Gardner Dozois died in 2018 so The Very Best of the Best (2019) is likely to be his last book. Dozois edited the gold standard YEAR’S BEST SF series since 1984 and produced 35 massive volumes. In addition to the 600+ stories in the Dozois yearly anthologies, Dozois wrote informative introductions and tried to make sense of the publishing world year after year. The Very Best of the Best collects Dozois’s choices from 2003 to 2017. If you want more then I can recommend The Best of the Best (2005) and The Best of the Best, Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels (2007). No contemporary Science Fiction editor had the impact on the genre that Gardner Dozois did. Enjoy this final volume as much as I did. GRADE: A+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PERMISSIONS vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi
Preface / Gardner Dozois — xii
The potter of bones / Eleanor Arnason — 1
Rogue farm / Charles Stross — 39
The little goddess / Ian McDonald — 51
Dead men walking / Paul McAuley — 84
Tin marsh / Michael Swanwick — 99
Good mountain / Robert Reed — 114
Where the golden apples grow / Kage Baker — 160
The sledge-maker’s daughter / Alastair Reynolds — 204
Glory / Greg Egan — 222
Finisterra / David Moles — 243
The illustrated biography of Lord Grimm / Daryl Gregory — 269
Utriusque Cosmi / Robert Charles Wilson — 286
Events preceding the Helvetican Renaissance / John Kessel — 304
Useless things / Maureen McHugh — 328
Mongoose / Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear — 342
Hair / Adam Roberts — 358
The things / Peter Watts — 377
The emperor of Mars / Allen M. Steele — 391
Flower, mercy, needle, chain / Yoon Ha Lee — 407
Martian heart / John Barnes — 413
The invasion of Venus / Stephen Baxter — 425
Weep for day / Indrapramit Das — 435
The girl-thing who went out for sushi / Pat Cadigan — 450
The memcordist / Lavie Tidhar — 467
The best we can / Carrie Vaughn — 478
The discovered country / Ian R. MacLeod — 487
Pathways / Nancy Kress — 510
The hand is quicker / Elizabeth Bear — 531
Someday / James Patrick Kelly — 547
The long haul, from the Annals of Transportation, The Pacific Monthly, May 2009 / Ken Liu — 558
Three cups of grief, by starlight / Aliette De Bodard — 573
Calved / Sam J. Miller — 587
Emergence / Gwyneth Jones — 598
Rates of change / James S.A. Corey — 613
Jonas and the fox / Rich Larson — 624
Kit: Some assembly required / Kathe Koja and Carter Scholz — 641
Winter timeshare / Ray Nayler — 652
My English name / R.S. Benedict –666
Lots of my favorite SF writers, Michael Swanwick, Lavie Tidhar, Robert Charles Wilson, Paul McAuley, Ian McLeod, Robert Reed etc. Dozois was a great editor and will be missed. The current issue of Asimovs is a tribute to him.
Steve, thanks for reminding me to buy a copy of ASIMOV’s. Dozois was one of the Greats of the SF world.
But have you read all 35 massive volumes?
Jeff, I own all 35 massive volumes. I read all the early volumes (the first 10) but the later volumes that weighed in at over 500+ pages were another story. I would pick and choose stories to read instead of trying to slog my way through hundreds of pages. I did read all of Dozois’s introductions. Brilliant!
I thought about buying this, but the library has it on order, so I’ll get it there, though I’ll probably have to check it out more than once to get through it. Many authors I like there: Stanwick, Baker, Steele, Corey, Larsen, & more.
Rick, there’s also an audiobook version of THE BEST OF THE VERY BEST. And, of course, a Kindle version.
My library doesn’t have volume one, but it does have volume two and this one.
Jeff, that’s still about a 1000 pages of great stories!
A few editors have come close who are more or less direct contemporaries…James Baen, for example, in terms of breadth of influence (though not quite quality), and David Hartwell in terms of quality (if not quite the same commercial clout). And all three of them dead before their time.
Shawna McCarthy laid a Lot of the foundation for what Dozois was able to do with ASIMOV’S…and Sheila Williams has been keeping up the side. McCarthy did the marathon stint at REALMS OF FANTASY, and Gordon Van Gelder and Ellen Datlow have cover the fantastic-fiction waterfront in their various positions, as did David Pringle to a lesser degree, originally with a horde of co-editors. Pringle’s successor, Andy Cox, has been running at least two and sometimes four magazines at once (he had the unenviable task of being my editor at THE FIX, his shortl-lived reviews and interviews magazine) covering fantastic and crime fiction. And and and. Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski might be the most undersung duo in this league, despite notable work.
Not to mention such previous gen folks as Robert Silverberg and Michael Moorcock and Virginia Kidd and Damon Knight kept at it, too…
But Dozois probably was the default answer to Who’s The Most Widely Read Editor during his last decades. Nothing to sneeze at.
Todd, I totally agree with your assessment. Dozois was a giant in the SF field. He maintained a high level of quality over decades of work. Very impressive!