Reviews for The best from fantasy & science fiction

The average rating for The best from fantasy & science fiction based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-07-10 00:00:00 Deidre Doherty Despite the title, it's really the editors' picks of the best stories they published from 1993 to 1998. Many of these I've previously read. As you will see, many are award winners. I've added links to stories available online. Despite the all-star cast, many of these stories weren't quite to my taste. Often a problem (for me) with F&SF stories. Hence the 3 star overall rating, despite some truly outstanding stories. Good anthology, particularly if you are a fan of F&SF magazine. TOC: X = no online copy found == X • Last Summer at Mars Hill • (1994) • novella by Elizabeth Hand. Won World Fantasy and Nebula Awards. Well-written story of fairies (sort of) at a rundown summer village on the coast of Maine. 3 stars. • Maneki Neko • (1998) • short story by Bruce Sterling. 6 stars! One of his very best. Locus award winner, Runner-up for Hugo. X • No Planets Strike • (1997) • short story by Gene Wolfe. Hugo Award nominee. Circus act on an alien planet. Cute short SF, 3 stars X • Sins of the Mothers • (1997) • short story by Sharon N. Farber [as by S. N. Dyer]. Wildflower meets her son, who she gave up for adoption shortly after his birth. Now he's a rich asshole Rock star, and he wants something from her. Good, but hasn't aged well? 3+ stars. X • The Finger • (1995) • short story by Ray Vukcevich. Fantasy superpower: flipping the Finger! 3 stars. X • Lifeboat on a Burning Sea • (1995) • novelette by Bruce Holland Rogers; won Nebula Award. Good early AI story, 3 stars X • Gone • (1996) • short story by John Crowley. Won Locus, nominated for Hugo and Sturgeon Awards. Alien mothership drops "Elmer" household robots. Huh, 2.5 stars X • First Tuesday • (1996) • short story by Robert Reed. President Perez is coming to dinner, virtually, at every dinner table in the nation. Sharp & clever bit of prognostication. 4+ stars. • The Fool, the Stick, and the Princess • (1998) • short story by Rachel Pollack, Cute fractured fairy tale: the Fool gets the Princess. Nice, 3.5 stars X • A Birthday • (1995) • short story by Esther M. Friesner. Won Nebula, nominated for Hugo Award. A young woman who follows the virtual life of her aborted daughter. Eh, 2.5 stars. X • Sensible City • (1994) • short story by Harlan Ellison. Two bad cops, convicted murderers, encounter an uncanny green Thing. Eh, 2.5 stars. X • All the Birds of Hell • (1998) • novelette by Tanith Lee. Well-written, surrealistic but gloomy story of a future Ice Age. 3 stars X • We Love Lydia Love • (1994) • novelette by Bradley Denton. Rock star fantasy stuff. Still pretty good, but didn't hold up to reread. 2.5 stars? • Paul and Me • (1997) • short story by Michael Blumlein. Three encounters with Paul Bunyan in the North country. Revisionist portrait of the folk hero. 3.5 stars. Backstory: X • Have Gun, Will Edit • [Plumage from Pegasus] • (1996) • vignette by Paul Di Filippo. Entertaining riff on an old writer's saw re the competition. 4 stars? X • Forget Luck • (1996) • short story by Kate Wilhelm. Just how lucky are you? An aging professor and the FBI want to know... Clever, 3+ stars X • Quinn's Way • (1997) • novelette by Dale Bailey. The circus is coming to a tiny WV town, Two boys sneak out to see it... Gritty stuff, 2.5 stars • Partial People • (1993) • vignette by Terry Bisson. VERY short, entertaining, slight. 3 stars? • The Lincoln Train • (1995) • short story by Maureen F. McHugh. Won Hugo and Locus Awards, nominated for Nebula. Southerners are being deported to Oklahoma Territory after the War. Grim but sort-of hopeful too. 3 stars. X • Another Fine Mess • (1995) • short story by Ray Bradbury. Of course it's about Laurel & Hardy! Details are here, (scroll down), and he sold the story to F&SF. Fine nostalgia-piece set in a black and white L.A. 4 stars. X • Solitude [Hainish] • (1994) • novelette by Ursula K. Le Guin. Won Nebula, nominated for Hugo and Locus awards. A girl, a boy and their mother, living in a damaged world among damaged people. They all get by, somehow. 6 stars! ---- A good review online:

Review # 2 was written on 2017-10-09 00:00:00 Ben Fitzgerald [The funniest passage begins with the hitman talking to an author who is hiring him. (To understand this, you have to know that "SFWA" stands for "Science Fiction Writers of America"): "I'm an independent contractor, a freelancer. Just like you." ... Hearing this, he perked up a little. "A freelancer. Why, of course. Quite understandable. Why I suppose you people even have your own trade organization something like the Ess-Eff-Double-You-Ay?" "Not quite so vicious. But yes, we do." (hide spoiler)]