The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2008: 21st Annual Collection (Paperback)

~ (Author), Kelly Link (Author), Gavin J. Grant (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. The 40 selections in this exemplary anthology from Link and Grant (the fantasy half) and Datlow (the horror half) reflect virtually every hue of the fantasy/horror palette: urban fantasy in Jeffrey Ford's The Drowned Life and Karen Joy Fowler's The Last Worders; traditional supernatural horror in Paul Walther's Splitfoot and Terry Dowling's Toother; modern folk fantasy in Elizabeth Hand's Winter's Wife and Eileen Gunn's Up the Fire Road; and cosmic terror fiction in Laird Barron's The Forest and Don Tumasonis's The Swing. A handful of stories involve child abuse and abduction, of which Lisa Tuttle's Closet Dreams is the most horrifying. The front matter's snapshot summaries of the past year's yield in fantasy, horror, comics, mixed media and music are a small and invaluable book unto themselves. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"There is no more essential a guide to the glorious fecundity of our imaginative literature in the last two decades." --Clive Barker

 

“These books define the absolute best contemporary fantasy and horror for me and for a whole generation.” --Holly Black, bestselling author of the Spiderwick Chronicles

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (September 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312380488
• ISBN-13: 978-0312380489
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #285,926 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid anthology, some good stories, November 9, 2008

By	Gina K (PA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is one of several horror anthologies I have read over the years and this one fulfills its mission of providing reviews of fiction/film/media in this genre as well as including a broad array of short stories. The update was sufficient and the stories were of variable quality. There were some outstanding ones that will stay with me a long time...The Swing, England and Nowhere, Sir Hereward, Closet Dreams, but the majority would appeal to those who are really into fantasy. The bone-chilling, sweaty palms stuff is not here. Overall, a solid B read.

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Font So Tiny It Will Make You Cry, January 13, 2009

By	The Mysterious Monk (East Coast) - See all my reviews

What is the use of including a few more stories if such inclusion results in so small a type-font that the enjoyment of the whole is reduced?

It's not an f-ing dictionary, people.

In future, less content, more readability, please?

Thank you, in advance.

2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, December 9, 2008

By	Blue Tyson "- http://freesf.blogspot.com" - See all my reviews

You could possibly be exhausted after reading the centuryish long epic introduction to this volume, giving overviews of fantasy and horror in written form, and in video and comics. As far as video goes, sounds like Edward Bryant is a reviewer I could trust. :)

Unfortunately, not up to the standard of last year's great volume (3.52 vs 3.76). The problem, Daniel Abraham and a couple of others excepted is with the fantasy selections. Both editors mentioned some other favorite stories they couldn't fit in here for space reasons, but they certainly could have done better giving some mediocre fantasy the arse and putting in Lucius Shepard.
On the whole a pretty average bunch. The worst offender by far, dragging the rest down is the wretched MacBride Tarzna spooftiche.

Datlow's horror selections are pretty strong though, headed by the great Laird Barron.

So, I'd call this book perhaps a bit over 3 for fantasy, a bit over 4 for horror, extra for the very well done overview, and give it a four overall. Good but not great.

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics - Daniel Abraham
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Vampires in the Lemon Grove - Karen Russell
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Holiday - M. Rickert
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Hum Drum - Gary McMahon
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Splitfoot - Paul Walther
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The House of Mechanical Pain - Chaz Brenchley
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Last Worders - Karen Joy Fowler
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Monsters of Heaven - Nathan Ballingrud
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Fiddler of Bayou Teche - Delia Sherman
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Mr. P00 P00 - Reggie Oliver
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Winter's Wife - Elizabeth Hand
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Tenth Muse - William Browning Spencer
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Drowned Life - Jeffrey Ford
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Swing - Don Tumasonis
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Forest - Laird Barron
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Fragrant Goddess - Paul Park
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Up the Fire Road - Eileen Gunn
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Gray Boy's Work - M.T. Anderson
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate - Ted Chiang
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Valentine, July Heat Wave - Joyce Carol Oates
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : A Thing Forbidden - Donald Mead
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Reversal of Fortune - Holly Black
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Rats - Veronica Schanoes
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : A Perfect and Unmappable Grace - Jack Haringa
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Boulder - Lucy Kemnitzer
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Hill - Tanith Lee
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Ape Man - Alexander MacBride
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Hide - Liz Williams
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : England and Nowhere - Tim Nickels
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz Go to War Again - Garth Nix
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Toother - Terry Dowling
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : The Evolution of Trickster Stories Among the Dogs of North Park After the Change - Kij Johnson
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 21 : Closet Dreams - Lisa Tuttle

Life exchange rate.

4.5 out of 5


Sour suckage.

3 out of 5


Dead kid clowning just like the old man.

4 out of 5


Widow con beaten.

4 out of 5


Lizard lancer mercenary godbothering, no dummy.

3.5 out of 5


Would up paedophile plate family.

4 out of 5


Partner door bitch ditch.

3 out of 5


Limp angel bloody love.

4 out of 5


Dance marathon bet.

3.5 out of 5


Fundamentally sticky marriage.

3.5 out of 5


A rocky end for local entrepreneur's saga.

4 out of 5


Same book ritual.

4 out of 5


Octopus advice maybe dodgy.

3 out of 5


Dying of cancer won't bug me, at least until the sun goes out, anyway.

4.5 out of 5


Alchemical history.

2.5 out of 5


Bigfoot baby makes talk show host disappear!

3 out of 5


Deserter addition.

3 out of 5


Wormhole time tender's raconteur replay.

4 out of 5


No flies on this marriage

4 out of 5


Dead Billy not, but Christ and priest rather tasty.

3 out of 5


Devil frog chomp, plus 1.

4 out of 5


Junkie gutted.

3 out of 5


Who dropped you the dead nude chick?

2.5 out of 5


Rocky grail riddance.

3 out of 5


Lizard meat puppets.

4 out of 5


Pathetic monkeying around.

2 out of 5


Shag flyers, multiple.

3 out of 5


Dad beach film girl.

4 out of 5


Lizard lancer mercenary godbothering, no dummy.

3.5 out of 5


Forced in denture.

4 out of 5


Dogs like chicken and chips, too.

3 out of 5


Locked up loop.

3.5 out of 5