Matter of opinion

[threemonkeys]

At Conflux 3, Bill Congreve persuaded me to buy three books from him from the MirrorDanse offerings. Two of them, by Mark Lawson and Chuck McKenzie, were superb. However I had a bit more trepidation about the third - Year's Best Australian Science Fiction & Fantasy volume 2 edited by Bill and Michelle Marquardt. The reason for my misgivings were based around vol 1 which despite having many good stories didn't really work as a collection for me. However Bill and others assured me that vol 2 is a better work. So it proved.

All the stories in this collection are good and it didn't suffer from as many odd juxtapositions as the first volume. Nor did the quality drop off leaving a flat feeling at the end. Again - it is a collection of very good stories. But I still don't feel sold by it as a collection. It works better but for reasons I can't quite put my finger on I just feel it could be better still. Some of it might be related to the story selection by particular authors whose work I have read from the year in question. I'm sure there are stories from that period which I enjoyed more than the ones chosen. The selected ones are good but perhaps it could be better. Or not. It is just a feeling - not something I really feel the need to research deeply. When it comes down to it, such things come down to taste. Clearly the editors and I have some minor differences. Minor only since I think the right authors were included.

Fuzzy thoughts I know. Next time I read one of these anthologies (and there will be a next time if one is published) I think I will approach it differently. Not read it as an volume but as a series of individual works. Perhaps I will put a pause between each. Or not. The thoughts are still fuzzy.

Comments

[girliejones.livejournal.com]

I was so interested by what *my* years best would be - that's why I tried to read everything Bill did in 06 to compare

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

A herculean task. And to be honest, because so much work went into the selection of the "best of" stories in the anthology I feel a bit mean spirited complaining about vague feelings. But I can't ignore those feelings either.

I would be interested to see how close you and Bill are when the next volume comes out.

[girliejones.livejournal.com]

Well I'm really interested too - I suspect though there would be about 30 and the list from there is a matter of personal taste.

I wonder if Vol 1 was limited by what was actually published.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I know Bill thinks so and I'm inclined to agree. However I do think that vol 1 was not organised well so that it didn't get the most out of what was there. We agreed to differ on that point.

[littenz.livejournal.com]

I read volumes 1 and 2 in close succession and found 2 to be a better work than 1. I was also left wondering if the selected works really were the best of the respective years. Perhaps it all boils down to our tastes in short fiction. But reiterating Ross's comment volume 1 had much less of a thematic flow, whatever that flow was supposed to be, than 2. Volume 2 felt like a meal in the wrong sequence, volume 1 felt like a buffet with the cold desserts sat next to the hot meats.

[catsparx.livejournal.com]

The thing to remember about Years Best collections is that they are all, inevitably, someone or others opinion as to what was the best in the field. There can be no definitive 'best' of anything creative.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Absolutely - which is why I chose the heading for this post. But a good part of my misgivings are not about the selection of what is best but how they are presented.

[austspecfic.livejournal.com]

was that Chris Lawson...Written in Blood? (not Mark) Just an awesome story that one in the collection.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

D'oh. Yes Chris. That will teach me not to check.

Yes Awesome.

getting used to all this

[emeraldnz.livejournal.com]

Hi
Gialiat is teaching me how to use this confounded thing :)

Re: getting used to all this

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Welcome aboard.