Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition

This was really the best? Somehow, this feels like an incomplete view of all the possible great spec fic that was out there in 2006. Few of the stories are really dazzling: Alastair Reynold's story is playful and full of cosmic wonder, a very old timey sci fi feel to it; as is Palwick's “The Fate of Mice”. “Finished” was touching. There were a few B-grade, OK stories - “Triceratops Summer”, “The Policeman's Daughter” - but there was quite a lot of unimaginative, unpolished stuff. I was surprised. Haldeman's short-short, for example, was flat and uninspiring. (I remember the drabbles of fanfic, where the whole point seemed to be leveraging sparse, stylish prose to make something mysterious and evocative; this short-short was just... short.)

Overall, I'm a bit baffled; the editor, Horton, mentions Strange Horizons magazine (a place where I've read a number of stronger stories), but it doesn't seem like he picked much from it. And what about Abyss & Apex? These magazines consistently have great pieces. This supposed “Best Of...” didn't feel very “best” at all.