*****
Kage Baker, What the Tyger Told Her
Ted Chiang, Hell is the Absence of God
Devon Monk, Stitchery

****
R. Garcia y Robertson, Firebird
Poul Anderson, The Lady of the Winds
James P. Blaylock, His Own Back Yard
Richard Parks, A Place to Begin
David D. Levine, Nucleon

***
Andy Duncan, Senator Bilbo
Charles de Lint, Big City Littles
Ashok Banker, In the Shadow of Her Wings
Gene Wolfe, Queen
Jo Walton, On the Wall
Tanith Lee, The Man Who Stole the Moon
Kate Riedel, The Others We Know Not Of
Uncle River, My Stolen Sabre
James Morrow, Apologue

**
Marion Zimmer Bradley & Diana L. Paxson, The Heart of the Hill
Patrick O'Leary, The Black Heart
Thomas Ligotti, My Case for Retributive Action
Thomas M. Disch, The Shadow

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.asp?ID=671 ( )

Some excellent stories, but the story notes are terrible. Trust me, you're better off just not reading them at all, and skipping straight to the meat.

Some highlights:

* Le Guin's The Finder is classic Earthsea, very nice indeed.
* The tiger of Kage Baker's What the Tyger Told Her has a fantastic voice, perfectly balanced between generosity and manipulativeness. The final outcome is totally predictable, but there's a second totally predictable, and totally different, way the story could have gone.
* On The Wall, by Jo Walton, is totally defused by the bloody story notes, but if you can get past that it's got sharper teeth than I expected.
* Ted Chiang's Hell Is the Absence of God was the highpoint of the collection for me — and you can read it online, at http://www.nd.edu/~thanneke/2003c/chiang-hellistheabsenceofgod.htm .
* After that rather sombre story, the offerings by R. Garcia y Robertson, Thomas Ligotti and Poul Anderson are pleasantly lighthearted without being too forgettable.

In summary: Hartwell has made some good picks, and there's not much that shouldn't be there (the Apologue by James Morrow is only included because the September 11th attacks were still on everyone's minds, which is a shame). But the story notes are really dreadful, so if you can find these stories online or in other collections you needn't feel you're missing out on anything. ( )