What Might Have Been Volume 3: Alternate Wars (Bantam Spectra), edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg, was still quite a worthwhile anthology, but not as strong overall as What Might Have Been Volumes 1 and 2 were; the most powerful story here is a first-rate novella by Nancy Kress, but the anthology also features good work by Gregory Benford, Allen Steele, Harry Turtledove, Poul Anderson, Jack McDevitt, and others. L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume VII (Bridge), edited by Algis Budrys, was the usual assortment of apprentice work by people who might one day be major writers, but who aren’t there yet. If there was an issue of Jim Baen’s New Destinies series out this year, I didn’t see it, and George Zebrowski’s Synergy series seems definitely to have died.
Shared-world anthologies this year included: The Man-Kzin Wars IV (Baen), edited by Larry Niven; Wild Cards VIII: One-Eyed Jacks (Bantam), edited by George R. R. Martin; and Under the Fang (Pocket), edited by Robert R. McCammon.
In horror, the Borderlands series, edited by Thomas F. Monteleone, seems to be establishing itself as a major new horror anthology series; Borderlands 2 (Avon) was the issue out in the bookstores this year, with more supposedly in the works. Nineteen ninety-one also saw the end of one of horror’s major series, sadly, as the last volume of the prestigious Shadows series edited by Charles L. Grant, Final Shadows (Doubleday Foundation), a double-sized volume, appeared; this series has featured some of the best short work in horror over the years, and it will be missed.
Turning to the nonseries anthologies, we are reminded once again that anthologies come in bunches—or, at least, that often a number of anthologies with similar themes seem to come out all at the same time … so that, say, there’ll be no anthologies about wombats, and then suddenly there will be three of them. No one knows why. It seems to be more serendipitous than can be explained by anthologists borrowing ideas from each other. This year, for instance, there were two antiwar, nonviolent “Peace” anthologies. By far the stronger of the two was the all-original When the Music’s Over (Bantam Spectra), edited by Lewis Shiner. This is a very earnest book, devoted to trying to get us to “turn our hearts and minds and creativity to finding other solutions [than war],” to “finding peaceful solutions in these violent times”; the book comes complete with a very useful list of the addresses of political organizations devoted to peace and/or to ecological causes, and urges you to make donations to them. As it states on the cover, Shiner himself is donating his editor’s share of the book’s profits to Greenpeace. It’s hard to argue with all this earnestness—and indeed, it is admirable. So, then, having admired it, it’s also fair to ask: Do the writers in the anthology come up with any viable alternatives to war? Well, no, not really. As was true of the last “Peace” anthology, Joe Haldeman’s Study War No More, some of the stories ignore the ostensible theme altogether, and of those stories that do attempt to deal with it, many propose “solutions” along the lines of “find the invisible demons who incite humans to violence in order to feed on our emotions, and then shoot them.” Two or three stories here do come up with perhaps workable solutions to human aggressiveness, but in each case it involves releasing tailored viruses or nanomechanisms to alter human nature itself in fundamental ways (Michael Swanwick independently came up with the same solution this year in his Griffin’s Egg), and, in every case, the cure seems far worse than the disease—Nancy Kress’s suggestion that we can eliminate war by destroying the capacity of the human brain for long-term memory and planning ability, for instance, seems to me a sure way also to ensure the extinction of the human species. (Note also that in none of these scenarios do we get a choice about having these things done to us—it’s always done to us, for our own good, with the most earnest of motives … an attitude that I don’t really think science fiction ought to be encouraging in an age when horrors such as this conceivably could be produced and released by anyone with some technical knowledge and an access to laboratory equipment.)
So, then, having argued with some of its polemics, how good is When the Music’s Over as an anthology, a reading experience? Quite good, actually, featuring a flamboyant Zelaznyesque space opera by Walter Jon Williams and a terrific mainstream story by Bruce Sterling that is flawed by a tacked-on fantasy ending, and also featuring good work by Pat Cadigan, Paul J. McAuley, John Shirley, James P. Blaylock, and others. It’s certainly a better reading value than the year’s other “Peace” anthology, the disappointing There Won’t Be War (Tor), edited by Harry Harrison and Bruce McAllister. This is a mixed reprint/original anthology, and the best stuff here are the reprints, particularly Kim Stanley Robinson’s powerful “The Lucky Strike”; the original stories, however, are surprisingly weak, with only two exceptions: interesting stories by Nancy A. Collins and James Morrow. (Gregory Frost’s “Attack of the Jazz Giants” is also interesting, but what in the world is it doing in here? What’s Ballard’s “The Terminal Beach” doing in here, for that matter?) A disappointment, since I was looking forward to this one.
There was also a cluster of what I suppose must be called “regional” SF anthologies this year, most of them mixed reprint/original anthologies, usually of stories that are supposedly either about a particular region of the country or by writers who come from (or happen to live at the moment in) a particular region of the country. The most prominently published of these was probably Newer York (Roc), edited by Lawrence Watt-Evans, an uneven book that contains a good deal of mediocre-to-bad work, although it also contains some good work by Susan Shwartz, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Resnick, John Shirley, Martha Soukup, Robert J. Howe, and others; considering its length (it’s a fat book), it’s probably worth its cover price, but it’s not one of the year’s top anthologies. (Since Newer York reputedly found a publisher right off the bat, it bemuses me that the Future Boston anthology has apparently still not been able to find a home, even though the fiction from it that has appeared in magazines over the last couple of years is better than most of the stuff in Newer York, and has been picked for “Best” anthologies and shown up on award ballots—I guess it’s true, as is often said, that most New York trade publishers don’t think that anybody in the reading audience is interested in anything that takes place outside of New York City itself.) Subtropical Speculations: An Anthology of Florida Science Fiction (Pineapple Press), edited by Rick Wilber and Richard Mathews, is a mixed reprint/original anthology of pleasant but mostly minor work, although the reprints are stronger than most of the originals: the rationale for including some of the writers here as “Florida writers” is somewhat weak, as it always is in these anthologies in which the basis for selecting the contributors is where they happen to live (there have been at least two other such anthologies, one of writers from Texas and one of writers from New Mexico), but, if you can find it, this is an enjoyable, low-key volume. Even more obscurely published was Fantastic Chicago, edited by Martin H. Greenberg, which was a special volume published in conjunction with this year’s Worldcon, Chicon V—again, this is mostly minor, although there are some interesting reprints, and a strong though perhaps unnecessarily cryptic original story by Algis Budrys. The best of the “regional” anthologies published this year, by a considerable margin, was a mixed reprint/original anthology with a somewhat broader and more generalized theme, Fires of the Past: Thirteen Contemporary Fantasies About Hometowns (St. Martin’s), edited by Anne Devereaux Jordan. The definition of “hometown” here is occasionally stretched beyond any reasonable or useful limit, but the book also contains strong work by Connie Willis, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Robert Silverberg, Lewis Shiner, and others.
Sacred Visions (Tor), edited by Andrew M. Greeley and Michael Cassutt, a mixed reprint/original anthology about the future of Catholicism, is mostly interesting for its reprints (although it does contain a good original story by Jack McDevitt). A few of these reprints may be considered overly familiar by some, but, alas, in these days of low shelf-life, no backlist, and little historical memory, it’s also quite possible that many
readers will have never seen classics like Walter M. Miller’s “A Canticle for Leibowitz,” James Blish’s “A Case of Conscience,” and Anthony Boucher’s “The Quest for Saint Aquin” before, which may make this volume valuable as a reference anthology; there are also somewhat more recent classics reprinted here, such as Nancy Kress’s “Trinity” and Robert Silverberg’s “The Pope of the Chimps.”
Turning to fantasy and horror, there was a strong British mixed reprint/ original anthology this year, Tales of the Wandering Jew (Dedalus), edited by Brian Stableford; this won’t be to everyone’s taste (I know at least one person who refuses to read it because they consider the legend of the Wandering Jew to be anti-Semitic propaganda. Perhaps to compensate for this attitude, the authors of most of the modern stories here go to great lengths to show their Jewish characters in a sympathetic light, the victims of repeated atrocities committed by Christians—as indeed they were), but there are some interesting nineteenth-century reprints here, as well as a very strong story by Ian McDonald, and good work by Brian Stableford, David Langford, Mike Resnick, Kim Newman and Eugene Byrne, and others. Once Upon a Time: A Treasury of Modern Fantasy (Del Rey), edited by Lester del Rey and Risa Kessler, features some impressive full-color artwork by Michael Pangrazio, but the stories themselves mostly range from minor to not-very-good. The Bradbury Chronicles: Stories in Honor of Ray Bradbury (Roc), edited by William F. Nolan and Martin H. Greenberg, is weaker than the similar tribute anthology done for Isaac Asimov a couple of years ago, perhaps because—unlike Asimov’s work, where the writers could play with his concepts, such as robotics or psychohistory—Bradbury’s work depends on style, on the use of words to create and maintain a very fragile mood and tone … and most of the writers here just aren’t up to it; there’s some good work here by Chad Oliver and Orson Scott Card, but most of the rest of the stories are weak.
There were three fantasy/horror books edited by Byron Preiss (with assistance from David Keller, Megan Miller, and John Betancourt) out this year, all from Dell: The Ultimate Werewolf, The Ultimate Dracula, and The Ultimate Frankenstein. None of these books comes even close to containing the best short stories ever written about werewolves or vampires or even the Frankenstein monster, so in a way the “ultimate” tag is undeserved, but each anthology does contain good work (by Kathe Koja, Pat Murphy, Nancy A. Collins, Philip Jose Farmer, Stuart Kaminsky, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and Kim Antieau in The Ultimate Werewolf; by Brian Aldiss, Michael Bishop, S. P. Somtow, George Alec Effmger, and Loren D. Estleman in The Ultimate Frankenstein; by Dan Simmons, Tim Sullivan, Kevin J. Anderson, and Lawrence Watt-Evans in The Ultimate Dracula), so they are probably worth picking up. The strongest of the three anthologies overall is undoubtedly The Ultimate Werewolf, so if you can only buy one of these, that should be the one. The weakest of the three, interestingly, is The Ultimate Dracula. A far better vampire anthology is A Whisper of Blood (Morrow), edited by Ellen Datlow; this is not as strong an anthology as her classic vampire anthology Blood Is Not Enough, to which this is the follow-up volume, but it does contain some stylish and unusual varients on the vampire theme, including first-rate original stories by Pat Cadigan and Robert Holdstock and Garry Kilworth, good original work by Jonathan Carroll, Kathe Koja, Thomas Ligotti, Suzy McKee Charnas, Karl Edward Wagner, and others, and good reprint work by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Melinda M. Snodgrass, and Robert Silverberg. Cold Shocks (Avon), edited by Tim Sullivan, the follow-up volume to Sullivan’s Tropical Chills anthology from a couple of years back, is also not as strong overall as its predecessor, but, like A Whisper of Blood, it is certainly still one of the year’s best horror anthologies, containing a powerful novella by S. P. Somtow, as well as good work by Michael Armstrong, Melanie Tem, Edward Bryant, Michael D. Toman, and others.
Also interesting were: Horse Fantastic (DAW), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Rosalind M. Greenberg; Vampires (HarperCollins), edited by Jane Yolen and Martin H. Greenberg; 2041 (Delacorte Press) edited by Jane Yolen; Dead End: City Limits (St. Martin’s), edited by Paul F. Olson and David B. Silva; and Cold Blood (Ziesing), edited by Richard T. Chizmar; and The Fantastic Adventures of Robin Hood (Signet), edited by Martin H. Greenberg.
* * *
There were some strong novels published in 1991, although, as has been the case for the last few years, most of the really powerful work seems to be coming from middle-level professionals and relatively new writers; my entirely subjective impression is that 1991 might have been a somewhat stronger year for novels overall than 1990. Locus estimates that there were 308 new SF novels published last year (up 9 percent from 1990’s estimate of 281), 301 new fantasy novels published (up a substantial 32 percent from last year’s estimate of 204), and 165 new horror novels (down 2 percent from 1990’s estimate of 168—although many industry insiders are still predicting a much steeper drop in the horror market next year). As you can see, with almost 800 new novels being published annually in the related science fiction/ fantasy/horror genres, it has become just about impossible for any one individual to keep up with them all; it would be nearly a full-time job just to read and evaluate all of the 308 science fiction novels alone. With all of the reading I have to do at shorter lengths for IAsfm and for this anthology, I don’t even try to read everything anymore.
So, then, as usual, I am going to limit myself here to mentioning that of the novels I did have time to read, I most enjoyed: Synners, Pat Cadigan (Bantam Spectra); Stations of the Tide, Michael Swanwick (Morrow); Carve the Sky, Alexander Jablokov (Morrow); The Ragged World, Judith Moffett (St. Martin’s); The Spiral Dance, R. Garcia y Robertson (Morrow); The Hereafter Gang, Neal Barrett, Jr. (Ziesing); and Ecce and Old Earth, Jack Vance (Underwood-Miller/Tor).
Other novels that received a lot of attention and acclaim this year included: Russian Spring, Norman Spinrad (Bantam Spectra); Bone Dance, Emma Bull (Ace); Xenocide, Orson Scott Card (Tor); Raft, Stephen Baxter (ROC); Orbital Resonance, John Barnes (Tor); The Cipher, Kathe Koja (Dell Abyss); The Face of the Waters, Robert Silverberg (Bantam Spectra); Barrayar, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen); A Woman of the Iron People, Eleanor Arnason (Morrow); Eternal Light, Paul J. McAuley (Gollancz); Eight Skilled Gentlemen, Barry Hughart (Doubleday Foundation); Outside the Dog Museum, Jonathan Carroll (Macdonald); The Exile Kiss, George Alec Effinger (Double-day Foundation); Divergence, Charles Sheffield (Del Rey); A Reasonable World, Damon Knight (Tor); Lunar Descent, Allen Steele (Ace); The Angel of Pain, Brian Stableford (Simon & Schuster); Heavy Time, C. J. Cherryh (Warner Questar); The Architecture of Desire, Mary Gentle (Bantam UK); Halo, Tom Maddox (Tor); The Magic Spectacles, James P. Blaylock (Morrigan); The Illegal Rebirth of Billy the Kid, Rebecca Ore (Tor); King of Morning, Queen of Day, Ian McDonald (Bantam Spectra); Days of Atonement, Walter Jon Williams (Tor); The Kindness of Women, J. G. Ballard (Farrar, Straus & Giroux); Soothsayer, Mike Resnick (Ace); The M.D., Thomas M. Disch (Knopf); Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede, Bradley Denton (Morrow); Madlands, K. W. Jeter (St. Martin’s); The White Queen, Gwyneth Jones (Gollancz); The Cult of Loving Kindness, Paul Park (Morrow); The Host, Peter R. Emshwiller (Bantam Spectra); Prince of Chaos, Roger Zelazny (Morrow); Cloven Hooves, Megan Lindholm (Bantam Spectra); Death Qualified: A Mystery of Chaos, Kate Wilhelm (St. Martin’s); Riverrun, S. P. Somtow (Avon); The Illusionists, Faren Miller (Warner Questar); The Silicon Man, Charles Piatt (Bantam Spectra); The White Mists of Power, Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Roc); A Bridge of Years, Robert Charles Wilson (Doubleday Foundation); Prodigal, Melanie Tem (Dell Abyss); and Mojo and the Pickle Jar, Douglas Bell (Tor).
Morrow had an even stronger year this year than it did last year, producing one of the best book lines in SF, although that will probably be cold comfort to Morrow’s ex-editor David Hartwell, who was released this year. Tor and Bantam Spectra also made strong showings in 1991.
There were a lot of good first novels released in 1991; in fact, it was one of the strongest years for novelistic debuts in some while. The first novels that made the biggest stir this year seemed to be
the ones by Alexander Jablokov, Stephen Baxter, Kathe Koja, R. Garcia y Robertson, Tom Maddox, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
It’s anyone’s guess what will win the Hugo and the Nebula this year. There don’t seem to me to be any clear favorites here, as there have been in other years.
Associational novels that might be of interest to SF readers this year included Sarah Canary, by Karen Joy Fowler, from Holt; Tender Loving Rage, by Alfred Bester, and The Children of Hamelin, by Norman Spinrad, both from Tafford Publishing ($19.95 each from Tafford Publishing, P.O. Box 271804, Houston, TX 77277); and The Hereafter Gang, by Neal Barrett, Jr., from Ziesing. This last is not strictly an associational item, as it is clearly a fantasy, but it is unavailable from most bookstores in the country, and, since it is also clearly one of the best novels of the year, you ought to make the attempt to order it ($25.00 from Mark V. Ziesing, P.O. Box 76, Shingletown, CA 96088).
British publisher Legend seems to have given up on the practice of issuing novellas as individual books, for the moment, anyway, although they had considerable critical success last year with novella-length books such as Heads by Greg Bear and Griffin’s Egg by Michael Swanwick. Axolotl Press is still doing it, and getting good response for novella-length books such as Nancy Kress’s Beggars In Spain and Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s The Gallery of His Dreams, and a new line of original novellas published as individual books, co-published by Bantam and Axolotl Press, has just issued its first two titles, Frederik Pohl’s Stopping at Slowyear and Robert Silverberg’s Thebes of the Hundred Gates. It’ll be interesting to see if this line is a success, especially after the recent commercial failure of the Tor Doubles novella line. (Axolotl Press’s address is: Pulphouse Publishing, Box 1227, Eugene, OR 97440.)
The Year's Best SF 09 # 1991 Page 3