I personally found the story rather disappointing, just too simplistic and I’d have put it down as being a story in the reject pile of one of the top publishers, rather than a Year’s Best story. Originally published in Motherboard Vice, 4/02/20 and still online.Ĭlick on the link above to read the story online. Campbell’s ‘Such Thoughts Are Unproductive’ from last year’s Clarke’s ‘Years Best’ was also an outstanding story. It’s a deftly handled story, and an eventually uplifting, warming story. But amongst rising sea and river levels, and rampaging forest fires, a violin maker looks back on how a previous climate change benefitted the wood that would become violins, and tries his best to create a violin that will last for centuries. Not really SF, I suppose, as it’s a simple projection of current ecological shithousery trajections (not sure that’s even a word!). Okay, being a bit smart alecky does the story a dis-service, let me say that the story, which features a violin maker, is one of the best SF stories I’ve read in a little while. It’s near future, well into climate catastrophe territory, and it’s undoubtedly the best luthier SF story I’ve ever read.

You should follow the link above (or buy this book) and read this story. Originally published in Clarkesworld Magazine, 8/20 and still online. The other has a more existential threat, but between them, she (not sure why I assigned the female gender to them both?) they developed a shared love of doggo videos, and, much more. One is a newbie, working as a barista/cook, who has issues with their employer. Not monstrously powerful ones, but humbler ones embodied in robots.

This cute story features a transcript of conversation between AIs. Just the second story of Prasad’s that I have read, the other also appearing in a Year’s Best volume (‘A Series of Steaks’ from 2017). Originally published in Made to Order: Robots and Revolution Let’s get on with reading the stories shall we? Dates stories reviewed in parenthesis as the end of the review. Only 4 or 5 are authors who I would at a quick glance identify having previously appeared in a Year’s Best SF volume more than 5 years ago, so the volume clearly isn’t profiling the Big Established Names. I’ve popped the ToC from Strahan’s website below to save a bit of effort, and will add reviews of stories as I work my way through the volume.ġ7 of the 26 authors are known to me, and by the power of Math that means 9 of the authors are new to me. The second volume in Strahan’s new all-SF anthology, the dead-tree version of which has just arrived here in mid-Nov.

Made to Order by Jonathan Strahan