- Paperback: 528 pages
- Publisher: Eos; 1 edition (Jun 24 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060594268
- ISBN-13: 978-0060594268
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.1 x 3.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 581 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #640,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The 18 Locus Award–winning novelettes and short stories selected for this solid anthology by Brown, the longtime editor/publisher of the influential SF/fantasy news magazine, and Strahan, the mag'sreviews editor, show how SF and fantasy have matured from the 1970s to the present. Standouts include Harlan Ellison's nostalgic tale of unchanging age, "Jeffty Is Five"; Octavia E. Butler's boundary-stretching "Bloodchild," in which an intelligent alien race uses human beings both as pets and as repositories for their grubs; John Kessel's poignant, semi-autobiographical "Buffalo," about a meeting of Kessel's blue-collar father with his idol, H.G. Wells, in 1934; and Neil Gaiman's wistful homage to Ray Bradbury, "October in the Chair." Gene Wolfe's "The Death of Doctor Island" and Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Day Before the Revolution" are also fine stories, but others don't succeed as well. The youngster who wants to fly the space-lanes in James Tiptree Jr.'s "The Only Neat Thing to Do" inevitably reflects the larger-than-life heroics of earlier genre fiction. Connie Willis's "Even the Queen" tries to be both feminist and humorous, but comes off as a sitcom pilot, while Bruce Sterling's "Maneki Neko" is too cute by a Pokémon and a half. The volume concludes with a list of previous winners in a wide range of categories.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From School Library Journal
Adult/High School–This outstanding anthology presents "the best of the best," culled from 30 years of awards. It includes many of the now-classic stories that have become emblematic of major developments in the genre, such as James Tiptree, Jr.'s "The Only Neat Thing to Do" (still a must-read for any serious teenage science-fiction reader) and Terry Bisson's remarkable "Bears Discover Fire." The most recent awards present the brilliant new writer Ted Chiang and the popular and critically acclaimed Neil Gaiman. Other masters of science fiction and fantasy short fiction represented here: Gene Wolf, Ursula K. LeGuin, Harlan Ellison, John Varley, George R.R. Martin, Joanna Russ, Octavia E. Butler, Pat Murphy, Lucius Shepard, Connie Willis, John Kessel, John Crowley, Bruce Sterling, and Greg Egan. A brief introduction to the author's career precedes each story. Whether readers are catching up on legendary science fiction and fantasy, becoming reacquainted with old favorites, or grazing the field in hopes of discovering new ones, this anthology delivers some of the finest science fiction and fantasy ever written.–Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
GENE WOLFE was born in New York in 1931, served in the Korean War, and graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in mechanical engineering. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
GENE WOLFE was born in New York in 1931, served in the Korean War, and graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in mechanical engineering. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Anthology,
By
This review is from: The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Paperback)
Of all the anthologies of fantasy and science fiction I have plowed through, this one contained the lowest percentage of filler. The genre is a landscape flooded with juvenile sensibility. A few tall peaks break the water to form islands of interest. One can exhaust one's self searching for these far-flung islands in one's little canoe of curiosity. This volume creates an archipelago of interesting work. Standouts for me were the stories by Gene Wolfe, John Varley, Terry Bisson, Lucius Shepard, Harlan Ellison, Octavia Butler, and Pat Murphy. This would be a good book to point your non-genre-reading friends to, if they are curious about the field, but don't know where to start reading.
4.0 out of 5 stars
delightful sampling,
By
This review is from: The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Paperback)
This strong tome provides readers with a delightful sampling of some of the winning shorts and novellas over the last thirty years. The collection is balanced as four entries represent the 1970s; six from the 1980s; five from the 1990s; and three from the 2000s. The contributors are a who's who of the two genres (not surprising since this prestigious award is selected by a vote of Locus magazine readers) to include greats like Harlan Ellison, George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolfe and Ursula K. Le Guin, etc. Each selection is well written, but some of the tales, surprisingly especially from the 1990s, feel dated; incredibly, the seventies and eighties hold up quite well and besides a bit of nostalgia remain terrific entries. Readers, especially those of the magazine, will appreciate the eighteen selections that make up "thirty years of the best in science fiction and fantasy".Harriet Klausner
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews) 4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Australian SF Reader,
By Blue Tyson "- Research Finished" - Published on Amazon.com
Another of those big fat fun science fiction anthologies. The editors try and choose a slightly different batch of stories to get some that are not published as often, in general, and seem to do a pretty good job. The intro about the start of Locus is interesting, but fairly brief.
Bears Discover Fire, Border Guards, and others can be found here. Multiple 5 star stories here, but also a couple of duds, that drag it down a bit. Neil Gaiman with so many fans in different media and genres could probably publish a tricked out shopping list and get an award. The Death of Doctor Island by Gene Wolfe The Day before the Revolution by Ursula K. Le Guin Jeffy is Five by Harlan Ellison The Persistence of Vision by John Varley The Way of Cross and Dragon by George R.R. Martin Souls by Joanna Russ Bloodchild by Octavia E. Butler The Only Neat Thing to Do by James Tiptree Jr. Rachel in Love by Pat Murphy The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daughter by Lucius Shepard Bears Discover Fire by Terry Bisson Buffalo by John Kessel Even the Queen by Connie Willis Gone by John Crowley Maneki Neko by Bruce Sterling Border Guards by Gred Egan Hell Is the Absence of God by Ted Chiang October in the Chair by Neil Gaiman Isolated mental adjustment. 3.5 out of 5 Political extroversion is tiring. 4 out of 5 Parents eventual terminal lack of patience with kid with the brilliant new old stuff. 5 out of 5 Communication fuller but lots weirder with fewer senses. 4.5 out of 5 Judas Star Knights. 3.5 out of 5 Nun of that Viking stuff here. 4.5 out of 5 Parasite pregnancy punishing for people. 3 out of 5 Far Traveller broken by bitty brainbiter, makes combo decision to go out in early Pink Floyd style. 5 out of 5 The life of a superintelligent chimp, the result of scientific experimentation into sign language. She is helped by some humans. 3.5 out of 5 Rape escapee dragon prisoner junkie. 3.5 out of 5 Hibernatin's a big ol' waste of time. 4 out of 5 H.G's yankeeland tour shows he is no fan of E.R.B. but pleased with the average Jack thinking about the future. 4 out of 5 Angels are uninsurable, and the Underworld lacks all the really cool torments. 3.5 out of 5 The bleeding right to live how you like, mate. 4 out of 5 Alien dishwasher's other use. 3 out of 5 Network of favors. 4 out of 5 It is about human immortals, and how they deal with people and society when living so long. One man joins back into life, and meets the best quantum soccer player going around, and loses a friend. The discovery is made is that she is one of the earliest immortals, instrumental in posthuman travel to other planets, and knows what death is actually like, and has to work out how to relate to the new people. Now, I can't get this story out of my head, like happens with songs sometimes, so, I am upgrading this, 5 stars, given I reread it recently and hadn't read it for quite a wihle. And, as far as Australian goes, as far as pixel-stained technopeasant wretches, well, I'd hate to be caught paraphasing the Devil Went Down to Georgia, but, he's the best there's even been. 5 out of 5 Monthly avatar stories that most of them don't even like. 2 out of 5 5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great collection of SciFi and Fantasy Stories -- But....,
By HARRISON CHUA - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy (Paperback)
This is a great collection of SciFi and Fantasy Stories -- BUT.... some of the stories written in the 1970s and 1980s have a nostalgic quality about them...
The great thing about new SciFi stories are the fact that the stories have improved leaps and bounds as each year goes by... The sensibilities of stories change, and so does the sensibilities of the science behind them. Styles of writing changes too -- think about the style of writing as the years have progressed: Isaac Asimov's writing, Philip K. Dick's writing, Orson Scott Card's writing, Tad Williams' writing, Ted Chiang's writing etc. -- all have progressed in terms of their prose and sensibility behind the stories. Personally, I think some of the earlier stories are a bit dated. They're good... but nothing to tell your friends about. Buy it if you're curious about which stories won the awards.... 0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid Collection,
By George L. Duncan "verogolfer" - Published on Amazon.com
Very good science fiction tales except the editor has a soft spot for anti-religious (or anti-God, anti-Christian stories, no anti-Islam stories here). But I've found them rather superficial, and not really thought-provoking. But other stories are excellent examples of the field.
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
