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The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 19 edited by Gardner Dozois
01/12/2006 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Constable Robinson. 721 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 9.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-845269-423-8. Buy The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 19 in the USA - or Buy The Mammoth Book Of Best New SF 19 in the UK  check out website: www.constablerobinson.com
A major problem of books showing what was best in print for a particular year
is that they can only represent what is available, and then with a bit of subjective
taste to distinguish the best from the good. Looking at and then reading what
was available here, then I have to confess to coming away with some misgivings.
I mean, with only one story from Analog then they must have had a really crap
year compared to the output from major contributors 'The Magazine Of Fantasy And
Science Fiction' and 'Asimov's Magazine' and even then, editor Gardner Dozois
has really from more than 'Interzone' to make up the pages, not to mention at
least a couple new authors this time. Whatever, it's still problematic, because
no matter how well-written these stories might be, I'm not entirely convinced
they are all Science Fiction.
I'd better elaborate on that. Generally speaking, when you read Science Fiction,
then you're looking for something that gives you either a sense of wonder or plots
that can't really work in the general genres. I hate to say this, but the only
ones that comes remotely close to this is David Gerrold's 'In The Quake Zone'
and Robert Reed's 'Camouflage' - both old hands at Science Fiction. The rest,
although well written didn't incite me to feel this way about this collection.
Robert Reed's 'Camouflage' is set in his Marrow reality where a renegade captain is enticed to sort out a murder mystery to keep his freedom. David Gerrold's 'In The Quake Zone' is a time travel story where some people are thrown into different time zones depending where they are and are employed to tidy up loose ends and prevent the deaths of some individuals. Both of these stories are worth buying the book for.
Every anthology series is bound to have a nadir point at some point and I'm hoping
this one is only a blip in this run. One can only hope that those of you with
a writing bent reading this book will think likewise and flood this market with
your own stories, if for no other reason than to give the editors a lot more to
choose from. Treat it as a learning exercise if you will to think, 'I can do better'.
SF is an ideas genre but it can work with good writing, but good writing cannot
work without some decent ideas.
Editor Gardner Dozois' main contribution to the proceedings is covering the year
in Science Fiction. He still tends to miss SFcrowsnest.com - twelve years and
counting for the biggest SF website on the Net! - but I think we can blame the
online section's compliers for this, and the good people at Constable Robinson
know we're good 'uns here, as witnessed by our regular quote on the back cover.
On the whole, though, if you want to know where to send material or buy mags from,
not to mention having a look down the list of books released for anything you
might have missed and passing respect for authors who've passed away then this
is always worth a read. His comments about the lost sales by some of these mags
he draws stories from might reflect on the content herein as well, even if he
never elaborates on why these were used compared to the ones in the honourable
mentions.
Anyway, for many of you, picking up this book is an annual routine and at such a low price won't burn the bank. Just don't treat this as a typical volume and I'm really hoping next year's edition gets back on form.
GF Willmetts
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