Things I love: Best of the Year collections

One of my largest problems with publishing (and most of the entertainment-industrial complex) is the obsession with fresh ornew over good or great. That is why I love Best of the Year anthologies and collections, especially not this years. Ever since I was little I loved these, where else can you sit down with a book that has a whole bunch of stories that someone had chosen purely on merit. These are not collections of vampire, Cthulhu-inspired, cyberpunk, or what have you. No this collection is full of the BEST stories, the best of the whole year. Now, they are not perfect, there are still stinkers and missing stories. Some years suck, and you go back far enough styles start to change and forgotten vogues better left forgotten pop up. But, if you want a good way to try out a whole bunch of authors and want to read their best, there are worse places to start.