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The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 20 edited by Gardner Dozois
01/11/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Constable Robinson. 723 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-84529-662-9. The Year's Best Science Fiction 24th Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois - pub: St. Martin's Press. 662 page enlarged paperback. Price: $21.95 (US), $26.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-312-35335-2. Buy The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 20 in the USA - or Buy The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 20 in the UK  check out websites: www.constablerobinson.com and www.stmartins.com
When I look at these 'Best Of SF-' books, I instinctively check out where the material is sourced from. Several from 'Asimov's Magazine', a few from 'Magazine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction', a couple from 'Jim Baen's Universe' and token appearances from the rest. Must have been a crap year for 'Analog' who only come up twice in the 'Honourable Mentions' at the back of the book and no actual stories.
For the record and still much to our ire, SFCrowsnest going for over a dozen years and which the nice publishers happily send us both editions of this book and obviously know more than its editor Gardner Dozois, is still ignored in his annual report of what's going on in online Science Fiction. I'm beginning to think he is probably doing us a favour now because with our number of monthly hits, 33 million, SFC gets seems to grow substantially the more they ignore us. Just goes to show the taste of our readership is healthier than the minority. No wonder the Science Fiction fan community is seen as a place for spilling bad blood. Let's not go into that now, but look at what is considered the 'best' this year.
As always, 'Best' is a subjective term and one can only hope it matches individual taste. With a book this size, there has to be something for everyone and some that will considered as not of particular interest. As an astute reviewer, I read the lot, looking for material that is smitten with good ideas as good writing. Doesn't mean they fall together well. The book's preference for known writers who've won awards is still pretty prevalent and no doubt could be considered as useful to have on the cover but it doesn't necessarily follow making good choices.
I found the opening few stories predictable or dull and it wasn't until I reached Kage Baker's 'Where The Apples Grow' about truckers on Mars that things suddenly got interesting as character studies and imagery. The same can be said of an even shorter story, 'Kin' by Bruce McAllister, where a boy persuades an alien assassin not to kill his sister. The first of two stories by Alastair Reynolds' 'Signal To Noise' where a widow's personality is transferred into an alternative world's version of himself to share a few days with that one's wife has its moments. It is SF that makes the story happens but the rest relies more on the traditional unattainable love story. Gregory Benford's 'Bow Shock' plays more with science discovery and rivalry for a very unusual encounter that could work equally well as a general genre story.
A couple stories were oddly tragic but not in the normal sense. David D. Levine's 'I Hold My Father's Paws' tells of a son invited to see his father being surgically changed into a dog to end his days as a pet. John Barnes' 'Every Hole Is Outlined' uses a space freighter setting to show recruitment and death amongst the stars in a rather appealing way that could almost be called a ghost story.
'Dead Man Walking' has Paul J. McAuley on form with an android assassin determined to stay retired but finds another with a similar MO on his turf on a prison moon where he poses as one of the wardens.
In all there are twenty-eight stories, mostly novelette-length, here and it would be difficult to say you won't get your money's worth or a lot of inside info of what happened in the SF world last year. There is much lament at the fall of sales of certain magazines without offering solutions like encouraging new writers and new ideas. SF needs new blood if it's to avoid becoming static and this also needs to be reflected in books such as this.
GF Willmetts
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