THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION

As the number of entries dwindles (28 last time, 24 this), the average length increases; here, take out the two novellas previously published as independent hardcovers (Michael Swanwick's Griffin's Egg and Frederik Pohl's Outnumbering the Dead) and the short-story version of Arthur C. Clarke's latest novel, The Hammer of Gold (p. 492), and 1992's Best SF begins to look decidedly hyperbolic. Still, veteran Kate Wilhelm's sharp, affecting tale of a lonely man helping a mutant child evade capture by predatory government agents is a standout. Again, Connie Willis not only writes a story about menstruation but succeeds in making it funny. Similarly amusing is Terry Bisson's foray into art and time travel. On the other side of the coin, Ian R. MacLeod weighs in with a creepy, unpleasantly fascinating future coming-of-age yarn; Joe Haldeman encounters some horrible Vietnam corpses; Nancy Kress portrays a grim future US with genetic screening and without medical insurance. And Tom Maddox writes tellingly of how real science is done or, rather, distorted by scientists. Also on the agenda, with less variety than usual: alternate worlds, time travel, computer personalities, art history and ecology, a spiritual crisis, labor camps, future grunge, artificial intelligence, literary figures, celebrities, names, and technology. Finally, a disappointing entry in a hitherto superlative series.