"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/

Illimitable Domain                                 Kim Newman                  

The Pickers                                          Melanie Tem                  

The Final Act                                        Gregory Frost                

Truth and Bone                                      Pat Cadigan                

Flitting Away                                        Kristine Kathryn Rusch 

Mountain House                                   Sharyn McCrumb            

Beyond Porch and Portal                      E. Catherine Tobler        

Shadow                                                Steve Rasnic Tem             

The Red Piano                                      Delia Sherman                  

The Heaven and Hell of Robert Flud      David Prill          

The Pikesville Buffalo                            Glen Hirshberg                

The Tell                                                 Kaaron Warren               

The Brink of Eternity                              Barbara Roden      

Sleeping with Angels                              M. Rickert                          

The Reunion                                          Nicholas Royle       

Kirikh’quru Krokundor                          Lucius Shepard   

Strappado                                              Laird Barron                        

Lowland Sea                                          Suzy McKee Charnas         

Technicolor                                            John Langan