Only reading "Butterfly, Falling at Dawn" by Aliette de Bodard.Note: I read an online edition of this story that GR does not allow to be listed.This story is another Sci-fi alt-history [murder] mystery. Again it follows an MC who is not Xuyan by birth or rearing - instead has chosen to live in Xuya due to circumstances in their past.This story was interesting but the most interesting part of it was the...issues of the MC (and all the Mexica refugees). I am not sure how much time has passed betwe...

I'm making my way through the author's Xuya stories, the chronology can be found on her website. This is the fourth one by my count. It's another mystery, who's main character is an Xuyan immigrant from Mexica (that's not a typo, that's the spelling of people from the country in the approximate location of our Mexico) after the terrible civil war there many years ago. They came when she was twelve. She's the first Mexica to become a Magister, or police detective, in the very insular Xuyan commun...

I enjoy Dozois' picks in general, with Political Prisoner being my favourite in this edition. His industry review at the beginning is thorough to the point of obsessive and a fantastic addition for anyone who wants to work in the field.

So, yeah, I finally got around to reading this in 2018, a decade after the stories it collects were published. Sadly, that's how it often goes around this household. (The good news is that the next in line is the 31st edition, because I read out of order, so it should be less embarrassing as time goes on.)Anyway, the key thing about these Dozois collections is that the stories don't age much. I found them to be quite good as entertainment, and many of them also inspiring as writing models. I've

For my taste, winners include Turing's Apples, Ray Gun (best), N-words (second best), I also like the "Political Prisoner" for its grim evocation of a theocratic police state. I liked the "Lester Young" story too, even though it was raw and unpolished. It had some interesting ideas and mood setting. Not a great ending. Anyway it's important that stories like that see the light. There are too many polished science fiction writers out there with small ideas. If I want that I'll read the New Yorker...

There's a fundamental problem with publishing something under the title of "Year's Best," which is that "best" is one of those words that's completely subjective. As you read a collection that is supposed to be the best of the year, when you inevitably hit a story you don't care for, you find yourself saying, "Really? This is the best that 2008 had to offer?" And when you notice that stories you read that year and really, really loved aren't included, you feel like there's been a slight. (And th...

I finally finished this, despite having bought it four and a half years ago.There were some good gems, some of which I hadn't even read/heard about (I'd never have picked up Paul McAuley on my own, but found myself enjoying his Jackaroo 'verse in 'City of the Dead'). Sadly, the table of contents is blindingly white--Aliette de Bodard is the only POC--though there are far more women in this edition (eight out of thirty stories) than previous Dozois collections I've read.Of those, I find it a litt...

Stephen Baxter: "Turing's Apples" [**]Michael Swanwick: "From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled" [***]Paolo Bacigalupi: "The Gambler" [**]Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette: "Boojum" [***]Alastair Reynolds: "The Six Directions of Space" [****]Ted Kosmatka: "N-Words" [***]Ian McDonald: "An Eligible Boy" [***]Dominic Green: "Shining Armour" [**]Karl Schroeder: "The Hero" [***]Mary Robinette Kowal: "Evil Robot Monkey" [*]Robert Reed: "Five Thrillers" [*]Jay Lake: "The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past

One of de Bodard's Xuya stories; this one takes place in Xuya, but the cast is largely Mexican. Like "The Lost Xuyan Bride", this is a rather noirish feeling mystery, something that reminds me, very tangentially, of William Gibson or Phillip K Dick; that futuristic griminess and texture, but also the joy (for the reader) in discovering this beautifully constructed, real-feeling world.Like the other Xuya stories, there's a starkly drawn theme of half-ness; people caught painfully between societie...

Definitely Read (5 stars):Shining Armour | Dominic Green - Old man, exercises, city defenseThe Ray-Gun: A Love Story | James Alan Gardner - Best opening I've read in a long long time. Warning: Talks about sex (not explicitly). Sags a tiny bit in the middle. Makes up for it overall. Probably Read (4 stars):An Eligible Boy | Ian McDonald - Indian DatingBalancing Accounts | James L. Cambias - Robot Special DeliverySpecial Economics | Maureen F. McHugh - Pesky capitalismDays of Wonder | Geoff Byman

As is generally the case with this type of anthology, I didn't read every story. I cherry-picked a few authors I usually like, then read some additional stories because they happened to come after a story I had finished and have a good opening, picked a few to try by title.Stephen Baxter "Turing's Apples" -- Interesting, but the story got buried under description and world-building. I could say the same about quite a few of the entries, I have to admit. I would not, in general, recommend this vo...

Interesting collection, well worth a read if you're a sci-fi fan. The eleven stories below were the ones that I found most interesting.The Six Directions of Space - Alastair ReynoldsN-Words - Ted KosmatkaAn Eligible Boy - Ian McDonaldThe Ill-fated Mission - Robert ReedThe Egg Man - Mary RosenblumThe Political Prisoner - Charles Coleman FinlayBalancing Accounts - James L. CambiasDays of Wonder - Geoff RymanCity of the Dead - Paul McAuleyG-Men - Kathryn RuschThe Erdmann Nexus - Nancy Kress

The only way to review the collection is to review each of the individual stories, so here I go:1) Turing's Apples, by Stephen Baxter. I normally enjoy Baxter's work, but this one misses the mark, a bit. 6/10 and an inauspicious start2) From Babel's Fall'n glory we fled, by Michael Swanwick. A well-written, impressive, story about the survival of an alien culture in the face of internecine wars. 8/103) The Gambler, by Paolo Bacigalupi. The first really hard-hitting, impactful, story in the set.

Thirtys short stories in the SF vein, all first published in 2008:My FavoritesEvil Robot Monkey, Mary Robinette KowalFive Thrillers, Robert ReedCrystal Nights, Greg EganDays Of Wonder, Geoff RymanOld Friends, Garth NixLester Young And The Jupiter’s Moons’ Blues, Gord SellarStory-By-Story Reactions"Turing’s Apples" by Stephen Baxter. A message from across the galaxy provides a rorschach test for humanity, though all it really takes is one well-placed dude to press the "on" button."From Babel’s Fa...

A good collection - some of them I loved, others did nothing for me.For short stories, most of them were quite long. I felt that some of them would have been improved by paring them down, whilst others had enough ideas in them to fill a complete book.

A great collection that I have extracted from a longish stay on my to be read shelves and which I have dipped into over a month of the pandemic. There are hardly any weak entries at in this anthology. In fact they are all just too good to even pick out a top 10 so here’s top baker’s dozen listed simply in order of appearance:Turing's Apples by Stephen Baxter who is on top form hereThe Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi – my bias towards media ad journalism may be in play here in this tale of future, bu...

This massive collection (639 pages), the best of 2008, lives up to the late Dozois's long reputation for selecting solid SF stories (no fantasy), with this volume leaning more towards the far-future kind (although don't miss the couple of exquisite alternative history mysteries to be found here). Only a couple of clunkers (although one long one in particular, by Charles Coleman Finlay, was nothing more than a thoroughly detailed and not very SF stint in prison camp and brought the whole collecti...

My favorites were Rosenblum's "The Egg Man", and "Lester Young and the Jupiter's Moons' Blues" by Gord Sellar, the latter comparable to Howard Waldrop at his best. There were several other entertaining and inspiring stories. These included works by Baxter, Alastair Reynolds, Dominic Green, Karl Schroeder, Paul McAuley, an entertaining noir diversion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, a very human story by Kress, and a tight little whodunnit by Aleitte de Bodard. Even if the best stories weren't the best...

I found this collection while tracking down Butterfly, Falling at Dawn, which is one of the stories in Aliette de Bodard's Xuya Universe, and the penultimate story included here. This collection, and Gardner R. Dozois in particular, are evidently highly praised in the sci-fi community, but this will be my first edited by M. Dozois. I've been enjoying science fiction stories in various magazines and online blogs lately, and this seemed like a good chance to read a collection and compare notes on

This book is fairly mediocre and thus disappointing. I would rate most of the stories a 'C,' with an handful of 'B's.' Several of the plots have interesting premises and more than a handful have good writing. Most of the stories are not particularly memorable. There are no authors I will seek out to read more of. There is an extensive amount of review of the SF industry from books to TV to movies to manga, etc.. This gives the state of the industry about 10 years ago. Each story is also prefaces...