For more than a decade, readers have turned to The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror to find the most rewarding fantastic short stories. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling continue their critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magical realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. 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.
Contents
Summation 1999: FantasyTerri Windling
Summation 1999: HorrorEllen Datlow
Horror and Fantasy in the Media: 1999Edward Bryant
Comics: 1999, Seth Johnson
Obituaries: 1999, James Frenkel
Darkrose and Diamond, Ursula K. Le Guin
The Chop Girl, Ian R. MacLeod
The Girl Detective, Kelly Link
The Transformation, N. Scott Momaday
Carabosse, Delia Sherman
Harlequin Valentine, Neil Gaiman
Toad, Patricia A. McKillip
The Dinner Party, Robert Girardi
Heat, Steve Rasnic Tem
The Wedding at EsperanzaLinnet Taylor
Redescending, Ursula K. Le Guin
You Don't Have to be Mad . . .Kim Newman
The Paper-Thin Garden, Thomas Wharton
The Anatomy of a MermaidMary Sharratt
The Grammarian's Five DaughtersEleanor Arnason
The Tree Is My Hat, Gene Wolfe
Welcome, Michael Marshall Smith
The Pathos of Genre, Douglas E. Winter
Shatsi , Peter Crowther
Keepsakes and Treasures: A Love StoryNeil Gaiman
What You Make It, Michael Marshall Smith
The Parwat Ruby, Delia Sherman
Odysseus Old, Geoffrey Brock
The Smell of the Deer, Kent Meyers
Chorion and the PleiadesSarah Van Arsdale
Crosley, Elizabeth Engstrom
n0 Naming the Dead, Paul J. McAuley
The Stork-Men, Juan Goytisolo
The Disappearance of Elaine ColemanSteven Millhauser
White, Tim Lebbon
Dear Floods of Her Hair, James Sallis
Mrs. Santa Decides to Move to FloridaApril Selley
Tanuki, Jan Hodgman
At Reparata, Jeffrey Ford
Skin So Green and Fine, Wendy Wheeler
Old Merlin Dancing on the Sands of TimeJane Yolen
Sailing the Painted OceanDenise Lee
Grandmother, Laurence Snydal
Small Song, Gary A. Braunbeck
The Emperor's Old BonesGemma Files
The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His HorseSusanna Clarke
Halloween Street, Steve Rasnic Tem
The Kiss, Tia V. Travis
The Beast/The Hedge, Bill Lewis
Pixel Pixies, Charles de Lint
Falling Away, Elizabeth Birmingham
Honorable Mentions: 1999
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
