Year's Best Annual Anthology Series

[J-Sun]

I'm a fan of short fiction and, aside from magazines and collections, particularly like annual anthologies that review and pick "the best" stories of the year (according to the lucky editor). I wrote a brief (but too long for a post) sketch of SF annuals if anyone's interested but this thread could be a place to talk about annual series (of fantasy/horror, as well, if you want), which ones you read or like or your general experiences with them.

At this point, my favorites by era are the Asimov/Greenbergs (40-60s) followed by Carr (70s) and Dozois (80s+). But - not quite on topic but very closely related - Merril's are interesting and probably the first closest-thing-to-an-annual I read was her Best of the Best (drawn from her first five annuals) which turned me on to a few authors and made quite a mental impact. (Dozois has also done a couple of those sorts of meta-annuals.)

(Also, on a personal note, I'd really appreciate it if anyone who did look at the page could tell me any series I've missed or anything I got wrong about them. I think I know of most of them but I don't know of a comprehensive treatment or list anywhere, so can't be sure.)

 

[GOLLUM]

Does listing non-Genre anthologies also apply here?

Also what about themed anthologies that do not necessarily cover a single year?

I realise your title states 'Year's Best..." but I will not die wondering...

 

[J-Sun]

Well, I don't own the thread or anything but my intention was to keep it in-genre and to be on annuals as opposed to themed anthologies - the Bleiler/Merril/Wollheim/Carr/Dozois/Hartwell idea of a series of annual anthologies that are theme-free except in the sense of "great stuff".

 

[GOLLUM]

No problem.

I am more of a Fantasy and Horror than SF fan per se but I enjoyed reading your linked post. Very interesting. I do have some good SF anthologies but as far as 'annual' goes the closest I come in SF is the more 'recent' named Nebula Awards Showcases as alluded to in your post. I've got quite a few of these including the earlier collections published as SF Hall of Fame stories covering pre 1965. I realise there is a time lag issue with the Nebula anthologies and they cover a specific award but I've still found them to be worth reading.

In the area of Fantasy and Horror I've never found an annual collection to come close to the Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. This series was sadly made defunct in 2008 but I have a decent number of back issues. An incredible coverage spanning over 20 years of not only fiction but each edition was also preceded by a comprehensive analysis of that year's trends in graphic novels, comics, film, magazine, ezines, other anthologies, awards even obituaries as well as essays, you name it they would cover it. Editors in latter years included Kelly Link and Kevin J Grant but Ellen Datlow was THE mainstay along with Terri Windling who contributed for quite some time.

More recently I've been purchasing The year's Best SF and Fantasy edited by Johnathan Stratham. Overall they're quite good.

For Horror (aside from Year's Best Fantasy & Horror) I've been focusing more on individual new and established authors. There is the more recent Best Horror of the Year anthologies edited by who else but Ellen Datlow and these carry a good reputation.

 

[GOLLUM]

I should also add that the annual Mammoth Book of Best New Horror series is also very good.

 

[dask]

Maybe not actually a series with only one volume, but worth noting:

 

[Alex The G and T]

Funny you should mention... dask....

I was just, yesterday, searching bookshelves for something else; when I found it odd that I had two copies, one slightly less tattered than the other, of:
World's Best Science Fiction: 1967

**

More currently: I religiously get the annual Gardner Dozois Years Best Science Fiction.

Always a great mix of greats.

 

[Bick]

More currently: I religiously get the annual Gardner Dozois Years Best Science Fiction.

I've always wondered what Dozois' collections are like, never having actually got hold of one (what an admission ). Where are the stories mainly sourced from (publications and countries)? They are worth a punt presumably?

 

[Alex The G and T]

Oh, Geeze, Bick.... It's a 600-800 page Tome, each year.

The short answer for sources is everywhere. Dozois is amazing. He reads everything.
A quick scan of acknowledgments for the first edition to come to hand. (the 26th; which is a few years old. (They're numbered not dated, grrr))
Analog, Asimov's, F&SF, Clarkesworld, Interzone, and more 'zines. Some Author's collections, other anthologies compiled in the same year.

The list of "Honorable Mentions" which didn't make the cut, come from a ridiculously broad spectrum of sources.

Countries? The gamut of English speaking countries. I don't recall, offhand, any stories translated from other languages; but it seems likely that there would be a few, over the years.

One of the cool features of each edition is the annual "Summation" which discusses the status of SF publishing for the year. Once he's done with the circulation figures for the print mags, he goes on to list and discuss a huge array of magazines; online, and print; pro, semi pro and fanfic. (The e-book version comes with hotlinks. Oh, and it doesn't weigh 6 pounds)

It's always a good value and the stories are tops.

 

[Bick]

Thanks Alex. You've made me want to get a recent edition. Another for the "to read" list.