Year's Best SF 11

by David G. Hartwell

Paperback, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

PS648.S3 Y43

Series

Year's Best SF (11)

Genres

Science Fiction

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Harper Voyager (2006), 512 pages

Description

This is the best short form science fiction of 2005, selected by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, two of the most respected editors in the field. The short story is one of the most vibrant and exciting areas in science fiction today. It is where the hot new authors emerge and where the beloved giants of the field continue to publish. Now, building on the success of the first nine volumes, Eos will once again present a collection of the best stories of the year in mass market. Here, selected and compiled by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, two of the most respected editors in the field, are stories with visions of tomorrow and yesterday, of the strange and the familiar, of the unknown and the unknowable. With stories from an all-star team of science fiction authors, "Year's Best Sf 11" is an indispensable guide for every science fiction fan.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member RBeffa

This collection of a large number of stories runs to about 500 pages. It covers a selection of stories from a number of places from the year 2005. I'm thinking that 2005 was not a very good year, if I used this selection as a judge. There are some themes in here, whether a reflection of what the

author thought was current or just random chance I don't know, but religion is a heavily recurring element to these stories. (Religion is an element of many science fiction stories but it seemed a little overdone in this collection.) Artificial intelligence is everywhere and posthuman and transhuman and a few other buzzwords of the day like to get thrown around in many of the stories. Oh, and rats (as in rodents). There is also an odd excessive number of 2 1/2 page stories from the magazine 'Nature'. There were several stories in here that I just could not bother to finish. I had some other problems with this collection, but 'nuff said. I was more than a little disappointed.

There were however a handful of very good stories in this collection. One of the standout pieces for me was 'Bright Red Star' by Bud Sparhawk. A small scene in a future war where humanity has hard choices. I had read this story many years ago when it appeared in Asimov's magazine but it seems to have had a stronger impression this time. Another one is an Alastair Reynolds novelette (almost a novella) titled 'Beyond the Aquila Rift'. I had read this one before in 2011 in a collection of Reynold's stories that I really liked. It is an oddly affecting story, a space opera setting but with a small focal point of characters who have gone far astray, beyond the limits of normal travel. I also liked R Garcia y Robertson's 'Oxygen Rising' that focuses on a peacekeeper in a future war among altered humans. Inventive and comes with a twist.

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