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.


From Publishers Weekly
This volume, the sixth in this series, is made up of a wide array of international voices--including a welcome contingent of stories by and about women--and combines traditional horror and fairy stories with magical realism and other uses of the supernatural and spiritual. The more than 50 contributions defy generalization, but are highlighted by Craig Curtis's contemporary story of Moby Dick 's heathen Queequeg as a wheeling, dealing, harpoon-carrying Madison Avenue ad executive; Cristina Peri Rossi's telling of a visitation by the Virgin Mary in a land where many mothers' sons have been killed; M.R. Scofidio's piece about a party game/seance gone bad; Grania Davis's tale blending magic and Jewish folk traditions; and Sara Gallardo's imagistic ancient kingdom tale. Datlow and Windling allow the boundaries around the genres to be fluid and open (for instance, several poems are included), producing a provocative volume that works at times as a commentary on itself, expanding the definition of the fantasy/horror anthology. Helpful introductions to individual pieces and their authors and other resources make this volume accessible to new readers of the genre. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Myths and legends, fairytales and folklore, nightmares and dreams imbue the mundane with touches of magic while illustrating essential aspects of human nature. This annual anthology, the 13th in the series, explores those enchanting influences and gracefully demonstrates how the terms fantasy and horror encompass a range of creative writing from the "high" literary to the underrated comic. (Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics are more thought-provoking than most best sellers.) As usual, the editors begin with summaries of the past year in fantasy and horror in publishing, movies, and other media. Stressing the understanding of "interstitial" literatureDworks that cannot be pigeonholed to a single genre and that consists of much of imaginative writingDthe editors then present a variety of short stories and poems portraying wonders that are funny, subtle, lyric, and dreadful. Many are written by such accomplished and well-known authors as Ursula K. Le Guin, Gaiman, Charles de Lint, and Steve Resnic Tem. This volume of all-around high-quality storytelling is highly recommended to imaginations of all shapes and sizes.DAnn Kim, "Library Journal" Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The fourteenth in this annual series is, compared with some of its predecessors and its editors' other collaborations, uninspired. Among its 150,000 words of fiction are good Harlan Ellison, Ramsey Campbell, Charles de Lint, and Esther Friesner stories and some respectable efforts by lesser-known writers, but the rest is notably less good. This last may be the result of too many stories focused on a particular situation: the odd person or place amid the mundane urban environment, whose oddness and identity normal folk come to realize too late. De Lint is, if not the inventor, a master of that setup in psychological fantasy, as his story demonstrates. But there aren't enough of his peers to fill a volume this big without turning it into more of a theme anthology than it already is or, given that it is ostensibly an annual overview of fantasy and horror, should be. It is still recommendable, but look out for other anthologies covering other corners of its field. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

ANNOTATION

The annual excellence that has garnered this series two consecutive World Fantasy Awards and a windfall of critical acclaim continues in an impressive new anthology. Comprehensive in its coverage of the year in horror and fantasy, this collection features works by Ellen Kushner, Pat Cadigan, Jane Yolen, and dozens of others.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This acclaimed series, winner of numerous World Fantasy Awards, continues its tradition of excellence with scores of short stories from such writers as Michael Bishop, Edward Byrant, Angela Carter, Terry Lamsley, Gabriel Garcia Marquex, A.R. Morlan, Robert Silverberg, Michael Swanwick, Jane Yolen and many others. Supplementing the stories are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantastic fiction, Edward Bryant's witty roundup of the year's fantasy films, and a long list of Honorable Mentions -- all of which adds up to an invaluable reference source, and a font of fabulous reading.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This collection is short on fantasy and long on horror--with special emphasis on sadomasochism, which, in the hands of an author like Kathe Koja, can result in a darkly illuminating story about sexual fantasies sometimes better left unrealized. Not all writers are so gifted, however. Grant Morrison gives us an offensive story about a blind heroine who is urinated upon and slashed with a razor before being clamped to a ``Chair of Final Submission.'' But Datlow and Windling, who edited the earlier volumes in this series, offer entertaining fare as well, including several appearances by good old-fashioned vampires. K. W. Jeter's aged monster has needs that promise to make his daughter's life a horror for all eternity, while Jane Yolen pens a touching tale of a young girl whose love allows her undead mother to go to her eternal rest. Also included are some enjoyable new turns on famous characters, including Peter Pan, Robin Hood and Santa Claus. Deserving of special mention are Nancy Willard's magically real tale of a man who returns from the dead to retrieve his pets and Robert Holdstock and Garry Kilworth's suspenseful, literate tale of an archeologist on the trail of immortality. (Aug.)

Library Journal

This collection of over 40 stories and poems includes selections by Charles de Lint, Jane Yolen, K.W. Jeter, Fred Chappell, and others as well as essays on the state of fantasy and horror in 1991. Recommended for most libraries' anthology collections.

Realms of Fantasy

"The most extensive and reliable guide to the field available."

Kirkus Reviews

The variety of this top-flight annual never fails to appeal, in part because it covers so much material, including, along with the best stories, obituaries of writers whose files have closed, a review of the year's best fantasy in film, television, and comic books, and summations of the year's activities in horror and fantasy. The tales here encompass works both by such accomplished writers as Gabriel García-Márquez ("Caribe Magico"), Ron Hansen ("Wilderness"), Robert Olen Butler (with his absolutely classic, immensely moving "JFK Secretly Attends Jackie Auction"), Angela Carter ("The Snow Pavilion"), Robert Silverberg ("Diana of the Hundred Breasts"), and by stylish standbys like Thomas Ligotti ("Teatro Grottesco") and Graham Masterton ("The Secret of Shih Tan"). Among the most inspired and offbeat entries is a film script in iambic verse by Neil Gaiman, "Eaten (Scenes from a Moving Picture)," a raw, deeply erotic work not for the faint of heart. There are over 40 entries here, in a collection not to be missed by anyone seriously interested in fantasy or horror.