The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year-Volume Four

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Four
© 2010 by Jonathan Strahan
This edition of
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Four
© 2010 by Night Shade Books
Cover art © 2010 by John Berkey
Cover design by Michael Ellis
Interior layout and design by Ross E. Lockhart
Introduction, story notes and arrangement © 2010 by Jonathan Strahan.
First Edition
ISBN: 978-1-59780-171-3
Printed in Canada
Night Shade Books
Please visit us on the web at
www.nightshadebooks.com

Introduction, story notes and arrangement by Jonathan Strahan. © 2010 Jonathan Strahan.

 

"Formidable Caress" by Stephen Baxter. © 2009 Stephen Baxter. Originally published in
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
, December 2009.

 

"By Moonlight" by Peter S. Beagle. © 2009 Avicenna Development Corporation. Originally published in
We Never Talk About My Brother
(Tachyon).

 

"The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" by Holly Black. © 2009 Holly Black. Originally published in
The Eternal Kiss
, Trisha Telep ed. (Running Press)

 

"This Wind Blowing, and This Tide" by Damien Broderick. © 2009 by Damien Broderick. Originally published in
Asimov's Science Fiction
, April/May 2009.

 

"Truth and Bone" by Pat Cadigan. © 2009 Pat Cadigan. Originally published in Poe, Ellen Datlow ed. (Solaris Books).

 

"The Night Cache" by Andy Duncan. © 2009 Andy Duncan. Originally published in
The Night Cache
(PS Publishing)

 

"The Pelican Bar" by Karen Joy Fowler. © 2009 Karen Joy Fowler. Originally published in
Eclipse Three
, Jonathan Strahan ed. (Night Shade).

 

"As Women Fight" by Sara Genge. © 2009 Sara Genge. Originally published
Asimov's Science Fiction
, December 2009.

 

"It Takes Two" by Nicola Griffith. © 2009 Nicola Griffith. Originally published in
Eclipse Three
, Jonathan Strahan ed. (Night Shade).

 

"Dragon's Teeth" by Alex Irvine. © 2009 Alex Irvine. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, December 2009.

 

"Spar" by Kij Johnson. © 2009 Kij Johnson. Originally published in
Clarkesworld Magazine,
October 2009.

 

"The Cat That Walked a Thousand Miles" by Kij Johnson. © 2009 Kij Johnson. Originally published in
Tor.com

 

"JoBoy" by Diana Wynne Jones. © 2009 Diana Wynne Jones. First printed in
The

Dragon Book,
ed. Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann, published by the Penguin Group

 

"Going Deep" by James Patrick Kelly. © 2009 Dell Magazines, Inc. Originally published in
Asimov's Science Fiction
, June 2009.

 

"The Motorman's Coat" by John Kessel. © 2009 Spilogale, Inc. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, June/July 2009.

 

"Echoes of Aurora" by Ellen Klages. © 2009 Ellen Klages. Originally published in
What Remains
(Aqueduct Press).

 

"A Wild and a Wicked Youth" by Ellen Kushner. © 2009 Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, April/May.

 

"Ferryman" by Margo Lanagan. © 2009 Margo Lanagan. Originally published in
Firebirds Soaring
, Sharyn November ed. (Viking).

 

"The Cinderella Game" by Kelly Link. © 2009 Kelly Link. Originally published in
Trolls Eye View,
Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling eds. (Viking).

 

"Mongoose" by Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear. © 2009 Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear. Originally published in
Lovecraft Unbound
, Ellen Datlow ed. (Dark Horse).

 

"Before My Last Breath" by Robert Reed. © 2009 Robert Reed. Originally published in
Asimov's Science Fiction
, October/November 2009.

 

"Blocked" by Geoff Ryman. © 2009 Geoff Ryman. Originally published in
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, October/November 2009.

 

"Black Swan" by Bruce Sterling. © 2009 Bruce Sterling. Originally published in
Interzone 221.

 

"Zeppelin City" by Michael Swanwick & Eileen Gunn. © 2009 Michael Swanwick & Eileen Gunn. Originally published in
Tor.com.

 

"Eros, Philia, Agape" by Rachel Swirsky. © 2009 Rachel Swirsky. Originally published in
Tor.com.

 

"Three Twilight Tales" by Jo Walton. © 2009 Jo Walton. Originally published in
Firebirds Soaring
, Sharyn November ed. (Viking).

 

"The Island" by Peter Watts. © 2009 Peter Watts. Originally published in
The New Space Opera 2
, Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan eds. (HarperCollins).

 

"Utriusque Cosmi" by Robert Charles Wilson. © 2009 Robert Charles Wilson. Originally published in
The New Space Opera 2
, Gardner Dozois & Jonathan Strahan eds. (HarperCollins).

 

"A Delicate Architecture" by Catherynne M. Valente. © 2009 Catherynne M. Valente. Originally published in
Troll's Eye View
, Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling eds. (Viking).

For Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber, dear friends both,
who were kind and generous when they did not have to be,
with my thanks.

Best Short Novels
(2004 through 2007)
Fantasy: The Very Best of 2005
Science Fiction: The Very Best of 2005
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volumes 1 - 4
Eclipse One; Eclipse Two; Eclipse Three
The Starry Rift: Tales of New Tomorrows
Godlike Machines
(forthcoming)
Engineering Infinity
(forthcoming)
Wings of Fire
(forthcoming)
With Lou Anders
Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery
(forthcoming)
With Charles N. Brown
The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy
Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories
With Jeremy G. Byrne
The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 1
The Year's Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 2
Eidolon 1
With Terry Dowling
The Jack Vance Treasury
The Jack Vance Reader
Wild Thyme, Green Magic
Hard Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance
With Gardner Dozois
The New Space Opera
The New Space Opera 2
With Karen Haber
Science Fiction: Best of 2003
Science Fiction: Best of 2004
Fantasy: Best of 2004
 

By my count this is either the thirty-third or thirty-fourth book that I have worked on since the chance presented itself for me to edit my first anthology back in the heady Australian summer of 1996. Astoundingly, to me at least, thirty-one (or thirty-two) of those books were edited between mid-2004 and the end of 2009. Five years, give or take. Not one of those books, not a single one, would have been possible without the support, guidance and friendship of the late Charles N. Brown who died this past July. He was a dear friend and his advice was instrumental in guiding this book to publication.

This year has been a challenging one and getting this book done has been demanding. I'd especially like to thank Gary K. Wolfe, whose advice has been invaluable; Alisa Krasnostein, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Ben Payne, Alex Pierce, Tehani Wessely, Jason Fischer and Sarah Parker from
Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth
who were my companions on the journey through the year and provided an invaluable sounding board. I'd also like to thank Howard Morhaim, Katie Menick, Justin Ackroyd, Jack Dann, and Gordon Van Gelder. Thanks also to the following good friends and colleagues without whom this book would have been much poorer, and much less fun to do: Lou Anders, Deborah Biancotti, Ellen Datlow, Gardner Dozois, Sean Williams, and all of the book's contributors.

As always, my greatest thanks go to Marianne, Jessica and Sophie. Every moment spent working on this book was a moment stolen from them. I only hope I can repay them.

This last year was a good but not exceptional year for short speculative fiction. As was the case in 2008, and for most of this decade really, there were literally millions of words of short science fiction and fantasy published in magazines, anthologies, collections, 'zines, and pamphlets. And, while markets opened and markets closed, there was still enough top notch science fiction and fantasy published to keep any one reader busy, and easily enough to fill several volumes like the one you are now holding.

As is always the case, there were trends that could be readily discerned by any attentive reader. Our fascination with the undead continued through 2009 and looks set to go on for at least another year or two. John Joseph Adams' remarkably successful 2008 anthology
The Living Dead
was followed by several less-interesting books by other hands. Literary mash-ups, of all things (!), gave us the runaway bestseller
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,
and way too many similar books seem set to follow. The other major trend was a passion for the retro-futurism of steampunk. While Nick Gevers'
Extraordinary Engines
investigated some of the possibilities of the subgenre last year, and Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer's fine
Steampunk
laid out its past, 2009 saw major novels like Scott Westerfeld's
Leviathan
and Cherie Priest's
Boneshaker
published which, along with a passel of short stories, made it clear steampunk is here to stay. It's not brave or particularly prescient to suggest we'll be dealing with both of these trends for several years yet. A perhaps longer-lasting trend, though, is our growing interest in the technology of reading. While the enormous, and frankly ominous, Google Book Settlement case continued, it seemed we became more and more interested in electronic book readers. What once was either clunky or dull had, by year's end, become sexy and cool, and was increasingly tipped to become the new iPod. Certainly the 2009 revamp of the Kindle was well received, as was Barnes & Noble's nook, which debuted late in the year. It remains to be seen, though, whether either of these devices, or some as-yet-unreleased competitor, will finally make eBooks a widespread and popular reality.

No single publishing news event dominated the year; instead, people interested in the industry focused on cutbacks and losses, and pondered the future. At various times things began to look grim indeed.
Asimov's Science Fiction
and
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
changed their physical format with their December 2008 issues, which suggested that they would publish less fiction and might even be in some kind of financial difficulty. Then in January Sovereign Media announced that it was ceasing publication of
Realms of Fantasy
, a stalwart of the field since 1994. All of the doomsayers probably felt that the science fiction magazine apocalypse was truly upon us when in April publisher Gordon Van Gelder announced that he was moving the venerable
Magazine of Fantasy & Science
Fiction
to a bi-monthly schedule, producing double issues that would be slightly shorter than two of their monthly predecessors.

And yet, as the year moved on it became clear that while every magazine was facing challenges (mostly arising from changes to postal charges), things were not as bad as we feared. Throughout the year, at various times, publishers made spirited attempts to make it clear that, while things were tough, they were still doing okay, assertions that were borne out by the fact that at year's end
Asimov's
and
F&SF
had published pretty much exactly the same amount of fiction they had in 2008 (though
F&SF's
decision to publish a series of classic reprints did mean they published fewer new stories in 2009), with only
Analog
publishing a significantly smaller volume of fiction than in previous years. Then
Realms of Fantasy
was suddenly and unexpectedly resurrected by the enterprising Warren Lapine, with Shawna McCarthy remaining at the editorial helm, and ended up missing just a single issue.

But while things weren't as bad as we feared there still were some genuine losses. In August the publishers of
Jim Baen's Universe
, one of the highest paying short fiction markets in the field, announced that they would discontinue the magazine because of problems finding sufficient subscribers, then
Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show
also announced cutbacks, which was followed by the news that venerable SF media magazine
Starlog
and newcomer
Death Ray
would both be ceasing publication. Even the buoyant anthology market saw cutbacks, with editors Lou Anders and George Mann walking away from their "Fast Forward" and "Solaris Book of New Science Fiction" series to focus respectively on their publishing and writing commitments.