Year's Best SF 18

October 21, 2013
The 18th volume in this venerable series is marked by changes in format (formerly mass market), publisher (formerly Harper Voyager), and the return to solo editing by Hartwell (formerly paired with Kathryn Cramer). A gender-balanced selection of 28 stories draws primarily on the talents of American authors, though authors from Britain, Canada, India, and France also appear. Hartwell acknowledges the emergence of a new crop of SF writers and does include relatively new talents like Yoon Ha Lee and Indrapramit Das, but the focus is on veterans with decades of experience, like Gene Wolfe, Megan Lindholm, and Pat Cadigan. Stories of particular note include Lee’s mannerist space opera, “The Battle of Candle Arc”; Sean McMullen’s informed steampunk tale, “Electrica”; and Linda Nagata’s elegant police procedural, “Nahiku West.” Hartwell’s introduction laments the decline of particular elements of short SF, but this anthology makes it clear that the field is still well able to surprise and entertain.

November 15, 2013

In "Old Paint," Megan Lindholm illustrates the bond between people and their "cars," while Bruce Sterling's "The Peak of Eternal Light" explores the necessarily formal bonds between genders in a far-future colony inside the planet Mercury. Together with 26 other short (or short short) stories by today's best sf writers, award-winning editor Hartwell's latest entry in his popular series presents a feast of fine writing, scintillating thoughts, and intriguing tales, all grounded in scientific possibilities. VERDICT One of the best collections of the year, without a weak tale in its list, this is highly recommended for fans of the short story and of sf in general.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2014
Editor Hartwell proves that sf remains vigorous and challenging and eminently worth reading in the eighteenth volume of his science-fiction anthology series, with 28 stories published in 2012 that represent the genre's best. A soon-to-be mother haunts her future multiple times, always on Christmas, and tracks the progression of her and her daughter's life in Paul Cornell's poignant, philosophical story The Ghosts of Christmas. An alien translator of human stories uses her knowledge of Sherlock Holmes to solve a mystery in her own home in Eleanor Arnason's Holmes Sherlock: A Hwarhath Mystery. Ken Liu, in Waves, explores the significance of creation stories through a woman's evolution from an ordinary human on a generation ship to a being of free-form energy. A few very short stories, such as Lewis Shiner's biting two-page Application, prove that length is not always necessary to explore provocative ideas. Together with stories by Andy Duncan, Gwyneth Jones, Yoon Ha Lee, Megan Lindholm, and many established and rising authors, this excellent anthology is evidence that the genre is alive and well.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)