The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Sixth Annual Collection

by Gardner Dozois

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  Overall, 1988 was a weaker year than 1987 in the original anthology market, with nothing as strong as last year’s In the Fields of Fire, although some good material did appear. The two strongest original SF anthologies of the year were probably: Full Spectrum (Bantam Spectra), edited by Lou Aronica and Shawna McCarthy, and Terry’s Universe (Tor), edited by Beth Meacham. Full Spectrum is the very promising start of a proposed annual anthology series; the level of fiction is remarkably consistant here—almost all the stories are quite good, there are very few dogs … but, on the other hand, with one possible exception, none of them strike me as really major stories, either. Terry’s Universe, a one-shot memorial anthology honoring the late Terry Carr, strikes me as almost the exact opposite—it contains three of the very best stories of the year (works by Robinson, Swanwick, and Silverberg), but many of the rest of the stories are mediocre, and a few are flat failures. Full Spectrum has the potential to develop into a major anthology series, although the departure of Shawna McCarthy from Bantam’s editorial staff has raised some questions among industry insiders about the series’ ultimate survival. There will definitely be at least a Full Spectrum II, however; it’s already in the works for next year.

  Also promised for next year is a new edition of the long-running Universe anthology series, now being edited by Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber, and I’m looking forward to that. There were also rumors at year’s end that Orson Scott Card would be editing a new annual anthology series in 1989. Synergy (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich), George Zebrowski’s new anthology series published two volumes, Two and Three, this year—Synergy is an interesting and ambitious series, and I wish it well, but at $8.95 for a normal mass-market sized paperback, and a rather slender one at that (by comparison, Full Spectrum costs $4.95 and contains 483 pages, as opposed to Synergy 3’s 221 pages), I fear that they may be pricing this series out of existence; only time will tell. Another ambitious new series started this year, Pulphouse (Pulphouse Publishing), edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, a small-press “hardback magazine”—really a quarterly hardcover anthology, available primarily by subscription. Each issue of Pulphouse is supposed to have a specific theme. Of the two volumes available so far, Pulphouse One, the Horror issue, is rather good, with interesting work by Edward Bryant, Don Webb, Nina Hoffman, Harlan Ellison, and others; Pulphouse Two, the Speculative Fiction issue, is awful, full of obvious trunk stories masquerading as “experimental” work. Coming up are their Science Fiction and Fantasy issues (then I suppose they start cycling again), and I’m curiously looking forward to see what they’re like; this is a series worth keeping an eye on. (Subscription address: Pulphouse Publishing, Box 1227, Eugene OR 97440; $17.95 per single issue, $30 for a half-year subscription [two issues] or $56 for a full-year subscription [four issues]); Other Edens II (Unwin), edited by Christopher Evans and Robert Holdstock, is a continuation of a new British anthology series that started last year; it’s not quite as impressive as the first Other Edens, but it does contain interesting work by Scott Bradfield, Garry Kilworth, Josephine Saxton, and others. The New Destinies series (Baen), edited by James Baen, put out two solid volumes this year, with a particularly good Vernor Vinge story in Vol VI. L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Vol. IV (Bridge), edited by Algis Budrys, presents the usual array of novice work; some of the writers included here may well become well-known in the future, as the jacket copy suggests, but it won’t be for any work to be found in this particular anthology. There was a one-shot small-press anthology of stories by SF writers who live in New Mexico, A Very Large Array (University of New Mexico Press), edited by Melinda M. Snodgrass; a dubious premise, but an enjoyable book.

  It’s encouraging to see that suddenly there are a number of original SF anthology series jostling to establish themselves—only a few years back, they seemed well on their way to extinction.

  Far from being an Endangered Species, that literary curiosity, the shared-world anthology, is proliferating—several new series were added this year, and there are now fifteen or more of them, according to Locus. Shared-world anthologies are perhaps the least pernicious form of sharecropping—stories from them usually strike me as too dependent on the background framework to function well as individual units, but there are many exceptions; I’ve published a few shared-world stories in IAsfm, after all, and even reprinted some in this anthology, so it would be hypocritical of me to be too sternly censorious about the existence of such anthologies. Nevertheless, I am growing somewhat tired of them, and there are signs (including industry rumors about poor sales for at least two of the major series) that the buying public may be becoming tired of them as well. If this is true, then this year’s expansion, rather than a sign of health, may be an indication of an oncoming glut that will eventually produce a drastic winnowing in this market. We’ll see. In the meantime, there were two volumes in the Wild Cards (Bantam Spectra) series, edited by George R. R. Martin (this is probably the major SF shared-world series, but there are some signs that it is running out of steam; certainly the later volumes seem weaker than the initial two were); a volume in the Liavek (Ace) series, edited by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull; several Heroes In Hell (Baen) volumes by various hands, mostly edited by Janet Morris; a volume in the Merovingen Nights (DAW) series, edited by C. J. Cherryh; one in the Tales of the Witch World (Tor) series, edited by Andre Norton; and doubtless others that I’ve overlooked. Arabesques: More Tales of the Arabian Nights (Avon), edited by Susan Shwartz, was a rather pleasant start to a new shared-world series, featuring enjoyable work by Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, Jane Yolen, M. J. Engh, and others. Much the same could be said of another series start-off, Invitation to Camelot (Ace), which features enjoyable work by Tanith Lee, John M. Ford, Jane Yolen and others. The other new series are all military themed, some of them depicting, with often undisguised admiration, the exploits of mercenary soldiers: The Fleet (Ace), edited by David Drake and Bill Fawcett; The Man-Kzin Wars (Baen), edited by Larry Niven; and War World (Baen), edited by Jerry Pournelle.

  As usual, there was a lot of activity in the original horror anthology market. Sadly, Charles L. Grant’s Shadows, the long-running anthology series that was your best bet in the horror field most years, seems to have died; it will be missed. There was also no Whispers anthology this year, so the market was mostly left to younger hands. Your best value this year was probably Tropical Chills (Avon), edited by Tim Sullivan, a varied and entertaining anthology containing good work by Pat Cadigan, Charles Sheffield, Gene Wolfe, and others. Prime Evil (NAL), edited by Douglas E. Winter, was being hyped as a major collection, a new Dark Forces (in other words, another contender for the title of “the Dangerous Visions of horror”), but although it contained good work by Peter Straub, M. John Harrison, and others, on the whole it fell short of that goal. On the other hand, Night Visions 5 (Dark Harvest), also edited by Douglas E. Winter, may well be the best volume yet in this series, featuring good work by Stephen King, Dan Simmons, and George R. R. Martin. Silver Scream (Tor), edited by David J. Schow, was widely hailed as the definitive splatterpunk anthology, and blows wide open the widening schism in the horror field between the “quiet” school of horror writing and the gleefully gore-splattered Grand Guignol “splatterpunk” school, a conflict that is producing bitter rhetoric and fiery public attacks worthy of the New Wave wars of the ’60s in science-fiction. There is some good material in Silver Scream, but the constant parade of deliberate gross-out scenes gets annoying after a while … and many of the stories aren’t particularly scary, either, a trait some of them share with “splatter” films. A distinction can also be made, and perhaps should be, between gross-out gore and old-fashioned meanness—the casual, off-hand murders depicted here in Joe Lansdale’s “Night They Missed the Horror Show,” for instance, have far more real impact than the thirteen pages of gross-to-the-max (and rather silly) slaughter and mutilation that mar the ending of Mark Arnold’s otherwise interesting “Pilgrims to the Cathedral.” So the splatterpun
ks score high here for vigor and ambition … but their work would often be more effective if they learned to add some restraint and creative control to the mixture. Pulphouse, Issue One was discussed above. Women of Darkness (Tor), edited by Kathryn Ptacek, was disappointing. Noted without comment is Ripper! (Tor), edited by Gardner Dozois and Susan Casper, a mixed original (mostly) and reprint anthology of stories about Jack-the-you-know-what.

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  There were no clearly dominant novels in 1988, the way there have been in other years, nothing clearly destined to sweep the awards, but it was a decent year for novels overall, even so. Once again, I must admit that I was unable to read all the new novels released this year, or even the majority of them. Locus estimates that there were 317 new SF novels, 264 new fantasy novels, and 182 new horror novels (up sharply from last year’s count of 92!) published in 1988—for a staggering total of 763 new novels released. Clearly the novel field has expanded far beyond the ability of any one reviewer to keep up with it—even a reviewer who doesn’t have as much other reading at shorter lengths to do as I have. So therefore, as usual, I am going to limit myself here to commenting that of the novels I did read this year, I was the most impressed by: Mona Lisa Overdrive, William Gibson (Bantam Spectra); Islands in the Net, Bruce Sterling (Arbor House); The Gold Coast, Kim Stanley Robinson (Tor); The Last Coin, James P. Blaylock (Ace); Deserted Cities of the Heart, Lewis Shiner (Bantam Spectra); Wetware, Rudy Rucker (Avon); Unicorn Mountain, Michael Bishop (Morrow); Hellspark, Janet Kagan (Tor); Eternity, Greg Bear (Warner); and Neon Lotus, Marc Laidlaw (Bantam Spectra).

  Other novels that have gotten a lot of attention this year include: Red Prophet, Orson Scott Card (Tor); Prelude to Foundation, Isaac Asimov (Doubleday Foundation); There Are Doors, Gene Wolfe (Tor); Adulthood Rites, Octavia E. Butler (Warner); Fire on the Mountain, Terry Bisson (Morrow); House of Shards, Walter Jon Williams (Tor); Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty, Avram Davidson & Grania Davis (Baen); Koko, Peter Straub (E. P. Dutton); Falling Free, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen); Memory Wire, Robert Charles Wilson (Bantam Spectra); Dreams of Flesh and Sand, W. T. Quick (NAL); Starfire, Paul Preuss (Tor); Venus of Shadows, Pamela Sargent (Doubleday Foundation); Crazy Time, Kate Wilhelm (St. Martin’s); Ivory, Mike Resnick (Tor); The Story of the Stone, Barry Hughart (Doubleday Foundation); The Reindeer People, Megan Lindholm (Ace); Sister Light, Sister Dark, Jane Yolen (Tor); Metrophage, Richard Kadrey (Ace); Tower to the Sky, Phillip C. Jennings (Baen); Who’s Afraid of Beowulf?, Tom Holt (St. Martin’s); Chronosequence, Hilbert Schenck (Tor); Neverness, David Zindell (Donald I. Fine); The Armageddon Blues, Daniel Keys Moran (Bantam Spectra); Inner Eclipse, Richard Paul Russo (Tor); A Splendid Chaos, John Shirley (Franklin Watts); Wheel of the Winds, M. J. Engh (Tor); At Winter’s End, Robert Silverberg (Warner); The Wooden Spaceships, Bob Shaw (Baen); Cyteen, C. J. Cherryh (Warner); Wyvern, A. A. Attanasio (Ticknor & Fields); Narabedla Ltd., Frederik Pohl (Del Rey); Destiny’s End, Tim Sullivan (Avon); Desolation Road, Ian McDonald (Bantam Spectra); Krono, Charles L. Harness (Franklin Watts); Sleeping in Flame, Jonathan Carroll (Legend); Four Hundred Billion Stars, Paul J. McAuley (Del Rey); The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West, Mary Stanton (Baen); Walkabout Woman, Michaela Roessner (Bantam Spectra); Journey to Fusang, William Sanders (Questar); Through a Brazen Mirror, Delia Sherman (Ace); Waiting for the Galactic Bus, Parke Godwin (Doubleday Foundation); Consider Phlebas, lain M. Banks (St. Martin’s); The Dark Door, Kate Wilhelm (St. Martin’s); The Last Deathship Off Antares, Walter Jon Williams (Questar) and The Drive In, Joe R. Lansdale (Bantam Spectra).

  (I should set off mention here of books I bought and edited myself for the Isaac Asimov Presents line for Congdon & Weed/Worldwide Library, so that you can make the proper allowances for bias: Antibodies, David J. Skal; A Different Flesh, Harry Turtledove; and Sin of Origin, John Barnes.)

  There were still a lot of good first novels published this year, although none of them had as much of an impact on the field as first novels by Gibson and Robinson had a few years back. Still, it is encouraging to see so many worthwhile first novels continuing to make it into print; that they can, and are, is one of the bright spots of the last few years. Novels by Kadrey, Moran, McDonald, Quick, Stanton, and Zindell seemed to get the most attention this year among this group. It’s a good bet that many of these first novelists will be turning up in print again and again in coming years; some of them may even be among the Big Names of the ’90s.

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  Nineteen eighty-eight was not as strong a year for short-story collections as 1986 or 1987, but some worthwhile collections did appear, including several valuable retrospectives. Among the most interesting of the year’s collections were: Crown of Stars, James Tiptree Jr. (Tor); Angry Candy, Harlan Ellison (Houghton Mifflin); The Knight and Knave of Swords, Fritz Leiber (Morrow); Green Magic, Jack Vance (Tor); The Hidden Side of the Moon, Joanna Russ (St. Martin’s); Other Americas, Norman Spinrad (Bantam Spectra); The Day the Martians Came, Frederik Pohl (St. Martin’s); and Threats … And Other Promises, Vernor Vinge (Baen). My own personal favorite this year, though, was John the Balladeer, Manly Wade Wellman (Baen), a landmark fantasy collection that brings back into print Wellman’s best short work, long unavailable. There were five retrospective collections this year that should be in the libraries of any serious student of the field: The Best of John Brunner, (Baen); A Rendezvous in Averoigne, Clark Ashton Smith (Arkham); the massive, three-volume The Selected Stories of Robert Bloch, (Underwood-Miller); Charles Beaumont: Selected Stories (Dark Harvest); and Memories of the Space Age, J. G. Ballard (Arkham). Also worthwhile were: The Bug Life Chronicles, Phillip C. Jennings (Baen), a first collection from a madly inventive new writer; The Blood Kiss, Dennis Etchison (Scream/Press); A Thread of Silver Madness, Jessica Amanda Salmonson (Ace); Empire Dreams, Ian McDonald (Bantam Spectra); The Heat Death of the Universe, Pamela Zoline (McPherson & Co.); Azazel, Isaac Asimov (Doubleday Foundation); Merlin Dreams, Peter Dickinson (Delacorte); and The Wine-Dark Sea, Robert Aickman (Morrow).

  Two offbeat but interesting small-press collections are: The Early Lafferty, R. A. Lafferty (United Mythologies Press, P.O. Box 390, Station ‘A’, Weston, Ontario, Canada, M9N–3N1; $3.50 plus 50 cents postage) and Uncle Ovid’s Exercise Book, Don Webb (Illinois State Univ. Fiction Collective, $8.95—available by mail from Mark Zeising Books, P.O. Box 806, Willimantic, CT 06226).

  As you can see, small-press publishers—Arkham House, Dark Harvest, Underwood-Miller, Scream/Press—continue to play an important role in bringing short-story collections to the reading public. Even major new writers like Lucius Shepard and Bruce Sterling, who almost certainly would have had trade collections a decade ago, are turning to small-press publishers to get their first short-story collections into print. On the other hand, there were more collections from the regular trade publishers this year than last year, which is a good sign. St. Martin’s, Baen, Morrow, and Bantam Spectra all published more than one collection this year, and are to be commended for it, but I’d still like to see them publish still more collections in years to come. For too many years there have been too few collections published—I’d like to see the trade publishers play catchup in this area, for a change.

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  The reprint anthology market also seemed a bit weaker this year. As usual, your best bets in the reprint market were the various “Best of the Year” anthologies. This year there were again three covering science fiction, including this one (we lost one series—the later Terry Carr’s—but a new series was started in England, edited by David S. Garnett), one covering fantasy, one covering horror, one covering both fantasy and horror, and the annual Nebula Award anthology—it’s hard to go wrong with any of these. As for nonseries anthologies, the best value was probably Masterpieces of Fantasy and Enchantment (Nelson Doubleday and St. Martin’s), edited by David G. Hartwell, a solid and worthwhile volume, if not quite as spectacular as last year’s The Dark Descent. Other worthwhile SF anthologies were: Interzone: The 3rd Anthology
(Simon & Schuster Ltd.), edited by John Clute, David Pringle, & Simon Ounsley; Isaac Asimov Presents the Great SF Stories 18: 1956 (DAW), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg; and The Mammoth Book of Classic Science Fiction: Short Novels of the 1930s (Robinson/Carroll & Graf), edited by Isaac Asimov, Charles Waugh, and Martin H. Greenberg. Noted without comment are The Best of Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine (Ace), edited by Gardner Dozois and Dogtales! (Ace), edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. There were two light fantasy reprint anthologies: Unknown (Baen), edited by Stanley Schmidt, and Werewolves (Harper & Row), edited by Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg. And several interesting reprint horror anthologies: The Best of Shadows (Doubleday Foundation), edited by Charles L. Grant; The Best Horror Stories from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (St. Martin’s), edited by Edward L. Ferman and Anne Jordan; Fine Frights: Stories That Scared Me (Tor), edited by Ramsey Campbell; Haunted New England (Yankee), edited by Charles G. Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg, and Frank McSherry, Jr.; Haunting Women (Avon), edited by Alan Ryan; and Yankee Witches (Lance Tapley), edited by Frank McSherry, Jr., Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles Waugh.

  The rest of the reprint anthology market this year was heavily flooded with military themed anthologies, to an even greater extent than the shared-world anthology market was: Space-Fighters (Ace), edited by Joe Haldeman, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh; Space Wars (Tor), edited by Poul Anderson, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh; There Will Be War, Vol. VII (Tor), edited by J. E. Pournelle; Nuclear War (Ace), edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg; Men Hunting Things (Baen), edited by David Drake; Things Hunting Men (Baen), edited by David Drake; and Robert Adam’s Book of Soldiers (NAL), edited by Robert Adams, Pamela Crippen Adams, and Martin H. Greenberg. The overall best of this lot was probably Benford’s and Greenberg’s Nuclear War, and many of the others also contained good stories, but the sheer number of these books is somewhat unnerving, particularly when you combine their total with the military themed shared-world anthologies like War World and The Fleet. Apparently war is one of the most popular themes in SF these days, and the prospect of it is greeted with great enthusiasm and gusto by most of these writers (only Nuclear War could be said to contain any real cautionary note). I suppose that only custard-headed liberals will be dismayed by all this martial ardor … but it does make one wonder, somewhat uneasily, what the future has in store for us—and hope that SF’s famed predictive capacity is not working all that well these days.