The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy (2004)

As is my habit for anthologies, this is not a proper review, but rather a list of ratings as for the individual stories.

The collection as a whole is very good with a nice diverse story selection.

The Death of Doctor Island by Gene Wolfe (5) Meh
The Day before the Revolution by Ursula K. Le Guin (6) Well written, but not very interesting.
Jeffty is Five by Harlan Ellison (10) Great!
The Persistence of Vision by John Varley (7) OK
The Way of Cross and Dragon by George R.R. Martin (9)
Souls by Joanna Russ (8)
Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler (9)
The Only Neat Thing to Do by James Tiptree Jr. (8)
Rachel in Love by Pat Murphy (9)
The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daughter by Lucius Shepard (7) Rather good if a bit long
Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson (9)
Buffalo by John Kessel (8)
Even the Queen by Connie Willis (5)
Gone by John Crowley (8)
Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling (9)
Border Guards by Greg Egan (9)
Hell Is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang (6)
October in the Chair by Neil Gaiman (7) ( )

Excellent collection of short fiction. My favorite stories were "The Only neat Thing To Do", by James Tiptree, Jr. and "Rachel in Love" by Pat Murphy. Includes stories by Ursula Leguin, Gene Wolfe, Harlan Ellison, John Varley, George R.R. Martin, Joanna Russ, Terry Bisson, John Kessel, Connie Willis, John Crowley, Bruce Sterling, Greg Egan, Ted Chiang, and Neil Gaiman. ( )

Listen to this list of authors: Harlan Ellison, Ted Chiang, Ursula K. LeGuinn, Connie Willis, James Tiptree Jr.. Listen to this list of stories: “ The Death of Doctor Island”, “The Day Before the Revolution”, “Jeffty is Five”, “The Persistance of Vision”. (And those are literally the first four stories – it goes on from there.)

This book is a collection of Locus Award winners, but that also means it is a collection of some of the best Hugo and Nebula Award winners. In other words, it represents some of the best writing in science fiction from 1970 to 2000. And what that means is that it is a fantastic collection.

This is the book you give someone when they want to know what you see in that “sci-fi stuff”, this is the book you give to fellow fans to share why you all got into science fiction in the first place, this is the book you buy yourself if you need an introduction to the genre, and this is the book you buy for your collection so you can relive the best the genre has to offer. ( )

A very strong anthology of high quality work. Unlike many anthologies there is little if any "filler" to be found here. Worth owning for the Ellison, Varley, Gaiman and Bisson stories. Gaiman's OCTOBER IN THE CHAIR is a loving homage to Bradbury that should not be missed. And for the record this got remaindered quickly and may currently be had for pennies on Amazon. ( )

This collection of short stories has it's ups and downs, but is mostly very enjoyable. I especially liked one of the stories entitled "Even the queen" by Connie Willis which was funny and refreshing. I also really enjoyed "The only neat thing to do" by James Tiptree Jr. I didn't care for "Buffalo" by John Kessel at all. Even though it was really short, it took me at least three tries to get through it. Also, "The Scalehunter's beautiful daughter" by Lucius Shepard was a story I just couldn't get through. "Jeffty is five" by Harlan Ellison and "The Persistence of vision" by John Varley thoroughly enchanted me though. "Bloodchild" by Octavia E. Butler simply blew me away, so all in all not bad at all for an anthology!

This was a book that was definitely worth it's price, I'd recommend it! ( )