From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Sep 16 12:39:55 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!gatech!sipb-server-1.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!usenet From: tillman@aztec.asu.edu (P.D. TILLMAN) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Not of Woman Born, edited by Constance Ash Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 15 Sep 1999 14:11:21 -0400 Organization: none Lines: 42 Sender: wex@tinbergen.media.mit.edu Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: tinbergen.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.34 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2455 Not of Woman Born, edited by Constance Ash Review copyright 1999 Peter D. Tillman Rating: overall "A" -- best original anthology I've seen this year. Outstanding stories by WJ Williams & Jack McDevitt; excellent stories by NK Hoffman, R. Silverberg and others. Theme anthologies sometimes suffer from too narrow a focus and/or carbon- copy stories. Not this one -- the authors interpreted the theme loosely enough so that I didn't lose interest, and there are some great stories. Walter Jon Williams takes a killer look at cybernetic family values in "Daddy's World," and Jack McDevitt delivers the most interesting look at gengineering one's progeny since Greg Egan's wonderfully sly "Eugene," in "Dead in the Water." McDevitt's mother-to-be is particularly well-drawn. A+ stories both; look for them on the award ballots next year. "A" stories: Silverberg's 1957 "There Was an Old Woman" is an amazingly fresh look at cloned lives, even 40 years on. Nina Kiriki Hoffman takes a sharp look at future retail clerks in "One Day at Central Convenience Mall." New author Janni Simner cleverly inverts bringing up baby in "Raising Jenny", and Richard Parks takes a close look at cloning's impact on showbiz in "Doppels." "A-" (= flawed but very good) stories by Sage Walker, Susan Palwick, Patricia McKillip, Wm. F Wu, Doyle & Macdonald, and Kara Dalkey. Curiously, the weakest story in the bunch is by the editor, and it's not bad. Overall: 2 "A+", 4 "A", 6 "A-", 1 "B+", and 1 "B" stories. Highly recommended %T Not of Woman Born, edited by Constance Ash %O 13 new stories; 1 reprint. %D 3/99 %I Roc %O US$7 %P 272 pp %G ISBN 0-451-45681-5 Read more of my reviews: http://www.silcom.com/~manatee/reviewer.html#tillman