Year’s Best SF 18

Time travel proves too tempting for an expecting mother. A girl’s imaginary friend is more than her mother suspects. A scientist’s experiments into wireless communication in the 1800s have monstrous consequences. A specialist in finding rare items tries to locate a missing woman. A man is contacted by his old desktop computer. A spaceship disaster causes two cultures to collide. Eco-warriors oppose the colonization of Antarctica.

Year’s Best SF 18 is exactly that, a compilation of first-class stories that span the spectrum of contemporary science fiction. What’s striking about this collection is the emotional component. Now, quality science fiction is no stranger to emotion; it thrives on combining the possibilities of science with the human element. But this collection tips the scale toward the human element, and it’s to the reader’s benefit. These are heartfelt, fascinating worlds… some are funny, some are heartbreaking, some are staggering in scope, but they’re all utterly engaging, and all but a few avoid the trespass of alienating readers with too much tech jargon or vocab.

These stories are accessible, wonderfully so, a true testament to the beating heart of sci-fi.