Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction
Gardner Dozois
St. Martin's Press, Feb 2005, $35.95, ISBN: 0312336551
reviewed by Harriet Klausner

Following twenty for the most part superior collections of the "Year’s Best Science Fiction’, Gardner Dozier provides a look back cross section of those he felt were the best, albeit a relative term in this case. This new compilation of stories previously published in the series does not contain one tale from each annual, but instead has multiples from the same year with only the 1987 and 1991 book omitted. The tales represent some of the genre’s top guns over the past two decades with each entry top rate. This reviewer has been a long time fan of the series not just because the selections are always superb, but because they can be savored over a week or two; the same holds true for the all star selection. Fans of the series will appreciate this look back with fond memories while newcomers will get a taste of what has been consistently one of best science fiction short story anthologies.