The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror

by Simon Brown, Anna Ross, Simon Bestwick, et al.

Book Overview

Highly acclaimed for collecting the finest short fantasy and horror fiction, the World Fantasy Award-winning annual series continues its tradition of excellence with the most groundbreaking and engaging work by some of the world's most talented authors. Highlights of this year's edition include works by: John Farris, Margo Lanagan, Jay Russell, and many others. Also included are year-end wrap-ups and the popular comics and manga sections.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312341946
• ISBN13: 9780312341947
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Griffin
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding Quality and Variety of Stories! Not to be Missed!

I look forward to this collection every year, but I must admit this 18th annual collection was one of the best ever. I am a huge horror fan and usually just skip over the scifi stories, but began to read the scifi stories as well this time and to my great pleasure, really enjoyed these as well. For anyone who enjoys a good short story or good literature of any type I highly recommend this collection. Standout stories by Alice Hoffman, Joyce Carol Oates and the best short story by Peter Straub I've ever read will greatly please. Be warned though, some of these stories are not for the squeamish ("Guts" was very grotesque, but I've also never laughed so hard in my life, what a great story!) As always, I greatly enjoyed the summations at the beginning of the book - they always give me the names of new books and authors I haven't discovered yet to look into. The overall quality of the stories is far superior from any of the other "horror" collections out there today and this particular collection is not to be missed.

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror

continues to provide an avenue to wonderful short stories in the fantasy and horror genre, along with excellent essays on what is going on in the field. I wish I had the time and resources to track down and read all of their recommendations. The series has not diminished with the departure of Terri Windling.

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Eighteenth

A modified editorial team created this eighteenth edition of the classic yearly anthology. The recaps of the year's fiction and other media are still present, though a bit less inclusive than in the past. The stories that I thought were the strongest were by Gregory Maguire, Margo Lanagan, Stepan Chapman, Tanith Lee, Catherynne M. Valente, Conrad Williams and Elizabeth A. Lynn, with a particular mention for Laird Barron's creepy, poetic western "Bulldozer". The mix of new and established writers, visible in that list, adds interest. As in the past, the stories tend toward urban/modern-day settings, but a few do represent the historical and otherworld facets of the genre. If any story in the anthology is controversial, it'll be the Chuck Palahniuk. I didn't like it -- I thought it read sort of like a grade schooler's gross-out combined with a careful reading of the Anatomy and Physiology Coloring Book -- but on the other hand, it does take something really gross to gross me out these days. And gross me out it did. Recommended for strong stomachs (heh) only. On page 466 my story "The Elf Knight and Lady Isabelle" from the anthology CLOAKED IN SHADOW got an honorable mention.

A Yearly Treat for Fantasy and Horror Fans

This anthology never fails to satisfy with its eclectic blend of classic and new-style fantasy and horror. No matter what your tastes in these genres, legendary editor Ellen Datlow (and friends), deliver a yearly treat of the best reading out there for fans of the "dark side." Recommended! Reviewer: Linda Painchaud-Steinman

One of the years finest anthologies.

Every year I eagerly look forward to this anthology by Ellen Datlow (et al)--and this year the fiction seems even better than expected. From the dark and eerie to the purely fantastical, you will find some of the very best writing--and ideas that will stretch your brain as well. A few of my favorites include Philip Raines and Harvey Welles "The Bad Magician," Jeffrey Ford's "A Night in The Tropics," and short stories by Peter Straub, Joyce Carol Oates, Tanith Lee, John Kessel and more. Highly Recommended.