Book Review: The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction
Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology
Edited by Gordon Van Gelder

I cut my teeth at a young age on short science fiction, reading classic SFF stories in anthologies and in my father's old magazines. So when I was offered a review copy of The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, I jumped at the opportunity.

The anthology contains over two dozen stories drawn from throughout the sixty years of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, more commonly referred to as just F&SF. The list of writers collected in this anthology reads like a who's who of the genre, including Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Kurt Vonnegut, Roger Zelazny, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, James Tiptree, Jr., Damon Knight, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, Neil Gaiman, Peter S. Beagle, and many more.

Unfortunately, I found that I didn't enjoy the anthology as much as I had anticipated. I think that was more an issue of taste than anything else; certainly most of the stories were excellent stories by top-notch authors. But I found the majority of them to be a little too strange and oddly depressing for my taste. Other people who enjoy that type of story will most likely appreciate this anthology.

There were some stories in the anthology that I did enjoy. It was great to revisit old favorites such as "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes, which I read as a child and which was probably the first story to make me cry. I was happy to rediscover "All Summer in a Day," by Ray Bradbury, which made a big impression on me as a child, and which I've remembered all this time, but couldn't remember the title or who wrote it.

There were also several new-to-me stories that I greatly enjoyed. My favorite in the anthology was probably "Solitude," by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which she does what she excels at better than any science fiction writer I know of: create a culture so different from our own as to be incomprehensible, and then make it completely understandable to the reader, in this case from the point of view of a child who grew up helping her ethnologist mother study the culture, and who comes to identify with it more than with her own. I also loved "Two Hearts," by Peter S. Beagle, in which he revisits the world of The Last Unicorn. I remember reading and loving that book many years ago, but I have to confess that I don't remember it all. Yet not remembering the book didn't diminish my enjoyment of the story. The last story in the anthology was another new favorite for me: "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," by Ted Chiang, which reads like a middle-eastern folktale and is an unusual and moving look at how time-travel can affect individual lives.

Several of the stories are fairly disturbing, and at least one of them has explicit sex, so I would recommend this for mature teens and adults.

Disclaimers: I received a review copy from the publisher. The Amazon links above are Amazon Associate links, and I earn a very small percentage of any sales made through the links. Neither of these things influenced my review.

Book Review: Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci

Editors Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci have brought together a stellar line-up of YA authors to create an outstanding collection of stories about the experience of growing up "geek." The stories range from poignant to humorous, and hopeful to triumphant, but all reflect authentic aspects of the geek experience. I'm more than a little bit geek, and I saw aspects of myself in more than one of these stories.

As with any anthology, there were some stories that I liked better than others. Here were a few that stood out for me:

Holly Black and Cecil Castelluci's Once You're a Jedi, You're a Jedi All the Way: a funny look at Star Trek vs. Star Wars, which actually turned out to be a lot sweeter and more innocent than I expected, given that the first narrator wakes up in bed with someone she doesn't remember.

Scott Westerfeld's Definitional Chaos: any author that can write an entertaining story with a central conflict that hinges on the concept of character alignment is a master geek in my book!

David Levithan's Quiz Bowl AntiChrist: I totally loved the protagonist, who hides his vulnerability behind a mask of sarcasm, in this story of self-discovery.

Garth Nix's The Quiet Knight: a story of a shy young LARPer who finds real courage. The main character is what really makes this story one of my favorites.

Barry Lyga's The Truth About Dino Girl: more than any of the others, Lyga captured what my high school experience was like; it wasn't dinosaurs for me, but in many ways I really identified with the protagonist of this story. And while I thought the resolution was a little harsh in some ways, it was completely a geek fantasy, which I think was the point.

Wendy Mass' The Stars at the Finish Line: Loved the interaction between the two main characters in this one. I haven't read anything else by Wendy Mass, but this story makes me want to.

Most of the other stories were also good; there were a couple that I didn't care for, but I think that's more a matter of personal preference.

Sara Zarr's story was missing from my ARC; I wish I could have read it.

In between the stories were various one-page comics and geek jokes; many of them were also missing from my ARC, and of the ones that were included, for the most part I didn't enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the stories.

I would recommend this book for mature teens and adults. Many of the stories depict risky behaviors, including underage binge drinking, lying to your parents, meeting people from the Internet, and underage sex (in one case, by an 8th grader!) I know that many teens (and even tweens) participate in these activities, and in general I do think it's important for YA fiction to reflect an authentic teen experience. However, I think what bothers me about it in this book is that so much emphasis is placed on the personalities and geek nature of the writers. While the stories are fictional and not autobiographical (as far as I know), I think that the emphasis on the writers as geeks makes it seem like the writers are condoning and even encouraging these behaviors.

Disclaimers: I received an Advance Reading Copy from the publisher to facilitate reviewing the book. I also attended a party hosted by the publisher at BEA to introduce the book. Neither of these things influenced my review.