This is an interesting compilation of best short stories of 2020 collected by two people; one of which is my favorite author – Diana Gabaldon.  I was intrigued by the choices included in this collection; I can’t quite decide what they say about the editors; but there is no over-riding theme, just the stories they liked best, I suppose.  Most of the authors are unknown to me so there is a joy in discovering new writers; and there’s a helpful list of bios at the back of the book.  But I can’t say I truly enjoyed this collection.  There are some designed to shock and I couldn’t help making a pale comparison to Harlan Ellison’s “Dangerous Visions”; the shock value of which might never be surpassed.

Matthew Baker offers up a story of criminal punishment meant to deter but not unduly hurt the offender; but I found it quite terrifying and dreary.  Ken Liu depressed me; the story was just too contemporary.  There’s much about our internet culture that is cruel and unfeeling; maybe because it’s too easy to hurt and humiliate if you don’t have to look someone in the eye.  And Anil Menon contributed a cautionary tale that was, again, depressing.  It was a commentary on society and the idea that if there was a way to control behavior then all would benefit from a kinder, nicer society.  I don’t know if it’s an American-centric view that freedom is more valuable than peace or if it resonates elsewhere; I do know that it’s a tired theme.

S.P. Somtow provides a well-characterized story of a young boy and his destiny but I confess I didn’t quite see the point of it; it felt like it belonged as a prologue to a novel.

Deji Bryce Olukoun has a most interesting take on generation ships; in that they are continually monitored by Earth.  They are monitored for their progress, of course, but the watchers are also looking for an undesirable condition often brought on by extreme hardship.  A condition which, if detected in the received images, is a death sentence for the crew of the ship. I enjoyed this one quite a lot.

I think my fave is from Kelly Barnhill in that it addresses the perennial issue of female empowerment.  Too many stories I’ve read attribute it to man’s largesse, and others to a lack of men; both of which leave me wanting.  I enjoyed the womens’ solutions but was somewhat disappointed in their need to still conform to society’s perception that only men can do the job.  And the best character was their father.

Or maybe it’s the Elizabeth Bear that I like best.  Her’s is a post-rapture/something-happened type story.  The focus is on one woman left in Las Vegas when all the people just…disappeared.  Her reminiscences give us insight into her psyche so her reaction to meeting a lone male isn’t unexpected.  Her reaction to his fatalistic image of their shared destiny was…well, priceless.   And, surprisingly, Bear rated two entries in this collection.  Her second was also really, really good.  It was a fascinating picture of a woman trying to remember something important, something that involves many lives.  Her challenge is keeping enough of her body parts in one place - including her mind - to remember the elusive information that might stop a catastrophe.

Adam-Troy Castro offers a really interesting story with a puzzle for an incarcerated woman to solve:  how to escape from an escape-proof cell where her parents put her simply because she didn’t conform.  So this has some really nice elements:  a female who refuses to give up and simply accept a lifetime of comfort, and an AI which has a very strict protocol to follow for all the inmates but which is uncompromisingly honest when one asks the right questions.

I also really like the story by Caroline Yoachim.  This was a really straightforward first-contact type SF story with a very good payoff.  And, oh gosh, then there’s Charlie Jane Anders who can always draw me into her characters with her words.  And a bookstore.  It’s not much of a stretch, for me, to imagine a bookstore as a bridge between worlds and the salvation of some.

There were some I just didn’t like and some that had no message for me, culturally.  Other contributing authors not mentioned by name are:   Gwendolyn Kiste, Rion Amilcar Scott, Tobias Bucknell, Nibedita Sen, Jaymee Goh, Christophe Caldwell, E. Lily Yu, Rebecca Roanhorse and Victor LaValle. ~~ Catherine Book

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