The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year

February 21, 2011
Strahan's fifth anthology contains 29 wide-ranging tales. Neil Gaiman's "The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains" is a deceptively simple folktale-styled story of the price one may pay for gold. "The Sultan of the Clouds" by Geoffrey Landis untangles a complex knot of childish power. Sarah Rees Brennan's "The Spy Who Never Grew Up" gives a beloved childhood icon a sinister update; Diana Peterfreund's "The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn" turns unicorn lore on its head; and Rachel Swirsky's "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window" puts a fantasy spin on the temporal culture shock of immortality. This year the fantasy tales outdo the SF in depth of storytelling and characterization, though all the inclusions are strong, with few ideas left by the wayside.

August 15, 2009
A scientist ruminates on the true source of life in Ted Chiang's eerie "Exhalation," while a new widow receives the only phone call that matters in Stephen King's spookily poignant ""The New York Times" at Special Bargain Rates." Together with 26 other sf and fantasy stories published in 2008 by authors including Elizabeth Bear, Michael Swanwick, Stephen Baxter, and Joan Aiken, this collection provides a representative sample of the year's broad spectrum of interests and styles. Award-winning anthologist Strahan also summarizes trends in an introductory essay. VERDICT The overall quality and eclecticism recommend this anthology to readers who follow the genre.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2009
The third edition of Strahans best-of collects, as promised, many of the brightest lights of sf and fantasy. Strahan defines the cousin genres broadly enough to embrace a satisfying and diverse selection that may not be generically all-inclusive yet affords a wonderful dip into whats out there. It begins with Ted Chiangs tragic Exhalation, in which a being whose people depend on the movement of air for life discovers the possibility that the air will one day cease to move. From there, its on toamong othersElizabeth Bears Lovecraft pastiche, Shoggoths in Bloom; Ian McDonalds future India in The Dust Assassin; John Kessels brilliant melding of Jane Austen and Mary Shelley in Pride and Prometheus; a delightful approach to the relationship problems of humans and gods in Rachel Swirskys Marry the Sun; Greg Egans evolving AI in Crystal Nights; Maureen McHughs future China and its Special Economics; Michael Swanwicks alien encounter, From Babels Falln Glory We Fled; and, finally, Kelly Links shape-changing Pretty Monsters. Strahans talent as an anthologist shines brightly, too, in this tremendous collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)