From Booklist
Editor Dozois' ample annuals have long been considered the standard by which other best-of-the-year sf anthologies are judged. After two decades of his treasure troves of superlative sf, Dozois now sees fit to issue a retrospective compilation culling from all 20 of them. The results are breathtaking. Under one banner are assembled some of the best work of the genre's leading authors, from grandmasters Robert Silverberg, Gene Wolfe, and Ursula K. LeGuin to such rising stars as Stephen Baxter, Geoff Ryman, and James Patrick Kelly. A number of the selections are now considered classics--"Blood Music," Greg Bear's Hugo-winning exploration of nanotechnology, for instance, and "Bears Discover Fire," Terry Bisson's tongue-in-cheek consideration of future ursine evolution. While Dozois admits to selecting primarily personal favorites rather than following the more equitable formula of blending the older and the newer, he couldn't help producing a feast of good reading and an essential acquisition for virtually every sf library, anyway. Carl Hays
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Gardner Dozois's Year's Best Science Fiction anthology, an annual volume of gigantic size and awesome range, has after twenty years become a wondrous trove of great stories and an archive that has immeasurable historical significance. Now Dozois has selected the best of the best."
- Robert Silverberg

"If a science fiction fan from 1984 chanced to stumble into a time warp and pop up in the here and now, and wanted to know what had been happening in his favorite genre in the last twenty years, all you'd need to do was hand him a copy of Gardner Dozois's Best of the Best. This is two decades of the best that science fiction has to offer, chosen by the most respected editor in the field...a copy belongs on the shelf of every SF reader."
- George R. R. Martin, bestselling author of A Game of Thrones

"The short story is the heart of science fiction, and editor Gardner Dozois understands more about the short story and about science fiction than anybody else, which is what's made this series so terrific! But now, to have Gardner's picks for The Best of the Best collected all in one volume is beyond terrific! It'll make nonreaders of science fiction realize why the genre has so many devoted fans, and the readers of science fiction hyperventilate. This is the cream of the cream of the crop! And all in one place! I cannot wait to read it!"
- Connie Willis, winner of many Hugo and Nebula awards

"For more than a quarter century, Gardner Dozois's TheYear's Best Science Fiction has defined the field. It is the most important anthology, not only annually but overall."
- Charles N. Brown, publisher of Locus Magazine

"The title says it all. If you like science fiction, you need this book! Gardner Dozois is the savviest editor alive, and his picks are brilliant, thought-provoking, and immensely entertaining. Sell your grandmother if you must, but buy this book!"
- Michael Swanwick, winner of the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, and Theodore Sturgeon awards

"Dozois's 'Best of the Year' volumes have had consistently high literary quality. I've used them as a primary text for twenty years, teaching SF writing at MIT, and they always give the students interesting examples of the huge variety of stories that live under the SF tent."
- Joe Haldeman, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of The Forever War

"There is no one better qualified to edit this book. If Gardner Dozois says these are the best of the best, you can bet the farm on it. The best and most honored editor of the past twenty years selects the best and most honored stories of the past twenty years. It's a natural."
- Mike Resnick, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of Santiago


Book Description
For years, The Year's Best Science Fiction has been the most widely read short science fiction anthology of its kind. Now, after twenty-one annual collections, comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies, The Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction, in which legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the very best short stories for this landmark collection. Some notable stories include:

"The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin. Coming of age is a difficult passage for any adolescent, but couple that with the potential to be either sex and you've got a dilemma of seismic proportion. Bringing readers back to the world of her classic and best known novel, The Left Hand of Darkness, Le Guin creates a compelling and evocative story of transition.

"The Winter Market" by William Gibson. Called the SF Timothy Leary of our times, Gibson returns to the subject that made him a cultural icon, cyberpunk. People who know what they want are often lauded and honored in this society. But when those people start using others to get it, beware!

"Trinity" by Nancy Kress. People have searched for God since the dawn of time, but not until the new millennium did they think to find this celestial being through technology. Since soon after the series began, Kress has been an annual and esteemed contributor to The Year's Best Science Fiction.

Contributors include:
* Stephen Baxter * Greg Bear * William Bigson * Terry Bisson * Pat Cadigan * Ted Chiang * John Crowley * Tony Daniel * Greg Egan * Molly Gloss * Eileen Gunn * Joe Haldeman * James Patrick Kelly * John Kessel * Nancy Kress * Ursula K. Le Guin * Ian R. MacLeod * David Marusek * Paul McAuley * Ian McDonald * Maureen F. McHugh * Robert Reed * Mike Resnick * Geoff Ryman * William Sander * Lucius Shepard * Robert Silverberg * Brian Stableford * Bruce Sterling * Charles Stross * Michael Swanwick * Steven Utley * Howard Waldrop * Walter Jon Williams * Connie Willis * Gene Wolfe

With work spanning two decades, The Best of the Best stands as one of the ultimate science fiction anthologies ever published.


About the Author
Gardner Dozois has won the Hugo Award for Best Editor twelve times. The editor of Asimov's SF magazine since 1986, he lives in Philadelphia, Peensylvania.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
For the last two decades, Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction has been acclaimed as the preeminent annual anthology of short-form science fiction. The Best of the Best is an aptly titled collection of the very finest stories from the first 20 editions -- a collection that Robert Silverberg calls "a volume that takes its place instantly among the classic science-fiction anthologies of all time."

With stories from Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Joe Haldeman, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling, this massive collection is an absolute must-read for all those who call themselves fans of the genre. Greg Bear's "Blood Music" leads off the literary cavalcade with what Dozois describes as possibly "the first true nanotech story," a cautionary tale about a reckless scientist who injects himself with nucleoprotein microchips programmed to multiply and improve -- with civilization-altering results! Other entries include Michael Swanwick's "The Dead," which explores the ultimate cheap labor force; Stephen Baxter's "People Came from Earth," a sad look at humankind's future; Gene Wolfe's "A Cabin on the Coast," an eerie story about what happens when a man makes a deal with beings beyond his comprehension; and Terry Bisson's classic "Bears Discover Fire," a whimsical tale about bears boycotting hibernation, an old woman's dying wish, and the art of changing tires.

There's a reason why Dozois has won the Hugo Award 15 times for Best Editor, and there's a reason why this anthology is entitled The Best of the Best. Silverberg was right -- this is one of the strongest science fiction collections ever put together. Paul Goat Allen

FROM THE PUBLISHER