2024 the best sci fi movies review

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In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident?  The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year’s Best Science Fiction Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world. This venerable collection of short stories brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Ian McDonald, Stephen Baxter, Michael Swanwick, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kage Baker, Walter Jon Williams, Alastair Reynolds, and Charles Stross. And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ St. Martin's Press; First Edition (July 8, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 704 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0312378599
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0312378592
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.05 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.78 x 2.16 x 9.11 inches
Reviewer: John M. Ford
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An Excellent Collection, A Range of Emotions
Review: Gardner Dozois shows us that 2007 was a better-than-average year for science fiction. Per expectations from previous anthologies, this volume includes more than the selected stories. The "Summation 2007" chapter reviews the state of science fiction for the year in exhaustive detail. And the introductions to each of the 32 stories are particularly effective in highlighting other work by the respective authors.My favorite five stories focus on emotional themes:James Van Pelt's "Of Late I Dreamt of Venus" is an off-key story about love, patience and centuries-long dedication as two very different people work to change the face of Venus.Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" explores the intertwining stories of time travelers and shows us several ways to find meaning from our losses.Elizabeth Bear's "Tideline" traces the parental relationship between a boy and a damaged robot struggling to remember the past with honor.Robert Reed's "Roxie" compares human denial in the face of an incoming asteroid to human denial of the failing health of a man's best friend.Gregory Benford's "Dark Heaven" shows us death from many perspectives, from a coroner's detachment from the bodies in a homicide investigation, through a detective's feelings about his late wife, to the very different views held by a visiting alien race.The collection as a whole is highly recommended. My hope is that future collections will also appear in Kindle format, to allow surreptitious reading on my iPhone during the inevitable solemnly unimportant meetings of my life.

Reviewer: D. Olson
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: My favorite "Best of" SF
Review: There are several Best of the Year SF books out there, I've read them all. This is the version that I really like and the only one that I'll buy. It seems the Dozois and I have the same taste in reading material.

Reviewer: Brad
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Still above average, but not as good as last year's
Review: David Moles, "Finisterra". Unsavory traders butcher floating, mountainous organisms in this ominous but perhaps overly detailed slice of far future life. B-Ken MacLeod, "Lighting Out". Neatly capturing the feel of life when humanity has morphed into a blend of reality, virtual reality, and bioengineered reality. CJohn Barnes, "The Ocean is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away". The third straight far future, hard science story with thick atmosphere and rather thin plot. This time the star is the dazzling landscape of Mars as it undergoes terraforming. CGwyneth Jones, "Saving Tiamaat". As human ambassadors assist two hostile races from a distant planet in settling their political dispute, cutthroat tactics abound, figuratively and literally. B-James Van Pelt, "Of Late I Dreamt of Venus". The author weaves a tender love story into this riveting, millennium-spanning saga about a plutocrat, her quest to terraform Venus, and her quiet male companion. A+Ian McDonald, "Verthandi's Ring". Alas, much of this epic tale of all-out intergalactic war was wasted on me due to its epic amount of scientific terminology and concepts. NRUna McCormack, "Sea Change". From lots of science to hardly any in this chilling depiction of growing pains for the rich and snobbish in the near future. CChris Roberson, "The Sky is Large and the Earth is Small". In an alternate world with no Western civilization and dominated by a vast Oriental empire, an aspiring bureaucrat believes an obscure political prisoner who visited a civilization across the ocean holds the key to advancement. A haunting yet entertaining demonstration of how the pace of scientific progress is relative. A+Greg Egan, "Glory". A couple of aliens try to unearth a profound secret on the distant planet of a glorious but dead civilization. Subtle philosophical insight, but surprisingly little action, follows the aliens' mind blowing grand entrance. BRobert Silverberg, "Against the Current". With the waking nightmare atmosphere of a Twilight Zone episode, a Bay Area car dealer and his trusty Prius are propelled backward in time, about two decades a day. Superb execution of the "it could almost happen to you"motif. A+Neal Asher, "Alien Archeology". A thrilling space adventure and battle of wits unfold following the discovery of an invaluable and dangerous relic. Grotesque and violent images punctuate the narrative, along with fascinating embellishments, including a race of talking beasts that never repeats the same word twice. A+Ted Chiang, "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate". Exotic metaphors add dreamy texture to this tapestry of time travel, a story within a story within a story, set in ancient Baghdad. AJustin Stanchfield, "Beyond the Wall". An enigmatic wall on a Saturn moon, designed by an alien M.C. Escher, tests the mettle of a band of explorers from Earth. Suspenseful, with a fittingly enigmatic flavor. ABruce Sterling, "Kiosk". Technology advances but politics, business, and human nature remain the same when a shop owner in a broken-down future Eastern Europe launches a breakthrough enterprise. Truth rings loudly in this tragicomic morality play. AStephen Baxter, "Last Contact". The end of the universe poignantly experienced by a mother and daughter in an English garden. AAlastair Reynolds, "The Sledge-Maker's Daughter". Villagers in a far future, medieval like England grapple with privation, brutality, and alien combat slightly beyond their comprehension. BIan McDonald, "Sanjeev and Robotwallah". An Indian youth, robotics wars, and rampant confusion are all I gleaned from this jargon laden whirlwind of adventure. CMichael Swanwick, "The Skysailor's Tale". A brilliantly composed alternate history, set in the British colony of America in the early 1800's, in which an old man tells the tale of his amazing journey aboard a vast military airship. AVandana Singh, "Of Love and Other Monsters". The sad but lyrical autobiography of a damaged and lonely alien, trapped on Earth in more ways than one. BGreg Egan, "Steve Fever". An ailing scientist unwittingly lets loose a determined nanovirus that is infecting and steadily destroying mankind - without even trying. Subtly spine tingling. AKage Baker, "Hellfire at Twilight". A sense of impending doom fills the air when a bookish, time traveling cyborg infiltrates the secret rites of a princely pagan in 1774 England. BBrian Stableford, "The Immortals of Atlantis". A down and out slum dweller gets a visit from an icy immortal on a recruiting mission. Bio science with dramatic punch! B+Pat Cadigan, "Nothing Personal". Slow developing combination whodunit and character study of an aging cop suffering from the mother of all midlife crises. (A brush with alternate realities will do that to you.) BElizabeth Bear, "Tideline". In the aftermath of a devastating war, a dying robot soldier asks a boy to complete her rather peculiar mission. BKeith Brooke, "The Accord".The delicate balance of a far future world where life and afterlife commingle is disrupted by an anomalous stranger. BNancy Kress, "Laws of Survival". A woman is abducted by aliens to train dogs, for purposes that grow more mysterious even as they become more clear. Spellbinding portrayal of what it might be like to confront the complete unknown. A+Tom Purdom, "The Mists of Time". History comes alive as two time travelers observe a naval skirmish between a slaver and a British warship. The time travel subplot is somewhat contrived, but the historical narrative is rich beyond measure. AKristine Kathryn Rusch, "Craters". Terrifying and tragic extrapolation of life after several more decades of escalating Islamic terrorism. Surprised this theme isn't more prevalent this year. BTed Kosmatka, "The Prophet of Flores". One form of zealotry is exchanged for another in this sideways world (as editor Dozois calls it) where Creationists have the upper hand. C+Benjamin Rosenbaum & David Ackert, "Stray". Omnipotent immortal is sorely tempted as he tries for a humble human life in Depression Era America. CRobert Reed, "Roxie". Heartwarming celebration of life about an ordinary family man's relationship with his dog, set against the backdrop of a perilous future. AGregory Benford, "Dark Heaven". A homicide cop in Mobile follows a murder trail to colonizing amphibious aliens, and learns far more than he bargained for. B

Reviewer: SoWhatNowWhat
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Truly The Years Best Science Fiction
Review: I love this annual publication! Great short stories written by great writers.

Reviewer: Tim L.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Got to collect them all.

Reviewer: Darth Maciek
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: For this collection Gardner Dozois selected SF stories which he considered as best amongst those published in 2007. The one from previous year was very honest and this one is mostly on the same level.As in earlier anthologies, for this one Gardner Dozois selected stories which he considered as the best or most important of the given year. This collection includes also an overview of what happened in SF (largely understood) in 2007 and at the end there is also the very useful section of "honourable mentions" - stories which couldn't be selected for this collection because of lack of space (and this is already a HUGE book!), but which were also of good quality.Most stories are good, honest, solid stuff, with no less than six being VERY GOOD: "Alien Archaeology" by Neal Asher, "Last contact" by Steven Baxter, "Hellfire at Twilight" by Kage Baker, "Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear, "The Accord" by Keith Brooke, "Mists of time" by Tom PurdomOn another hand for my personal taste there were also five stinkers: "Of Late I Dreamt of Venus", "Verthandi's Ring", "The Skysailor's Tale", "Of Love and Other Monsters", "Stray". The remaining twenty one stories range from "good" to "readable".That being said, as for the 2006 anthology, I cannot rate this collection five stars, mostly because of a generally depressed and pessimistic mood in most of those stories. There is not even one amongst them in which we could find at least an ounce of exhilarating joy that is usually associated (at least for me) with the exploration of new possibilities, new horizons, new discoveries, new knowledge; in fact there is virtually no joy associated with anything. It sounds almost as if all modern SF was written by a bunch of terminal cancer patients for a public of masochists enjoying chronic depression...Linked to the previous point, there is also an almost absolute lack of humour in those series; only in "Hellfire at Twilight", "Alien Archaeology" and "Roxie" we may find some lighter moments.Below, more of my impressions about every story, with some limited SPOILERS:-------------------------------------------"Finisterra" by David Moles - in a distant future, on a strange planet, a gas giant which was probably modified by some powerful aliens, gone extinct since, live powerful zaratanis, colossal creatures which float into the top layers of the atmosphere; some are big enough that human towns were built on them. Then appears a band of poachers, who want to bag some of those creatures - maybe even the largest of them, the impossibly gigantic and ancient zaratan Finisterra. This is a honest, READABLE story, with an interesting religious aspect - in this reality Islam is the dominant religion and the few "dhimmis" (non-Muslims, mainly Jews and Christians) who are still tolerated are nevertheless discriminated and oppressed, which leaves them the choice between converting, running away to the wilderness or live on the absolute margins of the society... An useful reminder of reality, especially in our times of total political correctness..."Lighting Out" by Ken MacLeod - in a distant future an aged woman, who spend most of her life in every kind of shady endeavour she could find, contacts her estranged daughter with a business proposal; quite obviously, this cannot end well... A honest, READABLE "cyberpunk" story, but nothing more."An Ocean Is a Snowflake, Four Billion Miles Away" by John Barnes - terraforming of Mars is a frequent topic in SF and here the technical aspect of the whole thing is quite well described; but the story is harmed by its two main protagonists, a man and a woman who came to make a document about the next step of transformation; as she is pale and uninteresting and he is an unpleasant, quasi autistic man, their interactions are really boring. READABLE, average story."Saving Tiamaat" by Gwyneth Jones - in a distant future a man and a woman are charged with chaperoning two delegates to a peace conference, destined to end a horrible civil war; the code names of two delegates, who are also a man and a woman, are "Baal" and "Tiamaat". This is actually a GOOD story, in which author surprises as many times with unexpected but ultimately plausible developments. Enjoy!"Of Late I Dreamt of Venus" by James Van Pelt - another terraforming story, this time about Venus - an incredibly wealthy woman decides to use all her fortune and power to change Venus into a perfect planet - superior even to Earth... The story begins well, then slows down and at the end just crashes and burns... All in all a rather POOR story, with a weak ending."Verthandi's Ring" by Ian MacDonald - extremely ambitious and terminally weird story about a future war between two civilizations so advanced that they are quasi-Godlike... The whole thing is however too weird and the ending is simply abysmally stupid! A POOR story."Sea Change" by Una McCormack - two teen-aged girls who were raised together make trouble and their rich parents ground them on an island in Scotland... The SF element of this story is very discreet - it is actually almost a "regular literature" short story. READABLE, but nothing more."The Sky Is Large and the Earth Is Small" by Chris Roberson - it is an alternate reality story which takes place in XVII century China, under the reign of Emperor Kangxi (who really existed also in our reality); in this world Europeans never conquered the Aztecs and neither did they colonized North America - on another hand the Chinese developed an excellent fleet and routinely trade with the Mexica Empire and the Arab countries. One day, a bureaucrat of middle rank is tasked with preparing a report about the possibility of conquering the Mexica... This is a GOOD story, with tension building up all the time - just to end in the most anti-climactic possible way... Which is a pity, because this story had some serious potential..."Glory" by Greg Egan - in a very distant future two human scientists contact a less advanced civilization to investigate a scientific mystery on alien's home planet... Exactly as in the case of the previous story, this one begins very well, but progressively descends lower and lower, all the way to the possibly most banal and disappointing ending one can imagine. A honest READABLE story."Against the Current" by Robert Silverberg - well, this Great Ancient Master of SF rarely misses - and this short story about a guy who starts to go backward in time is a really GOOD thing, reminding me of both old "Twilight Zone" series and of "The incredible shrinking man" classical novel by Richard Matheson..."Alien Archaeology" by Neal Asher - this long but well written novella is a kind of sequel to the excellent 2005 short story "Softly spoke the gabbleduck"; it mixes very well "space opera" with "film noir" and some "cursed treasure" elements - also, we learn from it a lot, lot more about gabbleducks...))) For my personal taste this is a VERY GOOD story - in fact THE THIRD BEST in the collection."The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang - in Baghdad of "1001 Nights" an alchemist uses a portable wormhole to make people visit their future or their past. An interesting, GOOD story, approaching Islam with the kind of profound respect which SF writers NEVER show to Christian religion..."Beyond the Wall" by Justin Stanchfield - in XXIII century a gigantic alien artefact, aged 500 000 years, is found on Titan and all nations on Earth want to explore it; a team of United Nations security guards is dispatched there first to prevent anybody acceding it until the negotiations are over - and of course there will be trouble... A good initial idea and a well written story - but without a real ending and completely avoiding giving any explanation of all mysteries. Honest, READABLE thing, but nothing more."Kiosk" by Bruce Sterling - ah, those left-wingers...))) Even in 2007, they still didn't fully recover from the 1989-91 shock of seeing communism collapsing, when in the same time the capitalism didn't...))) In this terminally weird, albeit well written, short story author tries to describe a kind of social and economic revolution, somewhere, I guess, in the Balkans in a near future, after both communism and capitalism collapsed...))) A READABLE thing, but don't try to learn economics from it...)))"Last Contact" by Steven Baxter - a powerful story about the end of the world; low-key but quite terrifying, with an EXTREMELY powerful punch-line; a VERY GOOD story!"The Sledge-Maker's Daughter" by Alastair Reynolds - in a devastated post-apocalyptic world a young girl becomes the target of an abusive local heavy and goes to a witch to look for advice... Without surprise as in most of recent SF in which witches appear this is a feminist story, in which the men play of course the role of villains (or at least clueless stooges)...; still, a rather READABLE thing."Sanjeev and Robotwallah" by Ian McDonald - this story about a kind of child-soldiers is situated in the same universe (a future high tech India) as "Little Goddess" and "The djinn's wife" (both good stories) which figured in previous collections, but this one is considerably weaker and less inspired. READABLE, nothing more."The Skysailor's Tale" by Michael Swanwick - it begins as story about a young boy growing up in USA just after the Independence War and then it turns into a kind of alternate history tale - and precisely at that moment it crashes down and burns, turning into an absurd nonsensical mess with some slightly gross masturbatory fantasies... A POOR thing. Avoid!"Of Love and Other Monsters" by Vandana Singh - homosexual aliens living amongst humans are hunted by homosexual alien hunters... An incredibly messy and terminally unpleasant VERY POOR story, the WORST in this collection!"Steve Fever" by Greg Egan - a kind of post-apocalyptic "cyberpunk" story about rogue AIs and their difficult relationship with humans... I am absolutely not a fan of this author, but this is a quite honest, READABLE short story."Hellfire at Twilight" by Kage Baker - this novella is part of long running Company cycle and before reading it you may want to check this particular fictional universe on internet, to familiarize yourself with some basic rules of those stories; in that one, an infiltrated Company operative takes employment as librarian with Sir Francis Dashwood (1708-1781), 15th Baron le Despencer, a very real person who was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1762 to 1763 and is mostly remembered as the founder and president of a particularly active branch of the Hellfire Club...))) The reason for this operation is to find and steal a priceless ancient document - and I will say nothing more here... It is a VERY GOOD story and also one of the very few lighter and merrier moments in this collection...)))"The Immortals of Atlantis" by Brian Stableford - a strange, even weird story about refugees from Atlantis living amongst common mortals in our times - just somehow hurt by the quasi obligatory kowtow to global warming hysteria... A well written, READABLE thing."Nothing Personal" by Pat Cadigan - an aging female police officer, feeling a little bit down since some time, receives a new partner, a much younger male detective recently promoted from Computer Crimes "geek squad"... Together they have to investigate an extremely mysterious case of suspicious death which may or may not be a murder - but which is just the beginning of an even greater mystery... That novella was initially going towards a major masterpiece, but was first hurt (a little) by completely unnecessary homosexual accents and then grievously damaged (like really grievously) by a poorly written, completely anti-climactic ending. Because of that this is only a GOOD story. Pity."Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear - on the ruins of the world a badly damaged war robot meets a starving human child... An EXCELLENT, VERY POWERFUL STORY, the SECOND BEST in the collection!"The Accord" by Keith Brooke - a surprising, original, clever short story, which mixes quite well SF (it happens on another planet in the future), Old Testament story of Samson and Delilah, Christian (non-biblical) lore of fallen angels, ancient heathen legends of vampires and even (I think) some Buddhism... A VERY GOOD story."Laws of Survival" by Nancy Kress - there was a Third World War and then alien ships came to the ruined Earth; this is the story of the first human who made contact with them - and lived to tell the story... Very well written, I must give it to the author, but the most extreme, hateful, hysterically left-winged ideology and also pandering to global warming hysteria hurt it quite a lot. Therefore for me it is a GOOD, solid story - but no more."The Mists of Time" by Tom Purdom - somewhere around 1845 a small British warship, HMS "Sparrow", belonging to the Preventative Squadron (anti-slavery patrol) intercepts a much larger and better armed ship which carries a cargo of black slaves towards Brazil... Albeit outnumbered and outgunned the crew of HMS "Sparrow" will engage the fight in order to free the slaves, at great risk of loss of life and limb. Both fighting sides are unaware that they are being watched and recorded by time travellers from the future. This is a BRILLIANT, EXCELLENT STORY, THE BEST IN THE COLLECTION, showing very well how left-wingers (who sadly dominate in the cinema, TV and written medias) can take even the bravest fight and the noblest sacrifice and then use their unlimited supply of venom, hatred, malice, prejudice and bias to cover it in cr@p... An absolutely recommended read!"Craters" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - this story was clearly inspired by Iraq War and Al Qaeda terror attacks; in a near future a female veteran war correspondent investigates a new, absolutely shocking development in terrorism, namely a new tactic of use of suicide bombers. A well written, well-conceived, GOOD story but damaged somehow by the political correctness - indeed, author manages to NOT mention even once Muslim extremism as the main inspiration for terrorism (and especially suicide bombings) in our times..."The Prophet of Flores" by Ted Kosmatka - this is an alternate history story telling about a world in which evolution theory was "disproved" and the obligatory official doctrine is that world was created 5800 years ago...; echoing American cultural wars and inspired also by the 2003 discovery of the "Homo floresiensis" this is a GOOD story, although author's opinion explained on the last page that there are many competing gods, each of which created a separate human evolutionary line, is even more outlandish than even the most extremist creationists views..."Stray" by Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert - a terminally freaky and extremely unpleasant story about a kind of fallen angel who lives with a black family somewhere in the USA in the beginning of XXth century; authors wanted probably to write something very deep - but they just managed the weird... AVOID!"Roxie" by Robert Reed - the tender, loving description of life, love and labors of an aging husky dog by its owner - at a time when our whole civilization may be in danger; a GOOD, honest story - although quite obviously I don't agree with author's conclusion that we all ultimately "go into nothingness"..."Dark Heaven" by Gregory Benford - this novella begins very well, as a kind of "film noir" in a near future, soon after the First Contact with aliens from Alpha Centauri; but quite soon we go into the clichés: pandering to global warming hysteria, everything explained by just another "government conspiracy", US government routinely proceeding to extrajudicial killings of its own citizens on American soil and all of that must of course end with an obligatory dump on religion... (sigh)... Well written, very READABLE story, with some nice one-liners too, but sooo filled with clichés that reader risks an overdose...--------------------------------------------------CONCLUSION: all in all a honest, readable collection, mostly on the same satisfying level as the one from previous year. It can be a very pleasant reading experience - if we just do not expect too many fireworks. Enjoy!