In honour of 50 years of the British Science Fiction Association, Newcon Press published Celebration in 2008 (okay, I'm a bit behind on my reading). Edited by Ian Whates, it's author list includes some of the big names in British Sci-Fi (although there are notable absences) including Stephen Baxter, Ken MacLeod, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Liz Williams, Brian Aldiss, Alastair Reynolds, and Ian R. MacLeod among others.
The first thing I expected from Celebration were stories of an up-beat nature. After all, I expected a celebration. In this regard, I was to be disappointed. The stories in celebration are, for the most part, visions of the future, but are almost exclusively dark. Once I accepted that idea, it wasn't difficult to sit back for the ride.
The anthology opens with one of the few non-futuristic stories, Jubiliee Plot, a Victorian, steampunkish tale about the importance of the rail system to the development of the UK by Stephen Baxter. It's an interesting story and well constructed yet somehow it took me a long time to get through. True Victorian/steampunk sci-fi is not my cup of tea, but I suspect, coming off unsuccessful attempts to finish his manifold series, that I'm just not enjoying Baxter's style. I do have one more of his books and that should let me decide one way or the other.
The first gem, for me, was The Killing Fields by Kim Lakin-Smith. A dystopian future where society has collapsed but the remnants of technology, or at least biotechnology, linger on. Human Scarecrows with inbuilt sonic weapons battle rogues of crop bandits and even those you save try to screw you. Think Mad Max meets Blade Runner. This is a beautifully written, dark tale with lots of action and I couldn't get enough.
The next beauty was The Crack Angel by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. While I've not read any of Grimwood's other work yet, and we didn't exactly hit it off in our brief meeting at Eastercon 2009, none-the less I enjoyed this story very much and it was exactly what I'd expected from researching his novels. Most of the story is a dark, first-person detective novel and I was wondering where the sci-fi was until quite close to the end (however, the monkey kept me believing the sci-fi would be there...).
For me, the final gem in the Celebration crown was Liz Williams' At Shadow Cope. This was more a fantasy than sci-fi, but I loved it anyway. It reads as a simple story of a well-placed sorcerer momentarily down on her luck who thus finds herself visiting an old and mystically hopeless colleague. While at his home she learns that that not all magical beings take obvious forms and that humans may sometimes be innocent by-standers in ancient feuds.
Other mentionables were: Peculiar Bone, Unimaginable Key by Brian Aldiss, an original take on the return of the messiah in a part of the book where there were a number of other less creative Christian stories; Alastair Reynold's Soiree an fun take on the singularity (and the post singularity galaxy). Unfortunately, I found it a little too predictable in key areas, which detracted somewhat from the enjoyment. And finally, The Man of the Strong Arm by Adam Roberts, which presents an interesting future of competing ideologies. A dominant totalitarian society with high tech and low moral against a free society with low tech but freedom and a knowledge of the past. My only disappointment here was that the story just seemed to get interesting when it ended. Too little background was developed for my taste.
All in all, Celebration is an enjoyable collection of modern SFFH, despite not living up to my interpretation of its name. The gems within more than make up for the few duds.
