13) The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy, ed. Charles N. Brown and Jonathan Strahan
This is a totally superb collection. OK, $15.95 for 500 pages paperback may seem a bit pricy, but the quality of the stories really justifies it. Of the 18 stories, I had read eight previously – the six that have won both Hugo and Nebula (as well as the Locus Award, a precondition for inclusion), and also Sterling’s “Maneki Neko” and Le Guin’s “The Day Before The Revolution”. The other ten are all classics which I should have read years ago and somehow hadn’t:
“The Death of Doctor Island” by Gene Wolfe
“The Way of Cross and Dragon”, by George R.R. Martin
“Souls” by Joanna Russ
“The Only Neat Thing to Do”, by James Tiptree Jr – possibly the weakest story in the collection, I thought, but still very good
“Rachel In Love”, by Pat Murphy
“The Scale-Hunter’s Beautiful Daughter”, by Lucius Shepard
“Buffalo”, by John Kessel
“Gone”, by John Crowley
“Border Guards”, by Greg Egan
“October in the Chair”, by Neil Gaiman
Go out and buy it.
Same here.