Gardner Dozois offers his collection of the best science fiction stories from 2009 - 27th

Alexander Irvine's "Seventh Fall" takes us on the road with a traveling minstrel who earns his way through
a post-apocalyptic world performing old plays. He looks for books from the past and for pieces of his own
past without much hope of finding either.

Dominic Green's "Butterfly Bomb" takes us to an isolated planet where an old man lives alone with his
granddaughter. When a slave ship steals her away, he calls on skills from his youth to attempt a
desperate rescue.

Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette's "Mongoose" provides an over-the-shoulder view as a professional
exterminator and his companion battle a troublesome infestation on board a space station. It shows us
what a Pip and Flinx story might be like if written for adults.

Albert Cowdrey's "Paradiso Lost" is an old soldier's letter to the son of a comrade-in-arms about the
adventures of his youth and the roots of his cynicism. It has a similar tone to Joe Haldeman's The Forever
War.

James Van Pelt's "Solace" tells two stories linked by a candleholder owned at different times by the main
character of each. In the past a young man survives a snowstorm while faithfully standing his post. In the
future a young botanist endures the challenges and confusion of repeated awakenings during a colony
ship's many centuries of travel.

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual

Collection
"Turing's Apples." Stephen Baxter. Sibling rivalry and first contact. One of Baxter's best so far. ++

"From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled." Michael Swanwick. A man among bug-eyed aliens who deal in trust.
Typically Swanwick: full of irony and a boatload of postmodern literary tricks. Quite entertaining, though. +

"The Gambler." Paolo Bacigalupi. News reporter takes big gamble on writing social-justice piece in hyper-
capitalized information economy. Good character piece, less of a downer than the usual Bacigalupi. +

"Boojum." Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette. Seat-of-your-pants swashbuckler on living pirate ship in outer
space! Complete with a plucky heroine and a ship weirder than anything in Pirates of the Caribbean. +

"The Six Directions of Space." Alastair Reynolds. Space-faring, multiverse-exploring Mongol Empire!
Reynolds does it again: mind-blowing vastness of space and time, awesome scientific speculation, fine
and subtle characterization. ++

"N-Words." Ted Kosmatka. Neanderthal clones suffer racist slurs. Kosmatka is a fine writer, but this one
tries too hard to win my pity for the Neanderthals. o

"An Eligible Boy." Ian McDonald. Jane Austen for guys in near-future India. Another fine writer turns to
boring (though occasionally funny) social commentary. o

"Shining Armour." Dominic Green. Boonie village has one huge secret weapon. I found myself cheering
at the end. ++

"The Hero." Karl Schroeder. Young man goes on quest to save the world(s). Eye-popping descriptions
and skilful plotting keep this one moving to an explosive finale. Adventure space-opera at its absolute
best. ++
"Evil Robot Monkey." Mary Robinette Kowal. Evil Robot Monkey throws around... The End. -

"Five Thrillers." Robert Reed. A thrilling story full of wonder and excitement, in five parts. The protagonist
is bad-ass x5. Robert Reed is too: this guy gets a story published every two weeks (on average),
including this rather long novella, and they're all either good or great. ++

"The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black." Jay Lake. Yeah.. the title
makes more sense than the story. Lake is usually good, and maybe this is "good," but I couldn't wrap my
head around it. -

"Incomers." Paul McAuley. Bildungsroman on a moon of Saturn. Fast-paced, but affords plenty of room
for thought: in other words, an average McAuley story. +

"Crystal Nights." Greg Egan. Billionaire creates virtual species, but he's no god. To quote Paul Di Filippo,
Egan writes "quantum poetry." Beautiful story. +

"The Egg Man." Mary Rosenblum. Dude smuggles eggs into Mexican village in climate-changed future,
but witnesses his old friends' sad decline. As always, Rosenblum succeeds in creating more atmosphere
than a Ridley Scott film; and her characters really get to you. +

"His Master's Voice." Hannu Rajaniemi. Dog and cat team up to be man's best friends. Excellent writing
and charming story make this entry from new writer Rajaniemi one of the best in this volume. ++

"The Political Prisoner." Charles Coleman Finlay. Political officer ends up in prison on Soviet-inspired
isolationist colony world. Finlay has a knack for interesting characters; this a fine example. ++

"Balancing Accounts." James L. Cambias. Robots! In Space! I've never seen robots more convincingly
rendered (that includes you, WALL-E). ++

"Special Economics." Maureen McHugh. Chinese girl gets job at evil corporation: the kind you can't really
quit. McHugh creates an unlikeable character, but somehow kept my attention. +

"Days of Wonder." Geoff Ryman. A Million Years From Now: equine matriarchs roam the plains. Like
most stuff Ryman writes: so much unthinking emotion that I stopped caring pretty soon. o

"City of the Dead." Paul McAuley. Crazy old biologist has strange bond with mutant ferrets. Surprisingly
good combo of the modern western (think "The Three Burials of Melquiadas Estrada") and hard sci-fi. ++

"The Voyage Out." Gwyneth Jones. Woman on mysterious space voyage discovers some unsettling
secrets about herself and her lover. Lyrical and intimate, and ultimately quite chilling. Very effective. +

"The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm." Daryl Gregory. Iron Men rule the skies in alternate-world Baltic
lands. Rip-roaring war story with a kind-of superhero ethos hanging around the edges but affecting
everyone. +

"G-Men." Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Alternate-history mystery starring J. Edgar Hoover, RFK, and LBJ!
Never saw a more crooked bunch... an entertaining who-dunit. +

"The Erdmann Nexus." Nancy Kress. Ageing physicist faces psycho mystery. The idea feels at least 60
years old, but it gives steady proof of Kress's never-faltering quality. ++

"Old Friends." Garth Nix. Arborial samurai! Simultaneously depressing and entertaining story from an
author I'd never read before. +

"The Ray Gun: A Love Story." James Alan Gardner. Boy meets Ray Gun, etc. Truly astounding coming-
of-age tale; probably THE best of the year. ++

"Lester Young and the Jupiter's Moons' Blues." Gord Sellar. Who knew aliens would like jazz? This is a
toe-tappin' good read and a convincing argument for the appreciation of jazz (yes, I said it...). +

"Butterfly, Falling at Dawn." Aliette de Bodard. Another alternate-history mystery: a "Mexica" magistrate
searches for both a murderer and her own soul in Fenliu (=Los Angeles, I think). An unexpectedly moving
story; I *really* hope this French writer shows up more often in English-language publications. +

"The Tear." Ian McDonald. Manifold personality on a literally cosmic scale. McDonald never does
anything small, does he? This story is almost too rich, too dense for the human mind to encompass. A
work of genius, nonetheless. +

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection

David Moles, "Finisterra". Unsavory traders butcher floating, mountainous organisms in this ominous but
perhaps overly detailed slice of far future life. B-

Ken MacLeod, "Lighting Out". Neatly capturing the feel of life when humanity has morphed into a blend of
reality, virtual reality, and bioengineered reality. C

John Barnes, "The Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away". The third straight far future, hard
science story with thick atmosphere and rather thin plot. This time the star is the dazzling landscape of
Mars as it undergoes terraforming. C

Gwyneth Jones, "Saving Tiamaat". As human ambassadors assist two hostile races from a distant planet
in settling their political dispute, cutthroat tactics abound, figuratively and literally. B-

James Van Pelt, "Of Late I Dreamt of Venus". The author weaves a tender love story into this riveting,
millennium-spanning saga about a plutocrat, her quest to terraform Venus, and her quiet male
companion. A+

Ian McDonald, "Verthandi's Ring". Alas, much of this epic tale of all-out intergalactic war was wasted on
me due to its epic amount of scientific terminology and concepts. NR

Una McCormack, "Sea Change". From lots of science to hardly any in this chilling depiction of growing
pains for the rich and snobbish in the near future. C

Chris Roberson, "The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small". In an alternate world with no Western
civilization and dominated by a vast Oriental empire, an aspiring bureaucrat believes an obscure political
prisoner who visited a civilization across the ocean holds the key to advancement. A haunting yet
entertaining demonstration of how the pace of scientific progress is relative. A+

Greg Egan, "Glory". A couple of aliens try to unearth a profound secret on the distant planet of a glorious
but dead civilization. Subtle philosophical insight, but surprisingly little action, follows the aliens' mind
blowing grand entrance. B

Robert Silverberg, "Against the Current". With the waking nightmare atmosphere of a Twilight Zone
episode, a Bay Area car dealer and his trusty Prius are propelled backward in time, about two decades a
day. Superb execution of the "it could almost happen to you"motif. A+

Neal Asher, "Alien Archeology". A thrilling space adventure and battle of wits unfold following the
discovery of an invaluable and dangerous relic. Grotesque and violent images punctuate the narrative,
along with fascinating embellishments, including a race of talking beasts that never repeats the same
word twice. A+
Ted Chiang, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate". Exotic metaphors add dreamy texture to this
tapestry of time travel, a story within a story within a story, set in ancient Baghdad. A

Justin Stanchfield, "Beyond the Wall". An enigmatic wall on a Saturn moon, designed by an alien M.C.
Escher, tests the mettle of a band of explorers from Earth. Suspenseful, with a fittingly enigmatic flavor. A

Bruce Sterling, "Kiosk". Technology advances but politics, business, and human nature remain the same
when a shop owner in a broken-down future Eastern Europe launches a breakthrough enterprise. Truth
rings loudly in this tragicomic morality play. A

Stephen Baxter, "Last Contact". The end of the universe poignantly experienced by a mother and
daughter in an English garden. A

Alastair Reynolds, "The Sledge-Maker's Daughter". Villagers in a far future, medieval like England
grapple with privation, brutality, and alien combat slightly beyond their comprehension. B

Ian McDonald, "Sanjeev and Robotwallah". An Indian youth, robotics wars, and rampant confusion are all
I gleaned from this jargon laden whirlwind of adventure. C

Michael Swanwick, "The Skysailor's Tale". A brilliantly composed alternate history, set in the British
colony of America in the early 1800's, in which an old man tells the tale of his amazing journey aboard a
vast military airship. A

Vandana Singh, "Of Love and Other Monsters". The sad but lyrical autobiography of a damaged and
lonely alien, trapped on Earth in more ways than one. B

Greg Egan, "Steve Fever". An ailing scientist unwittingly lets loose a determined nanovirus that is
infecting and steadily destroying mankind - without even trying. Subtly spine tingling. A

Kage Baker, "Hellfire at Twilight". A sense of impending doom fills the air when a bookish, time traveling
cyborg infiltrates the secret rites of a princely pagan in 1774 England. B

Brian Stableford, "The Immortals of Atlantis". A down and out slum dweller gets a visit from an icy
immortal on a recruiting mission. Bio science with dramatic punch! B+

Pat Cadigan, "Nothing Personal". Slow developing combination whodunit and character study of an aging
cop suffering from the mother of all midlife crises. (A brush with alternate realities will do that to you.) B

Elizabeth Bear, "Tideline". In the aftermath of a devastating war, a dying robot soldier asks a boy to
complete her rather peculiar mission. B

Keith Brooke, "The Accord".The delicate balance of a far future world where life and afterlife commingle is
disrupted by an anomalous stranger. B

Nancy Kress, "Laws of Survival". A woman is abducted by aliens to train dogs, for purposes that grow
more mysterious even as they become more clear. Spellbinding portrayal of what it might be like to
confront the complete unknown. A+

Tom Purdom, "The Mists of Time". History comes alive as two time travelers observe a naval skirmish
between a slaver and a British warship. The time travel subplot is somewhat contrived, but the historical
narrative is rich beyond measure. A

Kristine Kathryn Rusch, "Craters". Terrifying and tragic extrapolation of life after several more decades of
escalating Islamic terrorism. Surprised this theme isn't more prevalent this year. B

Ted Kosmatka, "The Prophet of Flores". One form of zealotry is exchanged for another in this sideways
world (as editor Dozois calls it) where Creationists have the upper hand. C+

Benjamin Rosenbaum & David Ackert, "Stray". Omnipotent immortal is sorely tempted as he tries for a
humble human life in Depression Era America. C

Robert Reed, "Roxie". Heartwarming celebration of life about an ordinary family man's relationship with
his dog, set against the backdrop of a perilous future. A

Gregory Benford, "Dark Heaven". A homicide cop in Mobile follows a murder trail to colonizing
amphibious aliens, and learns far more than he bargained for. B

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual

Collection VOL V-VI
"I, Row Boat," by Cory Doctorow. In this homage to Asimov, a battle of wits between a sentient coral reef
and a sentient rowboat raises mind-bending questions about the nature of intelligence in a digitized
future. B

"Julian: A Christmas Story," by Robert Charles Wilson. A gloomy future America reverts to 19th century
conditions thanks to the excesses of science and the deficiencies of religion. C

"Tin Marsh," by Michael Swanwick. "The Shining" goes to Venus. Two weary prospectors, one well past
the end of his rope, battle the elements, each other, and insanity. B

"The Djinn's Wife," by Ian McDonald. Against the exotic backdrop of Delhi, a disastrous romance flares
up and out between a famous dancer and a diplomat who happens to be an ethereal artificial intelligence.
B+

"The House Beyond Your Sky," by Benjamin Rosenbaum. A haunting glimpse behind the curtain reveals
that being the Creator ain't all it's cracked up to be. B

"Where the Golden Apples Grow," by Kage Baker. The stark, inhospitable terrain of Mars almost comes
alive as two stranded young colonists struggle to get home. B+

"Kin," by Bruce McAllister. Elegant vignette about a boy and a roach-like alien assassin explores the
mysteries of personal relationships and the nature of good and evil. B

"Signal to Noise," by Alastair Reynolds. Albeit touching and romantic, the plot doesn't quite measure up to
the fascinating premise of a man who crosses over into a parallel universe to reconnect with his dead
wife. B

"The Big Ice," by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. A frozen ocean of ice plays host to a scorching battle of
wits between two politically powerful sibling rivals. B

"Bow Shock," by Gregory Benford. Frustrated astrophysicist on verge of losing bid for tenure observes an
object in space that grows curiouser and curioser. Masterful blend of science, subtlety, sensitivity and
suspense. A+

"In the River," by Justin Stanchfield. Unfathomable (no pun intended) squid-like aliens welcome a
genetically altered human scientist aboard their six-kilometer long, liquid-filled ship. B

"Incarnation Day," by Walter Jon Williams. Some things never change. In a future society where parents
raise virtual children, a rebellious digital teenager plays a high stakes game of chicken with her controlling
mother. B
"Far as You Can Go," by Greg Van Eekhout. In a broken down future world, a scavenger and his
profoundly human robot companion risk what little they for a place in the sun. Simultaneously tender and
terrifying. A

"Good Mountain," by Robert Reed. A richly textured portrait of the distant future, in which worried
travelers hope to outrun the fire and earthquakes that are consuming what little is left of their world. A

"I Hold My Father's Paws," by David D. Levine. Several stories herein explore genetic engineering, but
this one goes whole hog, as Americans change species for reasons ridiculous and--at least in one case--
sublime. B

"Dead Men Walking," by Paul J. McAuley. Rousing adventure pits one genetically engineered assassin
against another on a prison in a remote corner of the solar system. B

"Home Movies," by Mary Rosenblum. Memory seller strikes deal with a manipulative client, forcing her to
make a supremely difficult choice. B

"Damascus," by Daryl Gregory. Creepy, well-constructed story about a bizarre religious cult gives new
meaning to the concept of forced conversion. B+

"Life on the Preservation," by Jack Skillingstead. "Groundhog Day" with scant uplifting tonic and a
cataclysmic twist. B+

"Yellow Card Man," by Paolo Bacigalupi. Squalid Bangkok is particularly hellish for its former Chinese
masters, and I felt every ounce of pain and humiliation while accompanying a fallen tycoon on his way to
rock bottom. A+

"Riding the Crocodile," by Greg Egan. A virtually immortal couple's efforts to contact a mysterious life
form span hundreds of thousands of years. Long tunnel, precious little cheese. C

"The Ile of Dogges," by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette. Queen Elizabeth's censor gets a
supernaturally rude awakening. C

"The Highway Men," by Ken MacLeod. Frozen Scotland, ravaged by terrorist-inspired war and global
climate shift, receives a glimmer of hope from an unlikely hero. Highly effective use of local idiom. A

"The Pacific Mystery," by Stephen Baxter. In 1950, victorious Nazis attempt to circumnavigate the globe
in an immense aircraft, and encounter something unexpected in any alternate universe. A

"Okanoggan Falls," by Carolyn Ives Gilman. When alien conquerors occupy a Wisconsin hamlet, the line
between friend and foe becomes blurred. Superlative plot and characters, with a perfect ending. A+

"Every Hole Is Outlined," by John Barnes. Mathematicians aboard an interstellar cargo ship encounter
ghosts. C

"The Town on Blighted Sea," by A.M. Dellamonica. Sick goings-on between the vanquished and their
squid "allies" in a human refugee camp. C

"Nightengale," by Alistair Reynolds. By far, the most amazing character in this page-turner about
adventurers invading a deserted hospital ship to retrieve a war criminal is ... the ship itself! A+

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection

VOLUMELE I-II

The Little Goddess, by Ian McDonald. Rich atmosphere adds weight to thin plot as artificial intelligence
complicates life in 2034 India. C

The Calorie Man, by Paolo Bacigalupi. Even when Earth's energy sources are reduced to plants, Big
Business casts its sinister shadow--is all hope lost? Superb speculation with a timely message. A

Beyond the Aquila Rift, by Alastair Reynolds. Humans use abandoned alien technology to comb the Milky
Way, but as one ship captain learns the hard way, what they really need is an operator's manual. A

Second Person, Present Tense, by Daryl Gregory. A family tries to heal after the daughter's strange drug
overdose, but astounding issues of self-identity and consciousness get in the way. Heartrending and
mind bending! A+

The Canadian Who Came ... by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. An anomaly at the bottom of a remote
British Columbia lake suggests a missing space explorer may still be around. B

Triceratops Summer, by Michael Swanick. Dinosaurs cause trouble for humans, but not in the usual way.
C

Camouflage, by Robert Reed. Snappily written but routine whodunit aboard an immense space ship full of
immortals. C

A Case of Consilience, by Ken MacLeod. Courageous or crazy? A space reverend makes first contact
with sentient mud. C

The Blemmye's Strategem, by Bruce Sterling. A monstrous master of the occult stirs up Hell during the
Crusades. Dank, Medieval characters and atmosphere. B

Amba, by William Sanders. Against the dismal backdrop of global warming, adventurers live by their wits
in sunny Siberia. Near-future speculation seems too true to be good. B

Search Engine, by Mary Rosenblum. When computers record your every move, tracking a suspect is
easy. Figuring out what to do with him--a bit harder. C

Piccadilly Circus, by Chris Beckett. A poignant story set in a desolate future London where virtual reality
is more real than reality, except for a few lingering old souls. B

In the Quake Zone, by David Gerrold. Brokeback Chinatown. Sexual politics under cover of fiction. D

La Malcontenta, by Liz Williams. The maids on a mystical medieval Mars are merrily minus men, mostly.
C

The Children of Time, by Stephen Baxter. Bold predictions about the fate of man over the next seven
hundred million years are made stirringly immediate and personal. A

Little Faces, by Vonda N. McIntyre. Another all female society, this one aboard organic ships, grim, and
feuding. C

Comber, by Gene Wolfe. Pithy tale of a man who sees trouble ahead, literally, for his geologically
unstable city. A

Audubon in Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove. In a barely alternate world, the famed naturalist combs Atlantis
for a rare and most peculiar bird. B

Deus Ex Homine, by Hannu Rajaniemi. This one is about artificial intelligence implants, but I need one
myself to make sense of it. NR
The Great Caruso, by Steven Popkes. Puff piece about an old woman who smokes her way to stardom,
thanks to a cigarette SNAFU. Finally, some (much needed) humor in this collection! A

Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck, by Neal Asher. Unsavory adventure seekers hunt off-limits prey--and their
guide--on an exotic planet where danger lurks everywhere. Fast paced and exciting. A+

Zima Blue, by Alistair Reynolds. In the far future, a mysterious artist reveals his secrets to a spunky
journalist. One of the most memorable characters I can remember, plus fresh thinking on the meaning of
work, art, and self. A+

Planet of the Amazon Women, by David Moles. I'm neither smart nor schooled enough to make heads or
tails of this one. NR

The Clockwork Atom Bomb, by Dominic Green. Weapons of mass destruction hijinx in a politically
complex future Africa. C

Gold Mountain, by Chris Roberson. Zzz.

The Fulcrum, by Gwyneth Jones. Zzzz.

Mayfly, by Peter Watts and Derryl Murphy. Zzzzz.

Two Dreams on Trains, By Elizabeth Bear. In a submerged and subdued future New Orleans, a poor boy
sandwiched between a rock and a hard place tries to make his mark. B

Angel of Light, by Joe Haldeman. Slice of life about a man in the new Chrislam world order who discovers
an odd cultural relic in his basement. B

Burn, by James Patrick. Struggles of a young firefighter on planet Walden, where men fight with mixed
success for the simple life in a remote corner of a culturally and technologically complex galaxy. C

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual

Collection VOL III-IV

"Inappropriate Behavior" by Pat Murphy. Spot the looney! A mental patient must overcome her sane
doctor to save a shipwrecked anthropologist. B

"Start the Clock" by Benjamin Rosenbaum. In a future USA where reality, time and the Internet freely
mingle, some kids never grow up-literally. C

"The Third Party" by David Moles. Planet resembling early 20th century Earth beset by space faring
capitalists and socialist missionaries, with the hero getting caught in the crossfire big time. Stunning
characters and atmosphere. A

"The Voluntary State" by Christopher Rowe. Life on this chaotic alternate Earth is only slightly less
perplexing to the characters than to me. D

"Shiva in Shadow" by Nancy Kress. The shadowy nether regions of their own minds prove more baffling
and dangerous than even the anomalous black hole being explored by two space scientists and a ship
captain. Brilliant juxtaposition of infinite space and interior man. A+
"The People of Sand and Slag" by Paolo Bacigalupi. Bioengineered super humans render the animal
kingdom obsolete, but a surprising visitor disturbs their illusions of grandeur. Poignantly asks, will science
make us more than men, or less? A

"The Clapping Hands of God" by Michael F. Flynn. Scientists travel through wormhole to secretly observe
a planet inhabited by gentle humanoids, yet danger fills the air. The artfully drawn aliens are fascinating.
A

"Tourism" by M. John Harrison. Gritty lowlifes hang out in a seamy otherworld bar with nothing much to
do but generate more atmosphere. C

"Scout's Honor" by Terry Bisson. Elegantly plotted time travel story in which a scientist becomes best
buds with a Neanderthal. A

"Men Are Trouble" by James Patrick Kelly. Earth is dominated by avian aliens who have plucked away all
the men. Hard-boiled detective story just can't get off the ground. C

"Mother Aegypt" by Kage Baker. Characters leap off the page in this medieval spellbinder about black
magic true and false. A

"Synthetic Serendipity" by Vernor Vinge. Baby boomers flounder in the new Net society. This one rings
uncomfortably true. B

"Skin Deep" by Mary Rosenblum. Tender interplay between a horribly disfigured boy and a surgeon with
new techniques and mysterious motives. B

"Delhi" by Vandana Singh. The author captures the mood of Delhi as dwellers past and future come alive
for a current day resident who can't quite understand what he sees. C

"The Tribes of Bela" by Albert E. Cowdrey. The natives are restless, to say the least, on a distant planet
being mined by a company from Earth. And some natives they are! Superb space adventure with lots of
action and a great ending. A

"Sitka" by William Sanders. The call of the wily. Grim and fatalistic alternate history with Lenin and Jack
London up to no good in Sitka. B

"Leviathan Wept" by Daniel Abraham. Dismal picture of life in our near future, when terrorism rules as if
by design. Chilling, real, almost unbearable to read. A

"The Defenders" by Colin P. Davies. Old man teaches his granddaughter a bitter life lesson in this
complex and mystical vignette. A

"Mayflower II" by Stephen Baxter. The entire religious and political evolution and devolution of Western
culture play out in microcosm aboard a starship where generations of humans are escaping to a new
home twenty thousand years away-all related, alas, with the rationalistic and cynical vigor so typical in
this edition. Still, mesmerizing and elegantly crafted in all respects, so reluctantly, A+

"Riding the White Bull" by Caitlin R. Kiernan. A profanity-laced narrative seriously detracts from this
already marginal story, a tangled nightmare of social collapse and personal despair in the face of a
gruesome alien attack. D

"Falling Star" by Brendan Dubois. Technology collapses and society reverts to the "Old Ways", which Mr.
Dozois describes as "bigotry, intolerance, and fear." Apparently this is the totality of his conception of
faith, yet he serves up story after story dramatizing the futility of science--a rather hopeless vision. C
"The Dragons of Summer Gulch" by Robert Reed. A fantasy world resembling the Old West has all sorts
of characters scrambling for control of some relics--for all sorts of reasons. B

"The Oceans of the Blind" by James L. Cambias. This first contact story has three wonderful elements:
snappy shifts in point of view between the aliens and humans, a perfect balance of humor and horror, and
fascinating alien adaptation at the bottom of a deep, dark and dangerous ocean. A+

"The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance" by Eleanor Arnason. Feminist editorial
masquerades as fiction. D

"Footvote" by Peter F. Hamilton. Angry leftist editorial with barely the pretense of masquerade. D

"Sisyphus and the stranger" by Paul Di Fillipo. Albert Camus plies his existential trade in an alternate
world where the French Empire rules all. B

"Ten Sigmas" by Paul Melko. Slice(s) of life for a "massively parallel human" is somewhat over my head,
but intriguing nonetheless. B

"Investments" by Walter Jon Williams. Political intrigue and a desperate fight against cosmic forces in a
far-flung pan-galactic empire. C

Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty First Annual Collection

Off On a Starship, William Barton. Raunchy account of hormonal `60's teenager accidentally whisked
away to distant yet eerily familiar points unknown. Clever parody of old pulp sci-fi, complete with crazy
cosmic ending. B

It's All True, John Kessel. 1940's cinema legend wooed by time traveling 2048 talent scout. Sizzling
narrative doused by lukewarm ending. B

Rogue Farm, Charles Stoss. Future farmer harassed by bizarre genetically engineered squatter(s?). B

The Ice, Steven Popkes. Does a man's past determine his future? This question takes on new complexity
for a clone of Gordie Howe in this richly textured character study. A

Ej-Es, Nancy Kress. For the strangely afflicted colonists on a remote planet, the line is sharp between
disease and cure...but which is which? B

The Bellman, John Varley. Serial killer of pregnant women pursued by pregnant cop on the extensively
colonized Moon. Gore galore. B

The Bear's Baby, Judith Moffett. Environmentally correct aliens clean up Mother Earth, but play dirty with
humans. Snappy narrative, intriguing plot. A

Calling Your Name, Howard Waldrop. Droll widower pops into an alternate reality where everything's the
same, except completely different. Comically composed, elegantly ended. A

June Sixteenth at Anna's, Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Melancholy widower deteriorates watching his wife in a
holographic history. Melancholy. C

The Green Leopard Plague, Walter Jon Williams. Intrepid widower, this one a brilliant academic,
postulates a new world order after some mayhem over a breakthrough in bioengineering. Long tunnel, no
cheese. C

The Fluted Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi. In a far future fiefdom, servants are cruelly and bizarrely bioengineered
at the whim of their lord. One victim plots an escape-of sorts. B

Dead Worlds, Jack Skillingstead. Man sacrifices his life for science, then has a tough life. A poignant and
philosophical love story, remarkably compact. A+

King Dragon, Michael Swawnick. Curious mix of SF and fantasy as a downed fighter jet's nasty computer
lords it over of a village full of elves. A

Singletons in Love, Paul Melko. Group consciousness makes falling in love problematic for future
humans. C

Anomalous Structures of My Dreams, M. Shayne Bell. Stop whining! A hospital patient dying of AIDS gets
a roomie who's really sick. B

The Cookie Monster, Vernon Vinge. Zzzz.

Joe Steele, Harry Turtledove. Stalin-type beats FDR in 1932 and all hell breaks loose. B

Birth Days, Geoff Ryman. Recessive homosexuality gene turns out to be dominant. Dubious Darwinian
premise merely prop-for-ganda. D

Awake in the Night, John C. Wright. Eons hence, Earth languishes in perpetual darkness, the light of
civilization a mere flicker as well. A man battles inscrutable monsters and the very weight of time in this
haunting and surreal tale of adventure. A+

The Long Way Home, James Van Pelt. Mankind's recovery from nuclear holocaust takes centuries, and
for a few men, so it does also. B

The Eyes of America, Geoffrey A. Landis. Technology and satire rage on when the presidential race pits
Thomas Edison and Samuel Clemens against William Jennings Bryan and Nikola Tesla. A+

Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst, Kage Baker. Immortal sales rep for a future corporation does some
supernatural horse trading with William Randolph Hearst. B

Night of Time, Robert Reed. Memory retrieval in a far future corner of the Milky Way reveals an alien's
fantastic secret. B

Strong Medicine, William Shunn. In this ironic and incisive vignette, a 2037 surgeon contemplates suicide
after being rendered obsolete by nanotechnology. Well, almost. A+

Send Me a Mentagram, Dominic Green. Passengers on a 2010 Antarctic cruise ship die suddenly,
gruesomely, and mysteriously. Can a maverick doctor figure it out in time? B

And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon, Paul Di Filippo. It could happen to you. In the near future,
everyday products form creepy wireless networks and harass humans a little and a lot. A+

Flashmen, Terry Dowling. Humans battle inscrutable aliens while readers battle inscrutable lingo-laced
narrative. I think there's a good story in here somewhere. C

Dragonhead, Nick DiChario. WARNING. Digital uploading may be hazardous to your health. C

Dear Abbey, Terry Bisson. Two scientists travel to the end of time and bear witness to the ecological sins
of man. Well constructed, sweeping and lighthearted novelette aptly closes this volume. A

Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection

Breathmoss,Ian MacLeod. Overlong coming of age story set in a far future world inhabited almost
completely by women. Heavy atmosphere, light plot. C-

The Most Famous Little Girl in the World, Nancy Kress. The grim backdrop of war and terrorism over the
next seventy years is much more interesting than the story about two cousins who take a lifetime to patch
up their differences. C

The Passenger, Paul McAuley. Engaging but essentially routine yarn about a space ship salvage crew
whose strange new passenger is either malevolent or cute as a button. C+

The Political Officer, Charles Finlay. Political intrigue aboard a Soviet-flavored military spaceship where
each officer seems to have his own insidious agenda. B-

Lambing Season, Molly Gloss. Kindhearted shepherdess encounters alien. Another promising premise
wasted in an inconclusive, overly subtle plot. C-

Coelacanths,Robert Reed. Variously constructed humans subsist in a hostile, multi-dimensional far future
world. Weighty speculation on the fine line between evolution and devolution, natural and supernatural. B

Presence, Maureen McHugh. Realistic, heartrending character study of a couple dealing with
Alzheimer_s, a new cure, and its unsettling side effect. B+

Halo, Charles Stross. Cacophonous, dense, hard science narrative concerns a cybernetic teenager who
flees to Jupiter to escape Mom, who just doesn_t understand her! C-

In Paradise, Bruce Sterling. USA circa 2022_Romance in the land of the not so free and the home of
Homeland Security. Sorry, but not even close to Sterling offerings from previous volumes. C

The Old Cosmonaut_ by Ian McDonald. An old cosmonaut_s pipe dream of pioneering Mars is strangely
fulfilled. C

Stories for Men, John Kessel. Men on a vast matriarchal lunar colony must chose between easy, killer
sex and socio-political equality. Quite the conundrum! Great characters, plot, social commentary and
psychological exploration. A

To Become a Warrior, Chris Beckett. In a socially stratified future England, a gang of world-shifting thugs
offers an alienated lowlife some ancient means of payback. Fast-paced narrative with fascinating
characters and street jargon. A

The Clear Blue Seas of Luna, Gregory Binford. A (mumbo) jumbo ode to terraforming. Zzzz

V.A.O., Geoff Ryman. Life stinks for Gen-Y geriatrics, so they hack their way out. Vivid characters,
snappy dialog, diabolical schemes, and something sorely lacking in this volume_humor. A
Winters Are Hard, Steven Popkes. Man has self physically altered so he can sleep with she-wolves and
slaughter wild elk. Can happiness ensue? C

At the Money,Richard Wadholm. Monotonous tale of cosmic radioactive waste arbitrage in an ultra-free
market far future. Zzzz

Agent Provacateur, Alexander Irvine. A boy alters and unalters history around WW2. C

Singleton, Greg Egan. All you need to enjoy this AI saga of making babies the new-fashioned way is a
couple doctorates in quantum theory and philosophy. C-

Slow Life, Michael Swanick. A plucky explorer discovers life on Titan. Well drawn setting but well worn
plot. C

A Flock of Birds, James Van Pelt. Gripping, realistic, poetic, and touching look at the aftermath of an all-
out biological war, set in a desolate 2011 Denver. A

The Potter of Bones, Eleanor Arnason. This fantasy story about evolution unfolds about as rapidly. In (yet
another) female dominated society, a potter literally pieces together a theory of how her rodent-like race
of homosexual furballs came into being. Super. D

The Whisper of Disks, John Meaney. The Bryonic Woman: genius makes jillions thanks to her jazzed up
genes. C

The Hotel at Harlan_s Landing, Kage Baker. Ultracreepy goings-on in a remote logging town in the
1930_s. Well crafted horror, and at long last, a crisp, clear ending. B+

The Millennium Party, Walter Jon Williams. A wry and refreshingly brief look at the digitalization of man,
far, far in the future. B

Turquoise Days, Alistair Reynolds. Better late than never. A majestic tale of an inscrutably sentient ocean
and its interplay with humans both kind and evil. A page-turner with unforgettable imagery. A+

Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineth Annual Collection

1. "New Light on the Drake Equations"...How do you take a story about a hermit sitting on a mountain
waiting for aliens to contact him, and make it interesting? Not this way. Zzzz
2. "More Adventures on Other Planets"...Depressed and unpleasant scientist gets more depressed and
unpleasant on a big virtual reality project. Turn the page, pass the Prozac. D
3. "On K2 with Kankaredes"...Mildly interesting man vs. nature yarn about mountaineers who let a giant
alien bug tag along on a tough climb. C
4. Stories 4-8 too silly, confusing, boring, and/or unoriginal for me. Read at your own risk.
5. "The Chief Designer"...More fact than fiction, a mesmerizing and poignant account of the man who
launched the Soviet space program. Top-flight character development. A+
6. "Neutrino Drag"...Whimsical, fast paced story set in San Diego features two unforgettable aliens. B
7. "Glacial"...Zillions of worms tunnel innocently through ice on a distant planet...or do they?? Only their
mad scientist knows for sure. This one has it all: brilliant concept, solid characters, suspenseful plot. A+
8. "The Days Between"...Nightmarish space travel story marred only by its ultimate pointlessness. C
9. "One-Horse Town"...Well written, snappy, and literally multi-dimensional view of the Trojan War. A
10. "Moby Quilt"...Weird life in an alien ocean. Moves at the speed of mud. "Solaris" it's not. Zzzz
11. "Raven Dream"...Bittersweet, world-within-a-world story of loss and redemption. C
12. "Undone"...Maybe if I were smart enough to follow this convoluted story about time travel and shape
shifting...no, I still wouldn't like it. D
13. "The Real Thing"...Near-in-the-future mogul (suspiciously reminiscent of Bill Gates) pollutes the
Internet with diabolical, reality-bending commercialism. Gimme that old time Linux! Thematically heavy-
handed, but cleverly written. B
14. "Interview: On Any Given Day"...Think they have problems now? Wait until you catch this terrifying
glimpse of what's in store for the next batch of American teenagers. B
15. "Isabel of the Fall"...The Middle Ages make a comeback way in the future. Ingenious science blends
surprisingly well with gloomy, gothic fable thick with religious overtones. B
16. "Into Greenwood"...Mind-blowing concept: sentient trees! Actually this spellbinding story is chock-full
of great ideas. Convincing science and fascinating characters combine to create a totally believable --yet
utterly alien--world. A+
17. "Know How, Can Do"...What does it mean to be human? What is love? What are the implications of
genetic engineering on our very souls? Amusing story about the world's smartest petri dish packs a
philosophical wallop! A
18. "Russian Vine"...Aliens gain upper hand on Earth by making humans illiterate. Dubious premise
supported by shaky explanations and flimsy plot. D
19. "The Two Dicks"...Alternate history story has a sweaty Philip K. Dick struggling to escape a confusing,
sinister, and nightmarish reality. Hey-just like one of his characters! Plus, there's another notable Dick in
the mix that we just don't hear from enough these days. A
20. "May Be Some Time"...Heroic British explorer from 1912 gets frozen in Antarctica and defrosted in
2045 NYC. Unfortunately, not much happens after that. However: the story is worth reading, believe it or
not, because of the author's brilliant use of old-time British idiom. B
21. "Marcher"...This one must have sneaked in while Mr. Dozios was on break. Read at your own risk.
22. "The Human Front"...Promising alternate history set in World War III Scotland takes a turn for the
absurd three-quarters of the way through. They should have called it a book two stories ago. D

Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection

"Rachel in Love" by Pat Murphy. A chimp with a teenager girl's brain must fend for herself after her
brilliant father/creator dies. A poignant exploration of the best and worst in human nature. B
"Dream Baby" by Bruce McCallister. A young volunteer nurse in Viet Nam begins having prophetic
nightmares about soldiers getting butchered in combat. Scary, graphically violent. B

`"Flowers of Edo" by Bruce Sterling. Seemingly straight fictional account of East meets West in 1860's
Japan explodes with a supernatural surprise at the end. As usual, Sterling conjures up intriguing
characters and astonishingly vivid prose. A
"Forever Yours, Anna" by Kate Wilhelm. World-weary divorced graphologist falls in love with an unknown
woman's handwriting. Moving character study with an elegant surprise finish. A
"At the Cross-Time Jaunter's Ball" by Alexander Jablokov. A tongue-in-cheek look at the love-hate
relationship between artist and critic is the highlight of this meandering story about a man cut adrift in an
ever-changing sea of alternate worlds. C
"Dinosaurs" by Walter Jon Williams. How will we evolve over the next six million years? That's the subject
of this spellbinder about an eighteen-foot tall human diplomat who comes to a planet of inferior canine
creatures to hammer out a peace treaty. Brilliant scientific speculation (humans bioengineer everything,
including the furniture), and dialog crackling with trenchant social and political satire. A+
"The Temporary King" by Paul J. McAuley. Mysterious offworld traveler/adventurer drops in on a
backwoods Earth village and stirs the pot big time. C+
"Perpetuity Blues" by Neal Barrett, Jr. Girl reared by degenerate uncle. Zzzz.
"Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight" by Ursula K. LeGuin. Girl reared by magic coyote. Zzzz.
"The Pardoner's Tale" by Robert Silverberg. Squid-like entities enslave Earth, save for a handful of artful
hackers who can manipulate their intricate computer identification systems. While in Los Angeles, the
cleverest of them all falls into an even cleverer trap. B
"Glass Cloud" by James Patrick Kelly. Kelly's aliens enslave humans far more subtly than Silverberg's,
but just as surely. In the near future, a frustrated architect ponders his broken marriage, his future, and
metaphysics under the growing influence of an inscrutable alien presence. B
"The Morning and the Evening and the Night" by Octavia E. Butler. The cure for cancer leads to an even
more horrific disease, with which a tight-knit group of young afflicted must come to terms. As in Butler's
"Bloodchild" from the Second Annual, cannibalistic gore stands in stark contrast to a tender exploration of
the human condition. B
"Night of the Cooters" by Howard Waldrop. A few of H.G. Wells' Martians get off track and land in a
sleepy Texas cow town. True to form, the cooters fire up their flame-throwers, but the Texans stay cool.
Snappy narrative peppered with humorous Old West jargon. B
"Angel" by Pat Cadigan. A couple of misfits-one human, one not-team up to get more out of life. C
"Shades" by Lucius Shepard. A journalist is lured back to Viet Nam to meet the ghost of his former squad
leader. The psychodrama is slightly less compelling than in his earlier Best contributions, but still good. B
"The Faithful Companion at Forty" by Karen Joy Fowler. A bit of whimsy about Tonto and his labor of
love, The Lone Ranger. B
"Candle in a Cosmic Wind" by Joseph Manzione. Wow. The author's first published story is a tour de
force of well-articulated hard science, dazzling plot, and fantastic characterization, revolving around a
female Soviet soldier who is the sole survivor of an all-out nuclear war. Full of surprises! A+
"The Emir's Clock" by Ian Watson. God sends us a message, but not the one we want to hear. C
"Ever After" by Susan Patwick. As Dozois observes, we see the "gritty underside" of a fairy tale-a
Cinderella story of deadly court intrigues and sinister magic. B
"The Forest of Time" by Michael F. Flynn. Thought-provoking alternate history: in a somber, balkanized
North America, a faltering Pennsylvanian army captures a traveler from our world. The soldiers can't
decide whether he's a spy, a madman-or an opportunity. A
"The Million-Dollar Wound" by Dean Whitlock. Soldiers in a surgically advanced near future can't get
injured badly enough to buy a ticket home. C
"Moon of the Popping Trees" by R. Garcia y Robinson. With Indians on the verge of annihilation at
Wounded Knee, a medicine man has relativistic visions of peace that baffle a local schoolteacher. C
"Diner" by Neal Barrett, Jr. Zzzz.
"All the Hues of Hell" by Gene Wolfe. Zzzz.
"Halley's Passing" by Michael McDowell. Sickeningly violent slice of a meticulous murderer's life. D
"America" by Orson Scott Card. The Lord reenacts his Incarnation to avenge the sins of Western man. Or
something like that: paradoxically, this clearly and skillfully written narrative is a thematic hodgepodge of
environmentalism, mysticism, anti-Catholicism and anti-capitalism. D
"For Thus Do I Remember Carthage" by Michael Bishop. Saint Augustine's long lost son returns from
Cathay to confront him with what we know as modern scientific knowledge and gadgets. The dying
Augustine bitterly rejects him and them. As with oh, so many stories in this volume, the point eludes me.
C
"Mother Goddess of the World" by Kim Stanley Robinson. A lighthearted adventure about climbing
Everest. Not nearly as good as Robinson's previous Best contributions. C
Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection
Good:
"Going After Bobo"--Heartwrenching, poetic character study, but the plot is pretty thin.
"Crux"--Dark detective story/social commentary set in a brutal post-holocaust future dominated by the
Orient. Quite violent, with a fast paced and tighty knit plot.
"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O"--Time travel with two amazing characters. Provocative, in-your-face prose.
"Radiant Green Star"--Another violent future world dominated by the Orient. This time it's a traditional
mystery combined with a poetic coming-of-age story.
"Great Wall of Mars"--A cult of humans with networked implants battle unnetworked humans for survival.
Lots of action, great speculation on the potential of the human mind.
"A Colder War"--Alternate Cold War history with aliens causing major problems for both sides. Confusing
plot, but highly realistic narrative keeps it interesting anyway.

Great:
"The Suspect Genome"--Future world whodunit, set in an England where police work has been
somewhat privatized. Brilliant plot construction and writing keep you engaged all the way.
"On the Orion Line"--Man versus powerful and inscrutable aliens deep in space, far in the future. Well
developed characters, fast paced and straightforward plot.
"Obsidian Harvest"--Another future world detective story set in England. What makes this one
extraordinary is the premise, where the Aztecs dominate the world--human sacrifices, feathered capes,
lots of tequila. Add hard-boiled prose in the tradition of Dashiell Hammett (his "Red Harvest" is great) and
you have something unforgettable.
"Patient Zero"--Nightmarish account of a dreadful near-future. Great plot, great characters, and makes
some strong statements in only fifteen pages

Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection

1. "R & R" by Lucius Shepard. Can a story be too well written? Formidable story but florid prose: weary
American soldiers fighting a war of attrition in future Central America get serious battle fatigue. I got
serious metaphor fatigue. B
2. "Hatrack River" by Orson Scott Card. Does a seemingly innocent pioneer girl merely see the future...or
shape it? Thought-provoking, sometimes violent story laced with mysticism set in 1805 Pennsylvania. B
3. "Strangers in Paradise" by Damon Knight. Man visits enchanting Earth-colonized planet only to
discover its dirty little secret. A
4. "Pretty Boy Crossover" by Pat Cadigan. Confused and rebellious future teenagers literally go digital
instead of getting pierced or tattooed. Cadigan's portrait of virtual reality is ahead of its time, well framed
in a compelling story. A
5. "Against Babylon" by Robert Silverberg. Intrepid, exhausted pilot fights raging brush fires in Los
Angeles as alien space ships land with intentions unknown. A real page turner! A
6. "Fiddling for Waterbuffloes" by Somtow Sucharitkul. Too high on the ambiguity scale for me. C-
7. "Into Gold" by Tanith Lee. Roman warlord falls for sultry witch in a remote corner of the crumbling
Empire. Haunting prose creates an aura of impending doom. B+
8. "Sea Change" by Scott Baker. Loveable boy in future Venice is drawn to mysterious sea creatures. Is
this a good thing or a bad thing? C

9. "Covenant of Souls" by Michael Swanick. Despite the religious motif, this one, set in nuclear war-torn
America, doesn't have a prayer. C-
10. "The Pure Product" by John Kessel. Alien tourists blend in with humans on a visit to the Midwest and
do a whole lot more than take pictures. Absolutely chilling. A+
11. "Grave Angels" by Richard Kearns. Simultaneously lyrical and gruesome tale about life, death, and
the sometimes grim consequences of getting what you wish for. A-
12. "Tangents" by Greg Bear. Boy with unique mathematical insight makes very hard contact with life in
the Fourth Dimension. B
13. "The Beautiful and the Sublime" by Bruce Sterling. My favorite story in the book. The author's own
description is perfect: "(A) Wodehousian romantic comedy about the death of the scientific method..."
Lots of unforgettable characters and dialog; fantastic, ironical plot totally counter to my expectations. A+
14. "Tattoos" by Jack Dann. On the other hand, this one is kind of predictable. C-
15. "Night Moves" by Tim Powers. Dreams, reality, madness and memory converge on a sad and lonely
soul in New York. Complex, well plotted, thought-provoking. B
16. "The Prisoner of Chillon" by James Patrick Kelly. Zzzz
17. "Chance" by Connie Willis. Depressed New England woman married to brutish professor gets a
chance to clean up her past when she returns to her undergraduate campus. C
18. "And So to Bed" by Harry Turtledove. This story, written in Elizabethan English, is so hard to read I
didn't read it. NR
19. "Fair Game" by Howard Waldrop. Why do so many sci-fi writers write about Ernest Hemingway? C-
20. "Video Star" by Walter Jon Williams. America is in disarray, dissolving into a network of drug-dealing
and otherwise criminal gangs...A daring con man bursts on the scene with a foolproof scheme to rip off
two of them. Like I said, foolproof. This would make a great movie. A
21. "Sallie C" by Neal Barrett, Jr. Incongruous historical figures meet up in an Old West Saloon. Too
incongruous, I figure. C
22. "Jeff Beck" by Lewis Shiner. What would it be like to play like Jeff Beck? Promising premise promptly
peters out. C
23. "Surviving" by Judith Moffett. Female writer and woman raised by chimps become friends, then spend
lots of time probing each other's psyche while swinging naked from trees. I'm not kidding. B
24. "Down and Out in the Year 2000" by Kim Stanley Robinson. My second favorite, set in a crumbling
Washington, D.C. even worse than it's actually turned out. A poverty-stricken street hustler has his world
closing in on him as he slowly and steadily runs out of money. Exceedingly well-written: the noose
tightens with every sentence! A+
25. "Snake Eyes" by Tom Maddox. The author gets it right on artificial intelligence: very cool. A military
pilot is hard-wired for combat, but the war gets cancelled like a TV show. Unfortunately, he can't pull his
altered head out of its nosedive. B+
26. "The Gate of Ghosts" by Karen Joy Fowler. Extremely sad story about a devoted mother whose
sweet four year-old daughter is gradually being pulled away by strange, unseen forces. A
27. "The Winter Market" by William Gibson. Zzzz

Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection

1. "Salvador" by Lucius Shepard. Tense, poignant story of a young soldier struggling to survive a nerve-
racking guerilla war in a lush, surreal jungle. Beautifully written with a brilliant ending that is subtle,
shocking, and sad. Shepard kicked off the Fourth Annual with the formidable "R & R", also about troubled
soldiers in a future Central American war, but this effort is stronger. A+
2. "Promises to Keep" by Jack McDevitt. Standard space opera fare about a crippled space ship limping
home from Jupiter's moons. C
3. "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler. Not for the squeamish. Wormlike aliens love humans, not for their
minds, but for their bodies, in a most unusual way. Great realism lies at the heart of this strange tale: the
interspecies relationships have all the depth, tension and complexity of human ones. A+
4. "Blued Moon" by Connie Willis. Same problem here as in her First Annual contribution, "The Sidon in
the Mirror": tricked-up linguistics in the dialog detracts from an otherwise passable story. This one takes a
lighthearted look at the unexpected side effects of improper hazardous waste disposal. C
5. "A Message to the King of Brobdingnag" by Richard Cowper. Crop researcher looking to cure world
hunger fails spectacularly. Tautly written, laced with irony. A
6. "The Affair" by Robert Silverberg. Man and woman with rich psychic powers connect for a long-
distance mental yet highly sensual affair. Thought-provoking examination of where the boundaries lie-or
don't lie-between physical and spiritual love. A
7. "Press Enter []" by John Varley. Set around 1984, this spooky speculation on computer networks
makes for an interesting read in 2003...Two Southern California misfits fall in love as they uncover lethal
secrets lurking in the burgeoning Internet. However-fuzzy plot undermines sharp characters. B
8. "New Rose Hotel" by William Gibson. The day of reckoning draws near for a twenty-first century
gangster holed up in the New Rose Hotel. Bleak and shadowy, it's a film noir in print: the protagonist's
eleventh-hour confession reads like Fred MacMurray's clipped narrative in "Double Indemnity". B
9. "The Map" by Gene Wolfe. Not a big fantasy fan, so NR.
10. "Interlocking Pieces" by Molly Gloss. Brief but emotionally powerful examination of medical
transplanting ratcheted up a notch, featuring a pair of tragic, touchingly human patients. A
11. "Trojan Horse" by Michael Swanick. The world's first total personality transplant causes massive
confusion for the recipient...and the reader. D
12. "Bad Medicine" by Jack M. Dann. Man in the spiritual wilderness seeks truth by participating in a
violent Indian exorcism ceremony. C
13. "At the Embassy Club" by Elizabeth A. Lynn. Romantic fairytale set on an alien planet with a complex,
highly ritualistic Oriental-like culture. C
14. "Pursuit of Excellence" by Rena Yount. Twenty-first century married couple struggle with the harsh
socio-economic realities of bioengineering their progeny. Their uncomfortably realistic tale of woe is
perhaps more relevant today than when it was written. A-
15. "The Kindly Isle" by Frederik Pohl. A widower haunted by his past gradually finds happiness on a
business trip to a tropical island. But wait! Everybody around here is happy--and he thinks he knows why.
Complex, appealing characters and plot: a refreshing change from the gloomy, cynical or outright
cataclysmic perspectives so prevalent in short sci-fi. A
16. "Rock On" by Pat Cadigan. Set in the near future, a barely comprehensible, abrasively written, but
mercifully short story about a psycho-invasive rock and roll creative process...or something. D
17. "Sunken Gardens" by Bruce Sterling. Sterling's vivid imagination and descriptive brilliance carry this
Mechanist/Shaper story about a high stakes terraforming contest among posthuman sects. B+
18. "Trinity" by Nancy Kress. Loathsome entomologist manipulates sister and clone brother in attempt to
keep them from participating in an experiment to scientifically verify the existence of God. Kress roasts
atheists and believers with equal gusto, leaving us with an indigestible hash of hopeless negativity. D-
19. "The Trouble with the Cotton People" by Ursula K. LeGuin. In just a few pages, LeGuin paints an
extraordinarily vivid picture of a future barter based world, as seen through the eyes of a young, plain
spoken traveler. B
20. "Twilight Time" by Lewis Shiner. A man from a politically oppressive near future time travels back to a
defining moment of his youth and encounters things expected and unexpected. Suspenseful, nostalgic,
well crafted, with evocative characters and an impressive catalog of 1950's Americana. A+
21. "Black Coral" by Lucius Shepard. A nasty American on a decaying Caribbean island gets his during a
heavy-duty bender of drinks, drugs, and voodoo. A lush, dizzying kaleidoscope of terror. B
22. "Friend" by James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel. Twisted love triangle onboard an interstellar
passenger ship. B
23. "Foreign Skins" by Tanith Lee. Young British boy in Colonial India becomes a man (quite literally) in a
supernatural trial by fire when a mysterious woman secrets him away to her world of shape changing,
reptilian demigods. B
24. "Company in the Wings" by R. A. Lafferty. Psst: imaginary characters populate alternate realities. C
25. "A Cabin on the Coast" by Gene Wolfe. Man on holiday with his girlfriend walks (swims, actually) into
a magical illusion, and through it discovers the terrible reality beneath. Sharply written, fantastically
finished. A+
26. "The Lucky Strike" by Kim Stanley Robinson. Robinson seems to favor stories about men slowly
being squeezed in a vise of hostile circumstances. In this one, the bombardier in an alternate reality
sweats out his bombing run to Hiroshima. Taut, action-packed, vivid and realistic in both description and
characterization. A+

Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection

"Cicada Queen" by Bruce Sterling. Court intrigues abound in this highly stylized, far future techno-
medieval world at the crossroads. The author's eye for imaginative detail is remarkable. A

"Beyond the Dead Reef"¨ by James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon). Spine-tingling science-horror with a diver
stranded out beyond a ghostly and ghastly reef. Features one of the most terrifying and palpable images I
can recall in science-fiction. A+

"Slow Birds" by Ian Watson. Speaking of powerful images, the slow birds inhabiting this far future,
pastoral Earth are utterly fascinating, along with the strange doom they portend. Wonderful plot, well
crafted characters. A+

"Vulcan's Forge" by Poul Anderson. Curmudgeonly scientist on Mercury has an unusual relationship with
his female colleague¡and his space probe. Excellent hard science, but alas the plot is predictable. C

"Man-Mountain Gentian" by Howard Waldrop. Sumo wrestlers in 2014 find new applications for Zen.
Clever, entertaining story with a couple marvelous characters and an appropriately enigmatic, Zen-like
finish. A

"Hardfought" by Greg Bear. Dozios' preface says it well: "...a brilliant tour-de-force about the interplay
between science and history that takes us simultaneously to the far reaches of the universe and deep
inside the hearts of our distant descendants--people so changed by the consequence of a millennia-long
war that they have become nearly as alien as the enigmatic enemy they fight..." Bear pushes scientific
speculation to the imaginative limits. A+

"Manifest Destiny" by Joe Haldeman. After exercising my brain on "Hardfought", I enjoyed taking a
breather with this amusing, cleverly written memoir about fortunes--material and ethereal--in the Old
West. A

"Full Chicken Richness" by Avram Davidson. Quirky, choppy and above all silly time-travel story about an
underachieving entrepreneur. C

"Multiples", by Richard Silverberg. If you think dating is tough with only one personality each... As always
Silverberg writes with great clarity, but here, his premise seems completely implausible. C

"Cryptic" by Jack McDevitt. Skillful combination of mystery, suspense, and science as a bored SETI
physicist/administrator gets out of his rut grappling with a cryptic message from space and an equally
cryptic warning from a predecessor. A

"The Sidon in the Mirror" by Connie Willis. Youthful anti-hero takes on cunning villain to aid damsel in
distress in a frontier mining town...on a distant dying sun. The offworld dialect is highly distracting, making
the whole thing hard to follow. C-
"Golden Gate" by R. A. Lafferty. Reality blurs for a man watching a melodrama in a bizarre bar. Although
Laffety's idiosyncratic style isn't for me, I did like his description of the villain as having "arms like a
python." C

"Blind Shemmy" by Jack Dann. Grisly tale about some very literal mind games in a future Paris casino, as
two thrill seeking, adversarial gamblers play their hearts out. Literally. A-

"In the Islands" by Pat Murphy. Young marine biologist in the Caribbean agonizes over the imminent loss
of his mutant friend to the sea. C

"Nunc Dimittis" by Tanith Lee. (Title from Luke, 2:29: "Now Master, you may let your servant go in
peace.") Tanith Lee's brooding, gothic voice speaks hauntingly in this melancholy story of a loyal but
aging servant, his streetwise replacement-to-be, and the seductive vampire princess to whom they are
drawn. Lee serves up dark reflections on love, mortality, and immortality as seen from each of their three
very different perspectives. A+

"Blood Music" by Greg Bear. A brilliant but appallingly rash researcher allows some of his intelligent,
genetically engineered microbes to set up shop in his body. Dire consequences ensue for both him and
the universe. More fascinating science from Bear, and a page-turning narrative to boot. A

"Her Furry Face" by Leigh Kennedy. Thoroughly disgusting "character" study about a teacher who rapes
his orangutan student. How this monkey business got in here qualifies for Best Mystery of 1983.
Opposable thumbs down. F-

"Knight of Shallows" by Rand B. Lee. A troubled man's exciting journey through alternate realities ends
up taking a wrong turn on Plot Street. C

"The Cat" by Gene Wolf. Not a big fantasy fan--can't venture a guess on the merits of this one.

"The Monkey Treatment" by George R. R. Martin. Impossible to put down--simultaneously funny and
frightening, this story is about a lovelorn 367-pound gourmand who signs up for a rather unique weight
loss program. Results, to say the least, are mixed. Ingenious concept (with apologies to Oscar Wilde),
witty, fast-paced narrative, perfectly constructed plot, unforgettably ghoulish images. Opposable thumbs
up! A+

"Nearly Departed" by Pat Cadigan. Unremarkable fare about a mind prober probing a dead poet's
memories. C

"Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine" by John Kessel. Troubled turn-of-the twenty-first married couple attempts
to rekindle their romance by torching their memories of each other. B

"Carrion Comfort" by Dan Simmons. Like a Quentin Tarantino film: well crafted disgustingly graphic
violence. Creepy cold-hearted senior citizens with psychic powers induce hapless nobodies to commit
horrendous crimes--then turn on each other. I could find no redeemable qualities beneath the carnage. C

"Gemstone" by Vernor Vinge. The life story of an alien rock moves along at the speed of...well, a rock.
Zzzz

"Black Air" by Kim Stanley Robinson. Disaster closes in on the crippled remnants of the Spanish Armada
in the frozen North Atlantic, as seen from the eyes of a spiritually sensitive youth dragooned into service.
Similar in structure to Robinson's story from the fourth edition, "Down and Out in the Year 2000", where
bit by bit, sentence by sentence, the inevitable doom tightens its grip. A
1. Trebuie instalat un program pentru a crea un server. Am ales pentru aceasta
Wamp Server, ce poate fi descarcat gratuit de la adresa:
http://www.wampserver.com/en/download.php

2. Trebuie instalat si pornit Wamp Server.

Dupa instalare, langa ceasul din dreapta jos apare un arc de cerc colorat rosu,
galben sau alb, cu un lacatel pe el. Pentru ca serverul sa functioneze, trebuie ca
arcul de cerc sa fie lab si fara lacatel. Pentru aceasta, Wamp server trebuie pus
online, cu serviciile restartate.

3. Instalarea unui script php prin care sa fie autoindexata colectia dumneavoastra
de carti/reviste etc.
Pentru aceasta downloadam scriptul AutoIndex PHP Script de la urmatoarea
adresa:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/auto ... p?download
Il dezarhivam, iar structura o copiem in directorul (folderul) www din wamp.
Tastam in browser adresa http://localhost
Vom completa dupa bunul plac setarile, iar in final va aparea un site de genul
http://autoindex.sourceforge.net/demo/
Copiem cartile/revistele in directorul wamp/www/ColectiaMea (sau cum ati ales
dumneavoastra)
La tastarea adresei http://localhost veti observa ca toate cartile adaugate de
dumneavoastra au fost indexate.

4. Ne mai ramane doar sa ne mai alegem o adresa de domeniu care sa fie

cunoscuta de ceilalti membrii romania-inedit.
Pentru aceasta, ne facem un cont la adresa http://www.no-ip.com, ne logam,
descarcam programelul de la ei si-l pornim, cream un domeniu de genul carti.no-
ip.org (din cele free) si urmarim ca aceasta adresa sa apara ca valida in programelul
downloadat DUC 3.0

Pentru ca adresa nou aleasa sa functioneze, iar ceilalti sa poata intra pe pagina
creata de dumneavoastra este obligatoriu ca Wamp Server si DUC 3.0 sa fie pornite.

Succes si sper ca in acest topic sa vedem cat mai multe astfel de adrese!