The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection (Year's Best Science Fiction, 16) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312299974 ISBN 13: 9780312299972

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 1997

Synopsis

The past through tomorrow are boldly imagined and reinvented in the twenty-five stories collected in this showcase anthology. Many of the field's finest practitioners are represented here, along with stories from promising newcomers, including:
William Barton * Rob Chilson * Tony Daniel * Cory Doctorow * Jim Grimsley * Gwyneth Jones * Chris Lawson * Ian McDonald * Robert Reed * William Browning Spencer * Allen Steele * Michael Swanwick * Howard Waldrop * Cherry Wilder * Liz Williams

A useful list of honorable mentions and Dozois's insightful summation of the year in sf round out this anthology, making it indispensable for anyone interested in SF today.

About this title

Review

Gardner Dozois once again proves himself to be among the best editors in science fiction with The Year's Best Science Fiction Sixteenth Annual Collection. Whether you like your SF hard or soft, with a twist or straight, you'll find something to love in here. Dozois picked perfect 1998 stories from the likes of Greg Egan, Bruce Sterling, and Ursula K. Le Guin for celebrity sparkle, but he didn't overlook relative newcomers either. It's hard to pick favorites from such a varied and delightful bunch. Paul J. McAuley's "Sea Change, with Monsters" is a thriller taking place in the icy seas of Europa, where genetically engineered weapon-creatures battle humans for survival. Cory Doctorow weighs in with the funny and poignant "Craphound," a tale of two secondhand junk entrepreneurs who find out that the love of good kitsch transcends all barriers. Liz Williams's "Voivodoi" explores one family's anguish and triumph in an Eastern Europe scarred by mutagens. And as usual, Dozois provides a stylish wrap-up of the previous year in science fiction, fantasy, and horror publishing. It speaks well for the health of the genre that Dozois picked these winners from hundreds of stellar nominees (he lists them in the back). And it's a rare treat to enjoy every single story in a collection. --Therese Littleton

From the Publisher

Praise for previous volumes of The Year's Best Science Fiction:

"Intelligent, wide-ranging (several of the stories here have not previously been published in the United States) and unfailingly literate, Dozois's volume is exemplary. . . . Anyone interested in contemporary short SF should own this volume" --Gregory Feeley, Washington Post Book World

"All of the stories in the collection are thought-provoking and well-written, succeeding on their own as stories quite apart from the genre label." --Kathryn Lance, Arizona Daily Star

"This anthology represents contemporary SF at its very best. . . . There's little doubt that Dozois is to the 1980s and 1990s what John W. Campbell Jr., was to the 1940s and 1950s--the finest editor in the world of short SF." --Publishers Weekly

"For anyone interested in SF short stories, this is the best---indeed, the only--place to start." --Kirkus Reviews

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0312299974
• ISBN 13: 9780312299972
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 672
• Editor: Dozois Gardner