The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixth Annual Collection [Hardcover]

Ellen Datlow (Author), Terri Windling (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1993

For more than a decade, readers have turned to The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror to find the most rewarding fantastic short stories. The critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition continues with another stunning collection, including stories by Jack Cady, Ramsey Campbell, Susanna Clarke, Jack Dann, Terry Dowling, Dennis Etchison, Greer Gilman, Nalo Hopkinson, Kelly Link, Kathe Koja, Paul J. McAuley, Delia Sherman. Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The collaborative efforts of Ellen Datlow (horror) and Terri Windling (fantasy) are becoming something of a legend, as year after year they deliver the best horror and fantasy short fiction in a fat (500 double-length pages) anthology that avoids pigeonholes with its mingled, unlabeled sample of the two genres. As in previous years, this volume includes more than 100 pages of summaries about the year 1997 in horror and fantasy publishing, horror and fantasy in the media, and comics. The fiction includes 18 stories and 8 poems with just Terri Windling's initials, and 18 stories and 1 poem with Ellen Datlow's initials, with some (presumably dark fantasy) that are tagged by both.

Even more than usual, Ellen Datlow's horror selections introduce a remarkable variety of types of stories. One of the best tales is Molly Brown's "The Psychomantium," about a mirror that allows alternative time lines to intersect, creating double fates for the characters. "The Skull of Charlotte Corday" (photos included) by Leslie Dick takes an essayistic approach to a famous female assassin and some creepy details in the history of sexual surgery. Douglas Clegg's "I Am Infinite, I Contain Multitudes" is a striking body-horror tale that was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award. Christopher Harman, P.D. Cacek, Joyce Carol Oates, and Vikram Chandra contribute old-fashioned ghost stories. Gary Braunbeck's "Safe" is reminiscent of the best of Stephen King in its portrayal of realistic horror in a small town. Michael Chabon's "In the Black Mill" more than proves that Lovecraftian horror can transcend shallow pastiche. And other horror notables--such as Michael Cadnum, Christopher Fowler, Caitlín Kiernan, Stephen Laws, Kim Newman, Norman Partridge, and Nicholas Royle--make appearances.

Terri Windling's selections include familiar fantasy names such as Peter Beagle, Charles de Lint, Karen Joy Fowler, and Jane Yolen, and famous genre-crossers such as Ray Bradbury, Howard Waldrop, and Jack Womack. She also provides welcome space for fantasy poetry--charming pieces with images of the Trickster Coyote, Sheela Na Gig, and a mermaid, and titles like "Coffee Jerk at the Gates of Hell." The Pulitzer Prize-winning Steven Millhauser contributes an enchanting tale that originally appeared in the New Yorker. Other tales are inspired by an intriguing range of sources: Gulliver's Travels, Marilyn Monroe, the Scottish legend of the Sineater, the art of glass blowing, Aztec myth, and ancient Jewish lore.

There's no better way to take in the best of these two genres, both for the great selections and the ample pointers to 1997's novels, magazines, art, movies, and comics that you may not have heard about. --Fiona Webster --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Datlow and Windling's annual is as stout as ever, which is good. The yearly summations--Datlow on horror, Windling on fantasy, Edward Bryant on the media, Seth Johnson on comics, and James Frenkel's obituaries--are all by writers who have their crotchets, as all experienced critics and acute analysts will, as well as enough room to provide invaluable amounts of information. As to the stories and poems, there are 49, with more listed in an appendix of "Honorable Mentions." They show enough variety and display many virtues and very few sins, venial at worst. Five definitely virtuous stories are Mary Sharratt's "The Anatomy of a Mermaid," Patricia A. McKillip's "Toad," Gene Wolfe's "The Tree Is My Hat," Ursula K. LeGuin's "Darkrose and Diamond," and Linnet Taylor's "The Wedding at Esperanza." But all other serious fantasy and horror readers will compile their own short lists of favorites, and all will respect the work of both editors and contributors. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 6 edition (August 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312094213
• ISBN-13: 978-0312094218
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,626,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been an editor for over thirty years, first in book publishing, but mostly editing short stories for OMNI Magazine and webzine, EVENT HORIZON, a webzine, and SCIFICTION, the fiction area of SCIFI.COM. I now edit original and reprint anthologies. Born and bred New Yorker, although I travel a lot.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars urban fairy tales, magic realism, supernat. & psych. horror, September 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixth Annual Collection (Paperback)

All of the stories and poems collected in this Sixth edition of the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror are good. *All* of them. There is no filler. The editors choose stories not only from genre fiction, but from unexpected sources as well, giving the reader a wonderful, surprising, eclectic selection.