I look forward every year to the publication of the long-running anthology series, The Year's Best Science Fiction, edited by Gardner Dozois; this year it's up to the 28th edition, and I'm pleased to note that it's still going strong. As always with such anthologies, different readers will prefer different stories, but no one can deny the quality of the work throughout. This crop includes short stories and novellas by Allen M. Steele, the late great Kage Baker, Eleanor Arnason, Joe Haldeman, Cory Doctorow, Naomi Novik, David Moles, Michael Swanwick, Alastair Reynolds and Robert Reed, among others; I particularly liked the Steele, Baker, Haldeman, Swanwick and Arnason stories, but no doubt other readers will prefer other stories. If you're interested in science/speculative fiction (as it's more often being called these days), particularly in short form, this is an invaluable book. Dozois also gives us a comprehensive Summation at the beginning of the book, which tracks the state of the sf field in books, art, film and television, and a lengthy Honorable Mention list at the end, which helpfully includes the magazines or anthologies or websites where those stories were originally published so that the interested reader can track them down him- or herself. Very highly recommended; if you read only one anthology of science fiction tales, make it this one! ( )

An excellent collection of stories from the past year.