The Year's Best Science Fiction, Thirty-Third Annual Collection

The Year's Best Science Fiction is a long-running series of anthologies that were edited by the late Gardner Dozois and were generally considered as the gold standard in "best of" anthologies. I've been reading them for many years and just finished the 33rd collection, which includes stories published in 2015. (Yes, I know I'm behind; maybe now that I am retired, I'll be able to catch up).

As with all anthologies, there were some stories that I didn't enjoy. Generally, if a story didn't grab me I didn't finish reading it. But there weren't that many. Dozois had good taste, and his tastes were pretty close to mine.

These were the stories that thought were the best of the 36 in this book:

• "Ruins" by Eleanor Arnason: One of several stories here from the Old Venus anthology, set on the tropical Venus of the old pulp magazines. 
• "Meshed" by Rich Larson: A look at the high-tech future of sports and what it might mean for the athletes.
• "Gypsy" by Carter Scholz: An interesting take on interstellar travel.
• "The Astrakhan, the Homburg, and the Red Coat" by Chaz Brenchly
• "Calved" by Sam J. Miller: 
• "Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathagan" by Ian McDonald: Another Old Venus story and my favourite of the whole anthology. I didn't want it to end. 
• "Consolation" by John Kessel: A near future story where Canada takes over some of the U.S. 
• "City of Ash" by Paolo Bacigalupi: A grim tale of climate disaster in Phoenix.
• "Trapping the Pleistocene" by James Sarafin: Hunting giant beavers in the past. 
• "Inhuman Garbage" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: A taut police procedural set on the Moon. 
• "Hello, Hello: Can You Hear Me, Hello" by Seanan McGuire: AI and communication with a non-human species. 

As always, your mileage may vary.