THE YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION: Twelfth Annual Collection

Dozois's latest annual ""best of"" comprises 23 tales drawn from 1994's magazines and collections. Among the works on display here are two fine Hainish tales, ""Forgiveness Day"" and ""The Matter of Seggri,"" by Ursula K. LeGuin. Robert Reed describes space-going mutated humans in ""The Remoras."" A chilling nanotech/genetic engineering yarn, ""Margin of Error,"" comes from the redoubtable Nancy Kress. ""The Hole in the Hole"" is another waggishly wonderful tale--this featuring junkyards and moon buggies--from Terry Bisson. The curiously neglected and underrated Australian grandmaster, George Turner, contributes ""Flowering Mandrake,"" an inimitable alien-contact story. And a parade of famous names, both series regulars (Pat Cadigan, Joe Haldeman, Greg Egan, Mike Resnick, Michael Bishop, Howard Waldrop, Walter Jon Williams) and newcomers (Katharine Kerr, Lisa Goldstein), round out a satisfying volume. Back on track after uncharacteristic wobbles last year.