The Best Science Fiction of the Decade

This is the fifth time I’ve picked my favorite books of the preceding decade, and I cannot help but wonder how many more chances I will have to do so in the future? Twice more? Three times perhaps? Scary thoughts.

Before I begin, here is a brief review of my selections from past decades:

The 1960s:
Best Novel: Lord of Light / Roger Zelazny
Best Short Fiction: The Star Pit / Samuel R. Delany
Favorite Authors: Samuel R. Delany / Robert Silverberg / Clifford D. Simak / Jack Vance / Roger Zelazny

The 1970s:
Best Novel: Gateway / Frederik Pohl
Best Short Fiction: The Girl Who Was Plugged In / James Tiptree Jr.
Favorite Authors: Michael Bishop / C.J. Cherryh / George R.R. Martin / Robert Silverberg / John Varley

The 1980s:
Best Novel: No Enemy But Time / Michael Bishop
Best Short Fiction: Her Habiline Husband / Michael Bishop
Favorite Authors: Michael Bishop / Marion Zimmer Bradley / Orson Scott Card / George R.R. Martin / Kim Stanley Robinson

The 1990s:
Best F&SF Novel: Brittle Innings / Michael Bishop
Best Historical Fiction: Stones From the River / Ursula Hegi
Best Short Fiction: Story of Your Life / Ted Chiang
Favorite Authors: Michael Bishop / Andrea Barrett / Toni Morrison / Kim Stanley Robinson

Those were merely the crême de la crême of the previous decades. Here are my complete selections of the favorite books I read (not which were necessarily published) in the 2000s. The selection in boldface is my overall favorite work in each category:

Best F&SF Novels:
Look to Windward/ Iain M. Banks
Resplendent / Stephen Baxter
The Etched City / K.J. Bishop
The Last Light of the Sun / Guy Gavriel Kay
Seeker / Jack McDevitt
Perdido Street Station / China Miéville
The Shadow Year/ Jeffrey Ford

Best Historical Fiction:
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay / Michael Chabon
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union / Michael Chabon
The Time It Never Rained / Elmer Kelton
An Instance of the Fingerpost / Iain Pears
The Dream of Scipio / Iain Pears
The Judgment of Caesar/ Steven Saylor

Best Short Fiction:
The Potter of Bones / Eleanor Arnason
The Fluted Girl / Paolo Bacigalupi
The Chop Line / Stephen Baxter
The Rabbi’s Holiday / Peter Beagle
Hell is the Absence of God / Ted Chiang
The Empire of Ice Cream / Jeffrey Ford
The Cosmology of the Wider World / Jeffrey Ford
Good Mountain / Robert Reed
Zima Blue / Alastair Reynolds

Favorite Authors:
Stephen Baxter / Michael Chabon / Jeffrey Ford / Jack McDevitt / Iain Pears / Steven Saylor

Of the 16 f&sf selections, 8 are sf and 8 are fantasy, which surprised me somewhat since I generally prefer science fiction to fantasy. Overall, this was a good decade for fiction, although it was a bit harder seeking out the best short fiction since I read few prozines the past decade years than anytime since I became a fan of f&sf in the early 1960s.