Mammoth Book of Best New SF 19 Read online

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  Also by Gardner Dozois

  ANTHOLOGIES

  A DAY IN THE LIFE

  ANOTHER WORLD

  BEST SCIENCE FICTION STORIES OF THE YEAR, #6-10

  THE BEST OF ISAAC ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE

  TIME TRAVELERS FROM ISAAC ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE

  TRANSCENDENTAL TALES FROM ISAAC ASIMOV’S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S ALIENS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S MARS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S SF LITE

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S WAR

  ROADS NOT TAKEN (with Stanley Schmidt)

  THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION, #1-18

  FUTURE EARTHS: UNDER AFRICAN SKIES (with Mike Resnick)

  FUTURE EARTHS: UNDER SOUTH AMERICAN SKIES (with Mike Resnick)

  RIPPER! (with Susan Casper)

  MODERN CLASSICS OF SCIENCE FICTION

  MODERN CLASSIC SHORT NOVELS OF SCIENCE FICTION

  MODERN CLASSICS OF FANTASY

  KILLING ME SOFTLY

  DYING FOR IT

  THE GOOD OLD STUFF

  THE GOOD NEW STUFF

  EXPLORERS

  THE FURTHEST HORIZON

  WORLDMAKERS

  SUPERMEN

  COEDITED WITH SHEILA WILLIAMS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S PLANET EARTH

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S ROBOTS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S VALENTINES

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S SKIN DEEP

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S GHOSTS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S VAMPIRES

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S MOONS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S CHRISTMAS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S CAMELOT

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S WEREWOLVES

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S SOLAR SYSTEM

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S DETECTIVES

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S CYBERDREAMS

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S FATHER’S DAY

  ISAAC ASIMOV’S HALLOWEEN

  COEDITED WITH JACK DANN

  ALIENS!

  UNICORNS!

  MAGICATS!

  MAGICATS 2

  BESTIARY!

  MERMAIDS!

  SORCERERS!

  DEMONS!

  DOGTALES!

  SEASERPENTS!

  DINOSAURS!

  LITTLE PEOPLE!

  DRAGONS!

  HORSES!

  UNICORNS 2

  INVADERS!

  ANGELS!

  DINOSAURS II

  HACKERS

  TIMEGATES

  CLONES

  NANOTECH

  IMMORTALS

  GENOMETRY

  SPACE WARS

  FICTION

  STRANGERS

  THE VISIBLE MAN (collection)

  NIGHTMARE BLUE (with George Alec Effenger)

  SLOW DANCING THROUGH TIME (with Jack Dann, Michael Swanwick, Susan Casper, and Jack C. Haldeman II)

  THE PEACEMAKER

  GEODESIC DREAMS (collection)

  STRANGE DAYS: FABULOUS JOURNEYS WITH GARDNER DOZOIS (collection)

  NONFICTION

  THE FICTION OF JAMES TIPTREE, JR.

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  THE YEAR’S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: NINETEENTH ANNUAL COLLECTION. Copyright © 2002 by Gardner Dozois. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.stmartins.com

  eISBN 0-312-70718-5

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  Acknowledgment is Made for Permission to Reprint the Following Material:

  “New Light on the Drake Equation,” by Ian R. MacLeod. Copyright © 2001 by SCIFI.COM. First published electronically on SCI FICTION, May 23, 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, Susan Ann Protter.

  “More Adventures on Other Planets,” by Michael Cassutt. Copyright © 2001 by SCIFI.COM. First published electronically on SCI FICTION, January 10, 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “On K2 with Kanakaredes,” by Dan Simmons. Copyright © 2001 by Dan Simmons. First published in Redshift (Roc), edited by Al Sarrantonio. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “When This World Is All on Fire,” by William Sanders. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Computer Virus,” by Nancy Kress. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, April 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Have Not Have,” by Geoff Ryman. Copyright © 2001 by Spilogale, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Lobsters,” by Charles Stross. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Dog Said Bow-Wow,” by Michael Swanwick. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Chief Designer,” by Andy Duncan. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Neutrino Drag,” by Paul Di Filippo. Copyright © 2001 by SCIFI.COM. First published electronically on SCI FICTION, August 22, 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Glacial,” by Alastair Reynolds. Copyright © 2001 by Alastair Reynolds. First published in Spectrum SF 5. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Days Between,” by Allen Steele. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, March 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “One-Horse Town,” by Howard Waldrop and Leigh Kennedy. Copyright © 2001 by SCIFI.COM. First published electronically on SCI FICTION, March 4, 2001. Reprinted by permission of the authors.

  “Moby Quilt,” by Eleanor Arnason. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, May 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agents, the Virginia Kidd Literary Agency.

  “Raven Dream,” by Robert Reed. Copyright © 2001 by Spilogale, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Undone,” by James Patrick Kelly. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Real Thing,” by Carolyn Ives Gilman. Copyright © 2001 by Spilogale, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Interview: On Any Given Day,” by Maureen F. McHugh. Copyright © 2001 by Maureen F. McHugh. First published in Starlight 3 (Tor), edited by Patrick Neilsen Hayden. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Isabel of the Fall,” by Ian R. MacLeod. Copyright © 2001 by Interzone. First published in Interzone, July 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, Susan Ann Protter.

  “Into Greenwood,” by Jim Grimsley. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines. First published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Know How, Can Do,” by Michael Blumlein. Copyright © 2001 by Spilogale, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Russian Vine,” by Simon Ings. Copyright © 2001 by SCIFI.COM. First published electronically on SCI FICTION, June 6, 2001. Reprinted by permissi
on of the author.

  “The Two Dicks,” by Paul McAuley. Copyright © 2001 by Spilogale, Inc. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “May Be Some Time,” by Brenda W. Clough. Copyright © 2001 by Dell Magazines, Inc. First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, April 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “Marcher,” by Chris Beckett. Copyright © 2001 by Interzone. First published in Interzone, October 2001. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  “The Human Front,” by Ken MacLeod. Copyright © 2001 by Ken MacLeod. First published as a chapbook, The Human Front (PS Publishing). Reprinted by permission of the author.

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  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Summation: 2001

  Ian R. MacLeod

  Michael Cassutt

  Dan Simmons

  William Sanders

  Nancy Kress

  Geoff Ryman

  Charles Stross

  Michael Swanwick

  Andy Duncan

  Paul Di Filippo

  Alastair Reynolds

  Allen M. Steele

  Howard Waldrop and Leigh Kennedy

  Eleanor Arnason

  Robert Reed

  James Patrick Kelly

  Carolyn Ives Gilman

  Maureen F. McHugh

  Ian R. MacLeod

  Jim Grimsley

  Michael Blumlein

  Simon Ings

  Paul McAuley 528

  Brenda W. Clough

  Chris Beckett

  Ken MacLeod

  Honorable Mentions: 2001

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  Acknowledgments

  The editor would like to thank the following people for their help and support: Susan Casper, Ellen Datlow, Craig Engler, Peter Crowther, Paul Frazier, Mark R. Kelly, Gordon Van Gelder, David Pringle, Mark Watson, Eileen Gunn, Sheila Williams, Brian Bieniowski, Trevor Quachri, Michael Swanwick, Linn Prentis, Vaughne Lee Hansen, Jed Hartman, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Susan Marie Groppi, Patrick Swenson, Tom Vander Neut, Andy Cox, Steve Pendergrast, Al Sarrantonio, Laura Ann Gilman, Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Leigh Kennedy, William Sanders, Warren Lapine, Shawna McCarthy, David Hartwell, Darrell Schweitzer, Bruce Holland Rogers, Paul Witcover, Jennifer A. Hall, Bryan Cholfin, and special thanks to my own editor, Marc Resnick.

  Thanks are also due to Charles N. Brown, whose magazine, Locus (Locus Publications, P.O. Box 13305, Oakland, CA 94661, $49 for a one-year subscription [twelve issues] via second class; credit card orders (510) 339-9198), was used as an invaluable reference source throughout the Summation. Locus Online (www.locusmag.com), edited by Mark Kelly, has also become a key reference source. Thanks are also due to Andrew Porter, whose magazine, Science Fiction Chronicle (DNA Publications, Inc., P.O. Box 2988, Radford, VA 24143-2988, $45 for a one-year / twelve-issue subscription via second class), was also used as a reference source throughout.

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  Summation: 2001

  Right here in this space last year I talked about how we were unlikely to do any better a job forecasting what’s ahead of us in the twenty-first century then prognosticators at the beginning of the twentieth century did peering ahead at what lay in store for them, and made a (safely generalized) prediction of my own: unprecedented and unanticipated horrors and wonders both lay ahead for us. The “unprecedented horrors” part has come true with startling speed, with the atrocities of the 9/11 attacks rocking the world just a couple of months after the book hit the bookstore shelves. And it’s not impossible that there may be worse horrors yet to come. But the unprecedented and unanticipated (unpredictable, really, in the literal sense) wonders are out there too, waiting for us in the years ahead. Actually, we already live surrounded by wonders that would have dropped the jaw of anybody from the ’50s, or even the ’70s, and that would have seemed like supernatural miracles and unbelievable marvels to anybody from earlier periods; wonders large and small that affect almost every aspect of our lives…but they’ve become commonplace enough that we don’t notice them anymore. When the wonders that lie ahead — and I firmly believe they are out there — come along, we’ll soon ignore them and take them for granted, too. But next time things look dark, next time you’re shaken by a new tally to add to the “new horrors” category, next time somebody tells you that we’ve made no social progress in the last fifty years and things are worse now than they’ve ever been (another lie — I remember the ’50s, let alone more distant and even worse periods, and in spite of all the very real problems we still have to deal with today, today is better in almost every respect — I certainly wouldn’t swap today for yesterday, and think that most people who did so would find themselves incomparably worse-off than they are here in the twenty-first century), just remember that those peering into the onrushing twentieth century from the lip of the nineteenth could no more predict the unprecedented progress and the good things that the new century would bring than they could predict the tragedies and horrors — and that we can’t either, except to make a fairly confident assertion that there will indeed be both.

  For those of you who just peeked into the book to check: No, science fiction isn’t dead yet.

  Actually, other than the nationwide trauma and upheavals caused by the 9/11 attacks, it was another pretty quiet and stable year, on the genre level of publishing at least, although events like the reorganization of Amazon.com probably affected publishing in ways that are not yet clear. There weren’t too many big stories in 2001, as far as direct changes to the genre publishing world are concerned. One story was the demise of the much-hyped and much-talked-about iPublish, AOL–Time Warner’s e-publishing subsidiary, which failed miserably after spending spectacular amounts of money, leading neo-Luddites to dance around in joy and declare that that was the end of the e-book, whose commercial viability had thereby been disproved forever (except, of course, that it means nothing of the sort, as time will no doubt demonstrate; neither e-books nor Print-On-Demand books are going away, and sooner or later somebody will learn how to make money effectively selling them). Another big story was that Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Aspect, Warner Books’s SF and Fantasy imprint, left to become editor-in-chief of Del Rey Books.

  Most of the real action this year, though, for better or worse (actually, for better and worse), was elsewhere.

  2001 was another generally bad year in the magazine market, although we only lost one magazine this year, Aboriginal SF, as opposed to two in 2000, and there were even one or two minorly encouraging signs, with the circulation of Absolute Magnitude, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and Weird Tales creeping up a bit — although overall sales were down at several others.

  Asimov’s Science Fiction registered a 2.9 increase in overall circulation in 2001, reversing several years of decline; actually, subscription sales continued to dwindle, with Asimov’s losing 2,000 more subscribers in 2001, but newsstand sales were up more by more than 3,000 since last year. Analog Science Fiction & Fact registered a 9.7% loss in overall circulation in 2001, 4,459 in subscriptions, although newsstand sales dropped by only 200. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction registered an 11.6% loss in overall circulation, more than 3,000 in subscriptions, but only 188 in newsstand sales. Realms of Fantasy registered a 13.6 loss in overall circulation (on the heels of last year’s 12.1% loss), losing over 1,500 in subscriptions, and over 3,000 in newsstand sales. As they have for several years now, Interzone held steady at a circulation of about 4,000 copies, more or less evenly split between subscriptions and newsstand sales.

  The new Scottish SF magazine Spectrum SF ought by rights to be listed in the semiprozine section, judging it by its circulation rate, but it’s such a thoroughly professional magazine, and such a high-quality one at that, that I’m going to list it here with the professional magazines anyway, and let the irate letters fly as they may. Spectrum SF managed only two issues this year — they need to work on their reliability of public
ation — but the quality of the fiction published was very high, including strong work by Alastair Reynolds, Eric Brown, David Redd, Charles Stross, and others, and they deserve your support.

  PS Publishing (www.editorial-services.co.uk/pspublishing), a British small-press, brought out another sequence of novellas, in individual chapbook form, edited by Peter Crowther; this year’s crop was perhaps slightly less impressive overall than last year’s, but featured an excellent novella by Ken MacLeod, The Human Front, as well as other good stuff, such as A Writer’s Life, by Eric Brown, and Diamond Dogs, by Alastair Reynolds.

  Every year I have to address the question in the summation of why magazine circulation has been declining over the past several years, a question also raised on many of the convention panels that I do, and a question I do get tired of answering, since I go over it here every year, and nobody ever seems to pay any attention to what I say, so I have to repeat it all again the following year. Everyone seems to love to blame the decline in circulation of the magazines on the content, almost as if it’s punishment for sin, an idea that’s often widened beyond the magazines themselves as indication that science fiction as a genre is dying. And yet, there are technical behind-the-scenes reasons for the decline in circulation of most magazines during the last four or five years that have nothing to do with the content of the magazines, and that affect magazines way outside of genre boundaries, not just SF magazines.

  Most of these reasons have to do with the chaos in the domestic distribution network over the last few years, where distributors collapsed and absorbed each other with lightning speed, until where you once had more than three hundred such distributors, as recently as 1996, today you have so few that they can easily be counted on the fingers of one hand. This throws the whole physical way that magazines reach newsstands into total disarray, and creates a situation where there are so few distributors that they can afford to be picky and only carry the very top-selling magazines, not wanting to be bothered with the others. The large-scale collapse of the stamp-sheet industry in the last few years, which has cut way into the business that used to be generated by cut-rate stamp-sheet subscription sellers such as Publisher’s Clearing House, hasn’t helped either (although that may be a blessing in disguise, since those kind of subscriptions looked good on paper, seeming to swell your circulation figures, but usually cost more to fulfill than the revenue they actually bring in).