The Year's Best Science Fiction--Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection

by Gardner Dozois

  This year’s number one on the list of top ten box-office champs, is a Disney animated film, Finding Dory, a sequel to Finding Nemo, which racked up a worldwide box-office total of $1,028,194,984 (and that’s before the profits from DVD sales, action figures, lunchboxes, T-shirts, and other kinds of accessories kick in, it’s worth noting). One thing this year’s list may indicate is that the audience may at last be becoming a bit tired of superhero movies—oh, there were still a number of superhero movies on the list, but children’s animated movies like Finding Dory muscled their way into the top ten list as well. In the number four spot on the list, for instance, is the animated film The Secret Lives of Pets, with animated film Zootopia at number seven, and The Jungle Book (live action, but with heavy use of CGI animated characters) coming in at number five. Animated film Moana just missed the top ten list, coming in at number eleven, an impressive showing for a movie released late in the year; the same was true of Sing, finishing in tenth place. Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3 made it onto the top twenty list at seventeenth place and eighteenth place respectively, and other animated children’s films such as The Angry Birds Movie, Sausage Party, Storks, Ice Age: Collision Course, and Kubo and the Two Strings were scattered throughout the top hundred.

  We’re back to superhero films with the number three spot, occupied by Captain America; Civil War. Deadpool, an irreverent, brash, and vulgar “superhero comedy” that many bet would be Marvel Studio’s first major commercial failure, defied all expectations by coming in at sixth place on the top ten box-office earner’s list, and did pretty well with most of the critics as well. Doctor Strange, another movie that was considered to be a risky project for Marvel, also did well, making it into the thirteenth spot in spite of a late release on November 4. D.C.’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice may have been one of the most critically slammed films of the year, but, in spite of that, still earned enough at the box office to make it on to the top ten list in the number eighth slot. D.C.’s Suicide Squad, a superhero movie fielding a team made up exclusively of supervillains, wasn’t quite as widely panned as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but in general didn’t do very well critically; and again, in spite of that, it did well enough at the box office to make it on to the top ten list, in ninth place.

  A couple of attempts to continue existing franchises didn’t perform terribly at the box office, but probably didn’t do well enough not to be disappointing to their producers either: Star Trek Beyond, finishing at fifteenth place in the top twenty list, and X-Men: Apocalypse, finishing at sixteenth place. It remains to be seen whether the numbers they generated were good enough to continue the franchises. With Star Trek about to start appearing as an original series on television again, I suspect we may have seen the last Star Trek theatrical movie for a while, while my guess is that there will probably be more X-Men films—but who knows? The Hollywood execs certainly don’t consult me before making their decisions. Several attempts to revive older franchises fared even worse, Independence Day: Resurgence coming in at the twenty-seventh place, Ghostbusters at number twenty-one, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows at number thirty-seven, Alice Through the Looking Glass at number thirty-nine, and Pete’s Dragon at number forty. You’re probably unlikely to see any more movies in those franchises. A number of attempts to start new action-movie franchises—Warcraft at sixty-eighth place, Gods of Egypt at eighty-seventh place, Assassin’s Creed at sixty-three place, and The Huntsman: Winter’s War at number sixty-six—probably should all be considered outright failures, and you probably won’t be hearing anything more from them, either.

  By almost universal critical acclaim, and equally widespread good fan word-of-mouth, the best genre movie of the year was probably Arrival, based on a story by SF writer Ted Chiang, which claimed twenty-ninth place in the top hundred list—not spectacular, but not bad for a quiet, thoughtful, cerebral SF film that required the audience to do some actual thinking in order to appreciate it. As far as I can tell, it may have been the only “serious” science fiction film of the year, and while it didn’t earn as much as the other serious science fiction film of recent years to make an attempt to use real science, The Martian, it still did fairly well—a hopeful sign if we expect to see more such movies in the future.

  Coming up in 2017 are a flood of genre movies of one sort or another, including a slew of superhero movies from both Marvel and DC—Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Thor; Ragnarok, Logan, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Justice League, Wonder Woman—a new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, a film version of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, a new flamboyant space opera from the director of The Fifth Element, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, a live-action version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, yet another remake of King Kong, Kong: Skull Island, a remake of The Mummy (with, unlikely as this sounds, Tom Cruise in the title role), a new movie in the Alien franchise, Alien: Covenant, and, perhaps most eagerly awaited, a sequel to Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, and a new Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

  * * *

  Once there were few genre shows on television, and they remained thin on the ground for decades, but today there are so many of them on television in one form or another (including forms that didn’t exist a few years ago, like original programming being offered on streaming video), with more coming along all the time, that it’s become difficult to keep track of them all. By my count, there are now more than eighty genre shows of one sort or another—SF, superhero shows, fantasy—currently accessible on your TV, and that doesn’t even count the horror shows or the animated series, which I generally don’t pay a lot of attention to. With so many shows to deal with, it’s clear that I’ll only be able to mention a few of the more popular shows, so if I miss mentioning your favorite show, you have my apologies.

  HBO’s Game of Thrones, based on the best-selling fantasy series by George R. R. Martin, is rumored to have only one more season (or possibly two partial seasons) left to go, but is still the most prestigious and successful fantasy show on television, treated with remarkable respect critically and once again sweeping the Emmys. New series Westworld, an intelligent and tricky series version of the old SF movie of the same name, is obviously being groomed by HBO as a replacement for Game of Thrones when that series finally ends, and so far seems to be doing well both financially and critically. Other top-notch cable shows include The Expanse (based on a series of space opera novels by James S. A. Corey), The Man in the High Castle (based on the Hugo-winning alternate history novel by Philip K. Dick), The Magicians (based on the best-selling novel by Lev Grossman), Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (based on a novel by Douglas Adams), The Shannara Chronicles (based on the series of novels by Terry Brooks), and Outlander (based on a series of novels by Diana Gabaldon).

  An area that didn’t even exist a few years ago, more and more shows are becoming available only as streaming video from servers such as Amazon, Netflix, and Hulu, and it’s clear that the floodgates are only just starting to swing open for this form of entertainment delivery. An early pioneer in this area, Marvel Studios has already established three solid hits with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage, all renewed for new seasons, and will be adding more superhero shows such as Iron Fist, The Punisher, and a superhero team-up, The Defenders. Meanwhile, a solid block of superhero shows has been established on regular television by D.C., including Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Gotham—leaving little doubt that this is the golden age of superhero shows. Hulu will be bringing us Runaways, Future Man, Dimension 404, Queen of Shadows, and a series version of The Handmaid’s Tale.

  Of the flood of other genre shows that hit the air in the last few years, still surviving are: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (where characters from the Marvel cinematic universe sometimes drop in for a guest shot, so that it could be considered to be a superhero show as well), Once Upon a Time, Last Man on Earth, Grimm, Sleepy Hollow, Stranger Things, The Librarians Legends of To
morrow, The Originals, The 100, Orphan Black, Colony, Ash vs Evil Dead, Dark Matter, Lucifer, 12 Monkeys, Star Wars Rebels, and Preacher seem to have survived, while Agent Carter, Person of Interest, Galavant, The Muppets, Penny Dreadful, Limitless, Angel from Hell, Heroes Reborn, and You, Me and the Apocalypse have not. (No doubt there are many in both categories that I’ve missed or gotten wrong, as sometimes the information isn’t readily available or changes as studio executives rethink their decisions.)

  Perennial favorites such as Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries, and The Simpsons continue to roll on. Teen Wolf has finally died, although by the time he went, the show ought to have been called Middle-aged Wolf instead.

  Of the upcoming shows, the most buzz seems to be being generated by the return of Star Trek to television, with a new series, Star Trek: Discovery. Some excitement is also being generated by the revival of Twin Peaks and Mystery Science Theater 3000. Also ahead are miniseries versions of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and Anansi Boys, and miniseries versions of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars, Len Deighton’s SS-GB, John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, Philip José Farmer’s Riverworld, Robert Holdstock’s The Mythago Cycle, and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War continue to be rumored—although how many of these promised shows actually show up is anyone’s guess.

  * * *

  The 74th World Science Fiction Convention, MidAmeriCon II, was held in Kansas City, Missouri, at the Bartle Hall Convention Center, from August 17 to August 21, 2016. The 2016 Hugo Awards, presented at MidAmeriCon II, were: Best Novel, The Fifth Season, by N. K. L. Jemisin; Best Novella, Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor; Best Novelette, “Folding Beijing,” by Hao Jingfang; Best Short Story, “Cat Pictures Please,” by Naomi Kritzer; Best Graphic Story, The Sandman: Overture, by Neil Gaiman, art by J. H. Williams III; Best Related Work, No Award; Best Professional Editor, Long Form, Sheila E. Gilbert; Best Professional Editor, Short Form, Ellen Datlow; Best Professional Artist, Abigail Larson; Best Dramatic Presentation (short form), Jessica Jones: “AKA Smile”; Best Dramatic Presentation (long form), The Martian; Best Semiprozine, Uncanny; Best Fanzine, File 770; Best Fancast, No Award; Best Fan Writer, Mike Glyer; Best Fan Artist, Steve Stiles; plus the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer to Andy Weir.

  The 2015 Nebula Awards, presented at a banquet at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Illinois, on May 14, 2016, were: Best Novel, Uprooted, by Naomi Novik; Best Novella, Binti, by Nnedi Okorafor; Best Novelette, “Our Lady of the Open Road” by Sarah Pinsker; Best Short Story, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” by Alyssa Wong; Ray Bradbury Award, Mad Max: Fury Road; the Andre Norton Award to Updraft, by Fran Wilde; the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award to Sir Terry Pratchett; the Kevin O’ Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award to Lawrence M. Schoen; and the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award to C. J. Cherryh.

  The 2016 World Fantasy Awards, presented at a banquet on October 30, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio, during the Forty-second Annual World Fantasy Convention, were: Best Novel, The Chimes, by Anna Smaill; Best Long Fiction, “The Unlicensed Magician,” by Kelly Barnhill; Best Short Fiction, “Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers,” by Alyssa Wong; Best Collection, Bone Swans, by C.S.E. Cooney; Best Anthology, She Walks in Shadows, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles; Best Artist, Galen Dara; Special Award (Professional), to Stephen Jones for The Art of Horror; Special Award (Non-Professional), to John O’Neill for Black Gate. Plus Lifetime Achievement Awards to David G. Hartwell and Andrzej Sapkowski.

  The 2015 Bram Stoker Awards, presented by the Horror Writers of America on May 14, 2016, during the First Annual Stoker Convention at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, were: Superior Achievement in a Novel, A Head Full of Ghosts, by Paul Tremblay; Superior Achievement in a First Novel, Mr. Suicide, by Nicole Cushing; Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel, Devil’s Pocket, by John Dixon; Superior Achievement in Long Fiction, “Little Dead Red,” by Mercedes M. Yardley; Superior Achievement in Short Fiction, “Happy Joe’s Rest Stop,” by John Palisano; Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection, While the Black Stars Burn, by Lucy Snyder; Superior Achievement in an Anthology, The Library of the Dead, edited by Michael Bailey; Superior Achievement in Nonfiction, The Art of Horror, by Stephen Jones; Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection, Eden Underground, by Alessandro Manzetti; Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel, Shadow Show: Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury, edited by Sam Weller and Mort Castle; Superior Achievement in a Screenplay, It Follows.

  The 2015 John W. Campbell Memorial Award was won by Radiomen, by Eleanor Lerman.

  The 2015 Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for Best Short Story was won by: “The Game of Smash and Recovery,” by Kelly Link.

  The 2016 Philip K. Dick Memorial Award went to Apex, by Ramez Naam.

  The 2016 Arthur C. Clarke award was won by Children of Time, by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

  The 2015 James Tiptree, Jr. Memorial Award was won by “The New Mother,” by Eugene Fischer, and Lizard Radio, by Pat Schmatz (tie).

  The 2016 Sidewise Award for Alternate History went to (Long Form): The Big Lie, by Julie Mayhew; and (Short Form): “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore,” by Bill Crider.

  * * *

  Dead in 2016 or early 2017 were:

  RICHARD ADAMS, 96, British fantasy writer, author of Shardik, The Plague Dogs, and what many (myself included) consider one of the three or four best fantasy novels published in English in the second half of the twentieth century, international bestseller Watership Down; SHERI S. TEPPER, 87, SF and fantasy writer, winner of the lifetime achievement award from the World Fantasy Convention, author of The Gate to Women’s Country, Grass, Beauty, and Shadow’s End; UMBERTO ECO, 84, Italian scholar and novelist, best known for the novels The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum; W. P. KINSELLA, 81, author best known for his novel Shoeless Joe, which was made into the movie Field of Dreams, also the author of The Iowa Baseball Confederacy and If Wishes Were Horses; KATHERINE DUNN, 70, writer and journalist, best known for the cult classic Geek Love; ED GORMAN, 74, prominent crime and horror writer and anthologist who also wrote some SF; DAVID LAKE, 86, SF writer, author of The Man Who Loved Morlocks, Ring of Truth, and West of the Moon; BUD WEBSTER, 63, writer, SF scholar and historian; CAROLYN SEE, 82, writer whose SF works included Golden Days and There Will Never Be Another You; JUSTIN LEIBER, 77, SF writer and philosopher, son of the late SF writer Fritz Leiber; MARK JUSTICE, 56, writer and radio host; LOIS DUNCAN, 82, author of fifty books, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, A Gift of Magic, and Down a Dark Hall; JAKE PAGE, 80, nonfiction writer of science and natural history, also a mystery novelist who wrote some SF; PETER WESTON, 73, British editor and fan; LINN PRENTIS, 72, longtime literary agent; ROBERT E. WEINBERG, 70, author, editor, and publisher, as well as an anthologist who specialized in salvaging material from the pulp era; WILLIAM BOND “BILL” WARREN, 73, film historian and critic whose best-known book of reviews of SF movies was probably Keep Watching the Skies!; KATHLEEN A. BELLAMY, 58, managing editor and art director for Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show; JILL CALVERT, 63, artist and cover illustrator; DAVID A. KYLE, 97, longtime fan, a member of First Fandom, one of the founding members of the Futurians; LARRY SMITH, 70, convention bookseller and con-runner, longtime fan; PEGGY RANSON, 67, well-known fan artist; GENE WILDER, 83, world-famous film actor, best known in the genre for leading roles in such movies as Young Frankenstein, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Producers, and Blazing Saddles; CARRIE FISHER, 60, actress and writer, best known to genre audiences for her role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars movie and its sequels, also the author of Postcards From the Edge, which was made into a movie of the same name. (Her mother, Debbie Reynolds, 84, internationally known actress, singer, and performer, with no real genre connection—although everybody will recognize her from Singin’ in the Rain—passed away a day later.) KENNY BAKER, 81, film actor best known for his role as R2-D2 in the Star Wars films, also appeared in T
ime Bandits and Labyrinth; JOHN ZACHERLE, 98, TV personality and host of such campy horror shows as Chiller Theater, also the editor of anthologies Zacherley’s Vulture Stew and Zacherley’s Midnight Snacks; PETER VAUGHAN, 93, British actor, known to genre audiences from roles in Village of the Damned, Time Bandits, Brazil, Fatherland, and TV’s Game of Thrones; DAVID HUDDLESTON, 85, film actor best known for roles in Blazing Saddles and TV’s Bewitched; ROBERT C. “BOB” PETERSON, 95, longtime fan and publisher of SF bibliographies; DORIS LORRAINE MEYER, 88, mother of SF writer Susan Palwick; VIOLET GWENDOLENE LUNAN, 102, mother of SF writer Duncan Lunan; KATE YULE, 56, wife of SF writer David D. Levine; BOB FELICE, SR., 75, husband of SF writer Cynthia Felice.

  Terminal

  LAVIE TIDHAR

  Here’s a beautifully written and ultimately quite moving portrait of the ordinary people who make up an unlikely crop of astronauts in the future—those who have accepted the government’s offer of a one-way trip to Mars.

  Lavie Tidhar grew up on a kibbutz in Israel, has traveled widely in Africa and Asia, and has lived in London, the South Pacific island of Vanuatu, and Laos; after a spell in Tel Aviv, he’s currently living back in England again. He is the winner of the 2003 Clarke-Bradbury Prize (awarded by the European Space Agency), was the editor of Michael Marshall Smith: The Annotated Bibliography, and the anthologies A Dick & Jane Primer for Adults, the three-volume The Apex Book of World SF series, and two anthologies edited with Rebecca Levene, Jews vs. Aliens and Jews vs. Zombies. He is the author of the linked story collection HebrewPunk, and, with Nir Yaniv, the novel The Tel Aviv Dossier, and the novella chapbooks An Occupation of Angels, Cloud Permutations, Jesus and the Eightfold Path, and Martian Sands. A prolific short-story writer, his stories have appeared in Interzone, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, Apex Magazine, Strange Horizons, Postscripts, Fantasy Magazine, Nemonymous, Infinity Plus, Aeon, The Book of Dark Wisdom, Fortean Bureau, Old Venus, and elsewhere, and have been translated into seven languages. His novels include The Bookman and its two sequels, Camera Obscura and The Great Game, Osama: A Novel (which won the World Fantasy Award as the year’s Best Novel in 2012), The Violent Century, and A Man Lies Dreaming. His most recent book is a big, multifaceted SF novel, Central Station.