The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection

The 25th installment of editor extraordinaire Dozois's annual collection packs a wallop. Standout selections include Stephen Baxter's “Last Contact,” a decidedly understated hard SF tale wherein an astrophysicist and her elderly mother prepare for the looming end of the universe; “Sanjeev and Robotwallah” by Ian McDonald, a meticulously detailed coming-of-age story in a future India where a young boy learns firsthand the realities of war; and Ted Chiang's Nebula-winning “The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate,” a powerfully emotional—and edifying—story about a Baghdad merchant who travels back in time to seek redemption for the errors of his youth. In a detailed introduction, Dozois credits online magazines, small press collections and several new annual original anthology series with making it a banner year for short science fiction. (July)