The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth (14th) Annual Collection [1996]CONTENTSTitle PageCopyright NoticeDedicationAcknowledgmentsSummation: 1996IMMERSION Gregory BenfordTHE DEAD Michael SwanwickTHE FLOWERS OF AULIT PRISON Nancy KressA DRY, QUIET WAR Tony DanielTHIRTEEN PHANTASMS James P. BlaylockPRIMROSE AND THORN Bud SparhawkTHE MIRACLE OF IVAR AVENUE John KesselTHE LAST HOMOSEXUAL Paul ParkRECORDING ANGEL Ian McDonaldDEATH DO US PART Robert SilverbergTHE SPADE OF REASON Jim CowanTHE COST TO BE WISE Maureen F. McHughBICYCLE REPAIRMAN Bruce SterlingTHE WEIGHING OF AYRE Gregory FeeleyTHE LONGER VOYAGE Michael CassuttTHE LAND OF NOD Mike ResnickRED SONJA AND LESSINGHAM IN DREAMLAND Gwyneth JonesTHE LADY VANISHES Charles SheffieldCHRYSALIS Robert ReedTHE WIND OVER THE WORLD Steven UtleyCHANGES William BartonCOUNTING CATS IN ZANZIBAR Gene WolfeHOW WE GOT IN TOWN AND OUT AGAIN Jonathan LethemDR. TILMANN’S CONSULTANT: A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE Cherry WilderSCHRÖDINGER’S DOG Damien BroderickFOREIGN DEVILS Walter Jon WilliamsIN THE MSOB Stephen BaxterTHE ROBOT’S TWILIGHT COMPANION Tony DanielHONORABLE MENTIONS: 1996

ContentsTitle PageCopyright NoticeDedicationAcknowledgmentsSummation: 1994FORGIVENESS DAY    Ursula K. Le GuinTHE REMORAS    Robert ReedNEKROPOLIS    Maureen F. McHughMARGIN OF ERROR    Nancy KressCILIA-OF-GOLD    Stephen BaxterGOING AFTER OLD MAN ALABAMA    William SandersMELODIES OF THE HEART    Michael F. FlynnTHE HOLE IN THE HOLE    Terry BissonPARIS IN JUNE    Pat CadiganFLOWERING MANDRAKE    George TurnerNONE SO BLIND    Joe HaldemanCOCOON    Greg EganSEVEN VIEWS OF OLDUVAI GORGE    Mike ResnickDEAD SPACE FOR THE UNEXPECTED    Geoff RymanCRI DE COEUR    Michael BishopTHE SAWING BOYS    Howard WaldropTHE MATTER OF SEGGRI    Ursula K. Le GuinYLEM    Eliot FintushelASYLUM    Katharine KerrRED ELVIS    Walter Jon WilliamsCALIFORNIA DREAMER    Mary RosenblumSPLIT LIGHT    Lisa GoldsteinLES FLEURS DU MAL    Brian StablefordHonorable Mentions: 1994

ContentsSummation: 2003Off on a Starship • William BartonIt’s All True • John KesselRogue Farm • Charles StrossThe Ice • Steven PopkesEj-es • Nancy KressThe Bellman • John VarleyThe Bear’s Baby • Judith MoffettCalling Your Name • Howard WaldropJune Sixteenth at Anna’s • Kristine Kathryn RuschThe Green Leopard Plague • Walter Jon WilliamsThe Fluted Girl • Paolo BacigalupiDead Worlds • Jack SkillingsteadKing Dragon • Michael SwanwickSingletons in Love • Paul MelkoAnomalous Structures of my Dreams • M. Shayne BellThe Cookie Monster • Vernor VingeJoe Steele • Harry TurtledoveBirth Days • Geoff RymanAwake in the Night • John C. WrightThe Long Way Home • James Van PeltThe Eyes of America • Geoffrey A. LandisWelcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst • Kage BakerNight of Time • Robert ReedStrong Medicine • William ShunnSend Me a Mentagram • Dominic GreenAnd the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon • Paul Di FilippoFlashmen • Terry DowlingDragonhead • Nick DiCharioDear Abbey • Terry BissonHonorable Mentions: 2003Acknowledgments

CONTENTSTitle PageCopyright NoticeDedicationAcknowledgmentsSummation: 1991BEGGARS IN SPAIN    Nancy KressLIVING WILL    Alexander JablokovA JUST AND LASTING PEACE    Lois TiltonSKINNER’S ROOM    William GibsonPRAYERS ON THE WIND    Walter Jon WilliamsBLOOD SISTERS    Greg EganTHE DARK    Karen Joy FowlerMARNIE    Ian MacLeodA TIP ON A TURTLE    Robert SilverbergÜBERMENSCH!    Kim NewmanDISPATCHES FROM THE REVOLUTION    Pat CadiganPIPES    Robert ReedMATTER’S END    Gregory BenfordA HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS    Kim Stanley RobinsonGENE WARS    Paul J. McAuleyTHE GALLERY OF HIS DREAMS    Kristine Kathryn RuschA WALK IN THE SUN    Geoffrey A. LandisFRAGMENTS OF AN ANALYSIS OF A CASE OF HYSTERIA    Ian McDonaldANGELS IN LOVE    Kathe KojaEYEWALL    Rick ShelleyPOGROM    James Patrick KellyTHE MOAT    Greg EganVOICES    Jack DannFOAM    Brian W. AldissJACK    Connie WillisLA MACCHINA    Chris BeckettONE PERFECT MORNING, WITH JACKALS    Mike ResnickDESERT RAIN    Mark L. Van Name and Pat MurphyHonorable MentionsAlso by Gardner Dozois

Table of ContentsFinisterra - DAVID MOLESLighting Out - KEN MACLEODAn Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away - JOHN BARNESSaving Tiamaat - GWYNETH JONESOf Late I Dreamt of Venus - JAMES VAN PELTVerthandi’s Ring - IAN MCDONALDSea Change - UNA MCCORMACKThe Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small - CHRIS ROBERSONWATER-DRAGON YEAR, TWENTY-EIGHTH YEAR OF THE KANGXI EMPERORGlory - GREG EGANAgainst the Current - ROBERT SILVERBERGAlien Archeology - NEAL ASHERThe Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate - TED CHIANGBeyond the Wall - JUSTIN STANCHFIELDKiosk - BRUCE STERLINGLast Contact - STEPHEN BAXTERThe Sledge-Maker’s Daughter - ALASTAIR REYNOLDSSanjeev and Robotwallah - IAN MCDONALDThe Skysailor’s Tale - MICHAEL SWANWICKOf Love and Other Monsters - VANDANA SINGHSteve Fever - GREG EGANHellfire at Twilight - KAGE BAKERThe Immortals of Atlantis - BRIAN STABLEFORDNothing Personal - PAT CADIGANTideline - ELIZABETH BEARThe Accord - KEITH BROOKELaws of Survival - NANCY KRESSThe Mists of Time - TOM PURDOMCraters - KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCHThe Prophet of Flores - TED KOSMATKAStray - BENJAMIN ROSENBAUM DAVID ACKERTRoxie - ROBERT REEDDark Heaven - GREGORY BENFORDSummation: 2007

CONTENTSTitle PageCopyright NoticeDedicationAcknowledgmentsSummation: 1995A WOMAN’S LIBERATION    Ursula K. Le GuinSTARSHIP DAY    Ian R. MacLeodA PLACE WITH SHADE    Robert ReedLUMINOUS    Greg EganTHE PROMISE OF GOD    Michael F. FlynnDEATH IN THE PROMISED LAND    Pat CadiganFOR WHITE HILL    Joe HaldemanSOME LIKE IT COLD    John KesselTHE DEATH OF CAPTAIN FUTURE    Allen SteeleTHE LINCOLN TRAIN    Maureen F. McHughWE WERE OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH JOY    David MarusekRADIO WAVES    Michael SwanwickWANG’S CARPETS    Greg EganCASTING AT PEGASUS    Mary RosenblumLOOKING FOR KELLY DAHL    Dan SimmonsTHINK LIKE A DINOSAUR    James Patrick KellyCOMING OF AGE IN KARHIDE    Ursula K. Le GuinGENESIS    Poul AndersonFEIGENBAUM NUMBER    Nancy KressHOME    Geoff RymanTHERE ARE NO DEAD    Terry BissonRECORDING ANGEL    Paul J. McAuleyELVIS BEARPAW’S LUCK    William SandersMORTIMER GRAY’S HISTORY OF DEATH    Brian StablefordHONORABLE MENTIONS: 1995

New epic fantasy in the grand tradition—including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin! Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction—and an inspiration for a new generation of writers, spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure. Now, in Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and bestselling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters—many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh,...

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection for 1984 pub in 1985This collection is the second installment in the popular and long-running "The Year's Best Science Fiction" series:Fantastic Science Fiction!The Year's Best -- And Biggest CollectionHere's the cream of the crop: short stories, novelettes, novellas by science fiction writers already famous and awarded for their high-quality work in science fiction.  Dozois's Year's Best, like any successful representative of a large constituency, sometimes suffers from blandness and inconsistency. As usual, it's oversized?23 stories, nearly 600 pages?and includes a variety of types of SF as well as near-horror, fantasy and humor. Five of the stories are final nominees for Nebulas, and two new "Hainish" stories by Ursula LeGuin were nominated for Tiptree Awards; "The Matter of Segrri" won. No story here is less than competent and professional; but, with a few exceptions, there is a voiceless sameness in the writing, practically a house style, that over so many pages grows tedious. (Nearly half the stories, by page count, come from the Dozois-edited Asimov's Science Fiction.) A number are flawed ("hard" SF stories about "aliens" that think just like humans) or unremarkable, but these are outweighed by many fine pieces and by standouts such as LeGuin's "Forgiveness Day," perhaps the best story in the book; Eliot Fintushel's "New Wave"-like "Ylem"; William Sanders's "Going After Old Man Alabama" and Terry Bisson's "The Hole in the Hole," both of which are winning and funny; Katherine Kerr's chilling "Asylum"; and Michael Bishop's grand and humane "Cri de Coeur." Dozois's intelligently and ably put-together anthology does its stated job as well as any one book or editor could. Even with competition, it would still be the best of the Best. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. Summation: 1984 • Gardner Dozois Salvador • Lucius Shepard Promises to Keep • Jack McDevitt Bloodchild • Octavia E. Butler Blued Moon • Connie Willis A Message to the King of Brobdingnag • Richard Cowper The Affair • Robert Silverberg PRESS ENTER [] • John Varley New Rose Hotel • William Gibson The Map • Gene Wolfe Interlocking Pieces • Molly GlossTrojan Horse • Michael Swanwick Bad Medicine • Jack DannAt the Embassy Club • Elizabeth A. Lynn Pursuit of Excellence • Rena Yount The Kindly Isle • Frederik Pohl Rock On • Pat Cadigan Sunken Gardens [Mechanist-Shapers] • Bruce SterlingTrinity • Nancy Kress The Trouble with the Cotton People • Ursula K. Le Guin Twilight Time • Lewis ShinerBlack Coral • Lucius Shepard Friend • James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel Foreign Skins • Tanith LeeCompany in the WingsA Cabin on the Coast • Gene Wolfe The Lucky Strike • Kim Stanley Robinson Honorable Mentions: 1984 • Gardner Dozois • 

Explorers: SF Adventures to Far HorizonsDistant planets, galaxies, alien races--the universe is vast and filled with an almost unimaginable range of possibilities. But imagine it we can. Here are more than twenty stories from the most inventive writers in the field.These are the stories of discovering those possibilities-the stories of the explorers and pioneers who push the envelope further out--exciting tales of alien landscapes and adventures on far distant shores that are the heart and soul of science fiction. Amazon.com ReviewGardner Dozois, editor of Asimov's and the annual anthology series, The Year's Best Science Fiction, has assembled 23 stories by some of the best-known names in SF, past and present. The stories, which "explore the farthest reaches of the universe," were written between 1951 and 1998 and are presented in chronological order. As the stories progress, so does the terrain being explored."The Sentinel," a classic Arthur C. Clarke tale of a man discovering an alien artifact on the moon (the inspiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey), shows the quintessential explorer of the time: alone, in charge of his environment, and happy that way. "Grandpa," by James H. Schmitz, concerns the indomitable spirit of Man, or at least Boy, and his natural lordship over all things alien. In Niven's "Becalmed in Hell," we meet a cyborg, and Zelazny introduces us to a population genetically engineered to the edge of humanity in "The Keys to December." Le Guin's story, "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow," suggests that in order to explore alien territory, you must be insane. Tiptree's piece, "The Man Who Walked Home," is a brilliant portrayal of the tension between the need to explore the unknown, and the human cost of that need. Stories by Varley and Swanwick, Baxter and Egan, show humans from an alien perspective: we are no longer the sum and center of the universe, merely a part.While it is possible to read this book as nothing more than a collection of adventure stories leavened with a pinch of a sense of wonder, a deeper reading reveals how the genre's gaze has turned from an examination of what lies Out There, the unknown place and the alien being, to a more inward contemplation: the question of what it is to be human. --Luc Duplessis. Review"The most imaginative editor in the field."--The Village Voice "Dozois is to the 1980s and 1990s what John W. Campbell, Jr., was to the 1940s and 1950s-the finest editor in the world of short SF."-*Publishers Weekly *

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? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world through their short stories. This venerable collection brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Damien Broderick, Elizabeth Bear, Paul McAuley and John Barnes. And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must-read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre.The multiple Locus Award-winning annual compilation of the year’s best science fiction storiescontentsSUMMATION: 2012WEEP FOR DAY • Indrapramit DasTHE MAN • Paul McAuleyTHE STARS DO NOT LIE • Jay LakeTHE MEMCORDIST • Lavie TidharTHE GIRL-THING WHO WENT OUT FOR SUSHI • Pat CadiganHOLMES SHERLOCK • Eleanor ArnasonNIGHTFALL ON THE PEAK OF ETERNAL LIGHT • Richard A. Lovett and William GleasonCLOSE ENCOUNTERS • Andy DuncanTHE FINITE CANVAS • Brit MandeloSTEAMGOTHIC • Sean McMullenIN THE HOUSE OF ARYAMAN, A LONELY SIGNAL BURNS • Elizabeth BearMACY MINNOT’S LAST CHRISTMAS ON DIONE, RING RACING, FIDDLER’S GREEN, THE POTTER’S GARDEN • Paul McAuleyTWENTY LIGHTS TO “THE LAND OF SNOW” • Michael BishopASTROPHILIA • Carrie VaughnWHAT DID TESSIMOND TELL YOU? • Adam RobertsOLD PAINT • Megan LindholmCHITAI HEIKI KORONBIN • David MolesKATABASIS • Robert ReedTHE WATER THIEF • Alastair ReynoldsNIGHTSIDE ON CALLISTO • Linda NagataUNDER THE EAVES • Lavie TidharSUDDEN, BROKEN, AND UNEXPECTED • Steven PopkesFIREBORN • Robert Charles WilsonRUMINATIONS IN AN ALIEN TONGUE • Vandana SinghTYCHE AND THE ANTS • Hannu RajaniemiTHE WRECK OF THE “CHARLES DEXTER WARD” • Sarah Monette and Elizabeth BearINVISIBLE MEN • Christopher BarzakSHIP’S BROTHER • Aliette de BodardEATER-OF-BONE • Robert ReedHONORABLE MENTIONS: 2012

The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection - for 1983 pub in 1984This collection launched the popular and long-running "The Year's Best Science Fiction" series:Fantastic Science Fiction!The Year's Best -- And Biggest CollectionHere's the cream of the crop: short stories, novelettes, novellas by science fiction writers already famous and awarded for their high-quality work in science fiction.  Writers like:Cicada Queen [Mechanist-Shapers] • Bruce SterlingBeyond the Dead Reef • James Tiptree, Jr.Slow-Birds • Ian WatsonVulcan’s Forge • Poul AndersonMan-Mountain Gentian • Howard WaldropHardfought • Greg BearManifest Destiny • Joe HaldemanFull Chicken Richness • Avram DavidsonMultiples • Robert SilverbergCryptic • Jack McDevittThe Sidon in the Mirror • Connie WillisGolden Gate • R. A. LaffertyBlind Shemmy • Jack DannIn the Islands • Pat MurphyNunc Dimittis • Tanith LeeBlood Music • Greg BearHer Furry Face • Leigh KennedyKnight of Shallows • Rand B. LeeThe Cat • Gene WolfeThe Monkey Treatment • George R. R. MartinNearly Departed [Deadpan Allie] • Pat CadiganHearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • John KesselCarrion Comfort • Dan SimmonsGemstone • Vernor VingeBlack Air • Kim Stanley Robinson

contentsInappropriate Behavior - Pat MurphyStart the Clock - Benjamin RosenbaumThe Third Party - David MolesThe Voluntary State - Christopher RoweShiva in Shadow - Nancy KressThe People of Sand and Slag - Paolo BacigalupiThe Clapping Hands of God - Michael F. FlynnTourism - M. John HarrisonScout's Honor - Terry BissonMen Are Trouble - James Patrick KellyMother Aegypt - Kage BakerSynthetic Serendipity - Vernor VingeSkin Deep - Mary RosenblumDelhi - Vandana SinghThe Tribes of Bela - Albert E. CowdreySitka - William SandersLeviathan Wept - Daniel AbrahamThe Defenders - Colin P. DaviesMayflower II - Stephen BaxterRiding the White Bull - Caitlin R. KiernanFalling Star - Brendan DuBoisThe Dragons of Summer Gulch - Robert ReedThe Ocean of the Blind - James L. CambiasThe Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fictional Romance - Eleanor ArnasonFootvote - Peter F. HamiltonSisyphus and the Stranger - Paul Di FilippoTen Sigmas - Paul MelkoInvestments - Walter Jon Williams