Book excerpt: To read is to journey, and to read science fiction is to venture into a myriad of imaginative and delightful worlds, such as: - Robert Reed's fabulous galaxy-circling starship and its fascinating inhabitants, "The Remoras" - The planet Mercury, where there is more than meets the eye in Stephen Baxter's "Cilia-of-Gold" - Two very different Hainish worlds--with very different customs--in two knockout novellas by Ursula K. Le Guin - A junkyard in Brooklyn that won't stay put in "The Hole in the Hole" by Terry Bisson In all, this volume presents twenty-three of the finest works of speculative fiction published in the past year, including stories by such diverse and fantastic talents as Michael Bishop, Pat Cadigan, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Michael F. Flynn, Lisa Goldstein, Joe Haldeman, Katharine Kerr, Nancy Kress, Maureen F. McHugh, Mike Resnick, Mary Rosenblum, Geoff Ryman, William Sanders, Brian Stableford, George Turner, Howard Waldrop, Walter Jon Williams. Rounded out with Gardner Dozois's insightful overview of the year in science fiction and a long list of recommended reading, this volume is the starting point for dozens of delightful ventures into the marvels of human imagination. "Dozois's intelligently and ably put-together anthology does its stated job as well as any one book or editor could. Even with competition, it would still be the best of the Best."--Publishers Weekly