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The Very Best of the Best
- 35 Years of The Year's Best Science Fiction
- Narrated by: Vivienne Leheny, Will Damron
- Length: 39 hrs and 7 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Anthologies & Short Stories
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Men had built cities before, but never such a city as Diaspar; for millennia its protective dome shut out the creeping decay and danger of the world outside. Once, it ruled the stars. But then, as legend had it, the Invaders came, driving humanity into this last refuge. It takes one man, a Unique, to smash the legend and discover the true nature of the Invaders.
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Belisarius is a quantum man, an engineered Homo quantus who fled the powerful insight of dangerously addictive quantum senses. He found a precarious balance as a con man, but when a client offers him untold wealth to move a squadron of warships across an enemy wormhole, he must embrace his birthright to even try. In fact, the job is so big that he'll need a crew built from all the new sub-branches of humanity. If he succeeds, he might trigger an interstellar war, but success might also point the way to the next step of Homo quantus evolution.
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Excellent story
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Exhalation
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From an award-winning science fiction writer (whose short story ‘The Story of Your Life’ was the basis for the Academy Award-nominated movie Arrival), the long-awaited new collection of stunningly original, humane, and already celebrated short stories.
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A collection to revisit
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Summary
A 2020 Locus Award Finalist for Best Anthology
"[Vivienne Leheny and Will Damron's] characterizations are poignant and widely varied, their delivery soulful and immersive, and their pacing attuned to each new world. Ideal for fans of short stories and science fiction." (AudioFile magazine)
For the first time in a decade, a compilation of the very best in science fiction, from a world authority on the genre.
For decades, The Year's Best Science Fiction has been the most widely read short science fiction anthology of its kind. Now, after 35 annual collections comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies. In The Very Best of the Best, legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the finest short stories for this landmark collection, including short fiction from authors such as Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Greg Egan, Stephen Baxter, Pat Cadigan, and any many more.
Critic reviews
2020 Locus Awards Nominee
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What listeners say about The Very Best of the Best
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- htspider
- 20-05-20
some excellent stories
but the last third of the book is less excellent than the first two thirds, and is populated with 'relationship' stories, which aren't really my thing...
2 people found this helpful
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- Steven Nash
- 07-01-20
A Struggle
Really struggled with this short Stories didn't seem to have any conclusions to them. pppp
1 person found this helpful
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- Velvet Snoutingdingle
- 21-10-20
A Fine Collection
A well curated collection of science fiction shorts from the last ten to fifteen years. If you assume it's the best from the whole 35 years of collections you will be led astray. Otherwise outstanding and well narrated.
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- Amazon Customer
- 28-08-19
Would be amazing if not for spoiler prefaces
Introducing the author before each story is one thing; explaining the story I’m about to hear is unforgivable.
58 people found this helpful
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- Will Jr
- 02-08-19
Another excellent collection of stories.
This is another great collection of Science Fiction short stories. I highly recommend this book.
9 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 13-05-19
Excellent survey of the current state of the field
I grew up reading the "year's best" anthologies, and this meta-collection was a great return to short sci-fi. There's something in here for everyone with VERY few duds (perhaps unsurprising given it's the Best of the Best, but nevertheless a welcoming surprise in any anthology), It covers a wide range of soft to quite hard sci-fi, and features both established names (Alastair Reynolds offers a touching and devastating perspective flip on space opera) and newer authors (I absolutely loved My English Name by RS Benedict).
A word of advice - if you don't like a story, feel free to hit the "next chapter" button! I did a couple of times (admittedly the first story in the collection sorta bounced off me) and after each dud was a completely different story that sucked me right back in again.
20 people found this helpful
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- Judd Bagley
- 23-08-20
This is the best of the best?
Super strong start, followed by copious amounts of mediocrity. I know it's challenging to build rich worlds in shorts, but the first story pulled it off and was amazing. Most of what followed was just a slog to get through.
3 people found this helpful
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- S Jones
- 15-03-20
very enjoyable listen
Narrators were varied and all good.
The stories were also varied in tone and type, really enjoyed this book
3 people found this helpful
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- Joe Consumer
- 16-07-19
Great value ..! hours of listening for 1 credit..
Hours of listening for one credit. Some pretty weird stories, a couple modern sexual mentions that may be offensive. But mostly good stories. I listen at night as a distraction to go to sleep.
7 people found this helpful
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- Rebecca
- 26-09-19
So Worth a Credit!
This is a HUGE collection of phenomenal fiction; and it’s all SOOOO good!
Almost 40 hours of the stories deemed the absolute best by the long time editor of the Year’s Best series, Gardner Dozois.
(My favorite one was the short story upon which the classic Sci-fi Horror movie The Thing was based.)
The title really says it all. If you enjoy sci-fi short stories, you will not be disappointed by this brilliant collection!
2 people found this helpful
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- Maksim
- 16-06-19
Worth every second of it
Worth every second of it. GD at its best. Don't hesitate go ahead and jump in.
4 people found this helpful
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- Hassan Kimani
- 25-02-20
Finally a book title which is true in every sense
Arguably the best of the best, each story is a masterpiece, thank you for collating the stories in one edition.
A time space above the rest.
1 person found this helpful
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- Larry
- 03-05-19
NOT WORTH 1/10 OF A CREDIT
There is a distinct line between "real" sci-fi and fantasy-the subjects are different, even though the line is sometimes blurred. The first story is something of a coming of age lesbian story of fur covered mammals, Sorry not sci-fi. Listens to half of the first story and gave up. A couple of fair fantasy stories-then I gave up. Just not my cup of tea.
31 people found this helpful