The Best of Connie Willis: Award-Winning Stories
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
Few authors have had careers as successful as that of Connie Willis. Inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and recently awarded the title of Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Willis is still going strong. Her smart, heartfelt fiction runs the gamut from screwball comedy to profound tragedy, combining dazzling plot twists, cutting-edge science, and unforgettable characters. From a near future mourning the extinction of dogs to an alternate history in which invading aliens were defeated by none other than Emily Dickinson; from a madcap convention of bumbling quantum physicists in Hollywood to a London whose Underground has become a storehouse of intangible memories both foul and fair—here are the greatest stories of one of the greatest writers working in any genre today. All ten of the stories gathered here are Hugo or Nebula award winners—some even have the distinction of winning both. With a new Introduction by the author and personal afterwords to each story—plus a special look at three of Willis’s unique public speeches—this is unquestionably the collection of the season, a book that every Connie Willis fan will treasure, and, to those unfamiliar with her work, the perfect introduction to one of the most accomplished and best-loved writers of our time. Praise for The Best of Connie Willis “Filled with warmth and sadness, great drama, witty dialogue, characters you will care about and moments that you will remember for a long time.”—SFF World “If anyone can be named ‘best science fiction writer of the age,’ it’s Connie Willis, and these stories are the best of her best. Truly.”—Analog “Ranging from the hilarious to the profound, these stories show the full range of [Connie] Willis’s talent for taut, dazzling plots, real science, memorable characters, penetrating dialogue and blistering drama.”—Kirkus Reviews “Thank goodness [for] Connie Willis, who says many things that desperately need saying in more than one delightful way.”—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “The Best of Connie Willis? Isn’t that like sorting through diamonds?”—Lytherus
Reviews with the most likes.
It's been a while since a book made me cry, but I sobbed all the way through the second half of “The Last of the Winnebagos.” Dogs, man. I can't handle dog stories. Connie Willis goes beyond talented into the realm of gut-wrenching, emotion-twisting savant. Some of the stories in this collection are delightfully quirky (Emily Dickenson vs. War of the Worlds as told in a thesis proposal anyone?) and some are deeply depressing (She really knows a lot about the Blitz), but every one is a gem as would be expected. This is probably a good collection if you've never read Willis before (although one story does read better if you've read the Doomsday Book) and is a must for fans of her other work.
