altheaann

** The Best Science Fiction of the Year Three • Ken MacLeod
In a totalitarian future, an editor purports to be seeking contributions to a new anthology. But why is he doing this at the very public launch of a new experimental technology? Eh, this one didn't really come together for me. A bit too gimmicky, and the ending didn't convince...

*** Dolly • Elizabeth Bear
An experimental model of sex doll is suspected of having killed its (her?) owner. I wasn't really convinced by the narrative that the killing was justified even if the robot was sentient, but the story was redeemed from preachiness by the complication of having the female investigator own her own robot.

*** Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer • Ken Liu
Post-singularity, a young girl cannot conceive of why her mother might value the concept of physical 'reality' over virtual explorations. But in a memorable last day together, there is bittersweet communication.

**** Tethered • Mercurio Rivera
A human girl and an alien girl are best friends, growing up together. But as they both mature, the differences between species separate them... but are the differences really so different? A nice exploration of the meaning of friendship and personal identity. Again, very bittersweet.

*** Wahala • Nnedi Okorafor
A space shuttle, returning from Mars after 40 years, crash lands into a post-war desert. There to meet them are only two mutant children, expecting to meet human colonists. But what they find is stranger than either of them expected to find. A story of conflict, fear, and hope for understanding.

**** Laika’s Ghost • Karl Schroeder
Lots of fun, semi-satirical stuff jammed into this tale of a near-future arms inspector investigating rumors of a new kind of super-explosive, accompanied by a young American refugee fleeing Google, The Soviet Union Online, and who knows who else... Apparently there are more stories about Agent Gennady - I must read them.

*** Ragnarok • Paul Park
A post-apocalyptic poem, set in Iceland, in the form of an Edda... better than I expected.

** Six Months, Three Days • Charlie Jane Anders
Two clairvoyants start dating. She believes that she has free will, choosing between the many possible futures she sees. He believes that everything is predestined, seeing only one future. Both of them are really annoying people, and I didn't care about their relationship.

*** And Weep Like Alexander • Neil Gaiman
A rather slight, but amusing story. A man walks into a bar and announces that he is an "uninventor." Humanity has been saved from many seemingly good ideas that turned out to be more annoying than expected - such as flying cars. But is there anything left for him to uninvent?

*** The Middle of Somewhere • Judith Moffett
Not so much a story as an educational piece regarding the effects of global warming. Sure, it's set in (possibly) the near future - although it might be the present - but it's certainly not science fiction. A teen girl from a religious family of climate-deniers survives a tornado in the company of a self-sufficient elderly woman.

** Mercies • Gregory Benford
After learning about serial killers in school, a boy of the peaceful future develops a time travel technique and, at the end of his life, sets out to go back in time and eliminate history's worst killers before they have a chance to commit their evil deeds. The ending wasn't as powerful as I believe the author meant it to be.

** The Education of Junior Number 12 • Madeline Ashby
In the future, self-replicating robots are quickly proliferating. They love humans, and will self0destrunt at the thought of anti-human violence. Their existence seems on the verge of changing human relationships, but their ways are alien to us.

** Our Candidate • Robert Reed
A popular political candidate offers the doomsaying underdog a deal. And it turns out that politicians can be real jerks. (No, say it isn't so!) The ending felt a bit forced, and didn't have the expected punch.

**** Thick Water • Karen Heuler
Nice sci-fi/horror story. A 4-person team has landed on an alien planet for scientific observations. But only one of the scientists observes the safety protocols - and the results are quite satisfyingly creepy.

*** The War Artist • Tony Ballantyne
The war artist's job is to observe, and create suitably inspiring pieces of propaganda to sway public opinion. It takes a pretty woman to make him reassess his job. Nicely cynical.

*** The Master of the Aviary • Bruce Sterling
A dark and cynical tale of a post-apocalyptic future, and an 'academic' who hearkens back to the glories of the past, in the face of general indifference and political opposition.

** Home Sweet Bi’Ome • Pat MacEwan
I have to admit, humor is often a hard sell, with me. Not that I don't like humor, but... This story of a woman with Hyperallergic Syndrome and her tribulations, with a dash of romance was ok... but just not really my thing.

**** For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I’ll Not Be Back Again • Michael Swanwick
With a one-way trip out to pursue a career amongst aliens and the stars imminent, a man decides to take a final trip to experience Earth and history, and visits Ireland. There, he meets a beautiful woman who seduces him - but who has more on her agenda than sex. Good story. Satisfying ending.

*** The Ki-anna • Gwyneth Jones
A man travels to an alien planet to investigate the death of his twin sister. He suspects it was murder, although, officially, it's been called an accident. The story is a decent mystery tale, but I feel like it missed some opportunities to delve deeper into the issues it brings up regarding cultural differences.

* Eliot Wrote • Nancy Kress
Sorry, really didn't like this one. Clunky story about metaphor and the conflict between science and mystical thinking. All the characters were awkward caricatures, and none of them were convincing, either from a narrative or an ideological perspective.

*** The Nearest Thing • Genevieve Valentine
Pretty good entry into the genre of "advanced robots: are they really sentient?" Very, very similar in theme to the Elizabeth Bear piece that appears earlier in this volume.

** The Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel • Yoon Ha Lee
This reads like notes for a story, not a story. It's a series of paragraphs, each describing an alien race or situation. Nice writing, but it doesn't feel like a finished work.

*** The Ice Owl • Carolyn Ives Gilman
Second reading of this story. (Previously read in Nebula Awards Showcase.) I'd really like to read more by Gilman; I love her style - but I still had issues with this story. --- Sets up a very nicely done world and situation: a rebellious teenage girl and her flaky, irresponsible mother, flitting around known planets at lightspeed after a political disturbance/genocide analogous to the Holocaust. (It's called the Holocide, and there's even looted art.) However, the ending is completely unsatisfying, feels rushed, and falls flat. It's one of those where you get the feeling that the author feels like you ought to think her characters made the right decisions - but they clearly didn't, nor does it work from a dramatic perspective.


2.78 average rounds up to 3.
Just as a note, it's funny how much editorial decisions affect the 'Best of's... I haven't read the corresponding anthology from Strahan for this year yet, but I feel like I like his choices better, in general...