Books: The Best Science Fiction Of The Year Volume 3 Edited By Neil Clarke

(Drivebycuriosity) - I like science fiction. Unfortunately most science fiction novels disappoint. Often a writer has an interesting idea which carries a story about maybe 100 pages or less, but when she stretches the plot the story gets thinner and thinner and the text has too many fillers.  Just a minority of authors is capable to keep the tension over hundreds of pages. Therefore I usually skim collections of science fiction short stories in order to find some gems.

I just finished "The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 3", curated & edited by Neil Clarke (amazon). The series is a relatively newcomer in this market. For many years I have been reading the anthology "The Year`s Best Science Fiction" edited by Gardner Dozois (driveby). His compilations have been the market leader for 3 decades and offered a kaleidoscope of plots, ideas and styles. Dozois catered to a lot of different tastes and showed the state of art in science fiction. Unfortunately Dozois passed away last year, ending his series with the number 35. I also used to read & collect the series "Year`s Best SF"  edited by David G. Hartwell, which ended with Vol. 18 published in December 2013. Hartwell passed away in 2016. I really miss Hartwell`s selection because he a focus on hard science fiction

It seems that Clarke, who also is the editor of "Clarkesworld Magazine", has now a monopoly for these kinds of collections (624 pages with 26 stories). Like Dozois Clarke begins his collection with a summation of the trends  in the scifi world in the respective year and precedes each story with a short introduction of the authors.

There are 3 strong stories which I found also in Dozois` latest collection:

"A Series of Steaks" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. The tale is set in a near future Hong-Kong and focuses on Helena, who sees herself as an artist. Helena has an university degree and tries to make a living by producing fake steaks with the help of 3D-Printers, which is strictly illegal and brings her into deep trouble. The story is fresh & original, certainly one of my favorites in this book, I want to read more by Jie-Min Prasad.

"Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance" by Tobias S. Buckell is told in first person by a robot with artificial intelligence (AI) who does maintenance works on the hull of a space ship. He has to deal with a superior power which causes a conflict of interests. Very subtle and thought provoking.

“An Evening with Severyn Grimes” by Rich Larson focuses on a billionaire who got abducted by a group of radical terrorist. A slick near-future thriller.

But Clarke has also some strong stories which were not covered by Dozois, including:

"Every Hour of Light and Dark" by Nancy Kress. The author belongs to the top-stars in the science fiction scene and collected many Nebula, Hugo and other awards. This story is another gem by the gifted write. In the year 2270 scientists found a method to replace art works and other pieces from the past by fakes and transfer them into their time. Some of them messes with a Vermeer painting from the year 1668 which has a lot unintended consequences. For me the best scifi story of 2017.

"Holdfast" by Alastair Reynolds. The only human survivor from an epic battle against aliens is stranded on an exotic planet facing the only alien survivor of this battle. A interesting psychological take on alien encounters and futuristic wars.

"The Martian Obelisk" by Linda Nagata. A woman is constructing an obelisk on Mars as a monument of human`s development. She`s continuing even though humans had abandoned the red planet thanks to robots and remote control -  but suddenly a complication appears.

"The Secret Life if Bots" by Suzanne Palmer. A funny tale about a  group of maintenance robots on a spaceship who play an important role in an unpleasant confrontation with vicious aliens.

"Shadows of Eternity" by Gregory Benford. The author wove an elaborate tale based on cosmology. Not much is happening here but I really enjoyed the stylish use of science.

The rest may cater different tastes. The book costs in the moment of writing just $9,99. I am looking forward to read Number 4 which is scheduled for April 2019.