the best story of the year. I enjoyed it, but it did not move me or interest me as much as some of the other tales in the collection (for example, the Ken MacLeod contribution). Also, other than one drug that is not all that far from some that are currently on the market (legal or illegal), I wouldn't really call this story "science fiction". (First appearance: Asimov's.)

Dreadnought (Justina Robson): What is death? What is post-humanism? I think its pretty gutsy of Nature to feature these stories; it is about time we put more science fiction into the science! Or, at least, make those who are coming up with all the stuff think about what they are coming up with. Hmmmm..science fiction as a literature of ideas? Naaaaahhhh. (First appearance: Nature.)

A Case of Consilience (Ken MacLeod): A play on A Case of Conscience by James Blish as well as other works of science fiction that take on the concept of God (usually from a pro- or anti-Christian point of view). The story takes on several ideas. They are big ideas, perhaps too big for a story of this length, so I hope MacLeod comes back to this at some point. Can we communicate with an alien? What if the alien were an intelligent fungus? What about religion: Do the concepts of various Christian beliefs operate in other races? Was there, for example, a Resurrection on other worlds? A great tale, but again, too short for a full discussion. (First appearance: Nova Scotia.)

Toy Planes (Tobias S. Buckell): A space program in the Caribbean? Are you kidding? Well, why not? Closer to the equator, for one thing. (First appearance: Nature.)

Mason's Rats (Neal Asher): Two stories about rats in one anthology! Told this time from the human point of view, this is a pretty funny tale about tool-using rats and a farmer's attempts to get rid of them. Things escalate pretty fast... (First appearance: Asimov's.)

A Modest Proposal for the Perfection of Nature (Vonda N. McIntyre): What happens when we go from agriculture to monoculture? Another thought-provoking tale from Vonda N. McIntyre, making an appearance in Nature.

Guadalupe and Hieronymous Bosch (Rudy Rucker): I don't know what Rudy Rucker used to smoke. It stills seems to catch up with him. (Don't get me wrong. I like Rucker's stuff and I'm looking forward to his newest novel. I just have a feeling at times that a few circuits might be misfiring.) (First appearance: Interzone.)

The Forever Kitten (Peter F. Hamilton): What if you could grant immortality but the clock had to stop before the onrush of hormones that led to adulthood? (First appearance: Nature.)

City of Reason (Matthew Jarpe): A hard SF tale that explores the concept of space habitats (and the idea that any splinter group could have its own habitat). As such, it fits in well with the stories that I've been reading here and here. A frontier enforcer has to intercept and stop an attack by one space habitat upon a second space habitat. Jarpe has some interesting ideas about how frontier justice might be funded and also manages to (gently) poke fun at the post-humanist "Rapture of the Nerds" folks. (First appearance: Asimov's.)

Ivory Tower (Bruce Sterling): Another short short from Nature. An amusing dig at alternate lifestyles and geekdom. (First appearance: Nature.)

(O.K., before I get to the next several...gee, is the whole transhuman/post-singularity movement starting to choke science fiction as much as vampires, cyberpunk and other mini-movements? It'll be interesting to see how long the trend continues!)

Sheila (Lauren McLaughlin): AI's plotting, counter-plotting and scheming. Didn't do much for me. (First appearance: Interzone.)

Rats of the System (Paul McAuley): Transhumanism plus space opera! Now we're getting somewhere! This story reminded me of Ken MacLeod's Newton's Wake, which was one of my favorite books in the year I read it. Like MacLeod, like Vinge, McAuley is a writer that can take what is (to me) rapidly becoming a tired SF cliche and breathe new life into it. He was one of the folks who brought back the "dead" sub-genre of space opera, it's nice to see him infuse some change into another sub-genre. I'd like to see this one expanded into a series of short stories or spun into a novel. (First appearance: Constellations.)

I Love Liver: A Romance (Larissa Lai): This collection is really relying heavily on these short shorts that appeared in Nature. Some of them work, like the Sterling entry. Others, not so much. (First appearance: Nature.)

The Edge of Nowhere (James Patrick Kelly): Ack! Another post-singularity tale. O.K., Kelly manages to do some nice characterization. But maybe it's like reading all of Stephen Baxter's stories in the Phase Space collection in rapid succession. You rapidly get tired of the themes explored. I think I'm starting to overdose here! (First appearance: Asimov's.)

What's Expected of Us (Ted Chiang): If it were proven that there was no such thing as free will, how would people act in a universe run by predestination? A very short, but very thoughtful story. (First appearance: Nature.)

Girls and Boys, Come Out to Play (Michael Swanwick): Third in a series which the editors say seems inspired by Cordwainer Smith. I'm not sure I'd agree, to me this tale felt more like a cross between fantasy and Sherlock Holmes than anything Smith may have done. Despite that quibble, it was quite fun, especially the two characters that (sort of) stand in for Holmes and Watson. Hopefully the first two tales in the series are in my piles of to be read anthologies. (First appearance: Asimov's.)

Lakes of Light (Stephen Baxter): A short story set in Baxter's Xeelee series, which is undergoing a revival/revision thanks to his recent trilogy (Coalescent, Exultant, Transcendent, and the related short story collection Resplendent). Humanity is on the rise again and the Earth-centered empire is gathering all her children together for the fight against the Xeelee. They encounter a human colony living on a sphere that encloses a star (sort of a Dyson sphere, but with some interesting twists). Will those people lose their lifestyle? Plus, what does it mean to be "human"? (First appearance: Constellations.)

The Albian Message (Oliver Morton): Morton is better known for his non-fiction (and his Mapping Mars is one of the best books out there on the present—but pre-Spirit and Opportunity—base of martian knowledge). This is an amusing little tale about the discovery of an alien message and an alien structure. What will be found inside? (First appearance: Nature.)

Bright Red Star (Bud Sparhawk): I have only read one other tale by Sparhawk, but that one made enough of an impression on me that I ordered two short story collections by him. This one is a tale about a war, possibly a war with only one ending for humanity (total defeat). The question is, have the humans given up too much of what makes them human in order to "win"? Given the alternative (total enslavement by an alien race that just doesn't seem interested in working things out), is that (given up "humanity") going to be a bad thing? (First appearance: Asimov's.)

Third Day Lights (Alaya Dawn Johnson): The editors mention that this starts like a fantasy and ends up as science fiction. I disagree. Mentioning other universes and tossing a "transhuman" label on top does not make a story science fiction. This one just didn't do anything for me. (First appearance: Interzone.)

Ram Shift Phase 2 (Greg Bear): A review of a computer-generated story by a computer! Some subtle humor here. See if you can spot the cliches put to good use. (First appearance: Nature.)

On the Brane (Gregory Benford): Astronauts explore a universe next door...only twenty centimeters away in one measurement, a universe away in another. An excellent tale by Benford, combining his usual great characterizations with mind-stretching physics. (First appearance: Gateways.)

Oxygen Rising (R. Garcia y Robertson): A fantastic story of war, politics, terror and belief marred by an unbelieveable pair of main characters. (First appearance: Asimov's.)

And Future King... (Adam Roberts): I'm sure there was a story in here...somewhere. (First appearance: Postscripts.)

Beyond the Aquila Rift (Alastair Reynolds): The editors say that this story has a feelig like some of the works of Philip K. Dick; me, it reminded me of some of A.E. van Vogt's better stuff where the hero is caught in a waking nightmare and seems powerless to get free. Some interesting background here that I hope Reynolds uses in some future (longer) work. (First appearance: Constellations.)

Angel of Light (Joe Haldeman): An amusing tale of holiday time after Islam manages to take over the Earth. Toss in the discovery of an old science fiction story and intelligent aliens and you get a solid tale from Haldeman. Not as solid as some of his other short works (and he has produced many), but a notch above several other items in this book. (First appearance: Cosmos.)

Ikiryoh (Liz Williams): This one felt more like fantasy to me than science fiction. Maybe it's another transhuman tale, where the lines seem to be blurring the two genres? Some nice atmosphere and plot, as well as a provoking background. (First appearance: Asimov's.)

I, Robot (Cory Doctorow): Eeek! Another transhuman tale! I guess it was intended to be a homage to Isaac Asimov, both due to the title and the names of some of the robots, but not much of the plot or background really "did it" for me. (First appearance: Infinite Matrix.)

Overall review of the collection? Several stand-out stories here, such as Reynolds' Beyond the Aquila Rift, Baxter's Lakes of Light MacLeod's A Case of Consilience, and good stories by several folks that I was not as familar with. Heck, any collection that has two stories about rats (McAuley and Asher) is worth a look! However, I think that the collection was burdened by too many stories in the "transhuman" theme and by an over-reliance on the short works that appeared in the magazine Nature. It almost seems like the editors decided to opt for a greater number of titles and authors by including all those short works rather than a fewer number of quality longer works. But I guess for long works, I'll turn to the Dozois megathology.

Made up of: Introduction (David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer); New Hope for the Dead (David Langford); Deus Ex Homine (Hannu Rajaniemi); When the Great Days Came (Gardner R. Dozois); Second Person, Present Tense (Daryl Gregory); Dreadnought (Justina Robson); A Case of Consilience (Ken MacLeod); Toy Planes (Tobias S. Buckell); Mason's Rats (Neal Asher); A Modest Proposal (Vonda N. McIntyre); Guadalupe and Hieronymus Bosch (Rudy Rucker); The Forever Kitten (Peter F. Hamilton); City of Reason (Matthew Jarpe); Ivory Tower (Bruce Sterling); Sheila (Lauren McLaughlin); Rats of the System (Paul McAuley); I Love Liver: A Romance (Larissa Lai); The Edge of Nowhere (James Patrick Kelly); What's Expected of Us (Ted Chiang); Girls and Boys, Come Out to Play (Michael Swanwick); Lakes of Light (Stephen Baxter); The Albian Message (Oliver Morton); Bright Red Star (Bud Sparhawk); Third Day Lights (Alaya Dawn Johnson); Ram Shift Phase 2 (Greg Bear); On the Brane (Gregory Benford); Oxygen Rising (R. Garcia y Robertson); And Future King... (Adam Roberts); Beyond the Aquila Rift (Alastair Reynolds); Angel of Light (Joe Haldeman); Ikiryoh (Liz Williams); I, Robot (Cory Doctorow).

Counts as thirty-two (32) entries in the 2006 short story project.