The Year’s best Science Fiction Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection

The Year’s best Science Fiction Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection
Gardner Dozois (editor)
St. Martin’s Griffin, Jul 6 2010, $21.99
ISBN: 9780312608989

This anthology always lives up to its hyped title as the “best” as Gardner Dozois does his usual yeoman’s job of selecting from print and the net a strong collection; this time thirty-two short stories (631 pages of contributions). The Summation of 2009 is the usual profound absorbing essay that focuses on the good with overall strong creative writings especially in book anthologies and on the Internet; and the bad with the continual collapse especially early in the year of print magazines and the panic amongst publishing firms as Mr. Dozois says reminiscent of the 1929 Wall St. collapse though as I say no one jumped. In his article he recommends going to the Internet as the anthology golden age is ebbing but the year also turned to hard copy retrospective anthologies of famous authors.

Most of the selected shorts in this year’s collection are from known authors like Ian McDonald, Robert Chares Wilson and Nancy Kress while the Honorable Mention listing does likewise to include a Bear, a Beagle and a Baxter amongst an A-Z who’s who. This reviewer especially enjoyed those entries I never read before especially from the electronic publications; as an aging Boomer I need the hard copy. The selections are excellent as readers will enjoy the compilation with tales like “Useless Things” by Maureen G. McHugh, "Things Undone" by John Barnes's and Karl Bunker’s “Under the Shouting Sky” affirming Mr. Dozois’ claim of the “Best” in breed as the collection runs the science fiction universe..

Harriet Klausner