This one is slightly out of date. I think they may be on “Best SF 11″, or something close to that by now. Anyway, this book contains the best Science Fiction short stories published in the year 2000. The editor, David G. Hartwell, selects them all, puts a little blurb about each author before their story, and wrote the introduction.

The introduction is rather interesting. Hartwell comments on how the year 2000 is a BIG year for science fiction, and makes references to many of the famous stories that take place on or around that year. (Such as Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001, and Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward). Hartwell also emphasizes, emphatically, and repeatedly, that these stories are all examples of “hard Science Fiction”. I have never heard that term before I picked up this book.

Anyway, these were the best Science Fiction short stories published in 2000, (at least, according to Hartwell, and whoever he confers with, if anyone). I found that I was not really interested in many of them, which was a disapointment. Maybe I’m just not that into “Hard Science Fiction”? I don’t really know. Some stories were just too technical, and didn’t seem to really go anywhere. Others presented a very interesting concept, but, then abruptly ended, sometimes after just a page or two. It would have been nice to have some of those stories expanded upon.
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