"Datlow’s keen eye for talent results in a sumptuous and engaging collection of narrative gems from speculative fiction’s cutting edge."

Publishers Weekly:

"The thematic diversity and consistently high quality of narrative throughout make for a solid and enjoyable anthology."

Rich Horton in Locus:
"One story truly stands out: Jeffrey Ford’s “Daltharee”, a dizzying fantasia about a “bottled city” created by a mad scientist: a tiny creation (resembling a large snow globe perhaps?) inhabited by living people. Ford makes the city and its people real, and also the rather disturbed creator, and takes everything in a nicely dark direction. My other favorite piece comes from Maureen F. McHugh: “Special Economics”, about a Chinese country girl come to the big city in the near future, who ends up more or less indentured to a shady corporation, but manages to come up with a surprising out."

Nathan Ballingrud contributes my favorite piece of the whole with “North American Lake Monsters.” In the Blue Ridge Mountains, a strange, stinking sea creature washes ashore and is examined by a man freshly out of prison and his estranged teenage daughter. The focus of the tale is not on the hulking lifeform of considerable mystery, but the man’s emotional roller coaster as he attempts to readjust to “freedom” and heal his deeply wounded marriage. It’s not easy, and his outbursts and actions lead the reader to question who the real “monster” of the title is.

...From the snapshot provided by this special collection, the state of speculative fiction is as inventive, challenging and vital as ever."

In addition, I've been working on The Nebula Award Showcase anthology, which covers the just announced Nebula awards and will be coming out in 2009. Finished finally (and totally) handing in my summary of the year in horror 2007 and now reading for 08.

Traveling and visiting old friends. You can see photos on my flickr account:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35025258@N00/