Synopses & Reviews
For more than a decade, readers have turned to
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror to find the most rewarding fantastic short stories.
The critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition continues with another stunning collection, including stories by M. T. Anderson, Laird Barron, Simon Bestwick, Simon Brown, Stepan Chapman, Douglas Clegg, D. Ellis Dickerson, Terry Dowling, Andy Duncan, Jean Esteve, John Farris, Mélanie Fazi, Jeffrey Ford, Christopher Fowler, Stephen Gallagher, Theodora Goss, Elizabeth Hand, Alice Hoffman, Shelley Jackson, John Kessel, Margo Lanagan, Tanith Lee, Bentley Little, Elizabeth A. Lynn, Gregory Maguire, China Miéville, Richard Mueller, Joyce Carol Oates, Frances Oliver, Chuck Palahniuk, Tina Rath, Philip Raines and Harvey Welles, M. Rickert, Anna Ross, Alison Smith, R.T. Smith, Peter Straub, Lucy Sussex, Catherynne M. Valente, Greg Van Eekhout, and Conrad Williams.
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.
Review
"Link and Grant's good taste in outré setups, stylistic and formal adventurousness, and ambiguity shows in these challenging selections." Booklist
Synopsis
This highly acclaimed, World Fantasy Award-winning anthology series continues its bestselling tradition with a collection of short pieces by John Farris, Jay Russell, Margo Lanagan, and many others.
About the Author
Ellen Datlow is the acclaimed editor of such anthologies as
Blood Is Not Enough,
Little Deaths,
Alien Sex,
Vanishing Acts and
The Dark. She has won the Hugo Award for Best Editor once, the World Fantasy Award seven times, and the International Horror Guild Award for
The Dark. She and Terri Windling also won the Bram Stoker Award for The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Thirteenth Annual Collection. She currently edits fiction for SCIFI.COM.
Kelly Link and Gavin Grant started Small Beer Press in 2000. They have published the zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet ("tiny but celebrated" The Washington Post) for seven years.
Kelly Links first collection of short stories, Stranger Things Happen, was selected as a Best Book of the Year by Salon, Locus, and The Village Voice. Stories from the collection have won the Nebula, Tiptree, and World Fantasy Awards. Her most recent short stories have appeared in The Dark and The Faery Reel. She recently published Magic for Beginners, and when she isnt writing, she edits the anthology Trampoline.
Originally from Scotland, Gavin Grant regularly reviews fantasy and science fiction. Publications where his work has appeared include Scifiction, Strange Horizons, The Third Alternative, and Singularity.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Summation 2004: Fantasy, Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant
Summation 2004: Horror, Ellen Datlow
Fantasy and Horror in the Media: 2004, Edward Bryant
Comics and Graphic Novels: 2004, Charles Vess
Anime and Manga: 2004, Joan D. Vinge
Fantasy and Horror in Music: 2004, Charles de Lint
Obituaries: 2004, James Frenkel
"The Oakthing," Gregory Maguire
"Horton's Store," R.T. Smith
"Rite of Spring," Margo Lanagan
"Zora and the Zombie," Andy Duncan
"The Changeling," Theodora Goss
"Revenge of the Calico Cat," Stepan Chapman
"Frozen Charlottes," Lucy Sussex
"Reports of Certain Events in London," China Miéville
"House of Ice," Jean Esteve
"Restraint," Stephen Gallagher
"The Baum Plan for Financial Independence," John Kessel
"Dancing on Air," Frances Oliver
"Cold Fires," M. Rickert
"And the Sear Shall Give Up Its Dead," Richard Mueller
"A Trick of the Dark," Tina Rath
"The Bad Magician," Philip Raines and Harvey Wells
"Speir-Bhan," Tanith Lee
"Hunting Meth Zombies in the Great Nebraskan Wasteland," John Farris
"Guts," Chuck Palahniuk
"Water Babies," Simon Brown
"Mr. Aickman's Air Rifle," Peter Straub
"We Find Things Old," Bentley Little
"Wonderwall," Elizabeth Hand
"Postcretaceous Era," D. Ellis Dickerson
"Watch and Wake," M.T. Anderson
"The Oracle Alone," Catherynne M. Valente
"A Night in the Tropics," Jeffrey Ford
"Clownette," Terry Dowling
"Stripping," Joyce Carol Oates
"Seven Feet," Christopher Fowler
"Singing My Sister Down," Margo Lanagan
"Bulldozer," Laird Barron
"These Various Methods of Brightness," Anna Ross
"The Cajun Knot," Mélanie Fazi
"Tales from the City of Seams," Greg van Eekhout
"The Specialist," Alison Smith
"Here is the Church," Shelley Jackson
"The Witch of Truro," Alice Hoffman
"Lapland, or Film Noir," Peter Straub
"What Her Mother Said," Theodora Goss
"The Owl," Conrad Williams
"The Silver Dragon," Elizabeth A. Lynn
Honorable Mentions: 2004