I try to read as many of NewCon “Best of British…” anthologies as possible, because I always find some strong stories in them, but I’m afraid the selection in this one was not particularly to my taste. Nevertheless, I found a bunch of interesting and enjoyable stories that made the anthology worth reading. And I‘m sure this is going to be the case for any science fiction fan. Among my highlights, the ones by David Whitmarsh, Ida Keogh, Philip Irving, L. N. Hunter, Liam Hogan and, as a chocolate lover, the very short one by Brent Baldwin. Looking forward to reading “Best of British Science Fiction 2023”. ( )

I would not be surprised if this collection did manage to find all of the best British Science Fiction of 2022, as all of the short stories included (and there were many) were interesting, many were enjoyable, and a few I think will stick with me for some time. There were a couple stories that seemed to not worry too much about making sense, but for the most part all of them seized upon interesting concepts and offered interesting ideas about what our future might look like.

As a genre, sci-fi is often a mirror to the anxiety of the times, and the topic and tone of this collection reflects that. There is quite a bit here about scarcity, extinction, wealth inequality and failures of our species to prevent a bad end, but there are also first encounters, individuals finding meaning and purpose within their circumstances, and every once in a while an adventure. There is a slight preference towards the harder sci-fi. There's not much in the way of light travel, fuel is a significant factor in multiple stories, and there are no utopias in sight, but even so I found the stories to be diverse in their outlook and approach. I think any sci-fi fan can probably find a story in here that they will really love. ( )

The pandemic obviously affected fiction, but not necessarily in obvious ways. It would take a better analyst than me to explore the ways in which environmental collapse sf now differs from its 70s version (emerging from an era in which US rivers would catch on fire from pollution), but a number of these stories are about either escaping, or not escaping, a ravaged world. Many others are about some kind of machine intelligence, which I expect we’ll see even more of next year. ( )

[Disclaimer: I got this book via LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program]

When I read an anthology of short stories, I am glad if I find a handful of good ones. This time I was lucky: there was some story I did not like (and a couple I did not understand, maybe my English is not so good as I think...) but in general the quality was high. A quick comment on each one of them:

◆ Keith Brooke and Eric Brown, Assets: I already read it in another collection, and I confirm it's beautiful. 5/5
◆ Tim Major, The Marshalls of Mars: cannot make heads from tails. N/A
◆ Fiona Moore, The Memory Spider: "The dance would go on". Very delicate. 5/5
◆ Lavie Tidharm Junk Hounds: It does not go anywhere. 2/5
◆ Neil Williamson, A Moment of Zugzwang: I am not sure that a chess player will appreciate it, but I liked how it was built. 5/5
◆ Stephen Oram, Long Live the Strawberries of Finsbury Park. I did not catch its point. 2/5
◆ Ian Whates, The FenZone: well built, only near the end I managed to see where it would lead. 4/5
◆ Val Nolan, Gortcullinane Man: Interesting idea of a post-pandemic world. 4/5
◆ Ida Keogh, Wheel of Fortune: What would happen was clear after a while, but rhe story is built really well. 5/5
◆ Liam Hogan, Last Bite at the Klondike: The plot twist was unexpected, but the prose was lame. 3/5
◆ A. J. McIntosh & Andrew J. Wilson, A Quickening Tide: at the end of the story I felt cheated. It could have been perfect, but so it's only 3/5
◆ J.K. Fulton, Call of the Void: without all the technical stuff at the beginning, it would have been much better. 3/5
◆ Robert Bagnall, Sunrunner: another very delicate story. 5/5
◆ E.M. Faulds, The Amelioration of Existence in Spite of Truth and Reconciliation: the point of view of the main character is depicted very well. 5/5
◆ Phillip Irving, Translation: another different point of view and an unexpected ending. 5/5
◆ Dafydd McKimm, The Flamingo Maximiser: I could not understand it. 2/5
◆ Alice Dryden, For I Shall Consider My Cat J/FRY: even if robotical, a cat is a cat. 5/5
◆ David Whitmarsh, In The Weave: the many-worlds interpretation put in practice. 5/5
◆ L.N. Hunter, Eternal Soldier: I quickly guessed what would eventually happen, but the story is well built. 5/5
◆ Stewart C Baker, The Spread of Space and Endless Devastation: something seems to lack. 3/5
◆ Vaughan Stanger, Those We Leave Behind: short but poignant. 5/5
◆ Matt Thompson, I Know What You Are: nice idea, but it left me cold. 3/5
◆ Brent Baldwin, Retirement Options for (Too) Successful Space Entrepreneurs: the title explains something, but the story left too much out. 3/5 ( )

What? Nearly 24 stories (so the ad-copy says) by British or British-resident authors. (An American friend and former classmate of mine who moved to Britain has a story in here.) Yeah, so? As with (almost) all anthologies, the stories here are a mixed bag. I don't like to talk about stories I didn't like -- heck, you might like them!; and of course I'm recusing myself from talking about the story of anyone I know; and double of course, my reading this book was fractured across several weeks as my reading time is minimal. (Oh, one more caveat: I've got a middling bad fever from my vax shots, so.) So, some stories that have stuck with me/struck me: "The Marshalls of Mars", about a married couple losing their minds on the way to Mars; "Junk Hounds", a Lavie Tidhar story about sad sack salvagers of space junk; "Gortcullinane Man", by Val Nolan, an odd little story I couldn't summarize "The Amelioration of Existence in Spite of Truth and Reconciliation", by EM Faulds, with a decommissioned military AI that runs a convenience store. "In the Weave", by David Whitmarsh, about aliens who see across dimensions to their other selves. (Rereading the table of contents, I actually know a few people, so I've left them off.)