The Year's Best Science Fiction on Earth. edited by Allan Kaster. 2023
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION ON EARTH
RATED 96% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE 4.15 OF 5
13 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 9 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
“The riches are in the niches”
Science Fiction fans love to argue about their favorite sub-genre. Is it hard sci-fi or soft? Time travel or space opera. Robots, aliens, cyberpunk, solarpunk, and many more. Allan Kaster has made a nice name for himself mining those science fictional niches. He is the editor of Best of the Year Anthologies that don’t even try to encompass the enormous sprawling genre, but instead focus on a single genre: Hard Science Fiction, Robot and A.I., Short Novels (novellas), and even audiobooks. In the process, he has carved his own space in the genre at a time when paying to read short sci-fi is becoming increasingly passé.
With “The Year’s Best Science Fiction of Earth,” Kaster launches a new Best of the Year niche anthology. SF stories set on planet Earth. It is a genre that I never even thought as one, but “Curation is Creation." This book is a powerful launch to the series -which I strongly hope sells well enough to continue. It comes it with one of highest percentage positive of any anthology reviewed since the start of this review blog. 96%
In curating earthbound science fiction from 2022, Allan Kaster shows his current preoccupations, which I consider a good thing. The stories focus on action-packed cyberpunk, contemplative melacholy about climate change, body horror, and workers caught in oppressive business systems.
He also seems to have written an introduction, for the first time in his editing career. I hope it continues and that Kaster expands it in the future.
Three of the Stories Join My Own Curated Best of All Time List:
“The Cottage in Omena” by Charles Andrew Oberndorf copyright © 2022 A chilling masterpiece of a novella. A woman returns to a cabin on a Michigan lake. She hasn’t been there since “The Incident” and she is obviously carrying some intense emotion damage. Slowly, the situation will be revealed through flashbacks that raise the hair on a back of the neck. There is an enormous amount of near future sci-fi invention happening here, but it is in the service of great characters and well paced creepy writing.
“The White Leopard” by Michael Swanwick copyright © 2022 Ray is a former military drone operator. He is retired and unhappy until he rebuilds a ground surveillance drone and starts hunting at night.
“The Empty” by Ray Nayler copyright © 2022 Life is tough in a world where A.I. has automated everything and a few humans struggle for the jobs of overseeing them. Sal manages the high-speed self-driving transportation trucks. When one breaks down in the middle of the empty desert, she will risk her life and livelihood to discover why. What she finds there will change her forever.
More Allan Kaster Anthologies Reviewed on this Site
THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION ON EARTH
13 STORIES : 3 GREAT / 9 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNF
“Quandary Aminu vs the Butterfly Man” by Rich Larson copyright © 2022
Good. An adrenaline-fueled action-cyberpunk story in which a small time criminal is hunted by a bioengineered assassin with a shortened lifespan. Larson is crisp and clear at each moment of the story and the reader fully understands the situation and the stakes.
“The Ferryman” by Saad Z. Hossain copyright © 2022
Good. A bittersweet story of a man who collects and buries the dead in a world where almost no one dies except the very poor and the unlucky.
“The White Leopard” by Michael Swanwick copyright © 2022
Great. Ray is a former military drone operator. He is retired and unhappy until he rebuilds a ground surveillance drone and starts hunting at night.
“Solidity” copyright by Greg Egan © 2022
Good. While daydreaming in a class, a young boy involuntarily transports to an alternate universe. The physical world seems the same, but all the people are different. He quickly discovers that people randomly change to alternate versions when you aren’t staring directly at them. A very interesting multiverse concept and played out with pathos and experimental rationality. My only gripe is an unsatisfying ending.
“Pollen and Salt” by Octavia Cade copyright © 2022
Good. A melancholy mood-piece about grief of a loved one combined with grief of the earth dying from climate change.
“The Cottage in Omena” by Charles Andrew Oberndorf copyright © 2022
Great. A chilling masterpiece of a novella. A woman returns to a cabin on a Michigan lake. She hasn’t been there since “The Incident” and she is obviously carrying some intense emotion damage. Slowly, the situation will be revealed through flashbacks that raise the hair on a back of the neck. There is an enormous amount of near future sci-fi invention happening here, but it is in the service of great characters and well paced creepy writing.
“Inheritance” by Hannah Yang copyright © 2022
Good. A daughter struggles with whether to accept the mind and memories of her mother with whom she had a fraught relationship.
“After the Storm” by James Bradley copyright © 2022
Average. A story about planting mangroves and a back relationship with parents.
“The Empty” by Ray Nayler copyright © 2022
Great. Life is tough in a world where A.I. has automated everything and a few humans struggle for the jobs of overseeing them. Sal manages the high-speed self-driving transportation trucks. When one breaks down in the middle of the empty desert, she will risk her life and livelihood to discover why. What she finds there will change her forever.
“Optimist Cleaver’s Last Transmission” by J. C. Hsyu copyright © 2022
Good. Another fun bit of urban action with a strong Korean flavor. A courier mission has gone bad. A friend is in the hospital. And Optimist Cleaver is trying to discover what happened and put it right. Set in a dystopian Los Angeles.
“Coyoteland” by Evan Marcroft copyright © 2022
Good. The USA has splintered in hundreds of small states. Some borders are policed by people. Some by A.I. and technology. Our main character is a coyote who takes a job to cross quite a few borders too quickly, even though he knows it is a bad idea. Lots of action and a very interesting look at an UnUnited future America.
“When the Tide Rises” by Sarah Gailey copyright © 2022
Good. An underwater sea-urchin hunter is looking for a way to escape her ‘company town', or at least be able to afford upgrades.
“The Talosite” by Rebecca Campbell copyright © 2022
Good. In case World War One wasn’t bad enough, here is a stomach-turning alternate history. An obsessive scientist uses the bodies of the dead and creates monstrosities to send back into war. A detailed and hideously effective story
