The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year 02

The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer. Publishers Weekly Australian anthologist Strahan's second annual "best of" collection is too small to hold all the great speculative stories of 2007, but it provides an excellent sampler, focusing on the recent trend of interstitiality. Kelly Link's "The Constable of Abal," which revolves around an unscrupulous fortuneteller and her daughter's search for home, is equal parts fantasy, coming-of-age tale and unconventional ghost story. Ken MacLeod's "Jesus Christ, Reanimator," about the inglorious Second Coming of a blogging messiah from outer space, wraps social commentary in sardonic science fiction. Holly Black's poignant "The Coat of Stars" blends together elements of folklore and urban grit to create an unlikely and deeply moving story about love and loss. If these 24 stories are any indication, SF and fantasy are continuing their evolution-or "dissolution," as Strahan calls it-just as they always have: through innovative writers re-examining conventions and redefining boundaries. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer. A Baghdad merchant encounters an alchemist who may have conquered time; a socialite, a miniature elephant, and a butler attempt to survive a coup masquerading as a wild soiree; a pair of scientists, their species altered in order that they may perform research on an alien world, find themselves embroiled in an interplanetary conflict; a young man begins to question his faith in God when he encounters the remains of a race of tool-using hominids; a warrior treads a grisly path as he strives to stop a rogue wizard's influence; a woman born with her heart outside her body finds solace in the arms of a heartless man; the messiah returns to earth, with disappointing news about the afterlife; figures out of myth and legend do battle with an enemy armed with a frightening weapon...the ability to steal away language itself; a girl and her fortune-teller mother travel the countryside, collecting ghosts. The depth and breadth of science fiction and fantasy fiction continues to change with every passing year. The twenty-five stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully map this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 2 features stories by Stephen Baxter, Peter S. Beagle, Holly Black, Ted Chiang, Greg Egan, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Susan Palwick, Bruce Sterling, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, and many others Gathers stories by such writers as Neil Gaiman, Peter S. Beagle, Cory Doctorow, Jeffrey Ford, Walter Jon Williams, Tim Powers, Gene Wolfe, Connie Willis, and Robert Reed