Jonathan Strahan is probably the most prolific editor currently working in the science fiction and fantasy genres. As such, he has considerable influence on what these genres are and where they are headed. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year series, for example, helped define the market from 2006-2019. Volume 12, which collects stories published in 2017, draws stories from online magazines and e-publishers. It offers a strong response to the “Sad Puppies” movement, which offered right-wing slates for the Hugo Awards from 2013-2016. The stories are replete with characters representing under-represented cultures and gender orientations. Several stories offer commentary on race, caste, and class. There are stories by such familiar writers as Samuel R. Delany, Daniel Abraham, Greg Egan, and N. K. Jemisin. I especially enjoyed “Sidewalks” by Maureen McHugh, which tells us of a speech therapist who encounters a woman speaking Old English. Recommended. 4 stars. ( )

Volume 12 of the Best Sciece /fiction and Fantasy of the Year (2018) has got to be the worst slugfest of a book I’ve ever read.

Majority of the book’s stories were incomplete endings, lots of talking and not a lot of action. Most of the fantasy stories were so flowered and self-absorbed I had to skip a large portion of them.

The story with the dragon in his castle and everyone who ventures to get his gold dies. These adventurers want to try. It runs along pretty good until everyone dies except the narrator. How convenient.

Another about a woman murdered who was in a freak show, who was suffering from a disease that turns her tree-like. A hundred years later her descendent tries to figure out who murdered her as the actual “murderer” was not even there. Near the end, the story ends incompletely. Did the husband do it or not? Undecided. Annoying.

Took me months to slog through this waste of Kindle energy. Don’t bother!
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