The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection »

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 Link's 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 isn’t 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.

Featuring:

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, Conrad Williams

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.

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