Gardner DozoisBesprekingen

This would have been an OK collection of stories except there was one story which greatly offended me. A thrill kill reality show story that was much too graphic and should not have been published here.

• Reflections • essay by Robert Silverberg
• The Playroom • poem by Wendy Rathbone
• The Narcissus Plague • short story by Lisa Goldstein (Nominated for Nebula 1996)
• The Doll House • poem by Wendy Rathbone
• The Scream • novelette by Brian Stableford
• Out of the Quiet Years • novelette by G. David Nordley
• Future Past: An Exercise in Horror • poem by Bruce Boston
• Mrs. Lincoln's China • short story by M. Shayne Bell
• The Clown Doll • poem by Wendy Rathbone
• The Man in the Dinosaur Coat • novelette by John Alfred Taylor
• On Wanderer's Day • poem by William John Watkins
• Windrider • short story by Jack McDevitt
• Drink • short story by Mark W. Tiedemann
• The Lovers • (a Hwarhath story) • novelette by Eleanor Arnason
• On Books • essay by Paul Di Filippo

Eight stories in this issue, four novelettes and four short stories. Plus poems, illustrations, and essays. Mostly weak or uninteresting stories with some good to excellent ones.

This issue was the first to carry Robert Silverberg's Reflections column in Asimov's and it continues to this day. Thirty years on top of the sixteen or so years preceding in which it had been published in various forms in Galileo and Amazing Stories. A very long run and the columns are invariably very good.

Highlights for me:

The Narcissus Plague was not a bad story but I forgot details from it within a day. You can read it online, however. http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/narc.htm

At the beginning of March I read a short story by Brian Stableford, who had just died, and I thought it dreadful. His novelette here, "The Scream" was much better and I did not see the twist at the end coming. A twist on the Frankenstein story. Glad I read it. There is an in depth analysis of the story, completely spoilery but interesting, here: https://marzaat.com/2023/06/17/biotech-revolution-the-scream/

This was near the start of G. David Nordley's short story writing career. He's highly regarded but I didn't have an opinion of what to expect when I read this other than his good reputation. I've read a couple of his stories before. Nordley is a hard science fiction writer, and the story caught my interest very quickly. "Out of the Quiet Years" is an exciting rescue set around Jupiter with some surprising twists. I am looking forward to finding more stories by Nordley.

After this, the stories lost my interest and varied from mainstream fiction to scifi to fantasy and somewhat didactic and pretentious at that.

The book essay by Di Filippo was very good.½

F/SF

Front to back filled with a fantastic array of Science Fiction stories. Space Opera, Hard Sci Fi, weird stuff, contemplative fiction where the SF elements are very subtle, and all the feelings. Took me ages to read this complete volume, and I'll likely return to it in the future, picking a story or two at random to read.

- Tough Times All Over by Joe Abercrombie (a Red Country story) *3/5
- What Do You Do? (aka The Grownup) by Gillian Flynn *4/5
- The Inn of the Seven Blessings by Matthew Hughes *2/5
- Bent Twig by Joe R. Lansdale (a Hap and Leonard story) *3/5
- Tawny Petticoats by Michael Swanwick *3/5
- Provenance by David Ball *2/5
- The Roaring Twenties by Carrie Vaughn *3/5
- A Year and a Day in Old Theradane by Scott Lynch *3.5/5
- Bad Brass by Bradley Denton *2/5
- Heavy Metal by Cherie Priest *4/5
- The Meaning of Love by Daniel Abraham *4/5
- A Better Way to Die by Paul Cornell (a Jonathan Hamilton story) *2/5
- Ill Seen in Tyre by Steven Saylor *2/5
- A Cargo of Ivories by Garth Nix (a Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz story) *2/5
- Diamonds From Tequila by Walter Jon Williams (a Dagmar story) *4/5
- The Caravan to Nowhere by Phyllis Eisenstein (a Tales of Alaric the Minstrel story) *4/5
- The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives by Lisa Tuttle *4/5
- How the Marquis Got His Coat Back by Neil Gaiman (a Neverwhere story) *3.5/5
- Now Showing by Connie Willis *3/5
- The Lightning Tree by Patrick Rothfuss (a Kingkiller Chronicle story) *4/5
- The Rogue Prince, or, A King’s Brother by George R.R. Martin (a Song of Ice and Fire story) *5/5

Six stories in this issue, a novella, two novelettes and 3 short stories. Plus poems, illustrations, and essays. Nothing dreadful in this issue, but there are two noteworthy stories. The opening novella Cilia-of-Gold by Stephen Baxter concerns the exploration of Venus and the exploration and discovery of life. The story alternates between the sentient lifeforms who are unaware of humans on the surface, and the less interesting story of the explorers on the surface. The two parts intersect at the end. This is apparently part of Baxter's Xeelee series.

The other notable story is by Gregory Benford, a novella that takes up a large portion of the magazine, called "Soon Comes the Night". The intro to the story states it is part of what became Benford's Galactic Center series that began with [In the ocean of night]. The events in the story link the first two books in the series with a sixth volume being written (which became [Sailing Bright Eternity]). So this story should be noteworthy to fans of that series. I have read Benford's short stories over the years but not his novels, so I can't judge how it fit in. I am not a big fan of Benford's writing style but I still appreciated this story.

from isfdb:
4 • Reflections • essay by Robert Silverberg
10 • Cilia-of-Gold • [Xeelee] • novelette by Stephen Baxter
10 •  Cilia-of-Gold • interior artwork by Ron Chironna
38 • Soft Rain • short story by Valerie J. Freireich
38 •  Soft Rain • interior artwork by Christopher Bing
52 • Crescent Moon • poem by Lawrence Schimel
54 • Dead Men Rise Up Never • short story by Rob Chilson
54 •  Dead Men Rise Up Never • interior artwork by Steve Cavallo
64 • Bernie • novelette by Ian McDowell
64 •  Bernie • interior artwork by Gary Freeman
80 • Moon Canoes • poem by Wendy Rathbone
82 • Living It • short story by Steven Utley
82 •  Living It • interior artwork by Gina Mohr LoParo
92 • Soon Comes Night • novella by Gregory Benford
92 •  Soon Comes Night • interior artwork by Bob Eggleton
158 • The Vampire Sings • poem by William John Watkins
160 • On Books: State of the Art • essay by Norman Spinrad
160 •   Review: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute and Peter Nicholls • review by Norman Spinrad
164 •   Review: Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler • review by Norman Spinrad
166 •   Review: Beautiful Soup: A Novel for the 21st Century by Harvey Jacobs • review by Norman Spinrad
167 •   Review: Sandman, Sleep by Herbert Lieberman • review by Norman Spinrad
169 •   Review: Virtual Light by William Gibson • review by Norman Spinrad
171 •   Review: Hard Landing by Algis Budrys • review by Norman Spinrad
172 •   Review: Forests of the Night by S. Andrew Swann • review by Norman Spinrad

Typically, I find that I enjoy about 50-60% of a short-story collection. This collection vastly exceeded that. There was only one story I just gave up on. All the other stories ranged from quite good to stellar. (I will note that I was initially put off by the fact that not all the stories have a fantasy-world setting. But it turns out that in no way detracted from my enjoyment of them. Don't let the variety of settings get in your way.)

In my experience, any collection of short stories will have some I like and some I don't. The best one can hope for is two or three that really appeal. So in that regard, Old Mars is a success: there were two stories I really liked and one that (joy!) is an extension of a full novel that I cannot wait to start reading.

As you can see from Goodreads' description, the book is a collection of stories set on Mars, not as we now know it to be, but as we used to imagine it to be. It is fantasy and science fiction. And sometimes, that is just the heady mixture I need.

Loaned to me by a friend whose opinion I trust. But this thing is huge! I skipped around in it. That's the upside of collections, I guess. It did remind me of the excitement I had as a teen-ager, waiting for the next edition of the SF magazines to come out. Enough so that I have subscribed to the e-book version of Analog.

An odd little book, nominally SF but written like hardboiled detective fiction from the 1930s. May have got 3 stars but for the bait and switch.

I didn't think I was ever going to finish this book. I got it because of the new Diana Gabaldon Lord John story (which wasn't one of her best), but I decided that since I had it, I'd read the other stories. I liked about half of them. I'm glad I borrowed it from the library, so I don't really feel like I lost much, except a little time.

The Warriors anthology, edited by George R.R. Martin and his long-time associate Gardner Dozois, was at first something that most people wouldn’t think to associate with me. Despite my love of fantasy, and anthologies for that matter, Warriors isn’t just that. It would be fair to say that each genre is represented at least once and that the talent pool is a heady mix of known names and relatively unknowns. Of the twenty authors who contributed, I knew twelve names but had only read five of those. Anyone who reads anthologies on a regular basis understands that even if you got nothing but best-sellers for your contributor list, that doesn’t guarantee a strong collection as a whole. Anthologies are often regarded as the sum of their parts, instead.

Martin’s introduction gave me a much better insight into the type of anthology he wanted to create than the information on the cover. His recollections of finding books as a child at the store on a spinner rack had me grinning; I’m almost forty years younger then he is, but I have fond recollections of going to the flea market or one of the Summer Malls (a collection of stores that set up on the first day of summer in collapsible tents in the area where my grandparents lived) and rooting through the bins of books. I didn’t much care what genre a book was; if the cover interested me and I had the spare change, I bought it. His intro reminded me how fun and enlightening it was just choosing a book because it looked interesting, not because it was something I knew I might like.

The five authors who I had previously read were part of the reason why I chose to read this anthology. S.M. Stirling, who writes the Emberverse (or Change) novels I enjoy, has a short story in here called “Ancient Ways.” The story, which is part of the Emberverse, is separate from the main series and follows the adventures of two different warriors on the same mission–to save a Princess. It sounds cliche, but what works is that the two warriors have a wonderful dynamic. They both acknowledge that the mission is rather ridiculous, but proceed with a humor I appreciated. Their banter is priceless.

“The Eagle and the Rabbit” by Steven Saylor, a historical fiction author, surprised me only in that it wasn’t what I was expecting. I read Saylor’s Roman mystery series (Roma Sub Rosa) and expected a story in that vein. Instead I was given a story about Ancient Carthage, or rather a wrecked Carthage and a vividly horrifying story centered around a group of slaves who have to participate in a game called temptatio. Saylor’s Roma books aren’t happy times, but “The Eagle and the Rabbit” takes things to a new level of unhappy. Its not a story for the faint of heart, but, for historical fiction fans, this short is not to be missed.

“The Girls From Avenger” by Carrie Vaughn was about one WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) pilot’s mission to find out the truth about a friend’s death. WASP-related fiction is hard to come by, at least good WASP related fiction, and I have always had a special interest in the subject. Vaughn, whose urban fantasies I normally read, writes a straight historical mystery fiction story that is respectful, well-researched, and welcoming even if you have no idea who the WASP’s were.

Naomi Novik’s “Seven Years From Home” is not set in her Temeraire universe, but set in space (or, rather, on a different planet). Diplomat Ruth is sent as a negotiator to get the faction to stop opposing the Confederacy and to join with them. Of the twists the story took, I was expecting the very end, and Ruth’s actions, the least. The style was more of a journal entry sort than straight prose, but I found I enjoyed it quite a bit, which was a surprise to me since I’m not a fan of her Temeraire books at all.

The last author I had read previously was Diana Gabaldon. Her story “The Custom of the Army” is set in her Lord John books, which I have not read (I’ve previously read her Outlander books). Unfortunately, since I have no previous knowledge of the series, nor is there much by way of explanation in the story as set-up, I was lost and confused throughout most of this story.

Of the remaining fifteen stories, I think Robin Hobb’s “The Triumph” was the most entertaining (set in Ancient Rome, so it was a weird precursor to Saylor’s story in a way), and Tad Williams’ “And Ministers of Grace” made me want to read his novels the most. Though, as his story was more of a dramatic science fiction story and not epic fantasy, I almost feel like that would be a waste if I were looking for more of what I found here.

As a mixed-genre anthology, I think this collection worked fantastically. Not only did it present quite a few authors outside of their native genres (Carrie Vaughn and Tad Williams, especially), but it also proved that Martin’s “spinner rack theory” has some basis of truth. When given the opportunity to read in genres that were outside my norm, I found that I enjoyed them and wanted to read more of them.

a huge book, full of good stories, with the exception of the George R. R. Martin one, which was dry beyond belief.

I'd like to finish this, probably got through a third of the stories. May adjust my rating if I return to it.

I'm making an effort to read a wider range of science fiction, especially hard SF, space opera, anything outside my comfort zone of anthropological planetary romance.

I usually find Best Of anthologies a mixed bag. Don't get me wrong, none of these stories was bad by any stretch, but I felt several were held back by slight characters and conservative story arcs. I really look for a short story to elicit a strong emotional response and take me somewhere I didn't expect to go.

"The Falls: A Luna Story" and "Another Word for World" were two well-told stories that met this criteria. The ones I read that really knocked it out of the park, however, were Gwyneth Jones's "Emergence" and Carter Scholz's "Gypsy."

"Emergence" is a challenging work about transhumanism and artificial intelligence. The weird language is just right for a narrative about the boundaries of human experience. What's more, the protagonist goes on a physical and emotional journey that is deeply moving, even though we strain to imagine the characters and the world they inhabit. It's not a perfect story - some of Jones' parallels between transhumanism and the transgender experience fall flat - but it was ambitious and I loved that.

Meanwhile, "Gypsy" is the most grimdark antidote to technological optimism I've ever read, a very bleak fable about space travel. It's heavy-handed and emotionally manipulative and I kind of adore Scholz for writing it. As a polemic, it's inherently an imperfect story, but goddamn does it make a contribution to science fiction literature.

What I want more of, and didn't find in these stories: aliens! stories set in the far future! general weirdness! If I pick this one up again, we'll see what I get.

Only had time to read some of these. Like most short story collections, uneven, but was happy to finally learn How the Marquis Got His Coat Back, and "Tough Times All Over" by Joe Abercrombie was one of the most entertaining things I've read in ages.

if this was the years best science fiction I would hate to read the worst

This collection of 6 stories appeared to be just another mediocre batch until the novella that takes up half of the digest. Lucius Shepard was a favorite author of mine when I first encountered him in the mid 1980's and I've read numerous stories of his over the years. The novella here, "Human History" is a different sort of dystopia set maybe 700 years into the future, and is told as a story by one of characters. Not a perfect story and rather violent in parts, it nevertheless was clearly the best here and merits the 3 star good rating from me.

This collection of stories starts off with an impenetrable story about a dive into a black hole. A sub-par issue for this magazine although I enjoyed Silverberg's column about his search for grey whales and there were a couple OK stories. The issue gets an overall OK because of the intriguing novella "Mother Earth" by Robert Reed. This story as well as other novellas were later assembled into the novel Sister Alice. A far far future on Earth and elsewhere with humans being something besides human.½

So far, I've really liked the first story, and Nora's Song....

Well, this is the way excellent issues of the magazine could be at times. The cover story, "Path of the Dragon" at this point in time is probably an excerpt from the soon to be published novel in the Game of Thrones series 'Storm of Swords'. I was familiar with the series primarily from the television show which gave me the advantage of immediately stepping into the novella from the first words. This story about Daenerys Targaryen and her young dragons where she gives up a dragon to acquire command of the unsullied was very good. However, stepping into this without any foreknowledge might be a less than successful read.

There were some other good stories as well. Mike Resnick wrote a number of alternate histories with Teddy Roosevelt, I've read a few (there were at least 7) starting with the first one "Bully" from a 1991 issue of Asimov's that I re-read in 2009. The story here "Redchapel" was very entertaining where a young Teddy Roosevelt is tasked with finding Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel. Richard Parks presents a well told and touching "ghost" story set in Japan with "The God of Children". Kage Baker has a pleasant timeslip story set on the Northern California coast. 'Balance Due' was an enjoyable story of cryonic preservation and rebirth 400 or so years in the future. I liked the robot helper the man has. The only story I disliked was "I Love Paree".

Here are the contents:
•4 • The Grand Masters • Reflections essay by Robert Silverberg
•8 • Redchapel • novelette by Mike Resnick
•8 • Redchapel • interior artwork by Steve Cavallo
•34 • The God of Children • [Eli Mothersbaugh] • novelette by Richard Parks
•34 • The God of Children • interior artwork by June Levine
•48 • Merry Christmas from Navarro Lodge, 1928 • shortstory by Kage Baker
•48 • Merry Christmas from Navarro Lodge, 1928 • interior artwork by Janet Aulisio
•60 • I Love Paree • novelette by Cory Doctorow and Michael Skeet
•60 • I Love Paree • interior artwork by Alan Gutierrez
•85 • Iggy Guards Her Secrets • (1998) • poem by Keith Allen Daniels
•86 • Balance Due • essay by M. Shayne Bell
•86 • Balance Due • interior artwork by June Levine
•98 • Path of the Dragon • novella by George R. R. Martin
•98 • Path of the Dragon • interior artwork by Darryl Elliott
•132 • On Books • essay and reviews by Paul Di Filippo

Some of the stories were better than others but all n' all I enjoyed reading this book.
It was interesting to see how several of the stories had the same basic idea, although they were written by different authors.

3 - “Some Desperado” by Joe Abercrombie - A Red Country story
5 - “My Heart is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott
4 - “Nora’s Song” by Cecelia Holland
2 - “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass
/ - “Bombshells” by Jim Butcher - A Harry Dresden story
4 - “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn
3 - “Wrestling Jesus” by Joe R. Lansdale
5 - “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm
3 - “I Know How to Pick ’Em” by Lawrence Block
4 - “Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson - A Cosmere story
3 - “A Queen in Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman
5 - “The Girl in the Mirror” by Lev Grossman - A Magicians story
3 - “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress
3 - “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland
/ - “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon - An Outlander story
/ - “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherilynn Kenyon
3 - “Pronouncing Doom” by S.M. Stirling - An Emberverse story
4 - “Name the Beast” by Sam Sykes
/ - “Caretakers” by Pat Cadigan
4 - “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector - A Wild Cards story
2 - “The Princess and the Queen” by George R.R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire story

Minus five stars for the Girard story that had two grown men try to rape a 12yo girl with her arm in a cast, while their boss looked on and only decided to stop the whole thing because she was putting up too much of a fight and it was taking too long.
Zero stars for the Varley story that featured a 47yo dude having sex with a 13yo girl.
Five stars for the stories by Asimov and Eisenstein, which are the reason this book got any star at all. I’m not a fan of book burnings, but wow this one came close to changing my mind. And don’t tell me to read it in context with the times, the times can go fuck themselves, and so can Girard and Varley.

A particularly well crafted collection of magical tales, from classic to urban fantasy, some steampunk-ish SF/fantasy blend, some particularly well done reimaginings of Arthur lengends and children's tales (Alice in Wonderland), this collection has it all.
Unusually, i do not feel the need to remind folks that not all tales in any given anthology will appeal to all readers, as this is one i read everything in it.

An anthology that has stepped up a little with the times. Not tied to product costs of print, the book indulges in both more stories and longer works... According to Google Play Books reader, almost 1000 pages! A wide range of stories, and authors too