The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction

by Gardner Dozois (Editor), Robert Silverberg (Foreword by)

Overview

For years, The Year's Best Science Fiction has been the most widely read short science fiction anthology of its kind. Now, after twenty-one annual collections, comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies, The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction, in which legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the very best short stories for this landmark collection. Contributors include: * Stephen Baxter * Greg Bear * William Bigson * Terry Bisson * Pat Cadigan * Ted Chiang * John Crowley * Tony Daniel * Greg Egan * Molly Gloss * Eileen Gunn * Joe Haldeman * James Patrick Kelly * John Kessel * Nancy Kress * Ursula K. Le Guin * Ian R. MacLeod * David Marusek * Paul McAuley * Ian McDonald * Maureen F. McHugh * Robert Reed * Mike Resnick * Geoff Ryman * William Sander * Lucius Shepard * Robert Silverberg * Brian Stableford * Bruce Sterling * Charles Stross * Michael Swanwick * Steven Utley * Howard Waldrop * Walter Jon Williams * Connie Willis * Gene Wolfe

With work spanning two decades, The Best of the Best stands as one of the ultimate science fiction anthologies ever published.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312336561
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/01/2005
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	688
Product dimensions:	6.33(w) x 9.01(h) x 1.35(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Gardner Dozois (1947-2018), one of the most acclaimed editors in science-fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Editor 15 times. He was the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine for 20 years. He also served as the editor of The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies and co-editor of the Warrior anthologies, Songs of the Dying Earth, and many others. As a writer, Dozois twice won the Nebula Award for best short story. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2011 and received the Skylark Award for Lifetime Achievement. He lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Robert Silverberg has written more than 160 science fiction novels and nonfiction books. In his spare time he has edited over 60 anthologies. He began submitting stories to science fiction magazines when he was just 13. His first published story, entitled "Gorgon Planet," appeared in 1954 when he was a sophomore at Columbia University. In 1956 he won his first Hugo Award, for Most Promising New Author, and he hasn't stopped writing since. Among his standouts: the bestselling Lord Valentine trilogy, set on the planet of Majipoor, and the timeless classics Dying Inside and A Time of Changes. Silverberg has won the prestigious Nebula Award an astonishing five times, and Hugo Awards on four separate occasions; he has been nominated for both awards more times that any other writer. In 2004, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America gave him their Grand Master award for career achievement, making him the only SF writer to win a major award in each of six consecutive decades.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Robert Silverberg

Preface: Gardner Dozois

Greg Bear: "Blood Music"

Gene Wolfe: "A Cabin on the Coast"

Lucius Shepard: "Salvador"

Nancy Kress: "Trinity"

Howard Waldrop: "Flying Saucer Rock and Roll"

Bruce Sterling: "Dinner in Audoghast"

Pat Cadigan: "Roadside Rescue"

John Crowley: "Snow"

William Gibson: "The Winter Market"

John Kessel: "The Pure Product"

Eileen Gunn: "Stable Strategies for Middle Management"

Mike Resnick: "Kirinyaga"

Robert Silverberg: "Tales from the Venia Woods"

Terry Bisson: "Bears Discover Fire"

Connie Willis: "Even the Queen"

Robert Reed: "Guest of Honor"

Joe Haldeman: "None So Blind"

Brian Stableford: "Mortimer Gray's History of Death"

Maureen F. McHugh: "The Lincoln Train"

Greg Egan: "Wang's Carpets"

Ursula K. Le Guin: "Coming of Age in Karhide"

Michael Swanwick: "The Dead"

Ian McDonald: "Recording Angel"

Tony Daniel: "A Dry, Quiet War"

William Sanders: "The Undiscovered"

Paul J. McAuley: "Second Skin"

Ted Chiang: "Story of Your Life"

Stephen Baxter: "People Came From Earth"

David Marusek: "The Wedding Album"

James Patrick Kelly: "1016 To 1"

Walter Jon Williams: "Daddy's World"

Steven Utley: "The Real World"

Geoff Ryman: "Have Not Have"

Charles Stross: "Lobsters"

Ian R. MacLeod: "Breathmoss"

Molly Gloss: "Lambing Season"

Editorial Reviews

Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction anthology, an annual volume of gigantic size and awesome range, has after twenty years become a wondrous trove of great stories and an archive that has immeasurable historical significance. Now Dozois has selected the best of the best.” —Robert Silverberg

“If a science fiction fan from 1984 chanced to stumble into a time warp and pop up in the here and now, and wanted to know what had been happening in his favorite genre in the last twenty years, all you'd need to do was hand him a copy of Gardner Dozois's Best of the Best. This is two decades of the best that science fiction has to offer, chosen by the most respected editor in the field...a copy belongs on the shelf of every SF reader.” —George R. R. Martin, bestselling author of A Game of Thrones

“The short story is the heart of science fiction, and editor Gardner Dozois understands more about the short story and about science fiction than anybody else, which is what's made this series so terrific! But now, to have Gardner's picks for The Best of the Best collected all in one volume is beyond terrific! It'll make nonreaders of science fiction realize why the genre has so many devoted fans, and the readers of science fiction hyperventilate. This is the cream of the cream of the crop! And all in one place! I cannot wait to read it!” —Connie Willis, winner of many Hugo and Nebula awards

“For more than a quarter century, Gardner Dozois's TheYear's Best Science Fiction has defined the field. It is the most important anthology, not only annually but overall.” —Charles N. Brown, publisher of Locus Magazine

“The title says it all. If you like science fiction, you need this book! Gardner Dozois is the savviest editor alive, and his picks are brilliant, thought-provoking, and immensely entertaining. Sell your grandmother if you must, but buy this book!” —Michael Swanwick, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Theodore Sturgeon awards

“Dozois's 'Best of the Year' volumes have had consistently high literary quality. I've used them as a primary text for twenty years, teaching SF writing at MIT, and they always give the students interesting examples of the huge variety of stories that live under the SF tent.” —Joe Haldeman, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of The Forever War

“There is no one better qualified to edit this book. If Gardner Dozois says these are the best of the best, you can bet the farm on it. The best and most honored editor of the past twenty years selects the best and most honored stories of the past twenty years. It's a natural.” —Mike Resnick, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Santiago

From the Publisher

The Barnes & Noble Review
For the last two decades, Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction has been acclaimed as the preeminent annual anthology of short-form science fiction. The Best of the Best is an aptly titled collection of the very finest stories from the first 20 editions -- a collection that Robert Silverberg calls "a volume that takes its place instantly among the classic science-fiction anthologies of all time."

With stories from Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Joe Haldeman, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling, this massive collection is an absolute must-read for all those who call themselves fans of the genre. Greg Bear's "Blood Music" leads off the literary cavalcade with what Dozois describes as possibly "the first true nanotech story," a cautionary tale about a reckless scientist who injects himself with nucleoprotein microchips programmed to multiply and improve -- with civilization-altering results! Other entries include Michael Swanwick's "The Dead," which explores the ultimate cheap labor force; Stephen Baxter's "People Came from Earth," a sad look at humankind's future; Gene Wolfe's "A Cabin on the Coast," an eerie story about what happens when a man makes a deal with beings beyond his comprehension; and Terry Bisson's classic "Bears Discover Fire," a whimsical tale about bears boycotting hibernation, an old woman's dying wish, and the art of changing tires.

There's a reason why Dozois has won the Hugo Award 15 times for Best Editor, and there's a reason why this anthology is entitled The Best of the Best. Silverberg was right -- this is one of the strongest science fiction collections ever put together. Paul Goat Allen

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