13) The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Third Annual Collection, ed. Gardner Dozois

This is always the best value for money of the various best-sf-of-the-year collections, if also the most intimidating (I don’t seem to have finished last year’s). Plenty of stories that I had already read and enjoyed, and several that were new to me – note especially “The Canadian Who Came Almost All the Way Back from the Stars” by Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold, “The Blemmye’s Stratagem” by Bruce Sterling, “Audubon in Atlantis” by Harry Turtledove, “Softly Spoke the Gabbleduck” by Neal Asher, “Planet of the Amazon Women” by David Moles and “Gold Mountain” by Chris Roberson. Better than at least half the stories on the Hugo and Nebula nomination lists. Perhaps we should let the professional anthologists decide the awards, rather than the voters?