Review

Rating: 8

I don’t read science fiction magazines any more. Instead, I buy a copy of “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” each year.

Basically, I’m saying the death of the Science Fiction magazine industry is entirely my fault. Sorry. But I guess the underlying problem is that reading the magazines meant having to sift through some stories that I didn’t really enjoy. Whereas, with very few exceptions, every story in the “Year’s Best….” is worth reading: at least for me. Maybe it is just because Gardner Dozois (the editor of Year’s Best Science Fiction) and I happen to share similar tastes. Or perhaps its just a matter of having someone doing that advance filtering.

The 24th edition is no exception: there really wasn’t a bad story in the collection. A couple of examples from the two dozen or so in the book:

• Bowshock by Greg Benford was an intriguing expedition into the bitter world of academic rivalry, tenure, and university professors, with an underlying story of a possible “first contact” I haven’t thought of before
• Kin by Bruce McAllister was one of the stranger instances of “kid in a sci-fi story” I’ve encountered. I liked the fact that the alien was kept somewhat mysterious, while still having a believable “bond” with the young boy in the story
• I, Row-Boat by Cory Doctorow…heck, I was sold after reading the title It is a story of a culture approaching technological singularity and how the “uplifting” of traditionally inanimate objects could change society…or perhaps it’s a story of a sentient rowboat, and his adventures with a talking reef. I’m not sure, but it was fun

The downside: the loss of revenue from magazine subscriptions means the magazines that provide safe harbor for all the great stories that populate the annual collections may wither and die.