It’s that time of year again, when all the annual best of anthologies start showing up. This year I’ve come across four so far, one of which I’m reading (Hartwell & Cramer), two of which are winging their way from Amazon (Dozois & Strahan), and a fourth is waiting to be shipped (Horton). There are probably more of these out there, so let me know. Here are the titles I know about so far:
- The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois (GD)
- The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two, edited by Jonathan Strahan (JS)
- Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2008 edition, edited by Richard Horton (RH)
- Year’s Best SF 13 edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer (HC)
What’s truly strange is how little overlap there is, with only 12 stories out of 87 getting in more than one book. This made me feel good about wanting to buy all four volumes, but on the other hand, I wished there were more obvious stand-out stories. We know that the Ted Chiang and Karen Joy Fowler stories won Nebula awards this year, and these stories are nominated for the 2008 Hugo Awards:
- “Memorare” by Gene Wolfe (novella) (HC)
- “The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairytale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham (novelette) (JS)
- “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted Chiang (novelette) (GD, JS) (Nebula winner)
- “Dark Integers” by Greg Egan (novelette) (RH)
- “Glory” by Greg Egan (novelette) (GD, JS)
- “Finisterra” by David Moles (novelette) (GD)
- “Lost Contact” by Stephen Baxter (short story) (GD, JS)
- “Tideline” by Elizabeth Bear (short story) (GD)
- Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359″ by Ken MacLeod (short story) (HC)
Greg Egan and Nancy Kress got in all four best-of-books with multiple stories, and 12 other writers got into more than one volume with one or more stories.
| Abraham, Daniel | The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics | JS |
| Asher, Neal | Alien Archeology | GD |
| Baker, Kage | Plotters and Shooters | HC |
| Baker, Kage | Hellfire in Twilight | GD |
| Ballantyne, Tony | Aristotle OS | HC |
| Ballantyne, Tony | Third Person | HC |
| Barnes, John | An Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away | GD, RH |
| Baxter, Stephen | Last Contact | GD, JS |
| Baxter, Stephen | No More Stories | HC |
| Beagle, Peter S. | The Last and Only, or Mr. Moskowitz Becomes French | JS |
| Bear, Elizabeth | Orm the Beautiful | JS |
| Bear, Elizabeth | Tideline | GD |
| Benford, Gregory | Reasons Not to Publish | HC |
| Benford, Gregory | Dark Heaven | GD |
| Bisson, Terry | Pirates of the Somali Coast | HC |
| Black, Holly | The Coat of Stars | JS |
| Brooke, Keith | The Accord | GD |
| Cadigan, Pat | Nothing Personal | GD |
| Chiang, Ted | The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate | GD, JS |
| Daniel, Tony | The Valley of the Garden | JS |
| Di Filippo, Paul | Wikiworld | RH |
| Egan, Greg | Glory | GD, JS |
| Egan, Greg | Induction | HC |
| Egan, Greg | Dark Integers | RH |
| Egan, Greg | Steve Fever | GD |
| Finlay, Charles Coleman | An Eye for an Eye | RH |
| Ford, Jeffrey | The Dreaming Wind | JS |
| Fowler, Karen Joy | Always | HC, RH |
| Gaiman, Neil | The Witch’s Headstone | JS |
| Goonan, Kathleen Ann | The Bridge | HC |
| Goss, Theodore | Singing of Mount Abora | JS |
| Gregory, Daryl | Dead Horse Point | JS |
| Hand, Elizabeth | Winter’s Wife | JS |
| Hemry, John | As You Know, Bob | HC |
| Hitchcock, Robin | They Came From the Future | HC |
| Holm, Palle Juul | A Blue and Cloudless Sky | HC |
| Irvine, Alex | Wizard’s Six | JS |
| Jablokov, Alexander | Brain Raid | RH |
| Jones, Gwyneth | The Tomb Wife | HC |
| Jones, Gwyneth | Saving Tiamaat | GD |
| Kessel, John | The Last American | HC |
| Kosmatka, Ted | The Prophet of Flores | GD, JS |
| Kowal, Mary Robinette | For Solo Cello | RH |
| Kress, Nancy | By Fools Like Me | JS |
| Kress, Nancy | End Game | HC |
| Kress, Nancy | Art of War | RH |
| Kress, Nancy | Laws of Survival | GD |
| Laidlaw, Marc | An Evening’s Honest Peril | HC |
| Landis, Geoffrey | Vectoring | RH |
| Link, Kelly | The Constable of Albal | JS |
| MacLeod, Ken | Jesus Christ, Reanimator | JS, RH |
| MacLeod, Ken | Who’s Afraid of Wolf 359? | HC |
| MacLeod, Ken | Lighting Out | GD |
| McCormack, Una | Sea Change | GD |
| McDonald, Ian | Sanjeev and Robotwallah | GD, HC |
| McDonald, Ian | Verthandi’s Ring | GD |
| McIntosh, Will | Perfect Violet | RH |
| Moles, David | Finisterra | GD |
| Palwick, Susan | Sorrel’s Heart | JS |
| Phillips, Holly | Three Days of Rain | RH |
| Pratt, Tim | Artifice and Intelligence | HC, RH |
| Purdom, Tom | The Mists of Time | GD |
| Reed, Robert | Night Calls | RH |
| Reed, Robert | Roxie | GD |
| Reynolds, Alastair | The Sledge-Maker’s Daughter | GD |
| Rickert, M. | Holiday | JS |
| Roberson, Chris | The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small | GD, JS |
| Rosenbaum, Benjamin & Ackert David | Stray | GD |
| Rusch, Kristine Kathryn | Craters | GD |
| Sedia, Ekaterina | Virus Changes Skin | RH |
| Shunn, William | Objective Impermeability in a Closed System | HC |
| Silverberg, Robert | Against the Current | GD |
| Singh, Vandana | Of Love and Other Monsters | GD |
| Sinisalo, Johanna | Baby Doll | HC |
| Skillingstead, Jack | Everyone Bleeds Through | RH |
| Stableford, Brian | The Immortals of Atlantis | GD |
| Stanchfield, Justin | Beyond the Wall | GD |
| Sterling, Bruce | Kiosk | GD, JS |
| Sterling, Bruce | The Lustration | HC |
| Sterling, Bruce | A Plain Tale From Our Hills | RH |
| Stross, Charles | Trunk and Disorderly | JS |
| Swanwick, Michael | Urdumheim | JS |
| Swanwick, Michael | The Skysailor’s Tale | GD, RH |
| Van Pelt, James | How Music Begins | HC |
| Van Pelt, James | Of Late I Dreamt of Venus | GD |
| Watts, Peter | Repeating the Past | HC |
| Wolfe, Gene | Memorare | HC |
Auxiliary Memory 