This collection has enough variety to please everyone, I think. I always love "Best" collections, and this one is a keeper!

Great selection of stories. Particularly loved “Foxfire Foxfire” by Yoon Ha Lee; “Number Nine Moon” by Alex Irvine; “Seasons of Glass and Iron” by Amal El-Mohtar; and “The Future is Blue” byCatherynne M. Valente.

This was another anthology that felt super-duper ridiculously long. That being said, of 28 stories there were only 7 that I enjoyed, so I’m giving this collection 2.5 stars.

-You’ll Surely Drown Here if you Stay – Alyssa Wong – This was kind of magical realism story, which I don’t normally like, but I appreciated how dark the story was. Death is very much the key item in this story.
-Even the Crumbs were Delicious – Daryl Gregory – Freaking hilarious! It’s hard to describe this story, but essentially is about a guy whose roommate he believes to have died because he hasn’t been home in over 2 weeks. So, he decides to throw a big party in his remembrance where all who are invited get to partake in the dead roommate’s job. Which happens to be making drugs that can be licked off the wall like wallpaper. Yeah, trust me, there’s no way to explain this story without it being confusing.
-Touring with the Alien – Carolyn Ives Gilman – A man is adopted by aliens that are sentient but not self-aware. This was an interesting story that really makes you question what the term “alive” really means. An alien invasion may also be in the future.
-Seasons of Glass and Iron – Amal El-Mohtar – A folklore type of tale where a princess is trapped a top a glass hill, while another has to wear out 7 pairs of iron shoes before she can break the spell on her bear by day man by night husband. A story on choosing our own destinies, and finding friendship in the unlikeliest of places.
-Terminal – Lavie Tidhar – About a fleet of personal-sized ships for people to go to Mars, on a one-way trip.
-The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight – E. Lily Yu – Another folklore type of story where a woman becomes a witch, and in goes about trying to fix problems for people. Essentially a story about how you can’t carry someone through life or they will never be strong enough to carry themselves.
-Seven Birthdays – Ken Liu – 7 birthdays from the same girl from the age 7 to age 823,543, as the author shows how our struggles as humans never go away, because we are human. A constant redoing of putting minds in computers and imagining that we are really all just simulations and don’t know it. This might have been my favorite of the collection.

All-in-all, not a bad collection, but did feel to me to steer more towards fantasy than sci-fi, which really put me off. I was surprised that there were as many fantasy stories I liked as I did, but most likely I won’t read further collections within this series.

Received from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

2016 may not have been a barrel of laughs, but it did produce some quality scifi and fantasy. As always, I found Strahan's collection to be vivid, varied, and thought-provoking. In his introduction, Strahan comments on the absence of general themes, other than a preponderance of climate-change-related dystopias. I was initially struck by how free these stories are of themes of authoritarianism, populism, isolationism, and bubbles, but of course, most of them were written before Brexit, the US election, or the rising tide of populist movements around the world. Even so, I saw a few common themes: stretching the definition of humanity, irrevocability of change, viewing ourselves as monsters, and feminism, as well as a series of folklore retellings whose themes are less easy to categorize.

I adore everything that <b>Yoon Ha Lee</b> writes, and <b>"Foxfire, Foxfire"</b> is no exception. Easily one of my favourite stories in the collection, the story is narrated by a gumiho who seeks to be human and is one death away from the one hundred murders he must commit to achieve his goal. It takes place in a rich world of endless mechanized warfare between a monarchy and rebel parliamentarians, complete with the giant war machines called Cataphracts, tiger sages, and the small gods whose energies power the world. The story explores the definition of humanity and uses the metaphor of the gumiho to express the sense of not quite fitting in either world and of seeking a form to fit one's soul.

Several other stories also stretched the definition of humanity. <b>Paolo Bacigalupi's "Mika Model"</b> is a short vignette in which a sexbot turns herself in for the murder of her owne. If she is a murderer rather than a defective machine, then she is also a person, and who is to be held responsible for her enslavement and torture? While I'm not normally a fan of Sherlock Holmes retellings, <b>Delia Sherman's "The Great Detective"</b> was an exception: I thoroughly enjoyed the steampunk worldbuilding, the Illogic Engines and Reasoning Machines, and even the sly mentions of beekeeping. <b>"Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home" by Genevieve Valentine</b> is a trippy story about the lasting effects of virtual reality, experimentation without consent, and a world that is literally what you make of it. <b>"Terminal" by Lavie Tidhar</b> deals with the titular word in two senses. It is about terminally-ill colonists making a one-way space voyage to a new world. Dreamy and philosophical, it explores what it means to be human through short vignettes of those who choose to make the voyage. The last of the stories exploring this theme, and by far the creepiest, is <b>Carolyn Ives Gilman's "Touring with the Alien"</b>, where the protagonist finds herself acting as the bus driver to an alien and its once-human translator. I saw it as a horror story made all the creepier by the protagonist's inability to see it as such, and it definitely opens up questions about helper species and the definition of humanity and consciousness.

Another popular theme was the story that reveals the apparent protagonists as villain or monster. My favourite from this horror-tinged genre was, as usual, <b>Alice Sola Kim. Her "Successor, Usurper, Replacement"</b> is about a group of want-to-be writers writers who meet on a night where "the beast" has been sighted in their area. In the midst of a thunderstorm, a mysterious girl turns up at the door. It is deliciously creepy and comedic, made all the more vivid by her ironic, informal writing style. In <b>Sam J. Miller's "Things with Beards,"</b> the monsters are both literal and figurative, from alien beasts trapped in ice to family members who casually spew hatred: <blockquote>"The horror of human hatred-- how such marvelous people, whom he loves so dearly, contain such monstrosity inside of them."</blockquote> I loved how he used the horror elements as a metaphor for social commentary: <blockquote>"Maturity means making peace with how we are monsters."</blockquote> <b>Seth Dickinson's "Laws of Night and Silk"</b> is radically different, a high-fantasy story about an endless war between rival countries, where each side sacrifices its children to stamp out the evil of the other. It is poignant and thought-provoking and begs the question of what war makes of us. <b>"Spinning SIlver" by Naomi Novik</b> tells the tale of a Jewish moneylender who gets caught up in fairy tale when her boast about turning silver into gold is taken literally. The most interesting aspect to me was the way that the protagonist floats between the protagonist and villain of the story. The narrator of <b>Caitlin R. Kiernan's "Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9)"</b> is an unabashed villain, and the story is both colorful and gruesome. Similarly, <b>Rich Larson's "You Make Pattaya"</b> is an entertainingly twisty heist story that is told from the perspective of the thief and takes place in a near-future Thailand.

Strahan notes that many of the stories deal with the impact of global warming, but I saw a broader theme: the irrevocable consequences of our actions and the irreversibility of change. For me, the most memorable such story was <b>"The Future is Blue" by Catherynne M. Valente.</b> The story takes place on a world irrevocably changed by global warming, where survivors live on islands of garbage in a rising sea and want to bring back a past that lives on only in myth and folklore. It is gritty and vivid and twisted and entertaining, with Valente's trademark disturbing notes. <b>Aliette de Botard's "A Salvaging of Ghosts"</b> is a gorgeous, haunting story about a space crew who salvage the remnants of other voyagers, transmuted into precious strings of "gems" of memory and experience, in the weird expanses of deep space. The protagonist is on a quest to very literally recapture her lost daughter's memory through the gems that are all that remains of her. <b>Paul McAuley's "Elves of Antarctica"</b> is a far more straightforward take on the theme. It takes place on a nearly ice-free future antarctic where refugees from the drowned world come to eke out a living. The protagonist becomes fascinated with rune-inscribed "elf stones" and the idea of primacy, that the land will eventually return to its pre-human state when global warming is reversed. A story about change and permanence from a different angle is <b>Alex Irvine's</b> adventure story, <b>"Number Nine Moon"</b>where a group of scavengers are left stranded after the Earth turns from exploration to isolation and cuts support for the Mars base. <b>Nina Allan's "The Art of Space Travel"</b> also takes place in the near future, but the issues the protagonist faces feel very familiar. The protagonist works at a hotel where a group of astronauts are due to stay before heading off to Mars. It is about change, but also about parents, about irresponsible actions and responsibility for the consequences. <b>"The Visitor from Taured" by Ian R. MacLeod</b> is told by a rare student of Analogue Literature--ie, physical books-- in a future where everything has been transmuted into the virtual. Testing the line between virtual and physical, it also explores the idea of alternate timelines, yet another way of changing the unchangeable past. Last, <b>Ken Liu's "Seven Birthdays"</b> is perhaps the most explicit story on this theme. Imaginative yet ponderous, it follows a girl's birthday in powers of seven, testing the boundaries of human and machine and exploring the long-term impact of easy solutions and the human desire to restore what is lost.

A surprising fraction of the stories took the theme of feminism head-on, executed with varying levels of skill. My favourite of the stories with this theme was <b>"Seasons of Glass and Iron" by Amal El Mohtar",</b> a lovely blending of several fairy tales, primarily "The Enchanted Pig," where a woman who betrays her shape-changing husband must wear out seven pairs of iron shoes to get him back, and "The Glass Hill," where a beautiful princess is placed upon the top of a glass mountain and the prince who scales the summit wins her hand in marriage. With lyrical writing and a rather beautiful little love story, El Mohtar explores the double standards and abuse that make the backbone of fairy tales: <blockquote>"She recalls shoes her brothers have worn: a pair of seven-league boots, tooled leather; winged sandals; satin slippers that turned one invisible. How strange, she thinks, that her brothers had shoes that lightened the world, made it small and easy to explore, discover. [...] Perhaps, she thinks, what's strange is the shoes women are made to wear: shoes of glass; shoes of paper; shoes of iron heated red-hot; shoes to dance to death in.
How strange, she thinks, and walks."</blockquote>
The rest of these feminist stories struck me as rather less well-executed, and most also failed the Bechdel test. <b>"The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight" by E. Lily Yu</b> starts as a rather generic fairy tale about a witch and a knight who brings her on his dragon-slaying quest. The themes were interesting, but I think the message was rather muddled by attempts to explain abusive sexism and by the femme-fatale characterization of the only other female character. I'm not a huge fan of <b>Joe Abercrombie,</b> and sadly, <b>"Two's Company"</b> was no exception. What with the Amazonian warrior traveling with another female until they meet up with a Conan-the-barbarian sort, it's a bawdy, comical tale of warrior-man-versus-warrior-woman, and I feel like that theme got beat to death in the 1960s. Easily my least favourite story in the collection was <b>Geoff Ryman's</b> superficially feminist story, <b>"Those Shadows Laugh."</b> In the story, the Taino women, aka Colinas, are asexual and reproduce through parthenogenesis. Of course, they are universally obsessed with babies--women, naturally!-- and are technologically backward and require the aid--and tourist dollars-- of the "normals." The story is supposedly narrated by a woman, but the possessive male gaze is so strong that I had to keep checking the narrator's supposed gender. I found his alternate history despicable: it is the lessening of a society where women had significant agency into a people he so clearly sees as inhuman, as though lack of sexual desire makes them something "other." But naturally, how would you get a matriarchal society unless you eliminate the men? (Eyeroll.) I admit this struck a nerve, and maybe it will work better for other readers.

Twisted fairy tales seemed to be a favourite this year. Like many of the stories already mentioned, <b>Alyssa Wong's "You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay"</b> is a wild fairytale retelling, in this case a bizarre spin on "Cinderella" that takes place in a dusty American Western town that becomes a battleground between the clash of cultures and demigods, life and death. As always, Wong's writing is gorgeously, vividly lyrical. <b>"Red Dirt WItch" by N.K. Jemisin</b> takes place in Alabama during the Civil Rights era, when a fairy queen comes after a local healer and her children. Jemisin turns the fairy kidnapping into a vivid portrait of everyday savage racism and a clear-eyed yet hopeful exploration of civil rights. <b>Daryl Gregory's</b> psychadelic <b>"Even the Crumbs were Delicious"</b> takes place in the world of <i>Afterparty</i> and as with the latter, there are a lot of drugs involved; in fact, the walls are papered with them. It is an odd, comedic, hallucinogenically twisted take on "Hansel and Gretel." <b>"Red as Blood and White as Bone" by Theodora Gos</b> is a story about stories, told by a maid who longs to be in a fairy tale. When a mysterious stranger falls through the door during a snowstorm, the narrator assumes a prince-meets-princess-at-the-ball ending, while the reader is conscious of a wholly different story at work. Possibly my favourite of the fairytale retellings was <b>Charles Yu's "Fable"</b>, the last story in the collection. It is a sharp-edged, self-aware tale of a man asked by his therapist to tell his life story in the form of a fable. So he starts again and again, and his own story is slowly revealed in all its pathos and humanity:<blockquote>"Once upon a time, there was an angry guy, who hated the story he was in."</blockquote>
Yet again, Strahan put together a wonderfully diverse collection. No matter your taste in stories, you're bound to find something of interest in his "Year's Best" collection, and as for the rest, speculative fiction is all about expanding your horizons. If you're looking for a new author or just a new viewpoint, his "Year's Best" collections are well worth a look.

I've only read one full Year's Best anthology before, also a Netgalley ARC, about this time last year. That was edited by Rich Horton, a name I didn't previously know, and was excellent - full of other names new to me I've since investigated further, and I've given it at least once as a present. The editor here is Jonathan Strahan, whose themed anthologies I usually enjoy, but this is really not on the same level. It's not that any of it is bad as such, but too much of it is the sort of thing you read on Tor.com of an afternoon and then barely remember, rather than stuff which deserves memorialising at this level. There are a few re-examinations of the assumptions of fairytales which are probably fine if you're new to that idea, but feel like pallid box-ticking exercises next to Disney's own Frog Princess, never mind the real heady wine of Angela Carter. There's a first contact story which feels like it has a little Ted Chiang and a little Peter Watts in its DNA, but it's the faintly sappy mass market version of their terrifying concepts. There's even a Sherlock Holmes riff, an overdone sub-subgenre which now irks me more than the rest of st**mp*nk, and that's saying something. And so forth. There are some fine stories here, of course there are: Cat Valente is as delicious as usual, albeit darker; Joe Abercrombie's on fine form; Aliette de Bodard's piece is truly haunting. Seth Dickinson comes up with another world at least as intricately fucked up as that in The Traitor Baru Cormorant; similarly, Yoon Ha Lee's story seems to be another world altogether to Ninefox Gambit, but shares the fox fascination, and indeed the fascination in general. Lavie Tidhar's 'Terminal' is the story which first introduced me to a writer with a fine and fearful imagination. But these were often the ones I'd already read (the Abercrombie in particular I've already read online and then again in another collection, and I'm by no means a hardcore Abercrombie fan). I think the only piece by a writer I didn't already know which really caught me was Sam Miller's excavation of the gay subtext of The Thing. And among the rest there's simply too much filler, not enough killer.

The tales feature a large and varied range of sub-genres and styles: standard and hard SF, space opera, dystopia, alternate history, steampunk, magic, retellings of fairy tales, etc. Some of the stories can be read for free online, I linked them in my review for a taste of the collection. Below, each of the stories rated with its own stars and a few words of each, trying to avoid spoilers.


The Future is Blue by Catherynne M. Valente - 4+/5★ A dystopian short story in the form of an allegory, about global warming destroying the world and what remains of life after that.

Mika Model by Paolo Bacigalupi - 4.5/5★ Even if the subject of the robots' humanity has been plenty developed in Asimov’s Robots, Bacigalupi did a great job reiterating it.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - 4.5/5★ Intended seemingly as a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, it gets far from the original, but the writing is magical, the female lead is strong and clever and cunning, and it has good teachings.

Two’s Company by Joe Abercrombie - 4.5/5★ Nice little piece, with sarcasm, gore and plenty of laughs.

You Make Pattaya by Rich Larson - 3.5/5★ Clever twist. I would have probably rated it higher but for the language/jargon that kind of killed my reading pleasure: I had to look so many terms that it really fractured my reading..

You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay by Alyssa Wong - 4.5/5★ A boy of the desert, necromancers, a sweet love story in the wild west - the 2nd person narration is magically enthralling.

A Salvaging of Ghosts by Aliette de Bodard - 5/5★ Superbe writing, interesting subject: a touching space opera, where the spaceships are sentient entities, and the people onboard scavenge in space for gems that are much more than just jewels.

Even the Crumbs Were Delicious by Daryl Gregory - 3.5/5★ Whoa, this was kind of crazy, in a high way :)) Hänsel and Gretel mixed with a hint of SF and lots of drugs.
Number Nine Moon by Alex Irvine - 3.5/5★ During an evacuation from Mars, things don't go as planned - well written, real-seemingly characters, but I couldn't stop comparing it to The Martian..

Things with Beards by Sam J. Miller - 2.5/5★ An alien story (?) with a man who misses time and finds himself in some pretty weird situations.

Successor, Usurper, Replacement by Alice Sola Kim - 2/5★ It did not manage to really grip me because of the jerky rhythm; on the other hand, the characters are well written and there were some good philosophical reflections.

Laws of Night and Silk by Seth Dickinson - 4.5/5★ A fantasy story about two rival nations fighting over water rights with magic and abnarchs. My big problem: this should be a full length novel; as it is, everything is new (world, people, magic, names, conflicts) and 70% in, you still struggle to understand it all and when you finally reach the end.. you want more!

Touring with the Alien by Carolyn Ives Gilman - 4/5★ A story about aliens that landed their ships on Earth and use human translators (abducted some 20 years or so ago, for exactly this purpose) to secretly communicate with the government. It kind of reminded me of Story of Your Life (the story on which the movie Arrival was based on), especially the ships, that seem to be taken from the movie. Even if it lacks action, I found it interesting and it poses some interesting question about conciousness and life experiences.

The Great Detective by Delia Sherman - 3+/5★ A steampunk story with Welsh flavours, set in 1880s' London, includes both a detective story and a ghost living in an automaton fighting for mechanicals to have rights, although there are no discussion about laws or ethics. This is kind of a sequel to The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor (it can be read on its own without any problem), but the timing unfortunately doesn’t add up, as 19 years passed since (1861->1880), but they aged only 2-3 years (Tacy was 16-17 and now is 18-20).. I really liked the Sherlock implications :)

Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home by Genevieve Valentine - 4.5/5★ It starts as a colonization story of Themis, a planet of Proxima Centauri (very funny this first part, I snorted a few times), but develops in something completely different – I simply loved the twist! The whole story is written in epistolary form (letters or reports of the colonization crew, which I very much liked), and it poses some good questions about VR/gaming and especially ethics.

Those Shadows Laugh by Geoff Ryman - 2.5/5★ An utopian society of women who reproduce by parthenogenesis – wow, the description sounds exactly as if we were talking about Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland. Unfortunately, besides the ‘borrowing’ of the subject, it seemed to me that the author used the setting for long descriptions, causing me to lose interest several times. Unfortunately, besides the ‘borrowing’ of the theme, it seemed to me that the author used the whole story for long descriptions, causing me to lose interest several times. What I did like was the tackling of issues like desire, gelosy, ownership of things and persons.

Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar - 3.5/5★ An interesting mix of fairy tales and feminism, packed in a beautiful narration.

The Art of Space Travel by Nina Allan - 3.5/5★ Apart from the astronauts, not really SF-ish and clearly not about space travel, being more of a psychological/sociological work, about relationships and family and dreams, with a predictable but ok ending.

Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9) by Caitlín R. Kiernan - 1.5/5★ Two girls running after one of them commited something awful. I don’t really understand why this was added to the collection - ok, they are followed by something strange, but really? just that? no explanations, no nothing, why bother?

Red Dirt Witch by N.K. Jemisin - 5/5★ Excellent story about segregation, obtaining of civil rights and liberation of black people, all under the umbrella of a fantasy with herbalist witches and dreamers/voodoo people.

Red as Blood and White as Bone by Theodora Goss - 3/5★ An interesting mix between a kind of Cinderella fairytale and fiction during WWII, set somewhere in CE Europe; although I found it rather naive in some places, it has some interesting turnabouts.

Terminal by Lavie Tidhar - 4+/5★ A psychological work, powerful and emotional, about loneliness, grief, hope, love wrapped in a story where cheap single-person shuttles are heading for Mars for a kind of colonization.

Foxfire, Foxfire by Yoon Ha Lee - 4+/5★ This was one of those stories that are both strange and very good, with a shapeshifting fox in a fantasy/SF setting... I definitely need to read more stories from Yoon Ha Lee, especially as this story seems to be part of a universe / series.

Elves of Antarctica by Paul McAuley - 3/5★ Global warming combined with elf-runes mystery in a static setting, not very impressive and the mystery is never revealed.

The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight by E. Lily Yu - 3/5★ A fairy tale that isn't really a fairy tale, although it involves dragons, knights, witches and spells.

Seven Birthdays by Ken Liu - 4.5/5★ I truly enjoy Ken Liu’s writing. The first part is oriented mostly on family and psychology, the second is much more hard sci-fi, focused on technology and space.

The Visitor from Taured by Ian R. MacLeod - 4/5★ Set sometime in the future, when classic paper printed and non-interactive books are viewed as an eccentricity, this story is a mix between a romance and a mystery based on the Visitor from Taured subject.

Fable by Charles Yu - 5/5★ A powerful and moving story about a father describing his life to a psychologist as a fairy tale allegory.

Overall, a total rating of 3.71, rounded up to 4 stars. I enjoyed this collection very much and I heartly recommend it to fantasy and SF lovers.

Good collection of stories but not as good as previous years

Although I liked this year’s collection of stories, I found it to be not as strong as those of previous years and this is the first year that I liked Writers of the Future (volume 33) more than The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Of The Year (volume 11). Nonetheless, there were some amazing stories here, among which my favorites were “Spinning Silver” by Naomi Novik, “Mika Model” by Paolo Bacigalupi, “Two’s Company” by Joe Abercrombie (First Law universe), “You Make Pattaya” by Rich Larson, “Number Nine Moon” by Alex Irvine, “Those Shadows Laugh” by Geoff Ryman, “The Art of Space Travel” by Nina Allan, “Red Dirt Witch” by N.K. Jemisin and “The Visitor from Taured” by Ian R. MacLeod. I recommend this anthology for fans of the genre.

Lo mejor no es siempre lo más interesante y viceversa


The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year de Jonathan Straham se está convirtiendo por méritos propios en una de las antologías más esperadas de la literatura de género. Actualmente en su undécimo primera edición, esta obra se basa en una premisa simple: reunir en un volumen anual los mejores ejemplos de la narrativa breve de ciencia ficción, fantasía y terror.

Los numerosos reconocimientos y nominaciones a premios de Straham demuestran que tiene buen olfato para escoger relatos, buscando un equilibrio entre historias de fuerte contenido social, textos de cuidada factura y temáticas muy variadas. El volumen que me llegó vía NetGalley contiene 28 relatos con una misma cantidad de autores que de autoras y, aunque es cierto que Straham es un editor experto y con una trayectoria más que probada, la mayoría de las historias no me han emocionado, aunque tengo que reconocer que el nivel medio de la prosa es muy alto. No se puede decir por tanto que la antología no incluya “buenas” historias sino que a mí, al menos, no me han convencido como esperaba. Mi favorita, y la historia con la que se abre esta obra es “The future is blue” de Catherynne M. Valente que, si todo sale como espero, veamos traducida al español en el próximo número de SuperSonic. Se trata de una distopía fantástica en la que la sociedad vive del aprovechamiento de la basura, algo que además estructura las costumbres sociales, como la adquisición del nombre o la función de cada persona en su comunidad. Solo puedo calificar las ideas como retorcidas, en el sentido de que dan una vuelta de tuerca a conceptos como el bien común o la presión social. La prosa de Valente es poderosa, con hebras de melancolía, y permite conocer la vida de la protagonista sin caer en infodumps, con un ritmo pausado y firme.

Después de la historia de Valente, mis expectativas era muy altas. “Mika model” de Paolo Bacigalupi no me defraudó. Esta historia de ciencia ficción sobre las implicaciones legales del abuso de una sexbot, me hizo pensar en Nieves Delgado y su relato ganador del Ignotus “Casas Rojas”. Aunque el relato de la gallega aborda más las implicaciones éticas de este tipo de androides, también trata sobre sus derechos, que constituye en definitiva el trasfondo de la historia de Bacigalupi.

“Spinning silver” de Naomi Novik es un trasunto del cuento del enano Rumpelstiltskin que a mí no llegó a conmoverme en ningún momento, porque me pareció largo y aburrido.

“Two’s company” de Joe Abercrombie es una maravillosa fábula humorística de fantasía épica sobre mujeres guerreras. No solo me ha parecido hilarante sino muy bien escrita, con un ritmo muy bien conseguido y unos personajes femeninos alejados de los clichés de este tipo de género, más ricos y llenos de matices. Muy recomendable.

Rick Larson se lanza con “You make Patayya” a la exploración de cómo las nuevas tecnologías y las redes sociales pueden ser manipuladas para cometer diversos tipos de crímenes. Es un relato bien construido y con ideas interesantes e ingeniosas.

Alyssa Wong es una autora que se está convirtiendo por méritos propios en una habitual en las compilaciones de lo mejor del año. “You’ll surely drown if you stay” reinterpreta el mito de los seres que cambian de forma, en este caso, de los licántropos, y lo enriquece en un escenario alejado de los urbanos a los que nos suele tener acostumbrados. Me pareció un tanto largo para mi gusto, pero disfruté con esta historia.

“A salvaging of ghosts” de Aliette de Bodard es una estupenda historia sobre las relaciones familiares, concretamente la relación madre-hija, enmarcada en una misión espacial personal de la protagonista. Quizás no tenga el calado especulativo de otros trabajos de Bodard, pero a mí me ha resultado extraordinariamente emotiva.

“Even the crumbs were delicious” es una deliciosa historia de fantasía urbana del siempre eficaz Daryl Gregory que trata con humor el tema de los alucinógenos comestibles. Siempre es de agradecer el humor inteligente que este autor es capaz de presentar en un relato que critica sutilmente aspectos de nuestra sociedad.

Por su parte, Alex Irvine presenta en “Number Nine Moon” una aventura de supervivencia ante una serie de catástrofes que sufre una suerte de cuadrilla de cazadores de tesoros. Si bien es siempre de agradecer el tratamiento de la resistencia humana ante la adversidad, no considero que se trate de una historia con nada especial que destacar.

Sam J. Miller es un autor que con “Things with beards” ha sido incluido en varias de las listas de nominados a diversos premios. Ofrece una visión alejada de lo convencional del tema de los ladrones de cuerpos alienígenas, utilizando personajes homosexuales pero, aparte de este punto, su historia no me ha parecido aportar nada nuevo ni en cuanto a ideas ni a tratamiento de la temática.

Alice Sola Kim propone en “Successor, Usurper, Replacement” una situación a medio camino entre el terror clásico y la fantasía urbana con un relato bien hilado y repleto de buenas ideas que hará las delicias de los lectores.

“Laws of Night and Silk” de Seth Dickinson presenta una historia de fantasía épica que explora las relaciones entre padres e hijos y el sentido del deber. Me ha sorprendido gratamente el tratamiento del autor de un subgénero con el que no consigo conectar normalmente.

Tengo que reconocer que “Touring with the alien” de Carol Ives Gilman me ha gustado mucho porque, aunque narra un escenario bastante parecido en un primer momento a la película La llegada, tiene un desenlace que me ha asombrado e impresionado y, además, creo que está muy bien escrito.

“The Great Detective” de Delia Sherman es una propuesta steampunk enmarcada en el universo Holmesiano, con premisas interesantes pero que a mí francamente, no ha terminado de engancharme y, además me ha parecido excesivamente larga.

Aunque “Everyone from Themis sends letters home” de Genevieve Valentine parece tratar el tema de la colonización de planetas lejanos, en realidad se inscribe dentro del ciberpunk con una trama en la que se aborda la ética y la legalidad.

Geoff Rhyman firma “Those shadows laugh”, una historia que recuerda inevitablemente a Herland de Charlotte Perkins Gilman, pero que en esta ocasión no consigue ofrecer con éxito una historia feminista. Creo que esta era la intención del autor pero, en realidad, la trama no es más que una historia de amor lésbico sin calado especulativo.

“Seasons of glasss and iron” de Amal El-Mohtar aparece también en muchas de las listas de trabajos nominados a premios de este año. Puedo comprender que suscite interés porque se trata de una metáfora sobre el maltrato a las mujeres en el ámbito doméstico, pero no ha conseguido despertar mi interés en ningún momento.

Nina Allan es la autora de “The art od space travel”, un relato muy bien trabajado sobre las relaciones familiares, sobre la ausencia de un padre y la presencia de una figura paterna, y sobre los sueños cumplidos e incumplidos. Como suele ser habitual en esta autora, no todo es lo que parece pero hay espacio para la reflexión. Me ha gustado mucho.

Me ha desilusionado bastante “Whisper road (Murder Ballad No. 9)” de Caitlín R. Kiernan, una autora cuyo trabajo suele sorprenderme y gustarme pero que esta vez no ha conseguido seducirme lo más mínimo con esta historia weird de unos asesinos enfrentados a sus propios miedos.

“Red Dirt Witch” conjuga el buen hacer de N. K. Jemisin con una trama fantástica en la que la magia sirve como excusa para explorar las relaciones familiares y la lealtad.

“Red as Blood and White as Bone” es un relato de Theorora Goss a medio camino entre las fábulas y los cuentos de hadas que no ha conseguido emocionarme o engancharme y que no entiendo muy bien qué hace en esta antología.

Lavie Tidhar está presente en esta obra con “Terminal” con una historia desgarradora sobre el viaje de ida de un grupo de gente a una ciudad mítica en al superficie de Marte. Cada uno a bordo de una nave unipersonal y sumergidos en una situación personal límite, los personajes solo podrán comunicarse entre sí por radio. Tidhar ofrece una narración convincente y trágica en un marco hostil y, al mismo tiempo, majestuoso. Es uno de los relatos que más me ha impactado.

“Foxfire, foxfire” de Yoon Ha Lee recupera un tipo de fantasía de raíces orientales y la moderniza, brindando una historia repleta de aventuras y situada en el espacio. Me parece muy interesante la manera en la que esta autora combina fantasía y ciencia ficción e incorpora la mitología oriental ancestral.

Paul McAuley es otro de los grandes nombres de la ciencia ficción incluido en esta antología. Sin embargo, su historia “Elves of Antarctica” no ha logradpo engancharme y creo que su presencia en esta obra se debe a que es un ejemplo de Cli-Fi (Climate Change Fiction).

“The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight” de E. Lily Yu es una narración fantástica que, a pesar de estar muy bien escrita, tampoco entiendo que se haya incluido en esta antología. Aunque la premisa es atractiva (aborda la transmisión del conocimiento), creo que no llega a lograr su propósito de capturar la atención del lector.

Ken Liu aparece en la recopilación de Straham de la mano de “Seven Birthdays”, una estupenda historia sobre el efecto de la posteridad en las relaciones familiares. Es un relato emocional y emocionante, y muy recomendable.

“The visitor from Taured” de Ian R MacLeod contiene todos los ingredientes que un aficionado a la ciencia ficción puede desear ver en un relato: referencias metaliterarias constantes, teorías sobre el espacio-tiempo, etc. Este es uno de los cuentos con los que más he disfrutado.

“Fable” de Charles Yu es una de las historias que más me han impactado en los últimos tiempos. De nuevo, nos encontramos ante el tratamiento de las relaciones familiares pero, en este caso, concretamente las de un padre y su hijo con necesidades especiales. Sobrecogedor y muy recomendable.

No se puede reprochar que Straham no presente una panoplia amplia de historias en las antologías que selecciona. Tengo que reconocer que los relatos que me han gustado me han parecido excelentes pero el resto, son para mí francamente olvidables. Con esto quiero decir que las historias son, en mi opinión, o muy buenas o mediocres, sin término medio. En cualquier caso creo que The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year de Jonathan Straham es un buen escaparate de lo que se está cociendo a nivel internacional en narrativa breve. No será la última antología de este autor a la que le eche un vistazo.

I'll be reviewing this for Perihelion Science Fiction, 12-May-2017.

After several Not-Science-Fiction novels here at NetGalley, it's a relief to read intelligent prose: cerebral, science-laden, quirky, far-reaching, and off-beat. I'd love to know so many writers find publishers for novels that are dry, dull, full of plot holes, cliches, or predictable tropes, or just plain are not very smart.

Too often, I'm a little overly challanged with science fiction. The ending of Ken Liu's story, with mom and daughter and the kite launch: are they dying, or going somewhere together? Millions of stars in a blaze of light as they soar, kite string attached to nothing on the ground: I'm a little nervous about what this means. But I'm not certain. Did he intend this as a soaring, happy ending?

If I could get back the hours of my life I wasted on mediocre but best-selling novels, I'd have finished reading and reviewing this anthology by now.

More to come.

O el año pasado fue muy irregular en cuanto a relatos cortos, o Strahan y yo ya no conectamos como antes. Esta antología ha resultado ser un tanto decepcionante, con pocas aunque honrosas excepciones.

The Future is Blue, Catherynne M. Valente

Aunque es demasiado surrealista para mi gusto, entiendo los puntos positivos de este relato. La tendencia actual a tratar el cambio climático encuentra aquí una nueva iteración. Me resulta interesante la idea de un viaje iniciático para encontrar tu propio nombre.

Mika Model, Paolo Bacigalupi

Es imposible leer este relato y no acordarse de "Casas Rojas" de Nieves Delgado. Es una aproximación parecida al tema de los robots sexuales, superior en prosa pero menos especulativa.

Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik

Un relato que parece ir por los cauces habituales en cuanto a relaciones con el mundo mágico y las hadas pero con algún que otro cambio intermedio que le permite salirse de lo corriente.

Two’s Company, Joe Abercrombie

Divertidísimo este relato de @LordGrimdark quien de una cosa tan común en la fantasía como cruzar un puente y encontrarse alguien en el camino es capaz de sacar oro.

You Make Pattaya, Rich Larson

Mezclando realidad virtual y filtros a lo que se ve muy del estilo de Crashing Heaven con algún que otro toque de The Wind-Up Girl de Bacigalupi, Larson nos ofrece una historia cyberpunk muy bien llevada.

You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay, Alyssa Wong

Una fantasía demasiado oscura para mi gusto. En este western se mezclan las danzas de los muertos con la búsqueda de un futuro.

A Salvaging of Ghosts, Aliette de Bodard

Un relato sobre la nostalgia por los seres queridos que quedaron atrás y cómo superar el dolor. No me parece de los más redondos de la autora, aunque tiene una belleza inherente.

Even the Crumbs Were Delicious, Daryl Gregory

Lisérgico relato en el que no he conseguido entrar. Para mí, un fallo en la selección.

Number Nine Moon, Alex Irvine

Poco que destacar de un relato muy clásico de supervivencia en el espacio.

Things with Beards, Sam J. Miller

Un retrato distorsionado sobre como intentar encajar en una vida que no reconoces como tuya y la aceptación de nuestro monstruo interior. Me interesa más la parte realista que la fantástica.

Successor, Usurper, Replacement, Alice Sola Kim

Un poco fuera de lugar en la antología ya que este relato parece más de terror que de fantasía. Un grupo de amigos reunidos que no pueden salir de un recinto cerrado, una extraña visita...

Laws of Night and Silk, Seth Dickinson

Dickinson busca la respuesta a la pregunta de si merece la pena el sacrificio de los hijos por el bien de los padres, como ya hizo en su momento LeGuin.

Touring with the Alien, Carolyn Ives Gilman

Con un giro final que no me esperaba para nada, una historia sobre la autoconciencia y la comunicación con una entidad totalmente ajena a nosotros. Invita a la reflexión.

The Great Detective, Delia Sherman

Delicioso pastiche holmesiano, mezclando steampunk y fantasmas. Una original aproximación al canon, que podría haber tenido cabida perfectamente en 221 Baker Streets.

Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home, Genevieve Valentine

Inquietante relato sobre los peligros de la realidad virtual.

Those Shadows Laugh, Geoff Ryman

Ryman utiliza la biología para inventarse una especie "humana" aparte pero la protagonista de la historia falla a varios niveles. Una historia incompleta.

Seasons of Glass and Iron, Amal El-Mohtar

Con un tono marcadamente de fábula, Amal versiona cuentos antiguos para dejar un mensaje feminista. Interesante.

The Art of Space Travel, Nina Allan

Nina Allan es una escritora que mima cada palabra y esto se nota también en este relato, que se sitúa en un futuro no muy lejano, jugando con la percepción de una mente debilitada. Por desgracia, el final un tanto abrupto no le hace justicia.

Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9), Caitlín R. Kiernan

Del mismo estilo “Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No.8)” pero con peor resultado. No llega a interesarme esta road movie truculenta.

Red Dirt Witch, N.K. Jemisin

Aunque entiendo y comparto el mensaje antirracista del relato, me ha parecido flojo.

Red as Blood and White as Bone, Theodora Goss

Revisión de un cuento infantil pero modernizado. No me acaba de convencer.

Terminal, Lavie Tidhar

Un relato muy lírico sobre la colonización de Marte. El riesgo y la aventura atraen a almas muy dispares hacia el mismo destino.

Foxfire, Foxfire, Yoon Ha Lee

Aunque me suele gustar el trabajo de Yoon Ha Lee y la premisa de mezclar leyendas antiguas con tecnología moderna me parece interesante, el resultado final es un relato un tanto precipitado. Me gustaría saber más sobres los zorros cambiaformas.

Elves of Antarctica, Paul McAuley

En la introducción Strahan hablaba de la tendencia de la ciencia ficción actual a hablar sobre el cambio climático, pero me parece excesiva la cantidad de relatos sobre el tema que ha incluido en la selección. Este es otro más, que quizá en otro contexto hubiera resultado interesante, pero que tras leer varios me ha parecido más de lo mismo.

The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight, E. Lily Yu

Yo creía saber hacia dónde se dirigía Yu con este cuento, pero o se queda a medio camino o la idea era otra. Adaptar lo que sería un típico cuento medieval con brujas y caballeros no es excesivamente original, pero según cómo se haga puede dar buenos resultados.

Seven Birthdays, Ken Liu

En una nueva muestra de la amplitud de su capacidad creativa, Liu nos regala una historia con un marco temporal casi inalcanzable capaz de aunar las preocupaciones familiares con el futuro de la humanidad. Espléndido.

The Visitor from Taured, Ian R. MacLeod

Me parece interesante la idea de la narración lineal como algo en decadencia, por que se ve realista en un futuro no muy lejano. El resto de la historia, sin embargo, no me llama la atención.

Fable, Charles Yu

Relato muy muy duro sobre la enfermedad de un hijo, de nuevo envuelto en el manto de un cuento tradicional.

Este año la selección de Strahan no me ha acabado de convencer. A pesar de algunos cuentos brillantes, hay otros que no quedan en la memoria.

I've been reading less and less science fiction and fantasy over the years, but this collection has re-energised me...I'll be making a short list and following some of the authors.
Will buy in print to easily re-read and share. No higher recommendation.

I particularly liked the following, and could have done without some others:
A Salvaging of Ghosts • SF short story in Xuyan universe by Aliette de Bodard
Even the Crumbs Were Delicious • Hunter S Thompsonesque SF short story by Daryl Gregory. hilarious.
You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay • Western desert novelette by Alyssa Wong
Two’s Company • First Law fantasy short story by Joe Abercrombie, also very funny

It's the beginning of awards season in the science fiction and fantasy field, and there are a ton of them: Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, Crawford, Clarke, Campbell. The list goes on and on. Science fiction, fantasy, and all their related sub-genres probably have more awards than any other endeavor. And right on cue, the "Best of the Year" anthologies are starting to pop up all over the place, like flowers in springtime. There is a great number of those anthologies that come out every year, and this year is no exception. The longest running best of the year is put together by Gardner Dozois, which this year will find itself with its 34th edition.

One of the finest best of the year anthologies, however, is edited by Jonathan Strahan. Strahan is one of the most well respected, talented, and prolific anthology editors in the field today (Never mind that he is the reviews editor for Locus Magazine and is an editor for tor.com, all while holding down a day job. I get tired just thinking about it). Other than this year's best of collection, he is also the editor of the Infinity project, an annual
anthology of hard sf stories that will see its seventh volume published later this year. This years best of collection does not disappoint.

This year's volume contains four of this year's Hugo nominees - three novelettes and a short story - but the rest of the stories are outstanding as well. Alyssa Wong's "You'll Surely Drown Here If You Stay" is the story of an orphan boy living in a brothel in the Old West who has magical powers that make him a marked child for mysterious men coming to the town. It's quite an outstanding story, and well deserving of its Hugo nomination. The same can be said of "Touring withe the Alien" by Carolyn Ives Gilman (in fact, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that all the stories in this book could be on awards lists somewhere, not just the ones that already are). Avery is a young woman who is asked to take a mysterious alien on a tour of the U.S.A. It seems reasonable enough, until the reader realizes what that one line about what happens to the alien's body after it dies is really not just a description of how an alien dies. The alien is looking to experience consciousness through humans, but humanity gets more than it bargained for. It's one of my favorite stories in the book. Amal El-Mohtar's "Seasons of Glass and Iron" is the story of two women, one cursed to wearing seven pairs of iron shoes, the other cursed to sit atop a glass mountain while suitors try to gain the summit to win her affections. It's a story of friendship and female empowerment coming together to server a common goal. Nina Allan's "The Art of Space Travel" is a terrifically written piece about the head of housekeeping at a hotel where two astronauts are going to give a press conference about an upcoming mission to Mars. Of course, the story isn't about the mission, it's about Emily, her relationship with her mother - a metallurgist assigned to determine the cause of a failed Mars mission prior, and her desire to find her father. It's a really nice piece.

As the late night infomercial guy would say "but wait, there's more". Lavie Tidhar's "Terminal" is an emotional story about folks who have nothing lose who make a one way journey to Mars in one person ships called jalopies, what they share with each other, and what fate is likely to meet them when they get there. Rich Larson gives us "You Make Pattaya", a story about a near future con man looking to make enough to retire, just to see his scheme fall short; "Things with Beards", by Sam J. Miller, is what may be another take on "Who Goes There" or the "Thing", but it's a bit more sinister; Delia Sherman's "The Great Detective" is a riff on Sherlock Holmes complete with AIs; Genevieve Valentine's "Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home" gives us a story about a virtual world that is not all what it seems, told via letters. For the life of me, I have no idea how this didn't make the Hugo ballot.

N.K. Jemisin's "Red Dirt Witch" is a tale about the woman trying to protect her family as segregation is nearing an end. It's a powerful story about what a woman will give up to protect her family. "Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9) is just another outright creepy, disturbing, and well-written story by Caitlin R. Kiernan. It frightens me to think that I liked this story as much as I did. Ken Liu, a terrific writer and translator (see THE THREE BODY PROBLEM and this year's nominee DEATH'S END), gives us "Seven Birthdays", a brilliant tale that spans from the near future to the far future as it tells the story of digitization of the human race as it tries to save the planet. Yep, the Singularity was mentioned here, and it wasn't a bad thing, not unlike other stories we've read. "The Visitor from Taured", by Ian R. MacLeod describes the relationship of two people who study things that no one else is interested in, how one succeeds, how one fails, and how that failure affected both people and relationship between them. Charles Yu's "Fable" may or may not be a genre story. It has the trappings of a genre story, but I think those trappings are irrelevant to what Yu is trying to do here, which is basically tell us that we all have our crosses to bear and difficulties to live with, and it's what we do with our resulting lives is what matters.

I could go on like this for a long time. There are fantastic fantasies by Theodora Goss ("Red as Blood and White as Bone"), E. Lily Yu ("The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight"), Naomi Novik ("Spinning Silver"), Seth Dickinson ("Laws of Night and Silk"), and Joe Abercrombie ("Two's Company"). There's great science fiction by Daryl Gregory ("Even the Crumbs Were Delicious"), Catherynne M. Valente ("The Future is Blue"), Alex Irvine ("Number Nine Moon"), Paolo Bacigalupi ("Mika Model"), Aliette de Bodard ("A Salvaging of Ghosts"), and Geoff Ryman ("Those Shadows Laugh"). There's even a little bit of both in Yoon Ha Lee's "Foxfire, Foxfire" and Paul McAuley's "Elves of Antarctiva", but to be fair it only flirts with fantasy. With a title like that, it sort of has to.

As usual with one of Strahan's anthologies, there's not a bad story to be found. There's not even a mediocre story to be found. Surely, some of these stories are not for everyone, but I think that everyone should be able to find something to like, even just a little bit, in every story that is here. It seems that 2016 was a really good year for short fiction, if this anthology is any indication. If Strahan continues to compile books of this high quality, we'll have great books of short fiction to read for years to come.

How the hell am I supposed to review a book when you don't let me read the friggin thing, Netgalley?! I'll post a visual review then: The cover looks fantastic and I'm certain the stories contained within span space and beyond with mind-altering scenes of action and mechanical marvels.

Jonathan Strahan’s annual year’s best anthology enters its second decade with a selection of the best stories in the science-fiction and fantasy genres from 2016.
More than two dozen authors are on show with a range of short-fiction that covers all facets of the genres.
As with any collection of this breadth, individual stories range in strength but none of them carry the narrative bite that lifts them from the pack.
Personal favourites included Joe Abercrombie’s Two’s Company, Alex Irvine’s Number Nine Moon and Daryl Gregory’s Even the Crumbs Were Delicious but even these were quickly forgotten afterwards.
The broad spectrum means you’ll likely find something to your fancy and maybe be exposed to a few new writers or sub-genres along the way but it's much like going to a festival without the headline act — enjoyable but hardly memorable.

Summary: 28 stories spread over some 600 pages, no novellas this time. There is something in it for everyone and I recommend buying it. This year, Strahan seems to love fairy tales - with five of them included, it was a bit too much for my taste. Overall quality was better than last year's, though. As with nearly every anthology, you probably won't like each and every story, but there are gems in it, some of them outstanding. Many of the stories are available online, but if you're like me, I'm not willing to hunt down the best of them and just let Strahan lead my way.

On a personal note, I didn't like the inclusion of horror stories at all - I don't like them or even hate them. It would be fair at least to mark the story's genre such that I could simply skip them. At least, this time only two such stories where included.

Outstanding stories were

Foxfire, Foxfire • SF&F crossover novelette by Yoon Ha Lee
Laws of Night and Silk • High Fantasy short story by Seth Dickinson
Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home • SF short story by Genevieve Valentine
Contents:

17 • ★★★★ • The Future is Blue • dystopic SF novelette by Catherynne M. Valente • review
39 • ★★ • Mika Model • SF short story by Paolo Bacigalupi • review
53 • ★★★ • Spinning Silver • Fairy tale Rumpelstilchen retold by Naomi Novik • review
81 • ★★★ • Two’s Company • First Law fantasy short story by Joe Abercrombie • review
101 • ★★★★ • You Make Pattaya • Near Future con-man short story by Rich Larson • review
117 • ★★★★ • You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay • Weird novelette by Alyssa Wong • review
143 • ★★★+ • A Salvaging of Ghosts • SF short story in Xuyan universe by Aliette de Bodard • review
155 • ★★★ • Even the Crumbs Were Delicious • Hänsel und Gretel turned to SF short story by Daryl Gregory • review
173 • ★★★ • Number Nine Moon • Hard SF short story by Alex Irvine • review
195 • ★ • Things with Beards • Weird short story by Sam J. Miller • I didn't get at all what this story was about, couldn't get into it
209 • ☆ • Successor, Usurper, Replacement, Alice Sola Kim • Horror - didn't read
227 • ★★★★+ • Laws of Night and Silk • High Fantasy short story by Seth Dickinson • review
247 • ★★★ • Touring with the Alien • First contact SF novelette by Carolyn Ives Gilman • review
281 • ★★+ • The Great Detective • Steampunk novelette by Delia Sherman • review
317 • ★★★★+ • Everyone from Themis Sends Letters Home • SF short story by Genevieve Valentine • review
343 • ★★+ • Those Shadows Laugh • Geoff Ryman • review
369 • ★★★ • Seasons of Glass and Iron • fairy tale short story by Amal El-Mohtar • review
385 • ★★★ • The Art of Space Travel • SF novelette by Nina Allan • review
417 • ☆ • Whisper Road (Murder Ballad No. 9) • Caitlín R. Kiernan • I despise horror. For those that like that genre, this story might also be pointless. Especially within an anthology called "Best SF and Fantasy of the Year" - this story doesn't contain SF, nor fantasy at all. Just (one? or) two girls on a road trip after having shot an elderly couple.
429 • ★★★★+ • Red Dirt Witch • Urban Fantasy short story by N.K. Jemisin • review
449 • ★★ • Red as Blood and White as Bone • Fairy tale novelette by Theodora Goss • review
471 • ★★★ • Terminal • SF short story by Lavie Tidhar • review
487 • ★★★★★ • Foxfire, Foxfire • SF&F crossover novelette by Yoon Ha Lee • review
509 • ★★+ • Elves of Antarctica • CliFi short story by Paul McAuley • review
527 • ★★★ • The Witch of Orion Waste and the Boy Knight • fairy tale shor story by E. Lily Yu • review
543 • ★★★★ • Seven Birthdays • SF short story by Ken Liu • review
561 • ★★★★ • The Visitor from Taured • SF novelette by Ian R. MacLeod • review
585 • ★★★ • Fable • Fairy taleish metafiction short story by Charles Yu • review

This is the eleventh annual collection of SF&F curated by Jonathan Strahan. Previous entries in the series have included some absolutely stellar work, and the opportunity to explore some great new authors, so I had high hopes for this one – and, generally speaking, they were met.

Much like the last couple of years, this is a very diverse collection of material. There’s sharp, punchy , grimy fantasy from Joe Abercrombie – bringing us a dynamic duo, a thief and a fighter, and unleashing them on the world with acerbic humour, and a low tolerance for mistakes. There’s the creeping body horror wrapped around modernity of Sam Miller’s “Things with Beards”. There’s sweeping epic fantasy, new worlds defined alongside personal triumphs, and more often personal tragedies – like Seth Dickinson’s “Laws of Night and Silk”, and there’s fantasy like folk tales, pulling on half remembered truths to shape something new.

There’s big questions on display throughout the collection, though their answers differ. “The Great Detective”, for example tackles the idea of what it means to be sentient, cloaking the query in a delightful blend of steampunk and Holmesian period drama. The mystery is intriguing, and the protagonist charming, and we rattle through the streets of a London laced with ghosts and clockwork mechanicals whilst pondering the meaning of their existence.

Then there’s Yoon Ha Lee’s “Foxfire Foxfire” – where worryingly intelligent animals cut deals with gods and men, examining who they are and who they wish to be, and occasionally cutting the odd throat. This feels like another strand – a narrative with the feel of a legend, mixed with something new. The chatacters claw their way off the page, compelling, often dark, sometimes deadly. There’s stories here which can be disquieting – watching three friends and a new arrival sit around a table and tell stories, reveal something of themselves, their vulnerabilities in Alice Sola Kim’s “Successor, Usurper, Replacement” feels like teetering on the edge of a cliff, unable to warn someone stepping off.

There’s also N.K. Jemisin’s “Red Dirt Witch”, a meditation on class, race and family, with a supernatural twist to it. The prose is evocative, bringing a small town of the American South to life, as we watch Emmaline, single mother, only occasionally supernatural, try and preserve her family from otherworldly influences. The supernatural here accentuates the questions of class, race and family that Jemisin explores, and makes for a very powerful story. On the other hand, it’s notll serious - there’s the wry comedy of “Even the Crumbs Were Delicious”, a story somewhat reminiscent of Phillip K. Dick – watching the well meaning, bumbling protagonist try and hunt down the parents of two lost teenagers is entertaining and rather sweet; that they’re high as kites on 3d-printed designer drugs is an added bonus, and often rather funny.

As with last year, there’s always going to be some stories you like better than others. That said, the range on display here means there’s something for everyone, and the aggregate level of quality continues to be very high. There’s a lot going on here – stories that challenge, that delight, tradgedies and comedies, broken worlds, aliens and fairy tales, all inside an extremely imaginative package. On that basis, I’ve no hesitation in recommending it to lovers of sci-fi and fantasy–and also to everyone else. It’s packed with imaginative, ingenious stories, and is very, very difficult to put down. Thoroughly recommended.

This was an excellent collection! As is true with all of Jonathan Strahan's collections, this was chock full of fascinating stories that made me think, in addition to keeping me engaged in the narrative the whole way through. Five stars--highly recommended!

I suppose like any collection of stories, it would be strange to like every one. So it is with this collection for me. The ones I liked I found very very good indeed, but some I just skimmed through as I couldn't get into them at all. Happily, I enjoyed for more than I didn't! Overall, well worth a read.

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of The Year 2016, Jonathan Strahan Ed.- This is Strahan's eleventh book in the Best of series and it has a lot of good material. I used to read Gardner Dozois's Best Science Fiction of the year for at least thirty years and it's good to see Strahan keeping up the tradition and quality and also adding a welcome Fantasy element in the offing. There is a lot to choose from here and as with most anthologies, not everything might be to your taste. But there are some definite gems. On the Fantasy side, Joe Abercrombie (Two's Company) has two sword carrying parties meet on a narrow bridge over a deep gorge and it's a fight to see you can pass. While Yoon Ha Lee (Foxfire, Foxfire) writes of a magical fox who aspires to human form in a tech ridden society and must partner with a lone human for survival. Alex Irvine (Number Nine Moon) tells a tale of three people stranded on a deserted Mars, and Lavie Tidhar (Terminal) describes hundreds of pioneers traveling to Mars, each in their own little self-contained ships, talking across the vast gaps of space to each other in a celebration of discovery and loss. If you're like me and haven't got the time or inclination to hunt down all the best stories from the various markets, this is an easy way to get a sample of the best.