The best of the best

Book, 1969

Status

Available

Call number

813.0876608

Publication

Publisher Unknown (1969)

Description

Features the finest science fiction writings from the past two decades of the annual "The Year's Best Science Fiction," including writings from such authors as Greg Bear, Pat Cadigan, Robert Silverberg, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jburlinson

I have decided to stop reading sci-fi short story anthologies: at least those compiled after 1970. The items collected here can hardly be called the best of anything, let alone the best of the best. Even usually fairly reliable authors (Gene Wolfe, William Gibson, Ursula LeGuin, James Patrick

Kelly) come a cropper here. The only redeeming tale is "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, a work so good that I've given the entire collection a second star as a reward. Actually, Chiang's work is really more a novella than a short story, which only goes to add evidence to my conviction that the novella is the perfect form for sci-fi. Perhaps I will enlarge on that in another place and at another time.

Show Less

8 more

LibraryThing member PghDragonMan

While the great stories in here outnumber the bad ones, the overall balance is only a little above average. Still a worthwhile anthology for the sci-fi collector.

LibraryThing member donp

Picked it up on the cheap and immediately opened it to the Howard Waldrop story. Like I needed to buy, let alone start, another antho ;).

LibraryThing member CKmtl

I sought out this anthology as both an introduction to sci-fi, a genre with which I'm not very familiar, and as a re-introduction to short fiction, which I haven't read much of since High School. The book accomplished both rather well, I think.

While I'm not sure that I'd be able to discern "bad"

sci-fi from "good" sci-fi, I did enjoy most of the stories that Dozois compiled.

Show Less

LibraryThing member figre

I am not a fan of Dozois’ Best of collections. I don’t know why, and I know there are multiple raves about them, but something about them does not work for me. And with that in mind, I don’t know why I keep buying them. I guess it is just that fatalistic “maybe this time/everyone else

thinks they are good” optimism that keeps me coming back for more.

So, I purchased the best of the best and it sat on my shelf as I geared myself for more disappointment. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. This is a near-on perfect collection of great science fiction from 80s and 90s. I can still remember the first time I read Silverberg’s Science Fiction Hall of Fame collection and was instantly drowning in a sea of mind-bending science fiction. I can see a new reader picking up this collection and having that same reaction.

Story after story of new ideas, different approaches, and some of the finest writing that occurred in that twenty-year period. I’m not even going to bother talking about the stories (okay, just a hit list – how can any collection go wrong that includes Greg Bear’s “Blood Music”, Terry Bisson’s “Bears Discover Fire”, and Lucius Shepard’s “Salvador), except to say that Dozois has done an excellent job of tapping all types and styles of stories, providing a broad sweep that gives anyone the various experiences that exist in today’s science fiction writing. The only thing keeping this from a perfect five? Probably that broad sweep, in that one or two of the stories just didn’t stand up as well as the entire collection. Am I being picky? Perhaps. However, the bottom line is that this is a collection I would suggest to anyone who enjoys science fiction or, maybe more importantly, anyone who is just now discovering science fiction.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Audacity88

This anthology is nothing consistent. Dozois's choices often puzzle me - and his introductions annoy - but in addition to the unfunny or boring stories, there are some good ones, and a few that excel: "A Cabin on the Coast", "Trinity", "Wang's Carpets", "A Dry, Quiet War", "Story of Your Life".

LibraryThing member wendymcf

Highlights: 1- 'The Pure Product' by John Kessel, 2- 'Guest of Honor' by Robert Reed, 3- 'Daddy's World' by Walter Jon Williams, 4- 'The Wedding Album' by David Marusek, 5- 'Story of Your Life' by Ted Chiang, 6- '10(16) to 1' by James Patrick Kelly, 7- 'Second Skin' by Paul J. McAuley, 8- 'The Real

World' by Steven Utley, 9- 'Have Not Have' by Geoff Ryman, 10- 'People Came from Earth' by Stephen Baxter, 11- 'Lambing Season' by Molly Gloss, 12- 'Breathmoss' by Ian R. MacLeod

Show Less

LibraryThing member jerry-book

All star review of the best short sci fi over the last 20 years.

LibraryThing member ScoLgo

This is a large book with a treasure-trove of short fiction. The best part is that there is hardly a dud in the bunch. Some stories appealed more than others but this collection is highly recommended.

Fewer