The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link (Editor), Gavin Grant (Editor), Gavin J. Grant (Editor)

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
The 18th annual collection of the year's best fantasy and horror -- which encompasses the crème de la crème of published short work from the year 2004 -- includes more than 40 stories by genre luminaries China Miéville, Peter Straub, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Hoffman, Terry Dowling, and Jeffrey Ford, to name a few.

Noteworthy selections include Stepan Chapman's "Revenge of the Calico Cat," a brilliantly surreal story set in an afterlife of sorts for stuffed toys where drunken teddy bears beat the stuffing out of their pink bunny wives and plush lavender octopuses wielding straight-edge razors transport balls of black opium for double-crossing Mob bosses; and Simon Bestwick's "A Hazy Shade of Winter," a masterfully metaphorical tale about organized religion that pits a "sharp-toothed" atheist and a demon against a lynch mob of true believers on Christmas Night. "Hunting Meth Zombies in the Great Nebraskan Wasteland" by John Farris explores a future fallen America where killing methamphetamine addicts isn't just legal -- it's a sport. Tanith Lee's "Speir-Bhan" delves into Celtic myth with a haunting story about a trio of demonic sisters who, on every full moon, feast on the flesh of unwary humans. Chuck Palahniuk's "Guts," about the sexual exploits of ignorant teenage boys, is arguably the most disgusting story ever written.

Neil Gaiman stated it perfectly when he said of the highly acclaimed annual Year's Best Fantasy and Horror collection: "Year in, year out, it's always essential reading." Enough said. Paul Goat Allen

From the Publisher

For more than a decade, readers have turned to The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror to find the most rewarding fantastic short stories. Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant continue this critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magic realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors’ invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, and sections on comics, by Charles Vess; on anime and manga, by Joan D. Vinge; on media, by Ed Bryant; and on music, by Charles de Lint. With a long list of Honorable Mentions, this is an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.

Publishers Weekly

The 18th volume in Datlow's well-regarded series continues to take the pulse of contemporary fantastic literature with intriguing results, but without Terri Windling, Datlow's co-editor through volume 16, some of the fantasy selections, chosen by Small Beer publishers Link and Grant, fail to conjure the elusive magic all great fantasy needs. Luckily, Datlow's more seasoned eye has discovered enough chilling horror to make the anthology a must-buy. Culled from author collections, literary and trade magazines, anthologies and online sources, the 44 stories and poems reflect a distinctly global flavor and avoid traditional tropes and topics. The standouts include haunting selections from such well-known authors as Peter Straub (two prose selections), Alice Hoffman, Christopher Fowler, Chuck Palahniuk, China Mieville, John Farris, Douglas Clegg, Joyce Carol Oates, John Kessel and Gregory Maguire. Exceptional contributions from lesser-known talents include M lanie Fazi's "The Cajun Knot," Shelley Jackson's "Here Is the Church," M. Rickert's "Cold Fires" and Terry Dowling's "Clownette." (Aug.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Ann Welton - VOYA

Horror expert Datlow teams with fantasy writers Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant to present forty-four notable stories and poems published in 2004. The crossover between horror fiction and fantasy is considerable, with a number of stories-for example, Stepan Chapman's masterful but thoroughly unpleasant The Revenge of the Calico Cat or Tanith Lee's Speir-Bahn-falling into both genres, dealing as they do in the uncanny. Other stories are clearly of one camp or the other, with Melanie Fazi's The Cajun Knot representing traditional horror, or Elizabeth A. Lynn's The Silver Dragon presenting a classic fantasy. The collection as a whole represents a broad range of writing styles, all challenging and demonstrating the eclectic and varied nature of the field. Detailed front matter, written by such luminaries as Joan D. Vinge and Charles de Lint, presents summations of both horror and fantasy in 2004, fantasy and horror in the media, comics and graphic novels, anime and manga, fantasy and horror in music, and obituaries. A list of stories receiving honorable mentions is appended after the body of the book. This collection is notable, excellent for reading either cover to cover or browsing, and one that can serve to introduce readers to the work of authors whose work bends both stylistic and narrative boundaries. It is recommended for larger collections. VOYA CODES: 4Q 3P M J S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2005, St. Martin's, 477p., $25 and Trade pb. Ages 11 to Adult.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents