His first foray into aggregating the year’s best in short fiction a
success, Jonathan Strahan was given the reins to produce Volume 2 (2008) of The Best
Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year.
The umbrella anthology of speculative fiction, once again Strahan combed
through the hundreds (if not thousands) of stories published in the year,
checked contractual possibilities, and collated another solid anthology. Each a hit for some and a miss for others,
let’s cut to the anthology.
Opening on a bright note, “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” by Ted
Chiang is a mini-collection of stories nested within a time traveling device a
la 1,001 Arabian Nights. Opening and closing on Fuwaad ibn Abbas, a
merchant of yesteryear Baghdad, it tells a highly engaging tale of people
living with and without regret, perennial wisdom the underlying message. “The Last and Only or, Mr. Moscowitz Becomes
French” by Peter S. Beagle is a classically styled story of an American who
immerses in himself in French-ness—culture, language, food, etc.—in an attempt
to make himself French, and succeeds.
Subtly examining cultural heritage, the meaning of culture, and
globalization in a few scant pages, the story is not only well-written but
relevant. “Trunk and Disorderly” by Charles Stross, an
acknowledged experiment in style for Saturn’s
Children, is the story of Ralph McDonald and his no holds barred tour of
our post-singularity universe. More for
laughs and imagination than any meaningful storyline, Stross’ creativity is
truly let off the leash (as if it wasn’t in the other stories) to take in the
luxuries of the future with a wise-cracking butler at hand. “Glory” by Greg Egan is a story set in the
author’s Amalgam universe of Incandescence
and Riding the Crocodile. Opening on a sweet mix of pseudo-science
pyrotechnics, it quickly escalates to post-human proportions as an
anthropologist arrives on a distant planet to do research. Encountering local tensions, compounded by
intergalactic hostilities, her job only becomes more difficult. A rather blunted story, this is not the most
subtle of Egan’s work, but engaging nevertheless. “Dead
Horse Point” by Daryl Gregory is the (heavy) story about a person with
uber-concentration. Freighted with
emotion, the story is of a woman who is unnaturally able to delve into the
recesses of her brain for periods on end, which affects her siblings and
friends in ways she could never imagine.
A trip to Dead Horse Canyon brings their relationship to a head.
Weird rooted in Native American-esque myth, “The Dreaming Wind” by
Jeffrey Ford is not the author’s most creative piece, but does display the
imagination which sets him apart from the crowd—the story of a small community
visited by a magical wind once per year that turns everything into a visit by
Gabriel Garcia Marquez. L. Timmel Duchamp
on Strange
Horizon argues that Holly Black’s “The Coat of Stars” is not an iteration
of the familiar (in this case fairy tale), but I would argue that largely it
is. The modern setting mixes things up a
bit, but the structure and premise all depend on knowledge strained from
classic fairy tales. Butbest to let the
reader decide. Ted Kosmatka’s “The
Prophet of Flores”, while having a fantasy-esque title, is an alternate history
wherein Darwinism is proven wrong, the Earth only 5,800 years old. Personalized via Paul, a bright young boy,
his experiments with mice lead him to a career that finds him on the other side
of the Wallace Line
doing the most cutting edge archeological research possible. The problem is the blades might be aimed at
him, too. An interesting story that
highlights the opposite directions the eyes of Abrahamic religions (Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam) and evolutionists are looking. Though this probably should have been worked
into a novella or short novel, it’s a strong story nonetheless. Standard epic fantasy fare, “Wizard's Six” by
Alexander C. Irvine is the story of the man Paulus and his trailing of the
wizard Myro, killing the children Myro has infected for the good of the
kingdom. Not much else need be
said. Oh, and there is a dragon. (Like
Kosmatka’s, this story really should have been pushed to longer length for the
important events to have comfortable resting places.) “The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of
Economics” by Daniel Abraham another Medieval-esque fantasy, this time,
however, things are far more unconventional.
The story of a money exchanger called upon to make judgment in
increasingly tense situations, it seems there is always no correct side to
choose. One of the stronger stories in
the collection.
I am one of the few who apparently don’t get the hype around Nancy
Kress. Certainly not a bad writer, her
ideas nevertheless always strike me as not having been thought fully through,
or are just throw-away. Her “By Fools
Like Me” is no exception. A
post-apocalyptic rehash of Fahrenheit 451,
this time around religious extremists are the oppressors banning the written
word: reading = sin. Written well enough
but developed simplistically, the ending is as tragically trite as one would
expect with such a contrived premise and title.
Jumping back to economics again, particularly market economy, “Kiosk” by
Bruce Sterling is a satirical look at new production techniques and the
resulting products on the market, as seen by the owner of a street kiosk in a
fictional Eastern European city.
Delicately humorous, Sterling invests all the wit he has into the story
of Boris and his new fabrikator.
Capitalism, socialism, liberalism—doesn’t matter; Sterling keeps the
story focused on the root and meaning of goods production. (Dr. Grootjans and her shopping wand is just
superb.) From the first beautiful
paragraph onwards, Theodora Goss’s “Singing of Mount Abora” is a 1,001 Arabian
Nights/Arthurian legend/Tao Yuanming story
embedded in a contemporary narrative is breathtaking. The poetry of Coleridge imbuing the life of
an Ethiopian educator now living in the US, it intertwines history, poetry,
myth (equal parts Western, Chinese, and Arabic), and a modern storyline to be
the best in the anthology, and a story that certainly transcends the year. The manner in which the story’s sentiment
complements subject material and presentation is magically graceful. But I stop gushing… “The Witch's Headstone” is the requisite Neil
Gaiman tale in this year’s ‘best of.’ In
fact an excerpt from The Graveyard Book
(or if one looks at it differently, the first published glimpse into the Bod
Owens story), those who have read the novel will have already read the story,
while those who are interested in reading it may check the story out as it is
representative of the novel as a whole.
In “Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter the end is coming. But an astrophysicist, who should be working
with the teams as the end approaches, chooses to spend the time with her mother
instead. A hard science fiction
catastrophe grafted onto a mother-daughter love story. Well done, but lacking the prose to drive the
emotional bus all the way to school.
Switching gears to something lighter, something more satirical, and yet,
something more profound, Ken Macleod’s “Jesus Christ, Reanimator”, on top of
being a great title, is the story of a journalist’s exclusive interview with
the Holy Son after the second coming.
Macleod not missing an opportunities, it is filled with great lines—“There are recorded instances [of
levitation]. Some of them quite well attested, I understand. Even the Catholic
Church admits them." being one
of them. Unabashedly blasphemous, it’s
an intelligent romp through Religion Land with 21 st century cultural shoes in
a way Macleod’s religiously minded The
Night Sessions never did. “Sorrel's
Heart” by Susan Palwick is the strange, dark tale of a killer who finds himself
protecting a girl born with her heart outside her body. Undecided whether the conceit wants to be
mimetic or symbolic, the narrative is likewise by turns melodramatic and
moving. Master of the abstract, Michael
Swanwick’s “Urdumheim” is at root a Tower of Babel story, but one so steeped in
myth and legend as to be unrecognizable to the Bible. Salacious, well-paced, and a mini-feast of
language, its cosmology of language is intriguing. “The Valley of Gardens” is an interesting mix
of tech-infested “fantasy” and outright space opera. Two stories converging into one, I was not
personally convinced of the realism of the relationships described, but others
were. Apparently a poignant story. “Winter’s Wife”, on the other hand, is
written in the mature style of prose which relates the feeling of character
presence in empathetic terms. Though one
of the author’s less subtle pieces of short fiction, the characters remain
fully fleshed in a tale of a jack-of-all-trades, his Icelandic bride, and the
corporate guy who buys a nearby piece of property. A love affair with China, “The Sky Is Large
and the Earth Is Small” by Chris Roberson is an alternate history story set in
his Celestial Empire universe. The story
of a bureaucrat sent to pump a political prisoner for information regarding an
upcoming invasion, the young scholar learns much more than his patience would
allow for from the aged man he encounters behind bars. A simple enough (if the title is not any
indication), but quality story. “Orm the Beautiful” by Elizabeth Bear is the
story of Smaug had he lived into the modern age and grown a little wiser. Written in vivid language, it is a story that
appears in dialogue with the genre, but lacks substance beyond. Closing out the anthology is “The Constable
of Abal” by KellyLink. A fair enough
story, it remains highly predictable.
Written in Link’s effortless prose, it tells the story of a girl coming
to terms with her mother’s reality and closes in borderline nursery rhyme
fashion.
In the end, The Best Science
Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Vol. 2 is an anthology that, as expected,
covers quality short fiction from 2007 in the sub-genres speculative fiction is
comprised of. While not appearing to
warrant the sci-fi cover (like Vol. 1,
Vol. 2 is dominated by fantasy), all
else is as must be in such anthologies.
Certainly each reader will have their own opinion about what should and
should not have been aggregated here, but from an overview it is a very solid
collection that every genre fan will find something to like. For me, Theodora Goss’s story topped the
anthology, followed by Michael Swanwick, Elizabeth Hand, Ken Macleod, Ted
Chiang’s—in no particular order, but certainly other readers will
disagree.
The following is the table of contents of the anthology:
“The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate” by Ted Chiang
“The Last and Only, or Mr. Moskowitz Becomes French” by Peter S. Beagle
“Trunk and Disorderly” by Charles Stross
“Glory” by Greg Egan
“Dead Horse Point” by Daryl Gregory
“The Dreaming Wind” by Jeffrey Ford
“The Coat of Stars” by Holly Black
“The Prophet of Flores” by Ted Kosmatka
“Wizard's Six” by Alexander C. Irvine
“The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham
“By Fools Like Me” by Nancy Kress
“Kiosk” by Bruce Sterling
“Singing of Mount Abora” by Theodora Goss
“The Witch's Headstone” by Neil Gaiman
“Last Contact” by Stephen Baxter
“Jesus Christ, Reanimator” by Ken MacLeod
“Sorrel's Heart” by Susan Palwick
“Urdumheim” by Michael Swanwick
“Holiday” by M. Rickert
“The Valley of the Gardens” by Tony Daniel
“Winter's Wife” by Elizabeth Hand
“The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small” by Chris Roberson
“Orm the Beautiful” by Elizabeth Bear
“The Constable of Abal” by Kelly Link
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