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Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Stephen Baxter Contributor. Karl Schroeder The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Robert Reed Goodreads Author Contributor. Jay Lake Contributor. Greg Egan Contributor. Mary Rosenblum Contributor. Hannu Rajaniemi Contributor. Finlay Goodreads Author Contributor. James L. Cambias Goodreads Author Contributor. Michael Swanwick Contributor. Maureen F. McHugh Contributor. Geoff Ryman The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Gwyneth Jones Contributor. Daryl Gregory Goodreads Author Contributor. Nancy Kress Goodreads Author Contributor. Garth Nix Goodreads Author Contributor. Aliette de Bodard Goodreads Author Contributor. Paolo Bacigalupi Goodreads Author Contributor. Elizabeth Bear Goodreads Author Contributor. Sarah Monette Goodreads Author Contributor. Alastair Reynolds Contributor. Ian McDonald Contributor. Dominic Green Goodreads Author Contributor. Ted Kosmatka Goodreads Author Contributor. Gord Sellar Contributor. The thirty stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our beings, to the realm of the gods, and the moment just after now. Cambias, Greg Egan, Charles Cole The thirty stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our beings, to the realm of the gods, and the moment just after now. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published June 29th by St. Martin's Griffin first published October More Details Original Title. Locus Award Nominee for Best Anthology Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Sep 21, Mir rated it really liked it Shelves: science- fictionshort-stories. As is generally the case with this type of anthology, I didn't read every story. I cherry-picked a few authors I usually like, then read some additional stories because they happened to come after a story I had finished and have a good opening, picked a few to try by title. Stephen Baxter "Turing's Apples" -- Interesting, but the story got buried under description and world-building. I could say the same about quite a few of the entries, I have to admit. I would not, in general, recommend this vo As is generally the case with this type of anthology, I didn't read every story. I would not, in general, recommend this volume for people who are not already sci-fi fans. Ditto Karl Schroeder's "Hero," which is set in an interesting but very alien and complex world that he also writes novels in, which sucks up most of the pages with its exposition. This would have been especially boring if I had read any of his books and already knew how the multiple artificial suns and giant space moths and stuff worked. So if those sound intriguing, I recommend getting one of his novels instead. Michael Swanwick "From Babel's Fallen Glory We Fled" -- I never quite got my head around how Trust functioned as an economic unit, but that's okay because the difficulty of translation and intercultural understanding is one of the themes The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Excellent story that would not be out of place in a collection such as Text-Ur. Pretty cool. I wonder if it is ever The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection elsewhere what happened to the important item I won't spoiler. Good world-building, which I hear is generally a strong point for Bodard. I'd read more in this universe. Ian MacDonald's "Eligible Boy" was a cute concept, but I didn't enjoy the bulk of the story with the Indian men competing to win wives. Nice end showever. I quit "Six Directions of Space" at the horse-torturing scene, so I will never find out if certain characters behavior was a trick of some kind or if I was right in finding them implausible. For The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection reason, I had never thought I would be into Alastair Reynolds. Bummer the guy died so young. Because there are people who don't give a crap about the Kennedy Assassination, sorry. I might read more Paul McCauley. Hopefully without giant vicious rat-insect swarm aliens or dead dogs. I guess lesbians never stop being edgy in sci-fi? I'd already read this recently in Black Sails. Daryl Gregory "Illustrated The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection of Lord Grimm" -- It's not much fun being a peon in a city that is perpetually ravaged by the conflicts of superpowers. Like a number of other stories in this collection, I thought it was a bit too heavy-handedly a contemporary political critique but hey, I can't argue that there isn't plenty to criticize. It started off interestingly, with a double or triple agent returning from the field. But then there is a coup, and the rest of the novella I wouldn't have read it if I had checked the page count spent in a gulag. Not badly done, if you're into soul-destroying and back-breaking prison conditions. He's just an angry genius monkey who wants to be a potter instead of a zoo animal. Your story for Black Sails was boring, too. I used to usually like his stuff, not sure if it's him or me. Note: I read an online edition of this story that GR does not allow to be listed. This story is another Sci-fi alt-history [murder] mystery. Again it follows an MC who is not Xuyan by birth or rearing - instead has chosen to live in Xuya due to circumstances in their past. This story was interesting but the most interesting part of it was the I am not sure how much time has passed between "The Lost Xuyan Bride" and this one - but it appears that more than years has passed. There has been a terrible civil war in Mexica and a lot of people migrated to Xuya. The MC and the victim are both refugees. The story presented an interesting picture of what it means to be changed by a war - how it changes the core of who you are and the actions you take. The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection by Gardner Dozois

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Carolyn Ives Gilman Contributor. Paul Cornell Goodreads Author The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Stephen Baxter Contributor. Ian McDonald Contributor. Alastair Reynolds Contributor. Maureen F. McHugh Contributor. Catherynne M. Valente Goodreads Author Contributor. Jay Lake Contributor. Dave Hutchinson Contributor. Geoff Ryman Contributor. David Moles Contributor. Tom Purdom Contributor. Ian R. MacLeod Contributor. David Klecha Contributor. Tobias S. Buckell Goodreads Author Contributor. Robert Reed Goodreads Author Contributor. Gwyneth Jones Contributor. Lavie Tidhar Contributor. Michael Flynn Contributor. Pat Cadigan Goodreads Author Contributor. Michael Swanwick Contributor. Damien Broderick The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Yoon Ha Lee Contributor. Jim Hawkins Contributor. Peter M. Ball Goodreads Author Contributor. Chris Lawson Contributor. Ken MacLeod Contributor. Kij Johnson Contributor. Elizabeth Bear Goodreads Author Contributor. John Barnes Contributor. Karl Schroeder Contributor. Peter S. Beagle Goodreads Author Contributor. In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? Get A Copy. Published July 3rd by St. Martin's Press first published More Details Original Title. Jonathan HamiltonJackaroo 0. Other Editions 7. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Then more engineering specs and someone almost dies in a very unbelievable situation. Then they all live kinda-happily ever The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. Another page or two and I admitted that I didn't care and moved on to the next story. Well plotted, strong characters, believable premise. A fun read. SF still has a long way to go when it comes to well-rounded, believable characters. View 1 comment. Maybe a little more than four stars, as I really enjoyed this collection. Even more than the more recent editions of this series 28 and Those books contained mainly stories set on earth in a not too distant future, dealing with climate change, technological upgrades and computer science. I like those stories too, don't get me wrong, but I like the stories included here better: tales of a far future, where science had developed to such a level that it is hard to distinguish from magic and h Maybe a little more than four stars, as I really enjoyed this collection. I like those stories too, don't get me wrong, The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection I like the stories included here better: tales of a far future, where science had developed to such a level that it is hard to distinguish from magic and humanity or consciousness takes on strange forms. There's a bewildering almost fairytale like quaility to these stories and the fact that it is science fiction thus set in 'our universe' adds to the sense of wonder. These tales fired up my own imagination. There were a few with ambiguous conclusions, or at least endings that I myself did not understand, that I didn't appreciate that much. I don't much care to be left guessing as to the intended conclusion of the story. I want to be left with a satisfying resolution. I liked the allusions to the Narnia and Malacandra-stories of C. Lewis in 'The beancounter's cat' by Damien Broderick. Laika's Ghost was engaging old style SF with an interesting back story. I thought 'The Ice Owl' went on a bit too long for my taste. I do need to read more by Ian McDonald, as his story 'Digging' was beautifully written and was set on an expertly imagined dig on Mars. I didn't really care about 'After the apocalypse', but i did appreciate 'Silently and very fast'. It took a while before this pretty long story began to work for me, as it is pretty complex, but in the end I was mesmerized. Lots of strange environments in here and the birth of an interesting artificial intelligence. I was hoping for more answers, I must admit. Even though the The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection of an immortal character finding himself on a deserted planet spoke to my imagination. I did like 'A response from EST17' by Tom Purdom, an older writer showing he has kept up to date with the genre and describing an interesting story of interplanetary contact. I was very happy to read it. I do not really care for that. Give me denouement! The world the final story 'The man who bridged the mist' takes place in, read more as fantasy than SF, but it's about a man building a bridge, so that gives it a technological core. Dozois Year's Best Science Fiction | Awards | LibraryThing

Robert The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection Wilson made his first sale into Analog, but little more was heard from him until the late s, when he began to publish a string of ingenious and well-crafted novels and stories that have since established him among the top ranks of the writers who came to prominence in the last two decades of the twentieth century. His first novel, A Hidden Place, appeared in He won the John W. His most recent book is a new novel, Julian. He lives in Toronto, Canada. Here he tells the compelling story of a young woman faced with the most significant choice she The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection ever make in her life — after which, nothing will ever be the same. Diving back into the universe now that the universe is a finished object, boxed and ribboned from bang to bounceCarlotta calculates ever-finer loci on the frozen ordinates of spacetime until at last she reaches a trailer park outside the town of Commanche Drop, Arizona. Bodiless, no more than a breath of imprecision in the Feynman geography of certain virtual particles, thus powerless to affect the material world, she passes unimpeded through a sheet-aluminum wall and hovers over a mattress on which a young woman sleeps uneasily. The young woman is her own ancient self, the primordial Carlotta Boudaine, dewed with sweat in the hot night air, her legs caught up in a spindled cotton sheet. The bedroom's small window is cranked open, and in the breezeless distance a coyote wails. Well, look at me, Carlotta marvels: skinny girl in panties and a halter, sixteen years old — no older than a gnat's breath — taking shallow little sleep-breaths in the moonlit dark. Poor child can't even see her own ghost. Ah, but she will, Carlotta thinks — she must. The familiar words echo in her mind as she inspects her dreaming body, buried in its tomb of years, eons, kalpas. When it's time to leave, leave. Don't be afraid. Don't wait. Don't get caught. Just go. Go fast. She needs to share those words with herself, to make the circle complete. Everything she knows about nature of the physical universe suggests that the task is impossible. Maybe so Here's the story of the Fleet, girl, and how I got raptured up into it. It's all about the future — a bigger one than you believe in — so brace yourself. It has a thousand names and more, but we'll just call it the Fleet. When I first encountered it, the Fleet was scattered from the core of the galaxy all through its spiraled tentacles of suns, and it had been there for millions of years, going about its business, though nobody on this planet knew anything about it. I guess every now and then a Fleet ship must have fallen to Earth, but it would have been indistinguishable from any common meteorite by the time it passed through the atmosphere: a chunk of carbonaceous chondrite smaller than a human fist, from which all evidence of ordered matter had been erased by fire — and such losses, which happened everywhere and often, made no discernable difference to the Fleet as a whole. All Fleet data that is to say, all mind was shared, distributed, fractal. Vessels were born and vessels were destroyed, but the Fleet persisted down countless eons, confident of its own immortality. Oh, I know you don't understand the big words, child! It's not important for you to hear them — not these words — it's only important for me to say them. Because a few billion years ago tomorrow, I carried your ignorance out of this very trailer, carried it down to the Interstate and hitched west with nothing in my backpack but a bottle of water, a half-dozen Tootsie Rolls, and a wad of twenty-dollar bills stolen out of Dan-O's old ditty bag. That night tomorrow night: mark it I slept under an overpass all by myself, woke up cold and hungry long before dawn, and looked up past a concrete arch crusted with bird shit into a sky so thick with falling stars it The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection me think of a dark skin bee-stung with fire. Some of the Fleet vectored too close to the atmosphere that night, no doubt, but I didn't understand that any more than you do, girl — I just thought it was a big flock of shooting stars, pretty but meaningless. And, after a while, I slept some more. And come sunrise, I waited for the morning traffic so I could catch another ride Whether they want to live or die, I mean. Same decision you have to make. Let me tell you right off that Erasmus wasn't a human being. Erasmus just then was a knot of shiny metal angles about the size of a microwave oven, hovering in mid-air, with a pair of eyes like the polished tourmaline they sell at those roadside souvenir shops. He didn't have to look that The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection — it was some old avatar he used because he figured that it would impress me. But I didn't know that then. I was only surprised, if that's not too mild a word, and too shocked to be truly frightened. But choose quick, Carlotta, because the mantle's come unstable and the continents are starting to slip. I half believed that I was still asleep and dreaming. I didn't know what that meant, about the mantle, though I guessed he was talking about the end of the world. Some quality of his voice which reminded me of that actor Morgan Freeman made me trust him despite how weird and impossible the whole conversation was. Plus, I had a confirming sense that something was going bad somewhere, partly because of the scant traffic a Toyota zoomed past, clocking speeds it had never been built for, the driver a hunched blur behind the wheelpartly because of the ugly green cloud that just then billowed up over a row of rat-toothed mountains on the horizon. Also the sudden hot breeze. And the smell of distant burning. And the sound of what might have been thunder, or something worse. I didn't like the part about leaving my body behind. But what choice did I have, except the one he'd offered me? Stay or go. Simple as that. There was a tremor in the earth, like the devil knocking at the soles of my shoes. She slows down the passage of time so she can fit this odd but somehow necessary monologue into the space between one or two of the younger Carlotta's breaths. Of course, she has no real voice in which to speak. The past is static, imperturbable in its endless sleep; molecules of air on their fixed trajectories The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection be manipulated from the shadowy place where she now exists. Wake up with the The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection, girl, The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection says, steal the money you'll never spend — it doesn't matter; the important thing is to leave. It's time. Of all the memories she carried out of her earthly life, this is the most vivid: waking to discover a ghostly presence in her darkened room, a white-robed woman giving her the advice she needs at the moment she needs it. Suddenly Carlotta wants to scream the words: When it's time to leave —. Next to the bed is a thrift-shop night table scarred with cigarette burns. On the table is a child's night-light, faded cut-outs of Sponge Bob Square Pants pasted on the paper shade. Next to that, hidden under a splayed copy of People magazine, is the bottle of barbiturates Carlotta stole from Dan-O's ditty-bag this afternoon, the same khaki bag in which she couldn't help but notice Dan-O keeps his cash, a change of clothes, a fake driver's license, and a blue steel automatic pistol. Young Carlotta detects no ghostly presence Apparently, Dan-O is awake and sober. Apparently, Dan-O has The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection the theft. That's a complication. The hardest thing about joining the Fleet was giving up the idea that I had a body, that my body had a real place to be. But that's what everybody believed at first, that The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection were still whole and normal — everybody rescued from Earth, I mean. Everybody who said "Yes" to Erasmus — and Erasmus, in one form or another, had appeared to every human being on the planet in the moments before the end of the world. Two and a half billion of us accepted the offer of rescue. The rest chose to stay put and died when the Earth's continents dissolved into molten magma. Of course, that created problems for the survivors. Children without parents, parents without children, lovers separated for eternity. It was as sad and tragic as any other incomplete rescue, except on a planetary scale. When we left the Earth, we all just sort of re-appeared on a grassy plain as flat as Kansas and wider than the horizon, under a blue faux sky, each of us with an Erasmus at his shoulder and all of us wailing or sobbing or demanding explanations. The plain wasn't "real," of course, not the way I was accustomed to things being real. It was a virtual place, and all of us were wearing virtual bodies, though we didn't understand that fact immediately. We kept on being what we expected ourselves to be — we even wore the clothes we'd worn when we were raptured up. I remember looking down at the pair of greasy second-hand Reeboks I'd found at the Commanche Drop Goodwill store, thinking: in Heaven? Pretty soon, fights would start to break out. You can't put a couple of billion human beings so close together under circumstances like that and expect any other result. But the crowd was already thinning, as people accepted similar offers from their own Fleet avatars. And quick as that, there I was: Eve without Adam, standing on a lonesome stretch of white beach. After a while, the astonishment faded to a tolerable dazzle. I took off my shoes and tested the sand. The sand was pleasantly sun-warm. Saltwater swirled up between my toes as a wave washed in from the coral-blue sea. It might make the transition easier if you get some The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection, to begin with. He settled down on the sand beside me, the mutant offspring of a dragonfly The Years Best Science Fiction: Twenty- Sixth Annual Collection a beach ball. It's a read-only universe, Carlotta thinks. The Old Ones have said as much, so it must be true. And yet, she knows, she remembers, that the younger Carlotta will surely wake and find her here: a ghostly presence, speaking wisdom. But how can she make herself perceptible to this sleeping child? The senses are so stubbornly material, electrochemical data cascading into vastly complex neural networks