Every anthology has stories you like and those that you don't. This good size collection has some real Dodos and some real gems. ( )

I blame my wife. "You've GOT to read this one story," she said, referring to James Stoddard's "The Battle of York". Shell has a pretty good taste in literature (if not in men, she married ME after all) and so I figured it would be a nice change from all of the horror and dark fantasy I've been reading.

Well. I liked that story so much I decided I would read the whole book, by God, and I did, and now I have rediscovered my love for sci-fi. Hartwell and Cramer have always been excellent editors, having done several collections in different genres, and they really have a fine lot of them for this year (2004, I believe.) Terrific stuff! "Sergeant Chip" gets things off and running, a story with a bite, if you'll pardon the bad pun, a tale of a cybernetically modified Army dog who follows his orders and turns in his field report at the end of his mission. An amazing read and one that leaves you wanting more. "Scout's Honor", "Mastermindless", and "Pulp Cover" are all outstanding entries. There are the usual couple of clunkers, but that's opinion and taste. I trust Hartwell and Cramer to put forward a representative collection of the best, and if this is indeed it, then 2004 was a banner year for sci-fi.

The only problem is, now I have a LOT of catching up to do. This was number 10, and it was published in 2004. Shell already has 9; I reckon it'll be up to me to find the rest and get us both up to date. But there is an upside to this: if my wife asks why I didn't rake the lawn or do other chores, I guess I can just say, "It's your fault for turning me back on to sci-fi…"

Recommended. ( )

solid collection of short stories from 2004 and a good companion to Dozois' annual collection. The leadoff story, "Sergeant Chip" by Bradley Denton, starts this off well. ( )

A few interesting stories are scattered among a number of disappointing selections. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/571392.html

Anyway, this is a nice collection; no particular standout story for me, though I did enjoy Glenn Grant's "Burning Day" (for once, a cute anthropomorphic robot story that didn't make me cringe), Neil Asher's "Strood", James Stoddard's re-telling of American history in "The Battle of York", and two stories which included Islam in slightly different sfnal ways (Jean-Claude Dunyach's "Time, as it Evaporates.. ." and Pamela Sargent's "Venus Flowers at Midnight"). There were several time-travel stories that didn't really take that sub-genre anywhere it hasn't been before, and a couple that I really didn't understand, and two that for some reason chose to feature brilliantly intelligent women with autism as their protagonists. I also didn't like the extent to which the editors felt they had to reveal details of the plots of what are, in the main, already pretty short stories in their introductions to each piece. But still, you can't really complain about 22 pieces of generally good short fiction for $7.99. ( )