The Mammoth Book Of Best SF 18 edited by Gardner Dozois
01/11/2005 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Constable Robinson. 722 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-84529-116-6. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.constablerobinson.com
A 722-page anthology of 28 mixed novelettes and short stories in small print
is a daunting read even for an experienced reviewer, let alone a regular reader
to take in one sitting. Unlike previous years, I only actually took one break
while reading this year and that was early on, rather than having to take regular
breaks to bring everything into perspective.
Undoubtedly, if you don't have regular access to US SF or even UK mags, then
this book should give you the cream of the crop, even if it appears most of
the stories came from 'Asimov's Mag' and 'SciFiction' with a small scattering
of other titles this year. Quite why 'Analog' or 'Magazine Of Fantasy And Science
Fiction' only got mentioned I can leave you to debate. But one would have hoped
there would have been a more reasoned spread of titles sourced.
I know it must be a big task sifting through the mags and determining what
is the 'best' and it's a shame that how this is determined and why this selection
isn't across the board is not explained to the reader, even if the explanation
might be that any selection at the end of the day is only subjective. But let's
face it, this rotation is hardly a healthy state of affairs. This is no disrespect
to publishers Constable Robinson because they only carry the St. Martin's reprint,
but as this review will be read by a world-wide audience, it's part of the reviewer's
job to raise anomalies in selection here, rather than sweep them under the bush
and not point them out.
Saying that, it is rather ironic that UK publishers Constable Robinson know
more about what's going on on the Net than the information SF news journal Locus
provides editor Dozois for his rundown of what's appeared in the world of Science
Fiction this year, which is a pleasant tip of the hat for the quote we had for
last year's review on the back cover. I'm not going to take too much of a stance
beyond that here, but it does throw a queer light on things when SFcrowsnest
- which is (a) one of the oldest SFF web sites and (b) gets 340,000 readers
a month (to put that into perspective, the Times newspaper in the UK has a global
circulation of 600,000 readers) - is continually missed. Imagine a review of
online booksellers that doesn't mention Amazon.com, or a review of search engines
that doesn't mention Yahoo and Google, and you get the picture.
Other than that, Gardner Dozois' 2004 summation is a useful guide to any SF
fan as to most of what is actually out there, not to mention contact addresses.
Always useful for submissions or buying, although one hopes those two facets
go hand in hand. On some levels, the text itself can bog down looking for info,
but there are always going to be problems with this in terms of space availability
anyway. Who know? Maybe one day, we'd actually see a proper list of the Hugos,
Nebulas and other awards included, to really give an even deeper snapshot in
this annual tome.
Choosing favourite stories out of all of those run in this massive volume is
always going to be a tough issue. Even when limited to fiction only sourced
from a few mags there is still enough diversity to ensure that if one story
doesn't appeal to you, then another will, as you work your way through the book.
It is nice to see a couple of new names amongst the seasoned pros this time.
A good story is a good story regardless of who writes it. There's still the
occasional problem of not enough stories with sharper endings, but that's the
nature of a lot of short stories these days.
For me, 'Mother Aegypt' by Kage Baker and 'Falling Star' by Brendon DuBois stand
out as being exceptional. Likewise, 'Investments' by Walter Jon Williams, although
there is a need to have read his Praxis stories to fully appreciate this novelette
in its entirety. Whether it should have received a novelette prize when its
likely to be incorporated into the novel length is debatable.
If you're going to keep up with what was selling in 2004 and potential markets,
or generally want an interesting read then - at such a reasonable price - you
will certainly be buying this book.
GF Willmetts 
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