The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection (Year's Best Science Fiction) | 
| Creator: Gardner Dozois
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 8809
Media: Paperback
Edition: Annual
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 704
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.9
ISBN: 0312378602
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.0876208
EAN: 9780312378608
Publication Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year’s Best Science Fiction Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world. This venerable collection brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Ian McDonald, Stephen Baxter, Michael Swanwick, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kage Baker, Walter Jon Williams, Alastair Reynolds, and Charles Stross . And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 WARNING! This book is misbound! November 2, 2008
As always, this yearly collection of short and novella-length science fiction is superbly selected and edited by Gardner Dozois. BUT THIS YEAR THE PUBLISHER, ST. MARTIN'S GRIFFIN, ALLOWED THE FIRST EDITION, PAPERBACK, TO BE RELEASED WITH A COMPLETE SECTION (PAGES 109 TO 140) MISSING. The missing section includes (or should have included) parts of stories by Una McCormack and Greg Egan and all of "The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small" by Chris Roberson. This is not simply a problem with one copy of the book; there's no physical gap between pages 108 and 141. Another printing may include the missing section, but I'd advise looking the book over before you purchase it.
 Not Free SF Reader October 30, 2008
An above average edition of this series. That doesn't mean as applied to all books, as most of this series is fantastic. The average here is 3.86, so on the high side.
There is the usual lengthy and informative introduction, going over the state of play.
Paying some more attention to electronic markets he singles out Jim Baen's Universe as the preeminent online magazine, and, in fact, one of the few where you get actual genre science fiction and fantasy as opposed to 'slipstream/fantasy/horror/new weird etc.'.
So, more particularly if you are a science fiction interested person only and in particular his 'centre core' science fiction., Asimov's, Analog, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Interzone and Jim Baen's Universe, and you can pretty much give the rest the arse as far as the top paying markets go, unless you like to read lots, or read fast. Helix is now stopped, too. There are other mags like Strange Horizons and Clarkesworld etc. that will have some SF, and of course some lesser publications, but it is nowhere near as frequent, and certainly not of the same level of quality.
Dozois spends a little time talking about magazines in the general view, in that postage is increasing rapidly only with other costs so the smaller publications will have the same problems their larger cousins do, and online only may be the only affordable way to go.
He also lists the various reprint sources, but he is wrong about Sci-Fi's Sci Fiction, last I checked last week you can still get to the stories. Then, of course, there is always the Wayback Machine for some stuff like Omni. Infinity Plus, places like that.
His honorable mention list will catch the odd online story or others of interest for those with less comprehensive reading habits.
He singles out the original anthology upsurge and covers those, point out Solaris and Fast Forward as the ones you want to get. The first volume is Eclipse is devoid of science fiction, and I agree, you can completely skip that book from that point of view.
Then the usual coverage of novels and other media, too.
Anyway, another great book, and a must have. Certainly nice to have a year with Pat Cadigan and a double Egan, my favorite being Ian McDonald's wild New Space Opera megawar tale.
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : FINISTERRA - David Moles
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : LIGHTING OUT - Ken MacLeod
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE OCEAN IS A SNOWFLAKE FOUR BILLION MILES AWAY - John Barnes
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : SAVING TIAMAAT - Gweyneth Jones
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : OF LATE I DREAMT OF VENUS - James Van Pelt
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : VERTHANDI'S RING - Ian McDonald
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : SEA CHANGE - Una McCormack
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE SKY IS LARGE AND THE EARTH IS SMALL - Chris Roberson
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : GLORY - Greg Egan
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : AGAINST THE CURRENT - Robert Silverberg
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : ALIEN ARCHEOLOGY - Neal Asher
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE MERCHANT AND THE ALCHEMIST'S GATE - Ted Chiang
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : BEYOND THE WALL - Justin Stanchfield
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : KIOSK - Bruce Sterling
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : LAST CONTACT - Stephen Baxter
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE SLEDGE-MAKERS DAUGHTER - Alastair Reynolds
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : SANJEEV AND ROBOTWALLAH - Ian McDonald
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE SKYSAILORS TALE - Michael Swanwick
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : OF LOVE AND OTHER MONSTERS - Vandana Singh
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : STEVE FEVER - Greg Egan
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : HELLFIRE AT TWILIGHT - Kage Baker
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE IMMORTALS OF ATLANTIS - Brian Stableford
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : NOTHING PERSONAL - Pat Cadigan
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : TIDELINE - Elizabeth Bear
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE ACCORD - Keith Brooke
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : LAWS OF SURVIVAL - Nancy Kress
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE MISTS OF TIME - Tom Purdom
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : CRATERS - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : THE PROPHET OF FLORES - Ted Kosmatka
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : STRAY - Benjamin Rosenbaum & David Ackert
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : ROXIE - Robert Reed
Year's Best Science Fiction 25 : DARK HEAVEN - Gregory Benford
Aeronautical gasbag butchery breakdown backup solution.
4 out of 5
Partial emigration game.
4 out of 5
Energetic documentary avalanche accident.
3 out of 5
Diaspora warpdrive fine young cannibal political assassination.
4 out of 5
Long term terraforming relationship.
4 out of 5
Multiversal war dump survival massacre.
5 out of 5
School's out forever, mums, stomach pump and all.
3.5 out of 5
Chinese Mexican astronomical intelligence.
3.5 out of 5
Antimatter lightspeed starblast instantiation means mathematical archaeology discovery decision.
4.5 out of 5
The Once and Future Driver.
3.5 out of 5
Making a xenodiscovery killing.
4 out of 5
Wormhole time tender's raconteur replay.
4 out of 5
Ship time warp trouble.
4.5 out of 5
Fabrication pirates.
3 out of 5
Ripped off.
4 out of 5
Great Winter war worry witch weapon passing.
4.5 out of 5
Battletech comes and goes, but pizza always popular.
4 out of 5
I'm not a bloke, but you can kiss me anyway, airship boy.
4 out of 5
Meta mind alien burn.
3.5 out of 5
Resurrection nanobuild permutation recreation.
4.5 out of 5
Mystery not berry real, but game commences for more than usual fee.
4 out of 5
Birthright activation fifth stage terminal interruption.
3.5 out of 5
Multiversal Dread.
4 out of 5
Master Belvedere, battletech beachcomber.
4 out of 5
Proxy people.
2.5 out of 5
Alien desperate dog school.
4.5 out of 5
Slave ship rescue, double viewing.
4 out of 5
Mandatory babychipping has horrendously explosive terrorist consequences, reporter finds.
4.5 out of 5
Hobbit descent discovery doctrine defiance.
3.5 out of 5
Immortal surprise.
3 out of 5
Dog destiny via bolide.
4 out of 5
Centauri monkeyboy fry.
4 out of 5
The best of the best ofs September 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you buy only one SF book this year, that should be that one. Gardner Dozois selects a wide range of stories among all those published in magazines and anthologies. there's something for everybody here.
Enjoy Greg Egan's return to writing with "Glory" and "Steve Fever", one of the most powerful stories of the year, Hugo winner "Tideline" by new star Elisabeth Bear, Hugo and nebula winner "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by the too rare Ted Chiang, along with confirmed big names (Reed, Sterling, Baker, Kress, Baker, Benford, baxter, Reynolds) and exciting newcomers: Roberson (his story set in an alternate China is a pure delight), Stanchfield, McCormack, Singh.
Space Operas, Alternate Histories, Techno-thrillers, Philosophical Tales, Social Changes, the whole range of SF is here.
another year, another winner September 19, 2008
As always, Mr. Dozois keeps the excellent level of his choices for best SF shorts of the year.A fat volume, not a word wasted.
 Worth the price of admission August 28, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have several of Dozois' collections, and this one is--as reviewer Brad Schorr also said--above average. I didn't love every one of its thirty-two stories, and I couldn't even bring myself to finish two of them, but that's par for the course. In my experience, about 25 percent of a decent edited volume is really enjoyable, 25 percent is a chore to read, and the middle fifty percent falls between "blah" and "not bad." In this collection, I'd say that only the two aforementioned stories were really a chore to read, and though several stories were "blah," most fell between "not bad" and "pretty good". That's not too shabby if you subscribe to Sturgeon's Law ("Ninety percent of everything is crap").
I'm not going to run down all of the stories since Brad Schorr's done that for us already, but I do want to point out that there's plenty of room for disagreement with his take on them. Two stories that Schorr graded "A" -- "Roxie" and "The Skysailor's Tale" -- were the two that I couldn't read, the former because it was so drippingly sentimental, and the latter because it was so mannered and slow. Most of the stories he graded "C" fall into my "not bad" category, including Ken McLeod's "Lighting Out", which is a decent if pretty standard McLeod/Stross "singularity" tale, and McDonald's "Sanjeev and Robotwallah," which is a craftsmanlike near-future piece about how new technologies disrupt traditional life in the underdeveloped world. On the other hand, we agreed about several of the stories, including Chris Roberson's "The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small," a subtle alternate history piece that appears to be the most anthologized story of the year.
Bottom line: If you're in the mood for some stories and you don't need them all to be absolutely amazing, this collection is a good deal.
P.S. If you've read Dozois' THE NEW SPACE OPERA anthology, you should be aware that three of the stories collected here are drawn from there ("Saving Tiaamat," "Verthandi's Ring," and "Glory"). On the other hand, if you haven't read that anthology, I recommend it. Don't judge the book by the quality of those three stories -- they are NOT the best of the bunch.
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