Year's Best Fantasy 6 (No. 6) (Paperback)

~ Bruce Sterling (Author), Esther Friesner (Author), Neil Gaiman (Author), Gene Wolfe (Author), Kelly Link (Author), Garth Nix (Author), Connie Willis (Author), David G. Hartwell (Editor), (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hartwell and Cramer (The Ascent of Wonder) present 23 fantastic stories in this brilliant anthology, the first trade paperback installment of their popular Year's Best series. Most notable are Jonathon Sullivan's tear-jerking "Niels Bohr and the Sleeping Dane," which brings together physics and Kabbalistic magic during a daring escape from Nazi-occupied Denmark; Laird Barron's "The Imago Sequence," a heart-stopping tale of some deeply disturbing photographs and the people who will do anything to see them; Delia Sherman's "Walpurgis Afternoon," which brings glorious magic to a bland suburb; and Neil Gaiman's "Sunbird" with its R.A. Lafferty–flavored bittersweet hilarity. Stories from such renowned authors as Esther Friesner and Gene Wolfe are surprisingly outclassed by tales from relative newcomers Alaya Dawn Johnson and Anne Harris. With selections that aren't always technically perfect but pack a powerful emotional wallop, the editors easily meet their stated goal of offering not only a great read but also a broad and thorough overview of the current state of short fantasy fiction. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

For the sixth edition, Hartwell and Cramer switch the format of their annual from mass-market to trade paperback. It looks spiffy, it should get more attention (bigger books are harder to ignore), and it's hard to imagine improving the 23 stories it contains. Oh, Laird Barron's "The Imago Sequence" ends flat, but until then, its Philip Marlowe-goes-to-hell tone is a high-wire act of the very first order. Garth Nix's "Read It in the Headlines" may be too minimal--it consists entirely of newspaper headlines--but what fun! Tim Pratt and Greg van Eekhout's "Robots and Falling Hearts," Gene Wolfe's "Comber," and Gavin J. Grant's "Heads Down, Thumbs Up" require conceptual stretching, but that's good for mental health, right? The stories by Anne Harris, Heather Shaw, Connie Willis, and Candas Jane Dorsey are funny enough to pose the danger of cracking ribs from laughing. Alaya Dawn Johnson's "Shard of Glass" is an entire romantic novel in 20 pages. An exhilarating collection. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications (September 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892391376
• ISBN-13: 978-1892391377
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #441,906 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #16 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( H ) > Hartwell, David G.
  #18 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( F ) > Friesner, Esther
  #19 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( W ) > Willis, Connie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bizarre and beautiful, September 28, 2006

By	Jody Rose (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

YEAR'S BEST FANTASY 6, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, is an engaging anthology of the absurd, the fantastic, the beautiful, and the horrifying, comprising twenty-three stories written by some of the best in the industry. The tales range from light and whimsical, as in "Still Life with Boobs" by Anne Harris, to dark and chilling, as in Laird Barron's much-acclaimed novella, "The Imago Sequence," which has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award in the long fiction category for 2005.

The book comes in with a tiger in Yoon Ha Lee's elegant parable "Eating Hearts," and goes out with a tiger, in Connie Willis's smartly crafted homage to H. L. Mencken entitled "Inside Job." Kelly Link's outstanding "Monster" is a tongue-in-cheek modern-day version of Beowulf in a boys' summer camp; and Bruce Sterling's satirical "The Denial" brings to mind the genius of Isaac B. Singer. Authors include Esther M. Friesner, Neil Gaiman, Alaya Dawn Johnson, Jeff VanderMeer, Patrick Samphire, Gene Wolfe, Delia Sherman, Tim Pratt and Greg van Eekhout, Gavin J. Grant (husband to Kelly Link), Candas Jane Dorsey, Timothy J. Anderson, Claude Lalumière, Deborah Coates, Heather Shaw, Garth Nix, Jonathon Sullivan, and Liz Williams.

Award recipient David G. Hartwell is the senior editor at Tor/Forge Books, the publisher of THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION, and the author of AGE OF WONDERS.

World Fantasy Award winner Kathryn Cramer is an editor at THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION. She has also co-edited the outstanding anthologies, THE ASCENT OF WONDER, THE HARD SF RENAISSANCE, and the YEAR'S BEST SCIENCE FICTION series.

YEAR'S BEST FANTASY 6 is highly recommended reading for anyone who enjoys variety in the fantastic.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Free SF Reader, March 12, 2008

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

A reasonable collection of fantasy, with a 3.55 average. The best stories being Garth Nix's very funny and clever giant monster short, and Laird Barron's horror piece.

There is a quite brief piece by the editors about the state and source of stories in general, and each individual tale is prefaced with further info.

A solid 4, this book

Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Eating Hearts - Yoon Ha Lee
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Denial - Bruce Sterling
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Fraud - Esther Friesner
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Sunbird - Neil Gaiman
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Shard of Glass - Alaya Dawn Johnson
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Farmer's Cat - Jeff Vandermeer
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Crab Apple - Patrick Samphire
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Comber - Gene Wolfe
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Walpurgis Afternoon - Deliah Sherman
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Monster - Kelly Link
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Robots and Falling Hearts - Tim Pratt and Greg van Eekhout
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Still Life with B00bs - Ann Harris
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Heads Up Thumbs Down - Gavin J. Grant
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Newbie Wrangler - Timothy J. Anderson
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Being Here - Claude Lalumière
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Mom and Mother Theresa - Candas Jane Dorsey
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : The Imago Sequence - Laird Barron
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Magic in a Certain Slant of Light - Deborah Coates
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Single White Farmhouse - Heather Shaw
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Read It in the Headlines! - Garth Nix
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Niels Bohr and the Sleeping Dane - Jonathon Sullivan
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Mortegarde - Liz Williams
Year's Best Fantasy 6 : Inside Job - Connie Willis


Perfect magician, belt up and bonk.

3 out of 5


We're dead, stupid.

3.5 out of 5


Pregnant unicorn variation end.

4 out of 5


"I have a presentiment of doom upon me," ..."And I fear it shall come to us with barbecue sauce."

4 out of 5


Racist memory power runaway.

4 out of 5


Moggie ursa major makes troll mob minor.

3.5 out of 5


Dryad heart dump.

3 out of 5


Swiftly tilting city.

4 out of 5


Witchiness good for gardens.

3.5 out of 5


Hey, Bungalow Jim
I Might Eat Him

3.5 out of 5


Reality altering with replicating rodent robots. With a bit of mechanical criticism of the critical literary abilities of people.

3.5 out of 5


Mendicant mammaries.

4 out of 5


Sound of music is Matchless.

3 out of 5


Gud is bloody lazy, Zep Boy.

3.5 out of 5


Can't see this one, maybe that's us.

2.5 out of 5


No Aunt, just gimme shelter.

3 out of 5


Awful art lust trephination escape cave meld.

4 out of 5


Predicting dirigible desperation.

4 out of 5


Architectural pr0n, same?

3.5 out of 5


Very large Daikaiju font.

4.5 out of 5


Statue sword-slinger saves scientist.

4 out of 5


World Tree gatespeaking wyvern blood lecture dissection decision.

3.5 out of 5


Making monkeys of mediums.

4 out of 5



4 out of 5