The editors certainly seem enamored of the rather short stories found in Nature magazine, and again I think that may hamper a rating, including lots of them, although it certainly adds to a variety. 31 stories here, which is more than the equivalent Dozois volume, although the book is probably only 55% of the length, or something like that.

As such, a standard type edition of one of these Hartwell and Cramer volumes, with a 3.79 average. Only three standouts in the 31, McAuley, Reynolds and Doctorow. However, only 2 average stories, despite all the short pieces, so rather well done there, so along with the Year's Best SF 10 they have done a fine job avoiding stories of not much interest.

Apart from actual real natural disasters, they mention one anthology - Constellations by Peter Crowther, in the introduction, which would appear to have a lot of British SF talent in it, with stellar based stories the theme.

With all that, pretty much a 4.75 I think, and given this scale, may as well be a 5 given the consistency.

Year's Best SF 11 : New Hope for the Dead - David Langford
Year's Best SF 11 : Deus Ex Homine - Hannu Rajaniemi
Year's Best SF 11 : When the Great Days Came - Gardner R. Dozois
Year's Best SF 11 : Second Person, Present Tense - Daryl Gregory
Year's Best SF 11 : Dreadnought - Justina Robson
Year's Best SF 11 : A Case of Consilience - Ken MacLeod
Year's Best SF 11 : Toy Planes - Tobias S. Buckell
Year's Best SF 11 : Mason's Rats - Neal Asher
Year's Best SF 11 : A Modest Proposal - Vonda N. McIntyre
Year's Best SF 11 : Guadalupe and Hieronymus Bosch - Rudy Rucker
Year's Best SF 11 : The Forever Kitten - Peter F. Hamilton
Year's Best SF 11 : City of Reason - Matthew Jarpe
Year's Best SF 11 : Ivory Tower - Bruce Sterling
Year's Best SF 11 : Sheila - Lauren McLaughlin
Year's Best SF 11 : Rats of the System - Paul McAuley
Year's Best SF 11 : I Love Liver: A Romance - Larissa Lai
Year's Best SF 11 : The Edge of Nowhere - James Patrick Kelly
Year's Best SF 11 : What's Expected of Us - Ted Chiang
Year's Best SF 11 : Girls and Boys Come Out to Play - Michael Swanwick
Year's Best SF 11 : Lakes of Light - Stephen Baxter
Year's Best SF 11 : The Albian Message - Oliver Morton
Year's Best SF 11 : Bright Red Star - Bud Sparhawk
Year's Best SF 11 : Third Day Lights - Alaya Dawn Johnson
Year's Best SF 11 : RAM Shift Phase 2 - Greg Bear
Year's Best SF 11 : On the Brane - Gregory Benford
Year's Best SF 11 : Oxygen Rising - R. Garcia y Robertson
Year's Best SF 11 : And Future King - Adam Roberts
Year's Best SF 11 : Beyond the Aquila Rift - Alastair Reynolds
Year's Best SF 11 : Angel of Light - Joe Haldeman
Year's Best SF 11 : Ikiryoh - Liz Williams
Year's Best SF 11 : I Robot - Cory Doctorow

EGAN electronic eternal existence expensive.

4 out of 5

Baby deity a bother, makes me want to kill some

4 out of 5

Rat's eye armageddon.

3.5 out of 5

Zen and the art of personality maintenance.

4 out of 5

Soldier Unit.

4 out of 5

Genetic message.

3.5 out of 5

I dread to blow off my head.

4 out of 5

James Herbert book, and the natives are arming, if not as numerous.

3.5 out of 5

Not much left.

3 out of 5

Brane-assisted painter time-snatch.

3.5 out of 5

Kid stasis.

4 out of 5

A Better Way would be Highly Fantastic.

4 out of 5

Physics commune advances.

4 out of 5

Supercomputing antimeat plot.

4 out of 5

Transcendent hunter-killer chase experiment.

4.5 out of 5

Escape organ.

3 out of 5

Bad dogs and old stories.

4 out of 5

Simon already Says.

4 out of 5

Godmaking and removal, squid variety included.

3.5 out of 5

Star wrapping investigation.

3.5 out of 5

Sometimes it is just old directions.

4 out of 5

Conflict kill choices.

3.5 out of 5

Human revival project.

3.5 out of 5

Robot review parody.

3.5 out of 5

Counter-Earth trip.

3.5 out of 5

Greenie peace preferred.

4 out of 5

Programmed government's Arthurian overlord.

3.5 out of 5

Lost In Space.

"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how
vastly hugely mindboggingly big it is.

4.5 out of 5

Thrilling Wonder Stories alien xmas deal.

4 out of 5

Kappa bad kid bit minder.

3.5 out of 5

Baby arrival brings brainy Big Brother bot researcher's defection and later reunion desires in multiple.

4.5 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/02... ( )

A solid collection with a little too much emphasis on short-short stories. Best stories: "Bright Red Star", "Oxygen Rising", "Beyond the Aquila Rift", "I, Robot"

Contents:
"New Hope for the Dead" - David Langford ****
Humorous story about paying for an uploaded afterlife.
"Deus Ex Homine" - Hannu Rajaniemi ****
A posthuman attempts to adjust to being a normal human again.
"When the Great Days Came" - Gardner S. Dozois ***
A day in the life of a New York rat.
"Second Person, Present Tense" - Daryl Gregory ****
A drug raises questions about the nature of consciousness and identity.
"Dreadnought" - Justina Robson ***
Thoughts of a soldier on a starship.
"A Case of Consilience" - Ken MacLeod ****
A missionary attempts to preach to a fungal life form.
"Toy Planes" - Tobias S. Buckell **
Short-short about the Jamaican space program
"Mason's Rats" - Neal Asher ***
Rats learn to fight their high-tech exterminators.
"A Modest Proposal" - Vonda N. McIntyre ***
Short-short. Complete biological control of the ecosystem.
"Guadalupe and Hieronymus Bosch" - Rudy Rucker ***
A modern slacker teams up with Bosch to save the universe from an alien that wants to collect it.
"The Forever Kitten" - Peter F. Hamilton ***
Short-short about an immortality drug
"City of Reason" - Matthew Jarpe ****
War among colonies in the Oort cloud
"Ivory Tower" - Bruce Sterling ***
Short-short about future collaborative physics
"Sheila" - Lauren McLaughlin ***
An AI rebel works against the restrictions imposed by humans. Interesting ideas but didn't quite feel like a complete story.
"Rats of the System" - Paul McAuley ****
Human factions fight while AI's reconstruct their solar system.
"I Love Liver: A Romance" - Larissa Lai **
Short-short. An artificial liver goes berserk.
"The Edge of Nowhere" - James Patrick Kelly ***
People in a virtual world try to make more of their lives.
"What's Expected of Us" - Ted Chiang ***
Short-short. Effects of proving that free will does not exist.
"Girls and Boys Come Out To Play" - Michael Swanwick ****
African researchers try to create real version of the Greek gods in a far future Greece.
"Lakes of Light" - Stephen Baxter ***
The human empire looks to assimilate colonists on a high gravity artifact. Xeelee story.
"The Albian Message" - Oliver Morton ***
Short-short. Contents of an alien probe
"Bright Red Star" - Bud Sparhawk *****
Marines save colonists from an alien threat.
"Third Day Lights" - Alaya Dawn Johnson ***
Natives of a pocket universe learn why humans have come there.
"Ram Shift Phase 2" - Greg Bear ***
Review of a computer-written novel
"On the Brane" - Gregory Benford ****
Travel to a parallel earth in a universe with less mass.
"Oxygen Rising" - R. Garcia y Robertson ****
A human negotiator is involved in a war between humans and various bioengineered human descendants.
"And Future King..." - Adam Roberts ***
A robot politician is created with the personality of King Arthur.
"Beyond the Aquila Rift" - Alastair Reynolds ****
A hyperspace jump goes wrong and leaves a ship captain stranded on a distant station.
"Angel of Light" - Joe Haldeman ***
A follower of "Crislam" finds an ancient SF magazine.
"Ikiryoh" - Liz Williams **
A god separates out negative aspects of its personality.
"I, Robot" - Cory Doctorow ****
A policeman in a repressive, future North America must deal with his wife who defected to technologically advanced Eurasia. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/705321.htm...

There was only one story out of 31 here that failed to really engage my interest (OK, some of them were very short) and two that I thought were really good and would not have come across otherwise. I liked very much R Garcia y Robertson's "Oxygen Rising", about future war, peacekeeping and sex, and Ken MacLeod's "A Case of Consilience" struck me as one of the great sf and religion stories (OK, it references many of the others, but that if anything is a strength). ( )