Strangelove for Science Fiction: Gardner Dozois

Showing posts with label Gardner Dozois. Show all posts

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Four Year's Best anthologies;
Hugo nominations are open

Here are the tables of contents for four forthcoming best of the year anthologies, summarizing short fiction excellence for work published in 2015.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy
of the Year, Vol. 10
Edited by Jonathan Strahan
Solaris Books, forthcoming May 2016

Table of contents:

“City of Ash” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Medium.com, read it here)
“The Heart’s Filthy Lesson” by Elizabeth Bear (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“The Machine Starts” by Greg Bear (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“The Winter Wraith” by Jeffrey Ford (F&SF, November/December 2015)
“Black Dog” by Neil Gaiman (Trigger Warnings)
“Jamaica Ginger” by Nalo Hopkinson & Nisi Shawl (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
“Drones” by Simon Ings (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Emergence” by Gwyneth Jones (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Dancy vs. the Pterosaur” by Caitlin R. Kiernan (Sirenia Digest, April 2015)
“Another Word for World” by Anne Leckie (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“The Game of Smash and Recovery” by Kelly Link (Strange Horizons, October 2015, read it here)
“The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn” by Usman T. Mailk (Tor.com, April 2015, read it here)
“Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan” by Ian McDonald (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“Little Sisters” by Vonda McIntyre (Book View Café, May 2015)
“Calved” by Sam J. Miller (Asimov’s, September 2015)
“Ghosts of Home” by Sam J. Miller (Lightspeed, August 2015, read it here)
“The Deepwater Bride” by Tamsyn Muir (F&SF, July/August 2015)
“The Empress in Her Glory” by Robert Reed (Clarkesworld, April 2015, read it here)
“A Murmuration” by Alastair Reynolds (Interzone, March/April 2015)
“Oral Argument” by Kim Stanley Robinson (Tor.com, December 2015, read it here)
“Water of Versailles” by Kelly Robson (Tor.com, June 2015, read it here)
“Capitalism in the 22nd Century” by Geoff Ryman (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
“The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club” by Nike Sulway (Lightspeed, October 2015, read it here)
“The Lily and the Horn” by Catherynne Valente (Fantasy Magazine, December 2015, read it here)
“Blood, Ash, Braids” by Genevieve Valentine (Operation Arcana, edited by John Joseph Adams)
“Kaiju maximus®: ‘So Various, So Beautiful, So New’” by Kai Ashante Wilson (Fantasy Magazine, December 2015, read it here)
“Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers” by Alyssa Wong (Nightmare Magazine, October 2015, read it here)

The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016
Edited by Rich Horton
Prime Books, forthcoming May 2016

Table of contents:

“The Daughters of John Demetrius” by Joe Pitkin (Analog, October 2015)
“Endless Forms Most Beautiful” by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro (Analog, September 2015)
“Twelve and Tag” by Gregory Norman Bossert (Asimov’s, March 2015)
“Mutability” by Ray Nayler (Asimov’s, June 2015)
“Acres of Perhaps” by Will Ludwigsen (Asimov’s, July 2015)
“Unearthly Landscape by a Lady” by Rebecca Campbell (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, October 2015, read it here)
“The King in the Cathedral” by Rich Larson (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2015 read it here)
“Little Sisters” by Vonda N. McIntyre (Book View Cafe, May 2015)
“The Long Goodnight of Violet Wild” by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, January 2015, read it here)
“Asymptotic” by Andy Dudak (Clarkesworld, June 2015, read it here)
“Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015, read it here)
“Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker (Clarkesworld, August 2015, read it here)
“The Deepwater Bride” by Tamysn Muir (F&SF, July/August 2015)
“The Two Paupers” by C.S.E. Cooney (Fairchild Books)
“Hello, Hello” by Seanan McGuire (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“The Astrakhan, the Homburg, and the Red, Red Coal” by Chaz Brenchley (Lightspeed, June 2015, read it here)
“Time Bomb Time” by C.C. Finlay (Lightspeed, May 2015, read it here)
“And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead” by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, February 2015, read it here)
“The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club” by Nike Sulway (Lightspeed, October 2015, read it here)
“My Last Bringback” by John Barnes (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Drones” by Simon Ings (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“The Heart’s Filthy Lesson” by Elizabeth Bear (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Idea Countness Rathagan” by Ian McDonald (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“The Graphology of Hemorrhage” by Yoon Ha Lee (Operation Arcana, edited by John Joseph Adams)
“Capitalism in the 22nd Century” by Geoff Ryman (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
“The Game of Smash and Recovery” by Kelly Link (Strange Horizons, October 2015, read it here)
“This Evening’s Performance” by Genevieve Valentine (The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk)
“Please Undo This Hurt” by Seth Dickinson (Tor.com, September 2015, read it here)
“Consolation” by John Kessel (Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Bruce Sterling)
“Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu (Uncanny, January/February 2015, read it here)

The Best Science Fiction of the Year,
Vol. 1
Edited by Neil Clarke
Night Shade Books, forthcoming June 2016

Table of contents:

“A Murmuration” by Alastair Reynolds (Interzone, March/April 2015)
“In Blue Lily’s Wake” by Aliette de Bodard (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Outsider” by An Owomeyla (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Another Word for World” by Ann Leckie (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“Iron Pegasus” by Brenda Cooper (Mission: Tomorrow, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt)
“Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World” by Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed, September 2015, read it here)
“Bannerless” by Carrie Vaughn (The End Has Come, edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey)
“Gypsy” by Carter Scholz (PM Press)
“The Smog Society” by Chen Qiufan, translated by Ken Liu and Carmen Yiling Yan (Lightspeed, August 2015, read it here)
“The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss” by David Brin (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“Damage” by David D. Levine (Tor.com, January 2015, read it here)
“Capitalism in the 22nd Century” by Geoff Ryman (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
“Folding Beijing” by Hao Jingfang, translated by Ken Liu (Uncanny, January/February 2015, read it here)
“Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan” by Ian McDonald (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“Hold-Time Violations” by John Chu (Tor.com, October 2015, read it here)
“Two-Year Man” by Kelly Robson (Asimov’s, August 2015)
“The Gods Have Not Died in Vain” by Ken Liu (The End Has Come, edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey)
“Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker (Clarkesworld, August 2015, read it here)
“Cocoons” by Nancy Kress (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Cat Pictures Please” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2015, read it here)
“So Much Cooking” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, November 2015, read it here)
“No Placeholder for You, My Love” by Nick Wolven (Asimov’s, August 2015)
“Wild Honey” by Paul McAuley (Asimov’s, August 2015)
“Meshed” by Rich Larson (Clarkesworld, February 2015, read it here)
“Empty” by Robert Reed (Asimov’s, December 2015)
“Calved” by Sam J. Miller (Asimov’s, September 2015)
“The Audience” by Sean McMullen (Analog, June 2015)
“Hello, Hello” by Seanan McGuire (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“Three Bodies at Mitanni” by Seth Dickinson (Analog, June 2015)
“Violation of the TrueNet Security Act” by Taiyo Fujii, translated by Jim Hubbert (Lightspeed, July 2015, read it here)
“The Cold Inequalities” by Yoon Ha Lee (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)

The Year’s Best Science Fiction,
Thirty-third Annual Collection
Edited by Gardner Dozois
St. Martin's Griffin, forthcoming July 2016

Table of contents:

“The Falls: A Luna Story” by Ian McDonald (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Three Cups of Grief, By Starlight” by Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld, January 2015, read it here)
“Ruins” by Eleanor Arnason (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“Gypsy” by Carter Scholz (PM Press)
“Emergence” by Gwyneth Jones (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“Calved” by Sam J. Miller (Asimov’s, September 2015)
“Meshed” by Rich Larson (Clarkesworld, February 2015, read it here)
“Bannerless” by Carrie Vaughn (The End has Come, edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey)
“The Astrakhan, the Homberg, and the Red Red Coat” by Chaz Brenchley (Lightspeed, June 2015, read it here)
“Another Word for World” by Ann Leckie (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“City of Ash” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Medium.com, read it here)
“The Muses of Shuyedan-18” by Indrapramit Das (Asimov’s, June 2015)
“The Audience” by Sean McMullen (Analog, June 2015)
“Consolation” by John Kessel (Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Bruce Sterling)
“Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Idea Countness Rathagan” by Ian McDonald (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“Rates of Change” by James S.A. Corey (Meeting Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)
“The Children of Gal” by Allen M. Steele (Asimov's, April/May 2015)
“Today I Am Paul” by Martin L. Shoemaker (Clarkesworld, August 2015, read it here)
“Trapping the Pleistecene” by James Sarafin (F&SF, May/June 2015)
“Machine Learning” by Nancy Kress (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“Silence Like Diamonds” by John Barnes (LightReading, July 2015, read it here)
“Inhuman Garbage” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov's, March 2015)
“Planet of Fear” by Paul McAuley (Old Venus, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois)
“It Takes More Than Muscles to Frown” by Ned Beauman (Twelve Tomorrows, edited by Bruce Sterling)
“The Daughters of John Demetrius” by Joe Pitkin (Analog, October 2015)
“Hello, Hello” by Seanan McGuire (Future Visions, edited by Microsoft & Melcher Media)
“Capitalism in the 22nd Century” by Geoff Ryman (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
“Ice” by Rich Larson (Clarkesworld, October 2015, read it here)
“The Three Resurrections of Jessica Churchill” by Kelly Robson (Clarkesworld, February 2015, read it here)
“In Panic Town, on the Backward Moon” by Michael F. Flynn (Mission: Tomorrow, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt)
“The First Gate of Logic” by Benjamin Rosenbaum (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
“Billy Tumult” by Nick Harkaway (Stories for Chip, edited by Nisi Shawl and Bill Campbell)
“No Placeholder for You, My Love” by Nick Wolven (Asimov's, August 2015)
“The Game of Smash and Recovery” by Kelly Link (Strange Horizons, October 2015, read it here)
“A Stopped Clock” by Madeline Ashby (Atlantic Council's War Stories from the Future, read it here in PDF)
“Citadel of Weeping Pearls” by Aliette de Bodard (Asimov's, October/November 2015)

There's a lot that could be said about these lists: where they agree and disagree, which publications the editors found to have the best work, etc. For now I'll leave that as an exercise for the reader. I will mention that these lists make excellent preparation for people who vote for the Hugo Awards ...

The Hugo Award nominations are now open
Yes, from now until March 31, the Hugo nominations are open to members of the World Science Fiction Convention. In order to vote you need to be a member of last year's (Spokane), this year's (Kansas City), or next year's (Helsinki) convention.

Related link:
The Hugo Award nominations ballot

Friday, July 11, 2014

Gardner Dozois papers will come to UC Riverside

Gardner Dozois' archive of personal papers will come to the University of California, Riverside, according to an announcement by the university librarian.

Dozois is an award-winning author and editor. He served as editor of Asimov's Science Ficton magazine for 19 years.

The archive is describes as "35 linear feet" of material, including correspondence with almost every notable author and editor in the science fiction community in the past 40 years. For more details about the archive, follow here.

Edited to add: Related link on this blog:
Eaton Collection receives $3.5 million gift

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Recent book arrivals

Here are some book arrivals from June and July 2012.

This is a new translation of the seminal Soviet-era novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The translation is by Olena Bormashenko and it restores a fair amount of text that was excised from earlier editions. James Morrow does a side-by-side comparison of translations at the Locus Roundtable. The story was made into one of the greatest of all science fiction films, Stalker, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (follow here for a short review). The film itself is the subject of a book-length analysis, Zona by Geoff Dyer (LA Times review of Zona). The new edition of Roadside Picnic includes a brief introduction by Ursula K. LeGuin and a fascinating afterward by Boris Strugatsky on the conception of the novel and the difficulties he and his brother had in getting it published in the Soviet Union, including specific passages that the censors objected to. I've included the brilliant Robert Penn Warren epigraph above.

Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey (actually the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) is the second book in their "Expanse" series, following Leviathan Wakes, which is currently nominated for the best novel Hugo Award. (Hugo voting closes at the end of this month.)

Unlike the first two books, which are new, Stone Spring by Stephen Baxter came out in 2011. This is the U.S. hardback edition. First in a trilogy.

The new book Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010 by Damien Broderick and Paul Di Filippo is a sort of sequel to the earlier Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels 1949-1984 by David Pringle, published in 1985. Pringle contributes a forward to the new book. As with the earlier book, there is plenty here to argue with and discuss. I'm pleased to see consideration given here to books by Gene Wolfe, Paul Park, Karen Joy Fowler, Maureen McHugh, Kim Stanley Robinson, Justina Robson, M. John Harrison, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Ian R. MacLeod, to name a few favorites, although I sometimes disagree with which title is chosen for a given author. There are a few authors I was disappointed to see included here: Orson Scott Card and Audrey Niffenegger for instance. Series fiction is treated in a confusing manner, sometimes listing groups of books, such as The Hunger Games trilogy, and at other times a single title of a book that does not stand alone and should be read as part of larger narrative. There are several I haven't read and hope to get around to reading, even some I had never heard of before, which is fun. Since the contents pages, above, only list the titles of the books being discussed, you can play along with the game of how many of the books can you name the author.

The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy: 2012 edited by Rich Horton is the latest in a series of year's best anthologies. The stories are actually all from 2011, of course, from diverse sources and are reprinted here in 2012. Judging from the stories I've read so far, it's a pretty good year.

In an unprecedented move, The New Yorker dedicated a June double-issue to the science fiction genre, both fiction and non-fiction. The Daniel Clowes cover has the science fiction genre crashing the party. A couple interior illustrations give a sense of the look of the issue.

The Laughter of Carthage by Michael Moorcock is the second in his Colonel Pyat Quartet. This is the 1984 first U.S. hardback edition. The first volume in the series was Byzantium Endures. PM Press is reissuing the series in trade paperback this year.

Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce is the latest novel from the acclaimed British author, unjustly not well known in the U.S.

My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time by Liz Jensen, published in 2006, was discussed in the book Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985-2010, above. I'd never heard of it. It looks quite fun.

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois, is the biggest, in terms of word-count, of the best of the year science fiction anthologies, and the longest running. Each year it keeps readers abreast of the best short fiction in the genre, and highlights new authors whose work readers should seek out. It's fascinating to compare the contents of this anthology with those of the Horton, above, and the year's best anthologies by Strahan and Hartwell & Cramer mentioned in earlier posts.

The Apocalypse Codex by Charles Stross, is the fourth book in the author's Laundry Files series, a Lovecraft-flavored espionage thriller series. The epigraph is the timeless Peter Principle.