Search Results for: Strahan

New Treasures: The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Volume Seven, edited by Jonathan Strahan

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I always look forward to the Best of the Year anthologies. It’s an annual ritual, like the arrival of spring, heralding new hope and rebirth for the land. Or something. Over the next few months, we’ll see several of them, from Rich Horton, David Hartwell, Gardner Dozois, Stephen Jones, and Paula Guran, just to name a few. But the season kicks off every year with Jonathan Strahan’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, certainly one of the most interesting…

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New Treasures: Engineering Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

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Original science fiction and fantasy anthologies have had a tough time of it over the past few years, with some of the most promising and rewarding series — including Lou Ander’s excellent Fast Foward, and George Mann’s ambitious and highly readable Solaris Book of New Science Fiction and Solaris Book of New Fantasy — being discontinued. One of the best of the new anthologists is Jonathan Strahan, whose acclaimed Eclipse series returns this May with Volume 4.  While we wait, Strahan…

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Vintage Treasures: The Augmented Agent by Jack Vance

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The Augmented Agent (Ace Books, September 1988). Cover by Terry Oakes I need to read more Jack Vance. It’s not hard to do. Virtually all of his short fiction has been collected over the years, in places like the five-volume The Early Jack Vance, edited by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan, and the massive The Jack Vance Treasury. Of course, those are small press collections, and if you’re looking for a more affordable way to dip your toe into the…

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New Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven edited by Neil Clarke

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The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven (Night Shade, September 5, 2023). Cover by Thomas Chamberlain-Keen It’s been distressing to watch the havoc the pandemic played with many Year’s Best Science Fiction volumes. The 13th volume of Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, published by Prime Books, was delayed a year and produced in a digital only edition last year, and now that series seems to be dead. Jonathan Strahan’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction…

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Vintage Treasures: The Flashing Swords! Original Anthologies, edited by Lin Carter

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Paperback editions of Flashing Swords! #1-5 (Dell Books, 1973-1981). Covers by Frank Frazetta (1 & 2), Don Maitz (3 & 4), and Richard Corben Lin Carter is best remembered these days as the editor in charge of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy line, which was by any measure a monumental achievement, bringing back into print a truly impressive array of important fantasy books, many in serious danger of being forgotten. But Carter’s career extended beyond that. He was a very prolific…

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In 500 Words or Less: End of 2022 Round-Up!

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The Bone Shard Emperor, Finish, and The Kaiju Preservation Society (Orbit, Portfolio, and Tor Books) Oh man, what a year, people. I won’t bore you with the details, but you already got a glimpse of my debut novel Catalyst, and there was additional coolness on top of that. See my bio below for the title of my first games writing publication, and some of the recent spots for my short fiction. We’re here to talk books, though, and I’ll freely admit that I…

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Random Reviews: “Yuli” by Daniel Abraham

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“Yuli” is a character study of a mercenary who has retired and is taking care of his teenage grandson. Unexpectedly living in a small house in the US, Yuli has allowed himself to lose the edge he held as an elite mercenary. He sits around his house all day, chain smoking and drinking, occasionally eating at a local diner where some other former mercenaries get together. He listens to his grandson playing a fantasy role-playing game as their conversation comes…

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New Treasures: The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Six edited by Neil Clarke

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The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Six (Night Shade, January 25, 2022). Cover by Pascal Blanché It’s here at last! The sixth volume of Neil Clarke’s Best Science Fiction of the Year, long-delayed by supply chain disruptions, pandemic publishing panic, and maybe Pacific pirates — I honestly have no idea. But it’s here. And packed full of stories from the long-ago era of 2020, when the pandemic was fresh and new, everyone was ordering their first masks, and…

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One From the Bucket List: The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories: Second Annual Collection edited by Allan Kaster

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The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories: Second Annual Collection (Infinivox, November 21, 2021). Cover by Maurizio Manzieri I’ve been reading and writing about Year’s Best volumes for decades, and I’ve covered a lot of them, including anthologies by Terry Carr, Don Wollheim, Harry Harrison and Brian Aldiss, Gardner Dozois, Jonathan Strahan, Rich Horton, Neil Clarke, and many others. So I hope you can appreciate what a pleasure it was to receive a copy of Allan Kaster’s The Year’s Top…

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Close to the Borders of Fairyland: Dark Breakers by C.S.E. Cooney

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Dark Breakers by CSE Cooney (Mythic Delirium, February 15, 2022). Cover by Brett Massé It’s been a delight watching the meteoric career of C.S.E. Cooney, Black Gate‘s first Website Editor. Her short fiction has been reprinted in Jonathan Strahan’s The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year and Rich Horton’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy (five times); her novella “The Bone Swans of Amandale” was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2015, and in 2016 she won a World…

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