Gardner Dozois (ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction, Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection" (2012, anthology)

His original post is supposed to be at Facebook, but I cannot see that; don't have a/c. The ToC below is seeded from SF Signal, then material added by me.

The book collects editor's choice of short stories originally published during 2011. Book itself is will likely be available mid-2012.

I've read all but perhaps a half dozen authors. There are may be 2 or 3 whose occasional stories I've really liked in the past. I'll not approach this anthology with high expectations, though I've read only one story so far.

Of 35 stories, 8 are from 3 original fiction anthologies edited by Jonathan Strahan. Then comes Asimov's - 6 stories, F&SF - 5 stories, Clarkesworld - 4 stories, & Tor.com 3 stories. Interzone, Analog & Subterranean get 1 story each. All other sources, mostly sundry original fiction anthologies, together have 6.

Table of contents (35 stories, best first, unread last).

Links on author, publisher, or editor fetches more matching fiction. For stories I've read, my rating is in brackets. Where I'm aware on an online copy of the story, I include the link too.

1. [ss] Chris Lawson's "Canterbury Hollow" (B); download; F&SF, Jan/Feb 2011: Love story of a "balloted" couple - in world with too much population & too few resources; so periodically, ballots are drawn to decide who is to be prematurely killed!
2. Paul Mcauley's "The Choice"; Asimov's, February 2011: Not read.
3. Catherynne M Valente's "Silently And Very Fast"; download text - part 01, 02, 03; Clarkesworld, October/November/December 2011: Not read.
4. Kij Johnson's "The Man Who Bridged The Mist"; Asimov's, Oct/Nov 2011: Not read.
5. Robert Reed's "The Ants Of Flanders"; F&SF, Jul/Aug 2011: Not read.
6. David Moles' "A Soldier Of The City"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Engineering Infinity": Not read.
7. Stephen Baxter's "The Invasion Of Venus"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Engineering Infinity": Not read.
8. [novelette] Karl Schroeder's "Laika's Ghost"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Engineering Infinity": Not read.
9. Damien Broderick's "The Beancounter's Cat"; download; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse 4": Not read.
10. Gwyneth Jones' "The Vicar Of Mars"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse 4": Not read.
11. Elizabeth Bear's "Dolly"; download audio; Asimov's, Jan 2011: Not read.
12. John Barnes' "Martian Heart"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Life on Mars": Not read.
13. Alastair Reynolds' "Ascension Day"; Scott Harrison & Lee Harris (eds)' "Voices from the Past": Not read.
14. Lavie Tidhar's "The Smell Of Orange Groves"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, November 2011: Not read.
15. Maureen Mchugh's "After The Apocalypse"; from author's collection with same title: Not read.
16. Jay Lake's "A Long Way Home"; download; Subterranean, Winter 2011: Not read.
17. Geoff Ryman's "What We Found"; F&SF, Sep/Oct 2011: Not read.
18. Dave Hutchinson's "The Incredible Exploding Man"; Ian Whates (ed)'s "Solaris Rising": Not read.
19. Paul Cornell's "The Copenhagen Interpretation"; Asimov's, Jul 2011: Not read.
20. Peter S Beagle's "The Way It Works Out And All"; F&SF, Jul/Aug 2011: Not read.
21. Michael Swanwick's "The Dala Horse"; download; Tor.com, 13 July 2011: Not read.
22. Ken MacLeod's "Earth Hour"; download; Tor.com, 22 June 2011: Not read.
23. Carolyn Ives Gilman's "The Ice Owl"; F&SF, Nov/Dec 2011: Not read.
24. Jim Hawkins' "Digital Rites"; Interzone, #237 (Nov/Dec 2011): Not read.
25. Pat Cadigan's "Cody"; Stephen Cass (ed)'s "TRSF: The Best New Science Fiction", #1 (2011): Not read.
26. Yoon Ha Lee's "Ghostweight"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, January 2011: Not read.
27. Tom Purdom's "A Response From Est17"; Asimov's, Apr/May 2011: Not read.
28. Ian McDonald's "Digging"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Life on Mars": Not read.
29. David Klecha & Tobias S Bucknell's "A Militant Peace"; download text/audio; Clarkesworld, Nov 2011: Not read.
30. Michael Swanwick's "For I Have Laid Me Down On The Stone Of Loneliness And I'll Not Be Back Again": Not read.
31. Michael Flynn's "The Iron Shirts"; download; Tor.com, 4 May 2011: Not read.
32. [novelette] Alec Nevala-lee's "The Boneless One"; Analog, Nov 2011: Not read.
33. [novelette] Ian R MacLeod's "The Cold Step Beyond"; Asimov's, Jun 2011: Not read.
34. Ken MacLeod's "The Vorkuta Event"; Peter Crowther & Nick Gevers (eds)' "Postscripts #24/25: The New and Perfect Man": Not read.
35. Peter M Ball's "Dying Young"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse 4": Not read.

Related.

1. Entire "The Year's Best Science Fiction" series; works of Gardner Dozois.
2. Competing "best of 2011" anthologies: [Horton's], [Strahan's], [Hartwell/Cramer's].
3. All anthologies (annotated but infrequently updated list of anthologies & collections).
4. My "best of 2011" list.
5. "Best of" lists.

Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection" (2010, anthology): Annotated table of contents & review

Gardner Dozois posted the ToC of the 2010 edition of his long running series in one of the threads of Asimov's Forum a week back, with this caveat: "this is possibly a bit premature, since I've still yet to hear back from an author, but given that it's somebody I've used in the Best before, I'm willing to take a chance." Anthology will contain short fiction first published during the year 2009.
Caution: Asimov's Forum pages have a tendency to vanish after a while. Don't be surprised to find the link above dead if you are reading this page a few months after my posting date.

The number in brackets at the beginning of each entry is the story's serial number in Dozois' original ToC order. This may be useful because of a hunch I have: few modern "best of year" anthologies have more than 2 or 3 stories worth reading, & they tend to be concentrated among the first two, last two, & a few middle entries. Since there are 32 stories, this hypothesis should place the good ones among #1, 2, 16, 17, 31, & 32; let's see.

Table of contents (32 stories, best first, unread last).

Links on author, editor, or publisher fetch more matching fiction. Where I'm aware of online copies, I include download links too. My rating is in brackets. Where I have a separate post on a story or major comments on it in a larger post, link on story title goes there.

1. [07] Paul McAuley's "Crimes and Glory" (B); download; Subterranean Online, Spring 2009; space opera: A man is smelling something fishy in a "good" offer of aliens to humanity...
2. [01] Robert Charles Wilson's "Utriusque Cosmi"; read online (no download); Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan (eds)' "The New Space Opera 2": Not read.
3. [02] Steven Gould's "A Story, With Beans"; Analog, May 2009: Not read.
4. [03] Karl Bunker's "Under the Shouting Sky"; download; Cosmos, #28 (August/September 2009): Not read.
   
5. [04] John Kessel's "Events Preceding the Helvetican Revolution"; read online (no download); Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan (eds)' "The New Space Opera 2": Not read.
6. [05] Maureen F McHugh's "Useless Things"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse Three": Not read.
7. [06] Bruce Sterling's "Black Swan"; F&SF, (when) 2009 (or is it Interzone, #221?): Not read.
8. [08] Alexander Irvine's "Seventh Fall"; download; Subterranean Online, Summer 2009: Not read.
   
9. [09] Dominic Green's "Butterfly Bomb"; Interzone, #223: Not read.
10. [10] Vandana Singh's "Infinites"; Vandana Singh's "The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet" (coll?): Not read.
11. [11] John Barnes' "Things Undone"; download; Jim Baen's Universe, December 2009: Not read.
12. [12] Jay Lake's "On the Human Plan"; download; Lone Star Stories, February 2009: Not read.
13. [13] Peter Watts' "The Island"; read online (no download); Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan (eds)' "The New Space Opera 2": Not read.
14. [14] Lavie Tidhar's "The Integrity of the Chain"; download; Fantasy Magazine, 27 July 2009: Not read.
15. [15] Mary Rosenblum's "Lion Walk"; Asimov's, January 2009: Not read.
16. [16] Jo Walton's "Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction"; download; tor.com; 6 February 2009: Not read.
17. [17] Rand B Lee's "Three Leaves of Aloe"; F&SF, September 2009: Not read.
18. [18] Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear's "Mongoose"; Ellen Datlow (ed)'s "Lovecraft Unbound": Not read.
19. [19] Albert E Cowdrey's "Paradiso Lost"; F&SF, June/July 2009: Not read.
20. [20] Nicola Griffith's "It Takes Two"; Jonathan Strahan (ed)'s "Eclipse Three": Not read.
21. [21] Geoff Ryman's "Blocked"; F&SF, October/November 2009: Not read.
22. [22] James Van Pelt's "Solace"; Analog, June 2009: Not read.
23. [23] [novella] Nancy Kress' "Act One"; Asimov's, March 2009: Not read.
    
24. [24] John C Wright's "Twilight of the Gods"; John Joseph Adams (Ed)'s "Federations": Not read.
25. [25] Ted Kosmatka & Michael Poore's "Blood Dauber"; Asimov's, October/November 2009: Not read.
26. [26] Damien Broderick's "This Wind Blowing, and This Tide"; Asimov’s, April/May 2009: Not read.
27. [27] Adam Roberts' "Hair"; Sara Maitland (Ed)'s "When It Changed": Not read.
28. [28] Robert Reed's "Before my Last Breath"; Asimov's, October/November 2009: Not read.
29. [29] Paul Cornell's "One of Our Bastards is Missing"; George Mann's "The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction 3": Not read.
30. [30] Chris Roberson's "Edison's Frankenstein"; Postscripts, #20/21: Not read.
31. [31] Ian Creasey's "Erosion"; Asimov's, October/November 2009: Not read.
    
32. [32] Ian McDonald's "Vishnu at the Cat Circus"; Ian McDonald's "Cyberabad Days" (coll?): Not read.

Related.

1. Competing "best short fiction of 2009" anthologies: Horton's, Strahan's.
2. Previous volumes of this anthology series: 2009 edition (#26); whole series (including "Best of the Best" books).
3. Works of Gardner Dozois.
4. All anthologies (annotated but infrequently updated list of anthologies & collections).
5. My "best of 2009" fiction list (includes others' "best of 2009" lists at bottom).
6. "best of" lists.
7. Pre-order this book at Amazon.

Fact sheet.

First published: To be published during the later half of 2010 (in July, I think).

Note: I normally update anthology posts as I read stories, find online links for a story, etc. This post was last updated on 3 January 2010.

Dozois' best of year toc for 2010 edition

He posted the ToC several days ago, but inside a thread at Asimov's Forum (I normally watch only new threads) - that's why it seems to have been slow getting noticed by genre blogosphere. Will have a proper post with download links & commentary in a couple of days.

Subterranean Online, Spring 2009 (magazine, free)

This is a special issue of Subterranean, edited by Gardner Dozois. Less non-genre fiction & less fantasy than is usual here, though there are some.

Nothing really outstanding in the issue, though there are a few adequate stories, depending on personal tastes:

1. Resnick's is ok, but is among the weaker Lucifer Jones' stories.
2. Kosmatka's requires a taste for stories about petty gangs & slums.
3. McAuley's & MacLeod's might feel ok to space opera & cyberpunk junkies, respectively.
4. Lansdale's will probably make more sense to US readers than others.

Link on a story title goes to my post on story, if there is one. Link on author or series name fetches more matching fiction. My rating is in brackets.

Table of contents (fiction only, 8 stories, best first).

1. Mike Resnick's "Mother Scorpion's House of Fallen Flowers" (B); download; humor, non-genre: Lucifer Jones gets accidentally associated with a prostitution cum smuggling enterprise in Valparaiso, Chile.
   
   Ending indicates this is the last Lucifer Jones story set in South America, & that next ones will be set in Australia.
2. Ted Kosmatka's "The Ascendant" (B); download: Hard life in a society that is essentially an anarchy.
3. Paul McAuley's "Crimes and Glory" (B); download; space opera: Abrupt conclusion, often illogical, & crammed with jargon.
   
   Jackaroo are aliens that have made a deal with humans: in return for rights to occupy outer worlds of Sol, they gift us a network of wormholes containing a lot of worlds ready for occupation. As they were occupied in times past by other alien races of which there are remnants.
   
   Niles Sarkka, a human, keeps smelling something fishy, & suspects Jackaroo have agenda not exactly in humanity's interests. So he ends up falling on the wrong side of law & of Jackaroo, & is being chased by cops.
   
   He will eventually find a network of wormholes unknown to humanity, & will hopefully find something interesting there.
4. Ken MacLeod's "A Tulip for Lucretius" (B); download: Revolt of enhanced & reengineered humans who're treated as subnormal by normal humans in a society on Mars.
5. Joe R Lansdale's "Hide and Horns" (B); download; non-genre: A violent while man/black man story set a couple of hundred years back in Texas.
6. Lucius Shepard's "Sylgarmo's Proclamation" (C); download; fantasy: I'd read it when it first appeared a while back, & don't recollect a lot of details. Hero magician must recover something from evil magician - something that promises hope of escape to an alternate realm since the Sun is about to go nova & will kill earth.
   
   This story is set in supposedly well known "Dying Earth" universe of Jack Vance. I assume Vance's originals must have been stronger tales.
7. Carrie Vaughn's "Conquistador de la Noche" (C); download; dark fantasy: A magician is turning men into some sort of vampires; the hero will fight back his newly instilled vampire instincts for the good of humanity.
   
   The story also talks of some of the darkest things about the European conquest of Americas. And ideas that will be seen as double standards - native Americans aren't men, only the Europeans are. Some of the religious "virtues" also sounded like "convenient" to me.
   
   I've a feeling the take here might vary a bit by reader's affiliations & religion. Going by my own early reactions to this kind of fiction: If you haven't had some exposure to fiction that uses biblical idioms & some Western lore, you'll probably find parts very confusing.
8. Liz Williams' "Under the Honey" (C); download: I'd read it when it first appeared; don't recall a lot of details.
   
   Some humonoid mutants or made beings from an alien world or alternate universe have escaped from their alien prison to earth, one of them is training a (human?) child for some nefarious purpose on his world, & some of them fight an evil feudal lord of earth.

Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection" (2009, anthology): Annotated table of contents & review

Gardner Dozois has posted the ToC of the 2009 edition of his long running series at Asimov's Forum, containing short fiction first published during the year 2008. ("dolphintornsea" posted this updated version later that includes story source information too.)
Caution: Asimov's Forum pages have a tendency to vanish after a while. Don't be surprised to find the link above dead if you are reading this page a few months after my posting date.

Where I'm aware of an online copy of a story, I provide the download link. Link on publisher name yields more stories from publisher; link on author or editor name yields more works of author/editor.

Read stories are ranked according to my preference. For these stories, my rating is in brackets. In case I've a separate post on a story, link on story title goes there.

Couple of observations.

Compared to last year's edition, far fewer stories are available online.

Of the 30 included stories, 16 are from original anthologies, 5 from Asimov's, 4 from F&SF, 3 from Interzone, & 1 each from Clarkesworld & Postscrips.

To me, the most significant sources missing are Analog, Jim Baen's Universe, & Antipodean SF (less well known but consistent in averaging about one really good flash fiction story every 2-3 months, often by an author I'd never even heard of).

Table of contents (30 stories, best first, unread last).

1. [novelette] Greg Egan's "Crystal Nights" (A); download text from publisher's site, or podcast at Transmission from Beyond (includes downloabable MP3 audio); Interzone, #215 (April 2008): A retelling of Theodore Sturgeon's "Microcosmic God". A man creates a fast-evolving micro-cosmos as a computer simulation, but things aren't quite under control...
2. [novella] Nancy Kress' "The Erdmann Nexus" (A); download; Asimov's, October/November 2008; mysticism: Next evolution in human consciousness has made some people eligible to joint some sort of cosmic uber-consciousness. Story has strong Hindu influences.
3. Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Gambler" (B); download; Lou Anders (Ed)'s "Fast Forward 2": A Vietnamese immigrant to US is working for a near-future newsroom, & is not quite cut out for the job.
4. James Alan Gardner's "The Ray-Gun: A Love Story" (B); download from publisher's or author's site; Asimov's, February 2008: A mysterious gadget of alien origin is affecting the lives of a young human couple, besides having a purpose of its own.
5. Charles Coleman Finlay's "The Political Prisoner" (B); F&SF, August 2008: Description of a violent political purge.
6. Gwyneth Jones' "The Voyage Out" (B); download; Lynne Jamneck (Ed)'s "Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures"; space opera: Description of a prison in outer Sol where the death row prisoners are sent to be electronically transported to a world around a far off star! Has some mildly sexual scenes.
   
7. [novella] Alastair Reynolds' "The Six Directions of Space" (B); Story excerpt at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist; Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "Galactic Empires"; space opera, parallel universe: A Mongol dominated alternate earth finds out existence of other earths, & a group embarks on their exploration.
8. [novella] Ian McDonald's "The Tear" (C); Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "Galactic Empires"; space opera: Star faring "panhumans" killing each other, destroying whole worlds, creating new universes, etc. While that's ok for space opera, what bugged me was the sheer abundance of utterly incomprehensible sentences.
9. Jay Lake's "The Sky That Wraps the World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black" (C); download; Clarkesworld, March 2008: Cannot really make out the point of the story.
   
   Some sort of artifacts of immensely ancient aliens were discovered in asteroid belt some years back, & there was some sort of scandal about them involving the unnamed narrator who's an ex-spaceman. Now the narrator has gone to a lot of trouble to get protection of a Chinese ganglord, but is being persued by someone unidentified.
10. Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette's "Boojum" (C); download; Ann VanderMeer & Jeff VanderMeer (Ed)'s "Fast Ships, Black Sails"; space opera: Monsters, pirates, ...
11. Stephen Baxter's "Turing's Apples"; Jonathan Strahan (Ed)'s "Eclipse 2": Not read.
12. Michael Swanwick's "From Babel's Fall'n Glory We Fled"; Asimov's, February 2008: Will not read. I don't seem to have Swanwick receptors.
13. Ted Kosmatka's "N-Words"; John Joseph Adams (Ed)'s "Seeds of Change": Not read.
14. Ian McDonald's "An Eligible Boy"; Lou Anders (Ed)'s "Fast Forward 2": Not read.
15. Dominic Green's "Shining Armour"; George Mann (Ed)'s "The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 2": Not read.
16. Karl Schroeder's "The Hero"; Jonathan Strahan (Ed)'s "Eclipse 2": Not read.
17. Mary Robinette Kowal's "Evil Robot Monkey"; download MP3; George Mann (Ed)'s "The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume 2": Not read.
18. Robert Reed's "Five Thrillers"; F&SF, April 2008: Not read.
19. Paul McAuley's "Incomers"; Jonathan Strahan (Ed)'s "The Starry Rift": Not read.
20. Mary Rosenblum's "The Egg Man"; Asimov's, February 2008: Not read.
21. Hannu Rajaniemi's "His Master's Voice"; Interzone, October 2008: Not read.
22. James L Cambias's "Balancing Accounts"; F&SF, February 2008: Not read.
23. Maureen McHugh's "Special Economics"; Ellen Datlow (Ed)'s "The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy": Not read.
24. Geoff Ryman's "Days of Wonder"; F&SF, October/November 2008: Not read.
25. Paul McAuley's "City of the Dead"; Postscripts, # 15: Not read.
26. Daryl Gregory's "The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm"; Jonathan Strahan (Ed)'s "Eclipse 2": Not read.
27. [novelette] Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "G-Men"; Lou Anders (Ed)'s "Sideways in Crime": Not read. Others' reviews suggest this might not be of interest to readers outside US; it's alternate US history of 1960s - "about the murder of J. Edgar Hoover during the LBJ administration".
28. Garth Nix's "Old Friends"; Jack Dann (Ed)'s "Dreaming Again": Not read.
29. Gord Sellar's "Lester Young and the Jupiter's Moon's Blues"; Asimov's, July 2008: Not read.
30. Aliette de Bodard's "Butterfly, Falling at Down"; Interzone, November 2008: Not read.

[via Jason Sanford & SF Signal]

Related.

1. 2010 edition (#27), 2008 edition (#25) of this Dozois series; whole series (including "Best of the Best" books).
2. Jonathan Strahan's "Best SF and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 3": Short fiction first published during 2008.
3. Rich Horton (Ed)'s "Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2009 Edition": Short fiction first published during 2008.
4. Rich Horton (Ed)'s "Unplugged: The Best of Online Fiction": Short fiction first published online during 2008.
5. My Best of the year 2008 short fiction list (includes links to more "best of 2008" lists): Short fiction first published during 2008.
6. My Best of the year 2007 short fiction list (includes links to more "best of 2007" lists, including anthologies published during 2008): Short fiction first published during 2007.
7. Collections & anthologies.
8. "Best of" lists.

Fact sheet.

First published: To be published during the later half of 2009 (in July, I think).

Dozois' Best of Year #25 (2008) is out

Locus reports that Gardner Dozois' "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-fifth Annual Collection" (2008) is out.

Also, a few days back, Niall at Torque Control posted a long review article on Jonathan Strahan's "The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume 2". This book also collects the "best" stories of 2007.

Gardner Dozois' "Flash Point" (short story, non-genre, free): Enumeration of violent incidents in a town

Surprising part was finding it listed in SciFiction's Classics section. At least I cannot see anything that justifies its tagging as a classic. It's a very ordinary story, & told in a language non-Americans will find a bit hard.

Ben Jacobs is a handyman in some small town. Story tells us of a day in his life - comprising of a lot of random violent incidents including road rage & sacrifice of a baby by some cultists, plus his random socializing.

Fact sheet.

First published: Damon Knight (Ed)'s "Orbit 13", 1974.
Rating: C
Download full text from Internet Archive.
Included in Ellen Datlow's Sci Fiction classics.

Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection" (2008): Annotated table of contents

While Mr Dozois posted the ToC below more than 2 months back, & I'd seen it the day after he posted it, I've been postponing this note because I was hoping to read a few more of the stories from this list (my current read count is a third of the list). But at the moment, I'm focused on classics & this list is a bit low on my reading priorities.
Note: Dozois' ToC link above no longer loads as of late June 2008!

Since I've been tracking Dozois anthologies for a while, am making this post now for completeness' sake.

Where I have posted a review of an individual story, link on story title takes you there. My rating is in brackets. If I'm aware a story is available online, I also provide the download link.

Table of contents (32 stories, best first).

1. [novelette] Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (A); download; as a short book by Subterranean Press, July 2007; fantasy: Four time travel folktales - told in the style of (I think) Arabian Nights. Added to my best of the year 2007 list.
2. [novelette] Greg Egan's "Glory" (A); download; Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan (Eds)' "The New Space Opera", HarperCollins/Eos, 2007; science fiction: Two humans of far future have traveled to an alien world in a far away star system to make first contact. Extremely interesting interstellar travel arrangements. Added to my best of the year 2007 list.
3. [ss] Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline" (A); download; Asimov's, June 2007; science fiction: A sentimental robot teaches life skills to an urchin. Added to my best of the year 2007 list.
4. [ss] Greg Egan's "Steve Fever" (A); download; MIT Technology Review, November/December 2007; science fiction: An autonomous self-replicating robot swarm is on an impossible mission - to resurrect its dead creator!
5. [novelette] Alastair Reynolds' "The Sledge-maker’s Daughter" (A); download; Interzone #209 (April 2007); science fiction: A victim of sexual assault gets a weapon to punish her oppressor.
6. [novelette] David Moles' "Finisterra" (B); download; F&SF, December 2007; science fiction: Description of a criminal gang on an artificial world.
7. [ss] Stephen Baxter's "Last Contact" (B); George Mann (Ed)'s "The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction" (2007); science fiction: A description of apocalypse.
   
8. [novella] Bruce Sterling's "Kiosk" (B); download; F&SF, January 2007; science fiction: Consumers win a fight to get material copying machines legalized - after a violent revolution.
9. [novelette] Chris Roberson's "The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small" (B); Asimov's, July 2007; non-genre: Story of the early days of European Renaissance, but set in China instead.
10. [novelette] Kristine Kathyrn Rusch's "Craters" (B); download; Future Weapons of War/Baen, March 2007: A collection of two unnamed stories - first one very dark - on terrorism & war.
11. [novelette] James Van Pelt's "Of Late I Dreamt of Venus" (B); download; Eric T Reynolds (Ed)'s "Visual Journeys" (anthology), 2007; science fiction: A very rich woman has decided to terrafarm Venus, & make it better than earth. Story is about her 1000 year adventure - where most of the time she's in hibernation, along with her lover - waking up every few hundred years to review progress!
12. [novelette] Justin Stanchfield's "Beyond the Wall" (B); download; Eric T Reynolds (Ed)'s "Ruins: Extraterrestrial" (anthology), 2007; science fiction: Description of a very old enigmatic building of alien origin on Titan, a moon of Saturn.
    
13. [novella] Neal Asher's "Alien Archaeology" (B); Asimov's, June 2007; science fiction: A robber is chased to recover the loot, & to punish.
14. [ss] Robert Reed's "Roxie" (C); Asimov's, July 2007; non-genre: Joys & sorrows of owning a dog. It's actually a well written story if you are into dogs - not generally my taste.
15. [ts] Tom Purdom's "The Mists of Time" (C); download; Asimov's, August 2007; non-genre: In first of the two parts of this very tiny story, a century or two ago, an American slaveship is carrying 500 Africans kidnapped & to be sold to slavery. It's being chased by a British government ship that is primarily concerned with the Pound value of the slaves. In an unnecessary additional second part, story is given science fictional flavor by adding 2 time traveling observers watch the slaver ship & British chasers!
16. Ken MacLeod's "Lighting Out"; Ian Whates (Ed)'s "disLocations", 2007: Not read.
17. John Barnes' "The Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away"; Jim Baen's Universe, August 2007: Not read.
18. Gweyneth Jones' "Saving Tiamaat": Not read.
19. Ian McDonald's "Verthandi's Ring"; Gardner Dozois & Strahan (Eds)' "The New Space Opera", 2007. Not read.
20. Una McCormack's "Sea Change"; Foundation, #100 (2007, month?) Not read.
21. Robert Silverberg's "Against the Current"; F&SF, October/November 2007: Not read.
22. [ss] Ian McDonald's "Sanjeev and Robotwallah": Not read.
23. Michael Swanwick's "The Skysailor's Tale"; Michael Swanwick's "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" (collection), 2007: Not read.
24. [novella] Vandana Singh's "Of Love and Other Monsters"; as a book by Aqueduct Press, 2007: Not read.
25. [novelette] Kage Baker's "Hellfire at Twilight"; Kage Baker's "Gods & Pawns" (collection), 2007: Not read.
26. Brian Stableford's "The Immortals of Atlantis"; Ian Whates (Ed)'s "disLocations", 2007: Not read.
27. Pat Cadigan's "Nothing Personal"; Mike Resnick (Ed)'s "Alien Crimes", 2007: Not read.
28. [ss] Keith Brooke's "The Accord"; "The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction", February 2007; this short story to be released in March 2009 in novel length under the same title: Not read.
29. Nancy Kress' "Laws of Survival"; Jim Baen's Universe, December 2007: Not read.
30. Ted Kosmatka's "The Prophet of Flores"; Asimov's, Sep 2007: Not read.
31. Benjamin Rosenbaum & David Ackert's "Stray"; F&SF, December 2007: Not read.
32. Gregory Benford's "Dark Heaven"; Mike Resnick (Ed)'s "Alien Crimes" (anthology), 2007: Not read.
    

Fact sheet.

Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: To be published sometime in July 2008. Released.
Related: Gardner Dozois' "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.

Legend.

ss = short story.
ts = tiny story (flash fiction).

Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction": Anthology with 36 stories

Stories I have read are at the beginning of the list, ordered by quality - best first. My rating follows title, in brackets. I often give a very short story summary. If I have posted a full review, link on title will take you there.

If the author or publisher have made a book available for free download, & I am aware of it, I provide a link either here or in appropriate review article. Prefix "*" marks such entries.

1. Ian R MacLeod's "Breathmoss" (C): A short story summary is included here.
2. Greg Bear's "Blood Music": Not read.
   
3. Gene Wolfe's "A Cabin on the Coast": Not read.
4. Lucius Shepard's "Salvador": Not read.
5. Nancy Kress's "Trinity": Not read.
6. Howard Waldrop's "Flying Saucer Rock & Roll": Not read.
7. Bruce Sterling's "Dinner in Audoghast": Not read.
8. Pat Cadigan's "Roadside Rescue": Not read.
9. John Crowley's "Snow": Not read.
10. William Gibson's "The Winter Market": Not read.
11. John Kessel's "The Pure Product": Not read.
12. Eileen Gunn' "Stable Strategies for Middle Management": Not read.
13. Mike Resnick's "Kirinyaga": Not read.
14. Robert Silverberg's "Tales from the Venia Woods": Not read.
15. Terry Bisson's "Bears Discover Fire": Not read.
16. Connie Willis' "Even the Queen": Not read.
17. Robert Reed's "Guest of Honor": Not read.
18. * Joe Haldeman's "None So Blind"; Asimov's, online: Not read.
19. Brian Stableford's "Mortimer Gray's History of Death"; Asimov's, April 1995: Not read.
20. Maureen F McHugh's "The Lincoln Train": Not read.
21. Greg Egan's "Wang's Carpets": Not read.
22. Ursula K Le Guin's "Coming of Age In Karhide": Not read.
23. Michael Swanwick's "The Dead": Not read.
24. Ian MacDonald' "Recording Angel": Not read.
25. * Tony Daniel's "A Dry Quiet War"; Asimov's, online: Not read.
26. William Sanders's "The Undiscovered": Not read.
27. Paul J McAuley's "Second Skin": Not read.
28. Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life": Not read.
29. Stephen Baxter's "People Came from Earth": Not read.
30. David Marusek's "The Wedding Album"; Asimov's, June 1999: Not read.
31. James Patrick Kelly's "10(16) to 1": Not read.
32. Walter Jon Williams' "Daddy's World": Not read.
33. * Steven Utley's "The Real World"; scifi.com, online: Not read.
34. Geoff Ryman's "Have Not Have" (alternate title - "Air"): Not read.
35. * Charles Stross's "Lobsters"; Asimov's, online: Not read.
36. * Molly Gloss's "Lambing Season"; Asimov's, online: Not read.

Fact sheet.
Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: 2005
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.
Series: Vol 1 (short stories, 2005), Vol 2 (novellas, 2007)

Gardner Dozois' "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty Third Annual Collection" (2006): 30 stories

Note: 2008 edition (Vol 25) annotated ToC - in case you mistakenly landed at this page.
--

Below is the full table of contents. Where a story is available as a free download, I mark it with "*" prefix; follow "online" tag for full story text.

Stories I have read come first, ordered by quality - best first; my rating follows (in brackets), plus a very short summary. Where I have posted a review, link on story title takes you there.

1. * Ian McDonald's "The Little Goddess"; Asimov's; online: not read.
2. Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Calorie Man": not read.
3. Alastair Reynolds' "Beyond the Aquila Rift": not read.
4. Daryl Gregory's "Second Person, Present Tense": not read.
5. Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold's "The Canadian Who Came Almost All the Way Back from the Stars": not read.
6. Michael Swanwick's "Triceratops Summer": not read.
7. Robert Reed's "Camouflage": not read.
8. * Ken MacLeod's "A Case of Consilience"; online: not read.
9. Bruce Sterling's "The Blemmye's Strategem": not read.
10. William Sanders' "Amba"; Asimov's: not read.
11. Mary Rosenblum's "Search Engine": not read.
12. Chris Beckett's "Piccadilly Circus": not read.
13. David Gerrold's "In the Quake Zone": not read.
14. * Liz Williams' "La Malcontenta"; Strange Horizons, 7 March 2007; online: not read.
15. * Stephen Baxter's "The Children of Time"; Asimov's; online: not read.
16. * Vonda N McIntyre's "Little Faces"; online: not read.
17. Gene Wolfe's "Comber": not read.
18. * Harry Turtledove's "Audubon in Atlantis"; Analog; online: not read.
19. Hannu Rajaniemi's "Deus Ex Homine": not read.
20. Steven Popkes' "The Great Caruso": not read.
21. Neal Asher's "Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck": not read.
22. Alastair Reynolds' "Zima Blue": not read.
23. * David Moles' "Planet of the Amazon Women"; Strange Horizons, 16 May 2005; online: not read.
24. Dominic Green's "The Clockwork Atom Bomb"; Interzone; not read.
25. Chris Roberson's "Gold Mountain": not read.
26. Gwyneth Jones' "The Fulcrum": not read.
27. Peter Watts & Derryl Murphy's "Mayfly": not read.
28. * Elizabeth Bear's "Two Dreams on Trains"; Strange Horizons, 3 January 2005; online: not read.
29. * Joe Haldeman's "Angel of Light"; Cosmos magazine, December 2005; online: not read.
30. * James Patrick Kelly's "Burn"; online: not read.

Fact sheet.
Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: 2006
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.

Gardner Dozois' "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty Second Annual Collection" (2005): 28 stories

Note: 2008 edition (Vol 25) annotated ToC - in case you mistakenly landed at this page.
--

Below is the full table of contents. Where a story is available as a free download, I mark it with "*" prefix; follow "online" tag for full story text.

Stories I have read come first, ordered by quality - best first; my rating follows (in brackets), plus a very short summary. Where I have posted a review, link on story title takes you there.

1. * Vernor Vinge's "Synthetic Serendipity" (C); online: A world with ubiquitous wearable computing. This story was later expanded to become the novel "Rainbows End" that won Hugo Award 2007.
2. * Pat Murphy's "Inappropriate Behavior"; online: not read.
3. * Benjamin Rosenbaum's "Start the Clock"; online: not read.
   
4. David Moles' "The Third Party"; Asimov's: not read.
   
5. * Christopher Rowe's "The Voluntary State"; online: not read.
   
6. Nancy Kress' "Shiva in Shadow": not read.
7. Paolo Bacigalupi's "The People of Sand and Slag": not read.
8. Michael F Flynn's "The Clapping Hands of God": not read.
9. M John Harrison's "Tourism": not read.
10. * Terry Bisson's "Scout's Honor"; online: not read.
    
11. James Patrick Kelly's "Men Are Trouble"; Asimov's, June 2004: not read.
    
12. Kage Baker's "Mother Aegypt": not read.
13. Mary Rosenblum's "Skin Deep": not read.
14. Vandana Singh's "Delhi": not read.
15. Albert E Cowdrey's "The Tribes of Bela": not read.
16. William Sanders's "Sitka": not read.
17. * Daniel Abraham's "Leviathan Wept"; online: not read.
    
18. Colin P Davies' "The Defenders": not read.
19. Stephen Baxter's "Mayflower II": not read.
20. Caitlin R Kiernan's "Riding the White Bull": not read.
21. Brendan DuBois' "Falling Star": not read.
22. * Robert Reed's "The Dragons of Summer Gulch"; online: not read.
    
23. James L Cambias's "The Ocean of the Blind": not read.
24. Eleanor Arnason's "The Garden: A Hwarhath Science Fiction Romance": not read.
25. Peter F Hamilton's "Footvote": not read.
26. Paul Di Filippo's "Sisyphus and the Stranger": not read.
27. Paul Melko's "Ten Sigmas": not read.
28. Walter Jon Williams's "Investments": not read.

Fact sheet.
Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: 2005
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.

Gardner Dozois' "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty First Annual Collection" (2004): 29 stories

Note: 2008 edition (Vol 25) annotated ToC - in case you mistakenly landed at this page.
--

Below is the full table of contents. Where a story is available as a free download, I mark it with "*" prefix; download link is provided here as well as in my review article.

Stories I have read come first, ranked by quality - best first; my rating follows (in brackets), plus a very short summary. Where I have posted a review, link on story title takes you there.

1. * William Barton's "Off on a Starship"; Asimov's; download.
   
2. * John Kessel's "It's all True"; scifi.com; download.
   
3. * Charles Stross' "Rogue Farm"; download.
   
4. * Steven Popkes' "The Ice"; Asimov's; download.
   
5. * Nancy Kress' "Ej-Es"; download as MP3.
   
6. John Varley's "The Bellman"
7. Judith Moffett's "The Bear's Baby"
8. Howard Waldrop's "Calling Your Name"
9. Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "June Sixteenth at Anna's"
10. * Walter Jon Williams' "The Green Leopard Plague"; Asimov's; download.
    
11. Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Fluted Girl"
12. Jack Skillingstead's "Dead Worlds"
13. Michael Swanwick's "King Dragon": Fantasy?
    
14. Paul Melko's "Singletons In Love"
15. M Shayne Bell's "Anomalous Structures Of My Dreams"
16. Vernor Vinge's "The Cookie Monster"; Analog.
    
17. * Harry Turtledove's "Joe Steele"; download as MP3.
    
18. Geoff Ryman's "Birth Days"
19. * John C Wright's "Awake In the Night"; download.
    
20. James Van Pelt's "The Long Way Home"
21. * Geoffrey A Landis' "The Eyes Of America"; scifi.com; download.
    
22. Kage Baker's "Welcome To Olympus, Mr Hearst"
23. Robert Reed's "Night Of Time"; May 2003.
    
24. * William Shunn's "Strong Medicine"; Salon, November 10, 2003; download.
25. Dominic Green's "Send Me a Mentagram"; Interzone.
    
26. * Paul Di Filippo's "And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon"; scifi.com; download: Humor?
    
27. Terry Dowling's "Flashmen"
28. Nick DiChario's "Dragonhead"
29. Terry Bisson's "Dear Abbey"

Fact sheet

Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: 2004
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.

Gardner Dozois' "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Nineteenth Annual Collection" (2002): 26 stories

Note: 2008 edition (Vol 25) annotated ToC - in case you mistakenly landed at this page.
--

Below is the full table of contents. Where a story is available as a free download, I mark it with "*" prefix; download link is provided here as well as in my review article.

Stories I have read come first, ranked by quality - best first; my rating follows (in brackets), plus a very short summary. Where I have posted a review, link on story title takes you there.

1. * Ian R MacLeod's "New Light On the Drake Equation"; download; scifi.com: Not read.
   
2. * Michael Cassutt's "More Adventures On Other Planets"; download; scifi.com: Not read.
3. Dan Simmons' "On K2 With Kanakaredes": Not read.
4. * William Sanders' "When This World Is All On Fire"; download; Asimov's: Not read.
5. * Nancy Kress' "Computer Virus"; download; Asimov's: Not read.
6. Geoff Ryman's "Have Not Have": Not read.
7. * Charles Stross' "Lobsters"; download; Asimov's: Is it a part of Accelerando? Not read.
8. * Michael Swanwick's "The Dog Said Bow-Wow"; download; Asimov's: Not read.
9. * Andy Duncan's "The Chief Designer"; download; Asimov's: Not read.
10. Paul Di Filippo's "Neutrino Drag": Not read.
11. Alastair Reynolds' "Glacial": Not read.
12. * Allen M Steele's "The Days Between"; download; Asimov's: Not read.
13. * Howard Waldrop & Leigh Kennedy's "One Horse Town"; download; scifi.com: Not read.
14. Eleanor Arnason's "Moby Quilt": Not read.
15. Robert Reed's "Raven Dream": Not read.
16. James Patrick Kelly's "Undone": Not read.
17. Carolyn Ives Gilman's "The Real Thing": Not read.
18. Maureen F McHugh's "Interview: On Any Given Day": Not read.
19. Ian R MacLeod's "Isabel Of the Fall": Fantasy? Not read.
20. Jim Grimsley's "Into Greenwood": Not read.
21. Michael Blumlein's "Know How, Can Do": Not read.
22. * Simon Ings' "Russian Vine"; download; scifi.com: Not read.
23. Paul McAuley's "The Two Dicks": Not read.
24. Brenda W Clough's "May Be Some Time": Not read.
25. Chris Beckett's "Marcher": Not read.
26. Ken MacLeod's "The Human Front": Not read.

Fact sheet

Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: 2002
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.

Gardner Dozois' "The Year's Best Science Fiction" anthology series

Listed below are all of Gardner Dozois' annual anthologies, plus his "Best of the Best" collections. Follow the link to contents & other stuff about specific book.

Most books in the main series follow this template for title:
"The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection"
where "Twenty-Fourth" is replaced with appropriate volume. In enumeration above, I will simply call it "Vol 24".

In addition, there are some "Best of the Best" collections. They do not necessarily choose stories from books of the main series. I have listed them first.

Year of publication of a book follows it.

Follow the link to contents of specific book. And commentary, review, quality ranking, & sometimes download links to full text of individual stories. Since there are a lot of stories to cover, much of these lists will be rather sparse on commentary for a while, except most recent editions.

January 2010: Of late, ToC of an year's edition becomes available in January, while the actual book appears in the market in July.

Here is the list of books in the series. Filling up from bottom to top (most recent to oldest).

1. "Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction" (2005): 36 stories
2. "Best of the Best, Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels" (2007): 12 novellas.
3. Vol 29 (2012):  35 stories.
4. Vol 28 (2011).
5. Vol 27 (2010): 32 stories, few read. Likely to be published July 2010, but ToC has been available since January 2010.
6. Vol 26 (2009): 30 stories, some read.
7. Vol 25 (2008): 32 stories, some read.
8. Vol 24 (2007): 28 stories.
9. Vol 23 (2006); also published as "The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction 19": 30 stories.
10. Vol 22 (2005): 28 stories.
11. Vol 21 (2004): 29 stories.
12. Vol 20 (2003): 25 stories.
13. Vol 19 (2002): 26 stories. Also published as "The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction 15".
14. Vol 18 (2001).
15. Vol 17 (2000). Also published as "The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 13th Annual Collection".
16. Vol 16 (1999). Also published as "The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction 12".
17. Vol 15 (1998). Also published as "The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 11th Annual Collection".
18. Vol 14 (1997). Also published as "The Best New Science Fiction: 10th Annual Collection".
19. Vol 13 (1996). Also published as "The Best New Science Fiction: 9th Annual Collection".
20. Vol 12 (1995).
21. Vol 11 (1994). Also published as "The Best New Science Fiction: 8th Annual Collection".
22. Vol 10 (1993). Also published as "Best New SF 7".
23. Vol 9 (1992). Also published as "Best New SF 6: The Best of the Newest Science Fiction".
24. Vol 8 (1991). Also published as "Best New SF 5".
25. Vol 7 (1990). Also published as "Best New SF 4".
26. Vol 6 (1989). Also published as "Best New SF 3".
27. Vol 5 (1988). Also published as "Best New SF 2".
28. Vol 4 (1987). Also published as "The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction".
29. Vol 3 (1986).
30. Vol 2 (1985).
31. Vol 1 (1984).
    

Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Best Short Science Fiction Novels": 12 novellas

I list the contents by quality, best first. My rating follows in brackets - where I have read the story. Links on individual stories are to my reviews, if I have posted one.

If the author or publisher have made a book available for free download, & I am aware of it, I provide a link either here or in appropriate review article. Prefix "*" marks such entries.

1. Alastair Reynolds's "Turquoise Days" (B): A water world with planet scale hive intelligence, & its interactions with humans.
2. Robert Silverberg's "Sailing to Byzantium": not read.
3. Michael Swanwick's "Griffin's Egg": not read.
4. Joe Haldeman's "The Hemingway Hoax": not read.
5. Nancy Kress's "Beggars in Spain": not read.
6. Ian McDonald's "Tendeléo's Story": not read.
7. James Patrick Kelly's "Mr Boy": not read.
8. Frederik Pohl's "Outnumbering the Dead": not read.
9. * Ian R MacLeod's "New Light on the Drake Equation"; scifi.com, online: not read.
10. Ursula K Le Guin's "Forgiveness Day": not read.
11. Maureen F McHugh's "The Cost to Be Wise": not read.
12. Walter Jon Williams's "Surfacing": not read.
    

Fact sheet.
Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: 2007
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.
Series: Vol 1 (short stories, 2005), Vol 2 (novellas, 2007)

Gardner Dozois's "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection" (2007): 28 stories

Note: 2008 edition (Vol 25) annotated ToC - in case you mistakenly landed at this page.
--

Below is the list of stories included, with brief one line summary on the ones I have read. My rating is in brackets. Where I have posted a review of an individual story, link on story title takes you there.

Some of the included stories are available online. Where I am aware of it, I provide the link either here or in my review of story. Such entries are prefixed with a "*".

This list is ordered by quality - best stories first.

1. * Robert Charles Wilson's "Julian : A Christmas Story": (A): A medieval society follows the exhaustion of earth's oil resources.
2. * Paolo Bacigalupi's "Yellow Card Man" (B), Asimov's Dec 2006: Man becomes beast. A refugee story, & of a loser. But by & large, quite realistic.
3. * Bruce McAllister's "Kin" (B), Asimov's Feb 2006: A loner gets emotional on finding kinship.
4. * Ian McDonald's "The Djinn's Wife" aka "Little Goddess" (C), Asimov's July 2006: Marriage of a woman to a robot gone sour.
5. * Benjamin Rosenbaum's "The House Beyond Your Sky" (C), Strange Horizons 4 Sep 2006: A complicated religious tale on what is god & where we came from.
6. * Cory Doctorow's "I, Row-Boat", Jan 2007, online: not read.
7. * Michael Swanwick's "Tin Marsh": Asimov's Aug 2006, online. not read.
   
8. Kage Baker's "Where the Golden Apples Grow", 2006: not read.
9. Alastair Reynolds's "Signal to Noise", 2006: not read.
10. Jay Lake & Ruth Nestvold's "The Big Ice", Jim Baen's Universe, Dec 2006: not read.
11. Gregory Benford's "Bow Shock", Baen's Universe June 2006: not read.
    
12. Justin Stanchfield's "In the River", Interzone Aug 2006: not read.
13. Walter Jon Williams' "Incarnation Day", 2006: not read.
14. Greg van Eekhout's "Far as You Can Go", 2006: not read.
15. Robert Reed's "Good Mountain", 2006: not read.
16. * David Levine's "I Hold My Father's Paws", 2006, online: not read.
17. Paul J McAuley's "Dead Men Walking", Asimov's March 2006: not read.
18. Mary Rosenblum's "Home Movies", Asimov's April-May 2006: not read.
19. Daryl Gregory's "Damascus", F&SF Feb 2006: not read.
20. Jack Skillingstead's "Life on the Preservation", Asimov's 2006: not read.
21. * Greg Egan's "Riding the Crocodile" aka "Incandescence", Jan 2006, online: not read.
22. Elizabeth Bear & Sarah Monette's "The Ile of Dogges", 2006: not read.
23. Ken MacLeod's "The Highway Men", 2006: not read.
24. Stephen Baxter's "The Pacific Mystery", 2006: not read.
25. Carolyn Ives Gilman's "Okanoggan Falls", F&SF Aug 2006: not read.
26. John Barnes's "Every Hole is Outlined", Jim Baen's Universe Oct 2006: not read.
27. * A M Dellamonica's "The Town on Blighted Sea", Strange Horizons 21 Aug 2006, online part 1 & 2: not read.
28. Alastair Reynolds's "Nightingale" aka "Revelation Space", 2006: not read.
    

Fact sheet.
Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: July 10, 2007
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.

Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection" (2003): anthology with 25 stories

Note: 2008 edition (Vol 25) annotated ToC - in case you mistakenly landed at this page.
--

Contents.
In brackets, following story title, are my ratings.

1. "Breathmoss" (C) by Ian R MacLeod. I had read it a long time back. A rather long, contrived, & unremarkable tale on some planet with mostly women, very few men. An a young puberty age girl learning the ways of the world. She eventually meets her own old self from future, I think.
   
2. "The Most Famous Little Girl in the World" by Nancy Kress.
   
3. "The Passenger" (B) by Paul McAuley. I remember having read it a long time back. Some space farers "rescue" a little girl from an apparently abandoned ship with all dead, & she turns out to be something else (an alien or something, I don't quite recall).
   
4. "The Political Officer" (B) by Charles Coleman Finley. Read it long back. Some kind of intrigue aboard a spaceship.
   
5. "Lambing Season" by Molly Gloss.
   
6. "Coelacanths" by Robert Reed.
   
7. "Presence" by Maureen F McHugh.
   
8. "Halo" by Charles Stress.
   
9. "In Paradise" by Bruce Sterling.
   
10. "The Old Cosmonaut and the Construction Worker Dream of Mars" by Ian McDonald.
    
11. "Stories for Men" by John Kessel.
    
12. "To Become a Warrior" by Chris Beckett.
    
13. "The Clear Blue Seas of Luna" by Gregory Benford.
    
14. "VAO" (A) by Geoff Ryman. I read this recently, & might write a proper review a few days down. A harassed computer programmer writes a zombie terrorist creation virus. Well written in a rather light vein. Set in an old age home, with much sympathetic talk about caring for the old.
    
15. "Winters are Hard" by Steven Popkes.
    
16. "At the Money" by Richard Wadholm.
    
17. "Agent Provocateur" by Alexander Irvine.
    
18. "Singleton" by Greg Egan.
    
19. "Slow Life" by Michael Swanwick.
    
20. "A Flock of Birds" by James Van Pelt.
    
21. "The Potter of Bones" by Eleanor Arnason.
    
22. "The Whisper of Disks" (B) by John Meaney. Story of a prodigious girl that grows to be a very old woman, invents many things - among them moving via other dimensions to other stars, & gets rich by companies she founds. A second parallel thread of her ancestors runs in 18th or 19th century England, & has palace intrigue I could not quite relate to; may be those familiar with recent history of England will be able to be happy with this tangent thread.
    
23. "The Hotel at Harlan's Landing" (A) by Kage Baker. A women talks of good old days in early 19th century in a small town on Pacific coast of US, & her memories of town's modernization. Great prose, but not much sf.
    
24. "The Millennium Party" (C) by Walter Jon Williams. The really short story is of a happy world where you live very long, meet your spouse once a year for dinner & don't give full attention even then, & can change your brains to shut off irrelevant memories! Reminded me of Issac Asimov's Solarians.
    
25. "Turquoise Days" (B) by Alastair Reynolds. A rather complex & long cocktail of Asimov's "Nemesis", Clarke's "The Songs of Distant Earth", & Yann Martel's "Life of Pi".
    

Fact sheet.
Editor: Gardner Dozois
First published: 2003
Publication history & other information.
See also: Gardner Dozois's "Year's Best" & "Best of Best" anthology series.