Best New Romantic Fantasy 2 [Paperback]

Paula Guran (Author), Sarah Monette (Author), Delia Sherman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 19, 2007

An annual anthology of outstanding stories of love and wonder are compiled and honored as the best of the year. Enchanting and enchanted lovers, magical romance, dark desires, otherworldly sensations, ethereal encounters, paranormal thrills, sensual spells, supernatural suspense, sizzling speculations... Highly imaginative short fiction and novellas from the best fantasy romance writers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By turns deliriously romantic and richly melancholic, Guran's second anthology (after Best New Paranormal Romance) reprints 15 stories originally published in 2006 that explore the phantasmagoria of fantastic romance. Guran's shift from Paranormal Romance to Romantic Fantasy means selections do not necessarily deal with the establishment or continuance of a relationship, signaling increased efforts to appeal to fantasy readers. Standouts include three seaside treats: M. Rickert's breath-stealing ghost tale, Journey into the Kingdom; Sonya Taaffe's hypnotic The Depth Oracle; and Sandra McDonald's wistful story about a young mother's yearnings concerning The Mountains of Key West. Also notable are Angela Boord's bittersweet woodland fairy dream, Evergreen; Vera Nazarian's bright delight, The Story of Love; and Delia Sherman's gorgeous Parisian ode to the addictive charms of La Fée Verte. While these offerings from an impressive crew of fantasy heavyweights may not be jam-packed with happy-ever-afters, they explore the many worlds of fantastic romance with passion and panache. (Sept.)
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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Juno Books (June 19, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809557843
• ISBN-13: 978-0809557844
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,074,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eugie Foster calls home a mildly haunted, fey-infested house in metro Atlanta that she shares with her husband, Matthew. After receiving her Master of Arts degree in Developmental Psychology, she retired from academia to pen flights of fancy. She also edits legislation for the Georgia General Assembly, which from time to time she suspects is another venture into flights of fancy.

Eugie received the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, was named Bards and Sages Author of the Year for 2009, and has been a finalist for the Hugo, BSFA, Black Quill, and Bram Stoker awards. Her fiction has been translated into seven languages, and her publication credits number over 100, including stories in Realms of Fantasy, Interzone, Cricket, Fantasy Magazine, and Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show; podcasts Escape Pod, Pseudopod, and PodCastle; and anthologies Best New Fantasy and Best New Romantic Fantasy 2. Her short story collection, Returning My Sister's Face and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice, is available from Norilana Books.

Visit her online at EugieFoster.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sequel to Best New Paranormal Romance, June 29, 2007

By 

Eleanor Skinner (Albany, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best New Romantic Fantasy 2 (Paperback)

The highlights of this book for me were Haddayr Copley-Woods' 'The Desires of Houses' and Delia Sherman's 'La Fee Verte.' 'The Desires of Houses' is a short piece about one of my favourite subjects, the personalities of inanimate objects, and 'La Fee Verte' is about a 19th century French prostitute who has visions of the future (and past).

The contents list for this anthology is:

'An Autumn Butterfly' by Esther Friesner

'A Light in Troy' by Sarah Monette

'The Moment of Joy Before' by Claudia O'Keefe

'Jane. A Story of Manners, Magic, and Romance' by Sarah Prineas

'Journey into the Kingdom' by M. Rickert

'Wizard of the Eternal Watch' by Eugie Foster

'Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge' by Richard Parks

'The Depth Oracle' by Sonya Taaffe

'Smoke & Mirrors' by Amanda Downum

'The Desires of Houses' by Haddayr Copley-Woods

'Evergreen' by Angela Boord

'The Red Envelope' by David Sakmyster

'The Mountains of Key West' by Sandra McDonald

'The Story of Love' by Vera Nazarian

'Le Fee Verte' by Delia Sherman

The Sarah Monette story was elegantly written, as always. It's about the last survivor of a conquered fortress, who has been put to work as a library slave. The Vera Nazarian story was good, but I'd already read it in Salt of the Air, a really good all-Nazarian collection. 'The Red Envelope' is a neat story about a man married to a Taiwanese ghost. Sarah Prineas' 'Jane' is a lot of fun, about a Regency-like society where a young woman is being harassed by wizards. 'The Depth Oracle' is well-written but a little too dense for me.

3.0 out of 5 stars Less accessible follow-up anthology, September 21, 2007

By 

Helen Hancox "Auntie Helen" (Essex, England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best New Romantic Fantasy 2 (Paperback)

Despite the revised title this is the follow-up to the anthology "Best New Paranormal Romance" which was an excellent book. However this book was quite different in tone (with different contributors), as is discussed in the excellent introduction, and didn't feel comfortable as a continuation of the series. These stories are overall darker in tone with less of an obvious Happy Ever After (which one tends to expect in romantic fantasy). Many of the stories were quite difficult to understand as the complex worlds were being crammed into short stories. The writing standard was generally very high with no turgid prose but often beautiful turns of phrase but many of the stories felt to me like they were rather more form than substance.

The story I most liked was Sarah Monette's "The Light In Troy" about the last member of a conquered race who works in a library and sees a young boy playing on the beach and befriends him. It's a gentle story with a minimal romantic element but was well written. Other highlights were "Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge" by Richard Parks which had a wonderful twist (although one I did half expect), "Jane, A Story of Magic, Manners And Romance" by Sarah Prineas set in Regency times and yet with wizards and the very short "The Desires Of Houses" which gave a fascinating insight into what your house might think of you.

Ones I found less successful were "An Autumn Butterfly" (I couldn't quite get my head around it, which is no doubt more a reflection on me than the story itself), "Evergreen" (which seemed to go on and on without much action), "the Depth Oracle" (too deep for me) and "The Wizard Of Eternal Watch" which felt like part of a series and I wasn't always sure what was going on.

The fifteen stories are all completely different from each other and this variety makes for a good book to dip into but very few of them are light reading matter and the complexities of the plots in most cases means that this book is less accessible than the previous edition.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, www.curledup.com. © Helen Hancox 2007

5.0 out of 5 stars fifteen well written romantic fantasies, August 15, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best New Romantic Fantasy 2 (Paperback)

This anthology consists of fifteen well written romantic fantasies published in various sources in 2006. The tales are fun to read as one's soulmate might be a soul stealer as opposites attract and love does not guarantee a fairy tale happy ever after though it does make the Guren world go round; more often elliptical rather than circular. There are no clinkers as each of the chosen stories is a solid entry though the short format does not lend itself to fully developed paranormal elements. Those excellent few that do typically contain a vivid location make the fantasy seem genuine; especially gripping are the haunting coastal "Journey into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert and the forest of "Evergreen" by Angela Boord. Sub-genre readers will appreciate this fine anthology whether the stars are witches, elves, fairies and various assortments of ilk from other realms as a virtual who's who (O'Keefe, Friesner, Monette, etc.) contribute. As an aside the first volume is actually titled the BEST NEW PARANORMAL ROMANCE.

Harriet Klausner