2000 In Review Posted 31 December 2000 Last year I claimed that "The publishing industry consolidation pigeons are coming home to roost." I wish I had been wrong. This year did see some good long fiction and some good short fiction. It got both easier and harder to find both: Easier in that more good novels and good shorter works were published this year than in 1999; harder in that the increase was from less-prominent sources, with less-adequate marketing and distribution. The demise of SF Age eliminated a major source of good short fiction, while the suspension of Amazing cut off another professional-rates source of short fiction. Meanwhile, the turmoil in the book-length segment of the publishing industry continued to cause difficulties. My reduced number of full-length reviews is due to these issues, to the need to read the entirety of several massive series to give a fair (if often scathing) review, and miscellaneous factors. Overall, in the commercial (professional) press, there were more good books than 1999, but more bad ones; more good stories than 1999, but more bad ones; and noting that Space Cowboys was the best dramatic presentation should give you an idea of just how bad 2000 was in that area. (I'll definitely be nominating that year-in, year-out favorite "No Award" for the Hugo!) And now, without further ado, the envelope, please:
Overall rating for 2000:
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