The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 2

By: Neil Clarke

Narrated by: Jay Aaseng, Lauren Baldwin, Michael Braun, Ron Butler, Barbara Caruso, MiMi Chang, Ramon De Ocampo, Fiona Hardingham, John Keating, Elizabeth Liang, Rich Miller, Soneela Nankani, Thom Rivera, Jill Tanner

The second volume of a new best-of-the-year science fiction short story anthology edited by Hugo Award-winning editor Neil Clarke.

First contact with a mysterious race of aliens reveals an unusual request; a family's pet dog comes to grips with the newly bestowed gift of human-like intelligence; a poet, in danger and alone on a distant world, makes unlikely allies; hundreds of years in the future, a famous hermit lives in the sea above the now-underwater Harvard University; former friends navigate unsteady peace between human refugees and the technologically superior race that saved them; in a future where human life can be infinitely extended through cybertronic rebirth, one woman declines immortality.

For decades, science fiction has compelled us to imagine futures both inspiring and cautionary. Whether it's a warning message from a survey ship, a harrowing journey to a new world, or the adventures of well-meaning AI, science fiction inspires the imagination and delivers a lens through which we can view ourselves and the world around us.

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Two, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 27 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2016.

Table of contents:

"The Visitor from Taured" by Ian R. MacLeod (Asimov's, September 2016)

"Extraction Request" by Rich Larson (Clarkesworld, January 2016)

"A Good Home" by Karin Lowachee (Lightspeed, June 2016)

"Prodigal" by Gord Sellar (Analog, December 2016)

"Ten Days" by Nina Allan (Now We Are Ten, edited by Ian Whates)

"Terminal" by Lavie Tidhar (Tor.com, April 2016)

"Panic City" by Madeline Ashby (CyberWorld, edited by Jason Heller and Joshua Viola)

"Last Gods" by Sam J. Miller (Drowned Worlds, edited by Jonathana Strahan)

"HigherWorks" by Gregory Norman Bossert (Asimov's, December 2016)

"A Strange Loop" by T.R. Napper (Interzone, January/February 2016)

"Night Journey of the Dragon-Horse" by Xia Jia (Invisible Planets, edited by Ken Liu)

"Pearl" by Aliette de Bodard (The Starlit Wood, edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe)

"The Metal Demimonde" by Nick Wolven (Analog, June 2016)

"The Iron Tactician" by Alastair Reynolds (Newcon Press)

"The Mighty Slinger" by Tobias S. Buckell and Karen Lord (Bridging Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)

"They All Have One Breath" by Karl Bunker (Asimov's, December 2016)

"Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea" by Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed, February 2016)

"And Then, One Day, the Air was Full of Voices" by Margaret Ronald (Clarkesworld, June 2016)

"The Three Lives of Sonata James" by Lettie Prell (Tor.com, October 2016)

"The Charge and the Storm" by An Owomoyela (Asimov's, February 2016)

"Parables of Infinity" by Robert Reed (Bridging Infinity, edited by Jonathana Strahan)

"Ten Poems for the Mossums, One for the Man" by Suzanne Palmer (Asimov's, July 2016)

"You Make Pattaya" by Rich Larson (Interzone, November/December 2016)

"Number Nine Moon" by Alex Irvine (F&SF, January/February 2016)

"Things with Beards" by Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld, June 2016)

"Dispatches from the Cradle: The Hermit-Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts" by Ken Liu (Drowned Worlds, edited by Jonathana Strahan)

"Touring with the Alien" by Carolyn Ives Gilman (Clarkesworld, April 2016)

©2017 Neil Clarke (P)2020 Recorded Books

I’m glad I listened to them all. But I did take a few breaks between some stories

I didn’t listen to the entire collection straight through, I lessened to a few, then went off and listened to a different book, then back to this collection. I was pleased to reckognize the link to “the thing” in the story “men with beards”.

Unnecessary homosexual elements

I find it sad that the majority of these stories contain homosexual interpersonal relationships. Even in stories where the main characters aren’t, there seems to be a requirement to mention a homosexual relationship totally irrelevant to the story. Absolutely unnecessary.
In addition, many of the stories just stop…..no resolution of any kind. What’s the point? Would not recommend this collection.

diverse and fantastic

The sheer range of the stories makes this collection wonderful - that and the arrangement. The stories following in a juking crooked progression where each new one surprises you with how the difference in tone and mean. Stark gritty human abandon changes to dreamy fabled poetic impressions to classic thought provoking conceptual narrative and on and on. Recommended for anyone with a taste for diversity.

Variety of stories

A nice variety of entertaining and thought-provoking stories guaranteed to tickle the depths of your imagination.

Not the best of SF years

Out of 27 stories there were five I would recommend: 'Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea' by Sarah Pinsker, 'The Metal Demimonde' by Nick Wolven, 'The Iron Tactician' by Alastair Reynolds, 'The Mighty Slinger' by Tobias S. Buckell and Karen Lord, 'They Have All One Breath' by Karl Bunker.

Sci-fi short story collection

Edited by Neil Clarke, this sci-fi collection consists of twenty-six short stories and one novella. All the works were produced in 2016. While all fall squarely within the sci-fi genre, the is an eclectic mix in both style and quality with many nominations for various short fiction awards.

Each story has its own narrator with excellent renditions.

Did not expect gay porn

If I had been warned, it would have not been an issue. DO NOT have children around when listening.
2 or 3 of the stories were compelling and enjoyable, the remainder, meh. The unnecessary porn elements were annoying and unexpected. THERE SHOULD BE WARNINGS.

Time machine

If I wanted to go back in time I'd build a time machine. Stories are dated. 60's at best.

audible was NOT audible

I have listened to many books with Audible. I thought my app was broken when I couldn't hear anything at all. volume at full blast. I tried with another book and it worked just fine.

Best SF of the year? We must have a very bad year.

Not impressed by half written stories that hint at something bigger...seems lazy. Personally, I enjoy stories of grand achievements, sweeping vision,and intrigue to elevate and inspire my own aspirations. Sadly, I found none of that here. Neither am I impressed with how much foul language one can squeeze into a story. Seriously, why would I waste my time, or pay money for the privilege of listening to tripe that would offend even a retrograde troglodyte?