Gardner Dozois (1947–2018)

So here is a question. Why did it take three top-drawer science fiction writers and experienced collaborators more than a quarter of a century to produce a 120-page novella and six more years to turn it into a novel?

As best I can put it together, it started out to be a novel. Sometime in the 1970s, Gardner Dozois, who is best known as an editor and anthologist, began a novel with a Mexican hero on a distant planet. He read some of it to George R. R. Martin, who said he would like to work on show more it. Martin wrote a draft that fleshed out the planet’s ecology, but he could not find an ending and stuck it in a desk drawer.

In 2002, they gave it to Daniel Abraham, who was not yet famous as part of James S. A. Corey. Abraham found an ending and produced a tight, readable alien-captivity manhunt story with a couple of cute twists. It was published in 2005 as Shadow Twin in two expensive hardcover editions. But the story is not over. Dozois still wanted to write the novel. So he took the novella and Martin’s draft, added cultural and character details, and in 2008, found a new publisher and, voila, there was Hunter’s Run, the novel Dozois wanted all along.

I think the novella is better, but the novel is much cheaper and easier to find.

The story reminds me of Enemy Mine, Barry Longyear’s 1979 novella, which was the basis for the 1985 film with Louis Gossett and Daniel Quaid. A man marooned with an enemy alien matures as he begins to understand an alien culture. There is no war in Shadow Twin/Hunter’s Run, but aliens must hide from human predators in all three. show less

I am always delighted to see Festschrifts expand beyond the realm of Academia, and within the domain of literature there are few so deserving of the honour as Jack Vance. Though the stories are excellent, often I find myself most looking forward to the afterword of each tale - where each contributor describes what Jack Vance meant to them, how his works spurred their imagination from their youth to the present day, influenced their writing, or how they thought and interpreted the world show more around them.

This anthology is particularly striking in regards to the high degree of quality each tale attains. Usually most collections of short stories contain at least a few stinkers, but thankfully that is not the case here - there is not one work which I regret reading, and the top half dozen or so would likely be the best in the book had they been contained in a different anthology.

Standouts for me were Walter Jon Williams' Abrizonde (adventure of an architect-wizard), Terry Dowling's The Copsy Door (more legitimate laugh-out-loud moments than any other), and Dan Simmons The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz (The tale the felt perhaps the most Vancian in terms of overall structure). Some tales were a bit disappointing to my own personal preferences, but not to the extent of making me feel as if the time spent reading them was not worthwhile. Howard Waldrop's Frogskin Cap felt as if half the story was missing, Liz Williams' Caulk the Witch-chaser is really only spoiled if you are familiar with the predilections inherent to her own writing, and Lucius Shephard's Sylgarmo’s Proclamation seemed to be written solely to redeem the honour of a certain minor character ignominiously discarded by Cugel. Speaking of Cugel, while he does appear often, there's really only a single story in the volume that properly counts as a Cugel tale - Kage Baker's The Geen Bird. Fortunately there are a few others that also delve into the character in different ways - there's also a secret Cugel tale, a tale of Cugel's son, of a would-be adventurer following in Cugel's footsteps, and one about seeking revenge against Cugel.

Any ranking of stories is going to involve a certain degree of approximation - for example, while I rated Robert Silverberg's The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale fifth, in many ways I felt as if it was the best written, and certain ideas stick with me more strongly than any other. Regardless, if you hold any degree of affection towards Jack Vance, or his Dying Earth setting, these Songs of the Dying Earth are well worth your time.

Ranking the Tales in descending order of preference:

1. Abrizonde, by Walter Jon Williams
2. The Copsy Door, by Terry Dowling
3. The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderōz, by Dan Simmons
4. The Last Golden Thread, by Phyllis Eisenstein
5. The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale, by Robert Silverberg
6. A Night at Tarn House, by George R. R. Martin
7. Evillo the Uncunning, by Tanith Lee
8. Inescapable, by Mike Resnick
9. The Collegeum of Mauge, by Byron Tetrick
10. The Good Magician, by Glen Cook
11. Guyal the Curator, by John C. Wright
12. The Lamentably Comical Tragedy (or the Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Lixial Laqavee, By Tad Williams
13. The Green Bird, by Kage Baker
14. The Traditions of Karzh, by Paula Volsky
15. Grolion of Almery, by Matthew Hughes
16. An Incident in Uskvosk, by Elizabeth Moon
17. Caulk the Witch-chaser, by Liz Williams
18. The Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod, by Jeff Vandermeer
19. The Return of the Fire Witch, by Elizabeth Hand
20. An Invocation of Incuriosity, by Neil Gaiman
21. Frogskin Cap, by Howard Waldrop
22. Sylgarmo’s Proclamation, by Lucius Shephard show less

My tradition is to read a special book for Valentine's Day, something that's about love but doesn't make me want to vomit. Last year I read Pet Semetery, the most romantic story ever written, and this year I chose this collection of spec fic short stories. It was perfect for the occasion and I really enjoyed this anthology. All the stories were strong and I think there's something for everyone here--I noticed the other reviewer had very different favorites.

"Death Do Us Part" by Robert show more Silverberg--When humans become virtually immortal, a May/December romance can be between a 30-year old and a 300-year old, but there's a twist. I've read a few of Silverberg's books which weren't really my thing, and with this story I feel like I finally understand why he's so legendary.

"Chemistry" by James Patrick Kelly. At a sort of love spa, a student finds that falling in love is just a combination of hormones--does that make it not real?

"No Love in All of Dwingeloo" by Tony Daniel. The concept of aliens who trade in literal futures was interesting and explored a poignant situation but to me the story itself was flat.

"The Lovers" by Eleanor Aronson. One of my favorites. It's told in a kind of anthropology/comparative literature framework, except that sounds boring and it wasn't. About a non-human warrior society where heterosexuality is unpleasant/taboo except for very structured breeding purposes. Again, that sounds terrible but it was sweet and the world made total sense.

"Press Ann" by Terry Bison. An ATM that gives unusual options. Kind of reminds me of how your phone or web browser is always spying on you, except this story is from 1991.

"Romance in Lunar G" by Tom Purdon. If you could alter your personality types, who would choose to keep on falling hopelessly and obsessively in love? The kind of person who unwittingly thwarts a heist and runs around on the moon in a space suit.

"The Blue Love Potion" by Lisa Goldstein. In another context, this might not even be a SF story. It all depends if you think the love potion really works or not.

"Always True to Thee, In My Fashion" by Nancy Kress. If love followed bubble-headed fashion seasons. I need to read more Nancy Kress!

"Burger Love" by Robert Reed. I think I've read a million stories by Robert Reed; he must be very prolific. The only really cynical one in the lot. Imagine if you left your body behind and became an immortal spacefaring entity and then you met another entity who was originally from your childhood school on earth...

"Blued Moon" by Connie Willis. I love Connie Willis and she's very funny. But there's something about her screwball romantic stories that are SO not my kind of thing, so for me this one was a bust. show less

Well, this is the way excellent issues of the magazine could be at times. The cover story, "Path of the Dragon" at this point in time is probably an excerpt from the soon to be published novel in the Game of Thrones series 'Storm of Swords'. I was familiar with the series primarily from the television show which gave me the advantage of immediately stepping into the novella from the first words. This story about Daenerys Targaryen and her young dragons where she gives up a dragon to acquire show more command of the unsullied was very good. However, stepping into this without any foreknowledge might be a less than successful read.

There were some other good stories as well. Mike Resnick wrote a number of alternate histories with Teddy Roosevelt, I've read a few (there were at least 7) starting with the first one "Bully" from a 1991 issue of Asimov's that I re-read in 2009. The story here "Redchapel" was very entertaining where a young Teddy Roosevelt is tasked with finding Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel. Richard Parks presents a well told and touching "ghost" story set in Japan with "The God of Children". Kage Baker has a pleasant timeslip story set on the Northern California coast. 'Balance Due' was an enjoyable story of cryonic preservation and rebirth 400 or so years in the future. I liked the robot helper the man has. The only story I disliked was "I Love Paree".

Here are the contents:
•4 • The Grand Masters • Reflections essay by Robert Silverberg
•8 • Redchapel • novelette by Mike Resnick
•8 • Redchapel • interior artwork by Steve Cavallo
•34 • The God of Children • [Eli Mothersbaugh] • novelette by Richard Parks
•34 • The God of Children • interior artwork by June Levine
•48 • Merry Christmas from Navarro Lodge, 1928 • shortstory by Kage Baker
•48 • Merry Christmas from Navarro Lodge, 1928 • interior artwork by Janet Aulisio
•60 • I Love Paree • novelette by Cory Doctorow and Michael Skeet
•60 • I Love Paree • interior artwork by Alan Gutierrez
•85 • Iggy Guards Her Secrets • (1998) • poem by Keith Allen Daniels
•86 • Balance Due • essay by M. Shayne Bell
•86 • Balance Due • interior artwork by June Levine
•98 • Path of the Dragon • novella by George R. R. Martin
•98 • Path of the Dragon • interior artwork by Darryl Elliott
•132 • On Books • essay and reviews by Paul Di Filippo show less