Bio: Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian science-fiction writer (http://www.sfwriter.com), author of the Nebula Award-winning novel THE TERMINAL EXPERIMENT, and the Hugo Award finalists STARPLEX, FRAMESHIFT, FACTORING HUMANITY, and CALCULATING GOD -- as well as as several short stories available through Fictionwise. His latest project is the "Neanderthal Parallax" trilogy, consisting of HOMINIDS, HUMANS, and HYBRIDS.

Classic Ellison -- what more need be said? If you haven't read it already, you're in for a treat!

I wouldn't have thought it possible at this late date for someone to come up with another seminal short-short in the SF field, the equal of Clarke's THE STAR or Asimov's own THE LAST QUESTION, but the good doctor has done it here. Robopsychologist Susan Calvin is back, and at her best (but you don't need to have read any of Asimov's other robot stories to enjoy this one). A treat, short and sweet.

I had to mull this one over for a couple of days before deciding that I did, in fact, love it. The opening, about a computer-entertainment director doing King Lear goes on quite long, but ultimately it is necessary to the story. This is actually a very poignant piece about Isaac Asimov himself; for a man famous for his ego, he reveals some startling humility here. "Gold" is metafiction -- fiction ABOUT fiction, that acknowledges with a wink and a nod that it IS fiction. In this case, the reading experience will be enhanced substantially if you've read Asimov's Hugo-winning novel The Gods Themselves."

The GLOBE AND MAIL: CANADA'S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER asked two dozen promiment Canadians to pick their favorite books of 2002. Mine was Ted Chiang's collection STORIES OF YOUR LIFE, which includes the Hugo winning "Hell is the Absence of God." My editor at Tor, David G. Hartwell, says this was the best single SF story of 2002; I can't say I disagree with him.

It's probably sacrilegious to say it, but I've never been much of a fan of Heinlein -- too jingoistic and right-wing for my tastes. But this is a simply charming, fast-paced novel about a flamboyant two-bit actor who stumbles into the job of impersonating the most powerful man in the solar system. Heinlein's characterization often seems glib and superficial to me, but his main actor character is nuanced and fascinating, and everything in the book about the theatrical world rings true. Lots of fun, and a good reminder of how short novels really were the ideal form for SF.

Harlan Ellison has written lots of great stories, but this is one of his very best. The most self-reflection we usually get is looking at ourselves in the mirror each morning. Here, a man actually meets himself -- and has to admit that he doesn't really like what he sees. Powerful and punchy.

Mike Resnick reveals why he's one of the most honored writers in the field with this terrific, poignant tale, about a proud tourist guide, showing the ancient sights of his alien world to a family from Earth. It's a haunting tale, and richly deserved every award it won.

You shouldn't need me to tell you about this story, one of the most lauded pieces of short SF from the 1990s. But if you've missed reading it up to now, here's your chance. Resnick tells of aliens visiting Olduvai Gorge long after humanity is extinct. Resnick's signature mix of Africana and pointed social comment are very much in evidence in this piece -- and the motley crew of aliens he's put together rivals Larry Niven at his best.

I happen to think that Frederik Pohl's GATEWAY is the finest science-fiction novel ever written -- but I've got to say that it owes one heck of a lot to Robert Silverberg's older "Going Down Smooth." The idea of whacko artificial intelligences, and of using a computer psychologist to treat human patients has never been done so neatly as in this nasty little piece. Well worth reading (as, of course, Silverberg usually is).

A perfect example of the classic "idea" story in SF. As workers at the Smithsonian prepare a time capsule to be buried in 2000 AD, a scientist tries to resurrect voices from 1000 AD. No action -- just talking heads (and a couple of other things that talk!) -- but it shows exactly why that sort of story can be so exciting and powerful in SF. Bonus: an afterword in which Benford discusses the science in the story, and why the story was rejected by David Hartwell.

The birth of religion among captive chimps! A fascinating story, very well told. Equally good, but very different, is Mike Resnick's "Barnaby in Exile." "Pope of the Chimps" also makes an interesting contrast with Silverberg's own story about a robot pope, "Good News from the Vatican."

Barry Malzberg gets more than his far share of "poor" ratings here on Fictionwise, in my humble opinion. His stories are uniformly excellent, ambitious, and stylistically inventive -- although I can certainly see why they're not to everyone's taste (which is quite a different thing to being poor stories). Malzberg has long been recognized as a writer's writer -- admired by almost everyone working in the SF field, but never making the mark with the general reading public that he deserves to. You'll see exactly why in this brilliant little piece about a man dying of AIDS: there's nothing easy or sugar-coated here, just some very powerful writing.

One of the great things about the eBook revolution is the availability of older material. Certainly, it's allowing me to catch up on some stories I should have read years ago -- such as this gem from the late George Alec Effinger. What a masterful work! The entire history of quantum mechanics condensed to 10,000 words, and made a powerful character story, to boot.

This lengthy piece -- a Hugo nominee as I write this -- was written before September 11, 2001, but has some fascinating additional resonances since that tragic date. Allen Steele has done something too few American writers are willing to do: put a spotlight on the growing loss of freedom in his country. At the same time, his Great Escape-style plot about hijacking Earth's first starship works really well, even if the notion of anyone taking over any kind of ship is enough to give most people the willies these days. I'm already jealous enough of Allen as it is for having two Hugos -- and there's an excellent chance that he'll take home his third for this story.

I went to see "A Beautiful Mind," after its star Russell Crowe lost the Academy Award to Denzel Washington. On the way out of the theater, I said to my wife, "I haven't seen Denzel Washington's performance yet, but it must have been absolutely unbelievably fabulous to have beat out Crowe." Well, I feel the same way about "To Kiss the Star." It was up for the Nebula Award, but didn't win. I haven't read the work that did win yet, but, again, it must have been absolutely unbelievably fabulous to beat out "To Kiss the Star." This is a beautiful, poignant, moving story of a soaring mind trapped in a damaged body. Read it.

The SF best-of-the-year anthologies routinely ignore the Martin Harry Greenberg-edited theme anthologies published mostly by DAW, and that's unfair in my view. This story is a perfect example of a very fine piece of work from one of those books. If you know and love the oeuvre of H. G. Wells, you'll get a big kick out of this story in which Wells learns a thing or two from Thomas H. Huxley, the man known as "Darwin's Bulldog."

Dann is a fabulously evocative writer. This story -- a current Nebula finalist, as I write this review -- is absolutely compelling, telling of a man rich enough to create his own rules (if you own a diamond the size of a mountain, a little trifle like the Emancipation Proclamation doesn't prevent you from still keeping slaves just for the fun of it, and if your spoiled daughters want boyfriends, why, just abduct some square-jawed soldiers for them, and then kill them when the girls grow tired of them). The story is set shortly after World War I, and has rich characters, lots of action, and quite a bit of humor. A really enchanting read.

An astonishingly eye-opening, and ultimately very uplifting, book. We hear constantly that humans are nothing more than natural-born killers; it's very refreshing, especially in these trying times, to see someone so eloquently make the opposite case. An important and very readable book.

What a hoot! A truly funny story. Laura Resnick clearly has her father Mike Resnick's deft comic touch.

There simply is no better history of science fiction available. The Panshins love the genre, and take you on an illuminating tour. Highly recommended.

A first story is always exciting, because you might be in on the ground floor of the Next Big Thing. Paul E. Martens is fabulously evocative, if a bit dark for some tastes. Give this one a try, and keep your eyes peeled for more by him.

Jim Morrow has guts, I'll give him that. This story will surely be offensive to some, but in its brilliant exploration of the Roman Catholic doctrine on the sacredness of even unborn human life, "Auspicious Eggs" is in the best tradition of "if this goes on" science fiction speculation. If you haven't read Morrow before (author of the religiously themed novels ONLY BEGOTTEN DAUGHTER and TOWING JEHOVAH), this is a great place to start.

A very clever, well-researched story about Galileo and the Roman Catholic Church. Imagine if the Instruments were not Instruments of Torture, but, well ... Texas Instruments products. This story makes an interesting pairing with Isaac Asimov's "Gold." A quick read with a great sting in its tail.

If this had been written twenty years ago, it would have been hailed as a masterpiece, the equal of Vernor Vinge's "True Names" and William Gibson's NEUROMANCER. As is, it has a slightly quaint fell in this post-cyberpunk world, but it's still a remarkable piece of work, and quite deservedly appeared on many "Year's Best" lists in 2002.

Disclaimer: I'm the Sawyer after whom the main character is named (and his first name, Jason, is after the AI in my novel GOLDEN FLEECE). That said, I still honestly think this is a terrific story. Despite the title, it's only peripherally a riff on the classic "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin -- although it does ask a 21st-century version of the tough question about who you should save when you can't save everyone, with a very nice AI twist. Burstein won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer a few years ago -- and you can see why in stories like this one.