The Year's Top Tales of Space and Time 2. edited by Allan Kaster. 2022
THE YEAR’S TOP TALES OF SPACE AND TIME: 2.
RATED 85% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 4.00 OF 5
10 STORIES : 2 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
One of the reasons I love Science Fiction Anthologies is that they are creatively curated paths through the genre. In the 2020s, Sci-fi is so diverse and expansive that a Year’s Best always runs the risk of seeming too random. Allan Kaster’s anthologies seem to benefit from a tighter focus, as shown by this very solid entry.
However, this anthology isn’t quite what you’d expect, but that’s part of the charm. Space Science Fiction? That’s pretty self-explanatory. Time Science Fiction? Most readers will assume time travel, but in this book “time” tends to mean alternate history. Which isn’t a problem at all, but was a bit surprising.
It was two of the Alternate History stories that made The Great List:
“A Rocket for Dimitrios” by Ray Nayler. Copyright © 2021 In an alternate history where America became the dominant power in WWII because of crashed alien technology, a woman who can search the mental pathways of the dead is send to Istanbul. The person she is supposed to investigate could possibly hold the secret of a second crashed spaceship. That would change the world.
“The Dark Ride” by John Kessel. Copyright © 2021. The intersection of the assassination of President McKinley in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz with a ‘theme-park style’ ride to the moon and Leon’s involvement with their war. There is a lot more here as well with interesting picture of the time period and the psychological profile of the killer. Well done.
THE YEAR’S TOP TALES OF SPACE AND TIME: 2 IS RATED 85% POSITIVE
10 STORIES : 2 GREAT / 6 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
“A Rocket for Dimitrios” by Ray Nayler. Copyright © 2021
Great. In an alternate history where America became the dominant power in WWII because of crashed alien technology, a woman who can search the mental pathways of the dead is send to Istanbul. The person she is supposed to investigate could possibly hold the secret of a second crashed spaceship. That would change the world.
“Dream Atlas” by Michael Swanwick. Copyright © 2021
Average. A light and frivolous story about a lucid dreamer who is given the opportunity to become a wealthy genius in the future, but she might not want to take that opportunity.
“Mulberry and Owl” by Aliette de Bodard. Copyright © 2021
Good. Set in the Xuya Universe, it tells the story of a rebel who offers to repair a spaceship that loves to torture, in return for clearing the name of an oath-sister.
“Antonia and the Stranger Who Came to Rancho Los Feliz” by Lisa Morton. Copyright © 2021
Average. Readable - if slightly old fashioned- story about a woman from an alternate history California who comes across an injured man from a hellish alternate universe.
“The Station of the Twelfth” by Chaz Brenchley. Copyright © 2021
Good. A quiet contemplative travel piece for a monorail station that honors a Martian battalion that was sacrificed during a battle on a foreign moon.
“The Burning Girl” by Carrie Vaughn. Copyright © 2021
Good. A batch of super-powered power wage war for William the Conqueror. This is way better than it should be. The characterization of Joan the protagonist is quite well done and we seen this alternate historical world through her eyes.
“Sleep and the Soul” by Greg Egan. Copyright © 2021
Good. Interested alternate history where Jesus stayed awake on the cross and therefore any loss of unconsciousness is perceived as death. One man digs himself out of his premature burial after a head injury, is rejected by his family, and eventually becomes a spokesperson for the idea that sleep isn’t death. Weird, but interesting
“A Pall of Moondust” by Nick Wood. Copyright © 2021
Good. The trauma of space exploration is shown in this story of a woman who sees two coworkers die of explosive decompressing and has trouble returning to the surface of the moon.
“Re: Bubble 476” by A. T. Greenblatt. Copyright © 2021
Good. An epistolary story with messages sent between two friends who are each working on experiments in alternate “Bubble Universes.” But the messages seem to b e
“The Dark Ride” by John Kessel. Copyright © 2021
Great. The intersection of the assassination of President McKinley in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz with a ‘theme-park style’ ride to the moon and Leon’s involvement with their war. There is a lot more here as well with interesting picture of the time period and the psychological profile of the killer. Well done.
