The Year's Best Science Fiction (20th Annual Collection) edited by Gardner Dozois
01/10/2003 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 

pub: St. Martin's Press. 648 page enlarged paperback. Price: $19.95 (US), $27.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-312-30860-4. 648 page hardback. Price: $35.00 (US): $48.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-312-20859-0.

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Usually, I only see this volume in its Constable reprint next year but as we've got the St. Martin's Press early, we can treat this edition as an advance warning as what to expect in the UK release.

I was pretty much down on last year's edition, especially for the lack of new writers amongst the stories. To some extent, that's been remedied a little although that is still dependent on what the various editors have chosen from their magazine as the best SF they had last year.

There's a few absences in the list. You'd have thought that there was something suitable from Asimov's Magazine and raises odd questions like how the 'best' are selected. Maybe editor Dozois can enlighten us in his editorial next year.

The strongest impression I had though was the number of novelettes in this collection rather than truly short stories. Either way, there's a general lack of punch in the endings that make you stop and think at the end. Call me old-fashioned but wasn't part of the enjoyment of reading SF stories something that made you think as well as read?

There was also a certain amount of uniformity of style, too, come to that. Considering how each of the magazines have different requirements, you'd have thought that this would reflect in the chosen stories. Still, with a mammoth read of 300,000 words, it was more a matter of spacing it out to read within a month without feeling burnt out.

No doubt, you the reader will do a similar thing rather than attempt to hammer through the book. I do get the odd feeling that these books are bought but not necessarily read all the way through. This book is important for a number of reasons. If you can't get the various SF mags off the newstands, like we can't in the UK, then it's a useful guide as an indication as to style and what's been bought in the recent past as to what you can send them if you write stories.

Although the comment about similarities above tends to indicate a more of a try the rounds approach these days. The range of authors is mostly from across the board, so it means there's someone's favourite out there from a Greg Bear fan to being a Nancy Kress fan. To single anyone out is either going to do a disservice to all 25 authors.

Oddly enough, I thought Walter Jon Williams 3 page short story 'The Millennium Party' more my cup of tea. This isn't to say none of the stories aren't interesting, just that I wish there was a lot more to the endings. Editor Garner Dozois keynote speech to the events in the SF world is still a must-read aspect of the book even if particular websites seemed to be ignored for one reason or another.

As ye publisher and myself note, as St. Martin's Press very kindly gave us both a copy, we've been around nearly a decade now and not likely to go away. It's not so much we care about being ignored but there's definitely a feeling of political tension in the US SF world at present which shouldn't be allowed to permeate its literature where the writers just want to tell their stories.

If it affects us, then there must be other worthies in a similar boat because of similar agendas. For the record, I'm not blaming editor Dozois for this but do feel someone somewhere should be knocking heads to be more adult.

The information as far as it goes is accurate but it's getting too easy to spot the cracks rather than watch the friction.

GF Willmetts