At
its fourth volume, Jonathan Strahan’s The
Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the
Year (2010) appears to be in for the long haul. Featuring many stories by writers featured in
previous volumes—Kelly Link, Ellen Klages, Peter Beagle, James Patrick Kelly,
Andy Duncan and several others—Strahan has been consistent enough to give readers
something they can generally depend on.
Many newcomers to the series as well, however, Strahan likewise keeps
the mix varied, and in the process so too the range of tales, to produce an
anthology quietly as good as the previous volumes. Whether or not one agrees they are the best of
the year is, of course, subjective, so best to simply enjoy as an anthology of
good stories from 2009.
Volume 4 opens with “It
Takes Two” by Nicola Griffith. Philip
K. Dick in erotic mode, it is the story of a young business woman who is
sent to Atlanta to secure a new contract.
Ending up at a strip club for the wining and dining, she’s in for a
major surprise. Effectively personal,
the denouement remains a bit fluffy. Jo
Walton’s “Three Twilight Tales” opens with: "Useless,
that's what you are," the girl said. "Why, I could make a man every
bit as good as you out of two rhymes and a handful of moonshine.” A spot of traditional fantasy fun in which
the man calls the woman’s bluff, the story offers little more. Successfully setting aside his southern drawl
for a more contemporary voice, “The Night Cache” by Andy Duncan tells of a
clerk at Yarnes Ignoble bookstore (yuck yuck) and the most interesting
encounters with a customer she has one day, and the geocaching adventures she
has after. Duncan renders a poignant
tale of romance in humorous style—not an easy feat to pull off. Describing a space ship’s encounter with a
vast aura of stars, “The Island” by Peter Watts borrows from the playbook of
J.G. Ballard for its investigation of the human mind under duress, but is the
author’s own for the sf sensawunda. One of
Watts’ more evocative pieces.
As
might be predicted by the title, Margo Lanagan’s “Ferryman” is about Charon and
the River Styx. What certainly cannot be
predicted, however, is the larger setting.
The vernacular a delight, it’s short but good stuff from Lanagan. Set in the same world as her novel Swordspoint, "A Wild and a Wicked
Youth’" by Ellen Kushner requires knowledge of said novel to fully
appreciate. Telling the story of one of
its “heroes” and how he becomes such a fine swordsman, it is well enough written,
just not sure if it’s ‘best of’ material.
Controversial over a moot point upon its publication, “The Pelican Bar”
by Karen Joy Fowler is the story of Norah, a rebellious fifteen year old sent
to a harsh rehabilitation home to mend her ways. (For the record, you don’t
have slit-eyed humanoids without the text being at least science fiction.) I never thought I’d write the words, but if
you’re going to do alien sex, “Spar” by Kij Johnson is how to do it. A fully literary, relevant take on gender and
sex, the alien analog is used symbolically to great effect to comment upon one
woman’s relationship(s). Introducing
Mariska Volochkova to the world, “Going Deep” by James Patrick Kelly is a very
traditional science fiction story, not for the resonance of its sentiment,
rather the setting (lunar colony), movement (straight-forward story), and
tension derived from alternate reality (futuristic social norms very different
than contemporary).
Holly
Black’s “The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” can be summed up in two words: vampire
melodrama. The text undoubtedly the
spawn of Twilight, Black is a sharp
scribe, but the story is mediocre, making the story seem more a commercial than
literary selection for the anthology.
In “Zeppelin City” by Eileen Gunn and Michael Swanwick, Radio Jones and
Amanda Spindizzy team up to win an autogyro contest between the Reds and the
Whites in this fantastically fun, 50s retro/steampunk tale. From “Shucks!” to wild aerial maneuvers, it
adds color to Volume 4. “Dragon's Teeth” by Alexander C. Irvine is
mini-epic fantasy done well. Not too big
and not too small for the length, Irvine finds a familiar groove while keeping
things dark and personal. Not the most
original story ever told, but solid for what it is. Damien Broderick has always struck me for the
density, and therefore focus, required to read his stories. But with “This Wind Blowing, and This Tide”
the reader is treated to something a bit lighter. Lighter for Broderick, however, still means
chewy, and in this short the reader is confronted with the discovery of a spaceship
covered in flowers orbiting Titan. The
“psychic” man who discovers it, however, is the center of the story. Certainly
one of the best of the year, Peter Beagle’s “By Moonlight” tells of an
encounter a highwayman has beside the road one night with a reverend. Faery permeating their fireside chat, Beagle
touches upon a varietyof other topics in this well written tale. Vintage Bruce Sterling in short form, “Black
Swan” traffics the lanes between politics and cutting edge tech, and the street
where patents on either don’t matter.
The parallel universe aspect hurts a little, but otherwise a good story.
A
simple but potentially profound idea, “As Women Fight” by Sara Genge describes
a pseudo-human society where once per year a husband and wife fight to decide
who gets the female body—considered the better of the two. The story begging to be expanded, a little
more subtlety in length would do it some good.
It’s becoming a tradition for Strahan to include at least one Kelly Link
story (fourth volume, fourth story). This
time around it’s “The Cinderella Game.”
A tale of innocent babysitting getting out of hand, it’s nothing special
save the touch of light horror, the darker horror just one step
further—seemingly the point of the short story.
Another story requiring knowledge of an extant universe (literally),
“Formidable Caress: A Tale of Old Earth” by Stephen Baxter is XeeLee material
starring Michael Poole. I bounced off
this story, as likely will readers unfamiliar with XeeLee, and so cannot
comment further. Written in Geoff
Ryman’s ‘mundane’ hand, “Blocked” is an eclectic mix of Cambodia, aliens,
future tech, a casino, and family life.
Pat Cadigan has produced some major work over the years, short and long
fiction, but “Truth and Bone” is not one.
Taken from an anthology in homage of Poe, she cooks up a family whose
members achieve a magical talent at a certain age, of which our protagonist has
the ability to know when a person will die.
Little out of the ordinary extends this idea, making me believe science
fiction is Cadigan’s natural medium.
As
the title indicates, “Eros, Philia, Agape” by Rachel Swirsky is about
love. The twist is that a robot is
involved. Swirsky is never able to
entirely escape the cheese of this idea, but comes damn close with excellent
characterization, quality prose, and a favoring of human over overtly sf
elements. A fable harkening back to
yesteryear storytelling, “The Motorman's Coat” by John Kessel tells of an
antique dealer who gets more than he bargained for pursuing one particularly
attractive piece of merchandise. Kessel
has written better. Apparently
fulfilling the ‘squids in space’ requirement, “Mongoose” by Elizabeth Bear and
Sarah Monetteis about a space station infected by aliens from another
dimension. I suppose I don’t need to say
more except that Bear and Monette don’t do much more with the idea than flesh
it out. An aching, lonely piece, “Echoes
of Aurora” by Ellen Klages tells of a woman’s return to her hometown after
thirty-five years away to take care of her father’s amusement arcade upon his
death. Strahan often includes Klages out
of favoritism, but in this case the inclusion is warranted.
A
classic trope given a little something more, “Before My Last Breath” by Robert
Reed describes the finding of an alien artifact and the effect it has on the
world. Kept local and human, Reed shows
another side of his style pen (he has so many) in this effective tale of
generation loss. A short, simple tale,
“JoBoy” by Diana Wynne Jones describes a boy whose life takes a strange twist
when his father dies. Learning things
the hard way, he makes some drastic decisions with fantastical (not fantastic)
results. With a flavor of Charles Stross
but the humanist touch of Robert Charles Wilson himself, “Utriusque Cosmi”
tells of the teenage Carlotta’s broken home and her post-human escape to
“heaven.” Wonderfully non-linear, Wilson
condenses the strengths of his novels into a story that is as conceptual as it
is poignant. Literally the sweetest fairy tale ever penned, “A Delicate
Architecture” by Catherynne M. Valente tells of a confectioner and his
daughter, and the lengths one may go to, and the price one must pay, for the
most exquisite beauty. As is always the
case with Valente, the language is to die for, or in this case, to taste
for. Kij Johnson has two faces (that
I’ve encountered so far): the poetically dense literary side, and the
straight-forward, charming traditional side.
The former represented earlier in this very anthology with “Spar,” the
latter gets treatment with “The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles.” Animal fantasy, Johnson channels her
knowledge of Japan into a charming story about a cat in the delightful tone of
yesteryear storytelling.
In
the end, Volume 4 of Strahan’s
ongoing The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year is an anthology that does
not immediately compare itself to the quality of the first and third volumes,
but upon closer examination, may. Kij
Johnson, Peter Beagle, Rachel Swirsky, and Robert Charles Wilson delivered quality
stories, as did Peter Watts, Andy Duncan, Ellen Klages, and Margo Lanagan. But that, of course, is only this reviewer’s
preference. Short stories being as
subjective as they are, it’s perhaps best if the reader decides for themselves,
as regardless of appreciation, all the stories are well written and most
possess more than one layer.
The
following are the twenty-nine stories selected for the fourth volume of
Strahan’s Best of Science Fiction and
Fantasy of the Year:
Introduction
by Jonathan Strahan
It
Takes Two by Nicola Griffith
Three
Twilight Tales by Jo Walton
Night
Cache by Andy Duncan
The
Island by Peter Watts
Ferryman
by Margo Lanagan
"A
Wild and a Wicked Youth" by Ellen Kushner
The
Pelican Bar by Karen Joy Fowler
Spar
by Kij Johnson
Going
Deep by James Patrick Kelly
The
Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
Zeppelin
City by Eileen Gunn and Michael
Swanwick
Dragon's
Teeth by Alexander C. Irvine
This
Wind Blowing, and This Tide by Damien Broderick
By
Moonlight by Peter S. Beagle
Black
Swan by Bruce Sterling
As
Women Fight by Sara Genge
The
Cinderella Game by Kelly Link
Formidable
Caress: A Tale of Old Earth by Stephen Baxter
Blocked
by Geoff Ryman
Truth
and Bone by Pat Cadigan
Eros,
Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky
The
Motorman's Coat by John Kessel
Mongoose
by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah
Monette
Echoes
of Aurora by Ellen Klages
Before
My Last Breath by Robert Reed
JoBoy
by Diana Wynne Jones
Utriusque
Cosmi by Robert Charles Wilson
A
Delicate Architecture by Catherynne M. Valente
The
Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles by Kij Johnson
No comments:
Post a Comment