Rating: 
Summary: Good reviews for the annual anthology
Review: "Another mind-bogglingly huge compendium of 28 stories that first appeared in 1997, sniffed out by editor Dozois, whose nose for a good yarn is as keen as ever. . . . For anyone interested in sf short stories, this is the best--indeed, the ONLY--place to start." ---Kirkus Reviews"This anthology represents contemporary SF at its very best. . . . The stories range widely in type, from the highly literate work of John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly to the hard SF of G. David Nordley and Geoffrey A. Landis; from the alternate history of William Sanders and Howard Waldrop to the upscale space opera of Walter Jon Williams and Robert Reed." ---Publishers Weekly "Another sturdy pillar of the sf collection." ---Booklist
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: Best ear ever. Some years have had stories better then the ones that are in this book, but quantity of good stories was better then any other year. If you've read any of Dozois' yearly collections then you need to read this one!
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: Best ear ever. Some years have had stories better then the ones that are in this book, but quantity of good stories was better then any other year. If you've read any of Dozois' yearly collections then you need to read this one!
Rating:
Summary: The Excellent Series Continues
Review: Dozios continues to find the best Science Fiction. This book is very good and you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: terrific stories with a lot of imagination
Review: I look forward every year for this book to come out. This is by far the best science fiction collection. It is a great way to discover authors by reading their short stories in this collection.
Rating: 
Summary: It's always great, but........................
Review: I saw on ISFDB that he didn't choose "Where Angels Fear to tread" or "the 43 Antarean Dynasties". These stories ended up not only winning Hugoes, but also were tops in the readers poll of HIS magazine. They are definitely Science Fiction, but Hartwell probably didn't pick them because he (& I for that matter) figured Dozois would. Maybe he was afraid of looking like he was biased toward his own magazine, but Asimov's is THE premier sf magazine & considering that he's been quite fair. I hope ISFDB just screwed up, but I doubt it & I'm slowly losing confidence in his tastes. 13th annual was the first one I got & even the stories I didn't like impressed me. The next one had some stories that were less impressive than I expected, but still wonderful overall. Now... Well it's still a must buy, but I'm no longer certain it beats Hartwell's. The summation is a big advantage & he does always choose some great stories. Oh by the way those 2 stories didn't impress me as much as everyone else, but I liked them more then some he chose. Perhaps it's pleasing to know the 2 yr's best ommit enough to make room for a third that's truly BEST, but it's hard enough to keep up with two. Oh well if Rusch is reading & planning to do a third I'd like to say there's definitely room for you, I just hope there's an audience for you too. Otherwise the others said what I wanted except Balinese Dancer was WEIRD. Was it post-apocalyptic or ... well just what was it? He always chooses a few stories that confuse the heck out of me.
Rating:
Summary: Stil great!
Review: I'm going to briefly review the individual stories since it's an anthology. Don't worry I'm going to try to give little away. Silverberg's story was not to my taste and it became part of his novel "The Alien Years". Second Skin was a great example of spy story sf once I warmed up to it, my advice don't judge this story till you're done. Nancy Kress is perhaps the best sf short fiction author of the '90's, & as always her story does a great job of being both genuinely human and science fictional. Reasons to be Cheerful is disturbing, I wish I'd never read it. Moon six has it all, but for some reason it's a hair shy of being one of my favorites in this collection. It is very good though. Bill Johnson won a Hugo for his story about an unusual small town and that pleases me since I disike bleak urban sf. My only complaint is that the story seemed to lead itself to a sequel or ,perhaps, novel too strongly. Escape Route had technobabble, starship captains, and aliens without seeming like a Star Trek ripoff. It is pretty good. James P. Kelly's story was nice, but for some reason I didn't "buy" it. A Spy in Europa is an entertaining mixture of hard sf, Jame Bond, and Jaws. The Undiscovered was probably the best alternate history story of its year. I'm glad the author afterward was included because it's one of my favorite parts of the story. ECHOES is sad and hopeful, science fictional yet human, it's wonderful & surprise it's buy a TV writer! I wish I had read Marusek's stuff earlier because I liked his story about a device "Getting to Know You". "Balinese Dancer" was a weird feminist? story. Like many Robert Reed stories "Marrow" is so excellent I'm surprised the guy has never won a major award. However like many Reed stories it's somewhat unnerving so maybe that's the answer. "Heart of Whitenesse" is one of those Waldrop stories I just don't get. Swanwick's story was a pretty good far future story, but swanwick sort of turns me off. I think I have a much more negative view of the future described in "Pipes of Pan" than the author does, but otherwise it is an intriguing piece of biological and cultural speculation. Croosing Chao Meng fu was a well done adventure with rock climbing, yep Joel and Crow ROCK CLIMBING. Yeyuka was a good self sacrifice story, but cold like most Egan. Frost Painting had nice imagery, but was too New Age involved for me. Lethe was nicely moody & poetic, but a bit confusing. Winter fire is probably unusual for Landis in that it's too depresssing for me and is about a future Bosnia-type war. Nevermore was too graphic a love story for me. Open Veins was an interesting "Hitchcockian?" near future story. Not entirely to my taste, but "After Kerry" is one of the most emotionally powerful sf stories I've ever read. The Masque of Agamemnon is like a star trek episode, but I like Star Trek episodes so I liked it. Gulliver at Home seemed sort-of forced and artificial yet I found it's outer vs. inner space debate interesting. A Cold Dry Cradle is a fairly realistic story about a trip to Mars, but I'm glad exotic Martian life was in it to make it interesting. My favorite stories were Second Skin, Echoes, And Marrow. It seemed like there were more adventure stories than usual, but surprisingly they were some of the best. In conclusion despite a few strange omissions and inclusions it is a great anthology.
Rating:
Summary: The title says it all: the *best*
Review: Most of the best science fiction being written today comes in the form of short stories, and this enormous anthology collects them. It's a must-buy for anybody who wants to read the best new SF of the year
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Summary: Internet savvy or trying to be.
Review: Since the stories have been thoroughly covered I'll talk a bit about the intro & other things. It is his main advantage over Hartwell & I think it's worth discussing. It seemed more hopeful than in recent years which have been somewhat doomsaying. The figures he brought up seemed to contradict this optimism, but I hope he's right in any case. He also covered the Internet quite a bit maybe too much. I hope he doesn't turn Asimov's into an e-zine or anything. I did notice that unlike the first one I got (the thirteenth) women authors were not well represented. Sadly I did not think most of the women authored stories he chose were that great either. If that makes me sound sexist let me just say some of my favorite stories from the thirteenth were by women. Furthermore I wish he'd included "Soul Selects her Own Society..." by Willis in the 14th. Whom am I to criticize since I can't think of any women authored stories he should've chosen this year. Anyway I don't think he's gone too hard sfish either like some have said. Waldrop's story was certaintly out there & McDonald's almost read like mainstream fiction. Ironically he's traditionally been criticized for not picking enough hard sf. You can't please everyone. I actually liked "We Will Drink a Fish Together", but I do find it's popularity puzzling. Surely the average sf reader didn't come from a small eccentric mountain town like I did. Also I've never heard of Bill Johnson. I am peculiarily pleased that Dozois' chose some stories that don't work from a literary perspective since much great sf doesn't.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly good.
Review: There were some stories that ,although good, made me ask "Is that really one of the best?". "Escape Route" & "Agamemnon" for example & I wish he'd chosen Landis's "Eciopesis" instead of his "Winter Fire". Regardless there is a great variety in this anthology. Two stories each about spies on moons & alternate Elizabethan times. Far future tales about earth & generation starships. A fair amount on genetics & even an alien invasion story. As for women well the sad truth is only about 30 percent of science fiction stories are written by women. True this still makes this issue (& the previous one) an underrepresentation of them, but it means the thirteenth & several others were accurate. Best not to make too much of such statistical fluctuations. The intro seemed even more internet involved then in recent years. I bring that up because in previous years some of my favorite stories were from the Internet & this year that wasn't quite true. Although I liked "Open Veins" & "Masque of Agamemnon" they weren't as good as previous online stories like "Feigenbaum Number" for example. Oh well probably just another statistical anomaly. The strongest stories have pretty much been covered so I'l wrap up there.
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