Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels

by Gardner Dozois

Book Overview

For more than twenty years The Year's Best Science Fiction has been recognized as the best collection of short science fiction writing in the universe and an essential resource for every science fiction fan. In 2005 the original Best of the Best collected the finest short stories from that series and became a benchmark in the SF field. Now, for the first time ever, Hugo Award-winning editor Gardner Dozios sifts through hundreds of stories and dozens...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312363427
• ISBN13: 9780312363420
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 656 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Not Free SF Reader

In his introduction Dozois says he has chosen from his favorite novellas in the first twenty volumes of his Year's Best Series, barring leaving out a couple that were being published at the time. A length of which he is a fan, apparently : "Unlike many of today's novel, all too many of wihch strike me as novellas grossly padded-out to be five hundred pages long, there are rarely any wasted words in a novella". Padding is right in a lot of books, couldn't agree more, but presumably length sells - although editors of course make heaps more work for themselves with longer novels. If you have to fix 120K words rather than 80K, anybody can work that one out. This book came about, he says because the first volume, Best of the Best had novellas, too, but there were lots more to fit in. Apparently he has selected 100-120 over the life of the series, or thereabouts. Seeing this volume is considerably shorter, as far as story count goes, it will run the risk of not having the chance to appeal to as many people on probability, I would think, given a selection of his own exactly particular taste, rather than a deliberate wider ranger. Holds true for me, I think, as none of my own particular favorites of those volumes I have read, here, but The Hemingway Hoax is rather good. So the score is only 3.69, which is lower than your standard 3.80 average score for his Year's Best series. This, however, is still an excellent anthology. Best of the Best 2 : Sailing To Byzantium - Robert Silverberg Best of the Best 2 : Surfacing - Walter Jon Williams Best of the Best 2 : The Hemingway Hoax - Joe Haldeman Best of the Best 2 : Mr. Boy - James Patrick Kelly Best of the Best 2 : Beggars In Spain - Nancy Kress Best of the Best 2 : Griffin's Egg - Michael Swanwick Best of the Best 2 : Outnumbering The Dead - Frederick Pohl Best of the Best 2 : Forgiveness Day - Ursula K. LeGuin Best of the Best 2 : The Cost To Be Wise - Maureen F. McHugh Best of the Best 2 : Oceanic - Greg Egan Best of the Best 2 : Tendeleo's Story - Ian McDonald Best of the Best 2 : New Light On The Drake Equation - Ian R. MacLeod Best of the Best 2 : Turquoise Days - Alastair Reynolds Tedious travelogue and artificial lifetime constraints. 3 out of 5 Undersea communication research alien possession accomodation. 4 out of 5 Multiple serial murder mayhem over Ernie's multiversal missing manuscript mania. 4.5 out of 5 Not wanting to grow up attitude certainly isn't helped by mum's mechanical approach to parenting. 3.5 out of 5 Sleeping is a waste of time. 4 out of 5 Terran nuclear nightmare, moon mental mimetic mayhem amidst crisis predicted canoodling. 3.5 out of 5 Famous actor guy unluckily gotta die through space will fly. 3.5 out of 5 Ekumen embassy explosion entrapment unrest. 4 out of 5 Having to eat your dog will make you sad. 3 out of 5 A boy growing up in a backward fundamentalist community on another planet begins to understand how much the local biology has a

superb collection

Following up on the first edition of the Best of the Best (short story oriented), Gardner Dozois fills the second collection with classic novellas, starting with the fantastic "Sailing to Byzantium" by Silverberg. The entries speak for themselves as sci fi fans will recognize most if not all the contributions and many will have been read previously. The entries are Walter Jon Williams' "Surfacing", Joe Haldeman's "The Hemingway Hoax", James Patrick Kelly's "Mr. Boy", Nancy Kress's "Beggars in Spain", Michael Swanwick's "Griffin's Egg", Frederik Pohl's "Outnumbering the Dead", Ursula K. Le Guin's "Forgiveness Day", Maureen F. McHugh's "The Cost to Be Wise", Greg Egan's "Oceanic", Ian McDonald's "Tendeleo's Story", Ian R. MacLeod's "New Light on the Drake Equation", and Alastair Reynolds's "Turquoise Days",. The stories run the gamut of the genre with a few crossing into fantasy, but what they share are strong story lines with believable characters bringing to life questions of humanity's place in the universe. The only question for readers is to pay or not to pay in light of having read most before as this compilation is top rate. Harriet Klausner

An exceptionally fine anthology of short science fiction.

Renowned editor Gardner Dozois presents a landmark anthology of the best short science fiction novels from over two decades of "The Year's Best Science Fiction." Heralded as the best collection of short science fiction writing in the universe and admired by science fiction fans everywhere, "The Year's Best Science Fiction" boasts more than two decades as the leader in science fiction compilations. In 2005, Hugo Award-winning editor Gardner Dozois featured the finest short stories from that series in the original Best of the Best collection. Now, in "THE BEST OF THE BEST VOLUME 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels", Dozois brings readers the ultimate collection of short science fiction novels from his legendary series. With such celebrated authors as Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Swanwick, Joe Haldeman, Frederick Pohl, Greg Egan, Robert Silverberg, Alastair Reynolds and many more, THE BEST OF THE BEST VOLUME 2 is a momentous science fiction short novel anthology that should not be missed. Highly recommended.