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juushikaTitle: The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection
Editors: Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant
Published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 608
Total Page Count: 79,149
Text Number: 231
Read For: continuing the series after reading the fifteenth volume and the fourteenth volume, borrowed from the library
Short Review: The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection collects the best (as determined by the editors) short fiction of both genres in 2004, using wide definitions of the genres in order to build a diverse, quality collection. Introductions of middling quality summarize the year in fantasy, horror, and related media, but the bulk of the book is 44 short stories and poems which span paranormal horror to imaginary world fantasy. For a change, the horror selections are the volume's strength; some of the fantasy is quite good, but there are too many duds. All in all, a successful installment in the series, but the fantasy selections want for Windling's keener eye. Recommended.
It takes a too long for this installment to warm up: the first few selections, both fantasy and horror, are either over the top or unremarkable. Miéville's "Reports of Certain Events in London" is the tenth selection and the turning point. A unique, haunting story in its own right, the overall quality of the selections that follows is an improvement. There are still some disappointments, but a number of the stories and poems in this installment are wonderful, most of them in the second half of the volume: along with Miéville's story, Palahniuk's "Guts," Oates's "Stripping," Lanagan's "Singing My Sister Down," Eekhout's "Tales from the City of Seams," and Smith's "The Specialist" were my favorites. Unusual for the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series (at least what I've read of it so far), many of the volume's better selections are horror. Link and Grant are competent but not exceptional editors, and their selections are likewise; the fantasy selections wants for Windling's influence. But Datlow is in top form, or perhaps it was a good year for horror: for a change, her selections are generally strong and sometimes exceptional.
Accompanying the stories are 2004 overviews in fantasy, horror, and related media. Link and Grant's opinionated overview is unremarkable, Datlow's overview is as always overlong and undiscriminating, and the media summaries are lengthy, informal, and often stray from their fantasy/horror purview. Nevertheless the volume can be a useful resource: skim the overviews, or draw author names from your favorite short stories, and you may discover new writers and new texts to read. All in all, this eighteenth volume is a fairly successful installment of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series. Some selections are distinct disappointments, but the overall quality is middling to high and the handful of wonderful selections make the volume worthwhile on the whole. I recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
Editors: Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant
Published: New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 608
Total Page Count: 79,149
Text Number: 231
Read For: continuing the series after reading the fifteenth volume and the fourteenth volume, borrowed from the library
Short Review: The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection collects the best (as determined by the editors) short fiction of both genres in 2004, using wide definitions of the genres in order to build a diverse, quality collection. Introductions of middling quality summarize the year in fantasy, horror, and related media, but the bulk of the book is 44 short stories and poems which span paranormal horror to imaginary world fantasy. For a change, the horror selections are the volume's strength; some of the fantasy is quite good, but there are too many duds. All in all, a successful installment in the series, but the fantasy selections want for Windling's keener eye. Recommended.
It takes a too long for this installment to warm up: the first few selections, both fantasy and horror, are either over the top or unremarkable. Miéville's "Reports of Certain Events in London" is the tenth selection and the turning point. A unique, haunting story in its own right, the overall quality of the selections that follows is an improvement. There are still some disappointments, but a number of the stories and poems in this installment are wonderful, most of them in the second half of the volume: along with Miéville's story, Palahniuk's "Guts," Oates's "Stripping," Lanagan's "Singing My Sister Down," Eekhout's "Tales from the City of Seams," and Smith's "The Specialist" were my favorites. Unusual for the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series (at least what I've read of it so far), many of the volume's better selections are horror. Link and Grant are competent but not exceptional editors, and their selections are likewise; the fantasy selections wants for Windling's influence. But Datlow is in top form, or perhaps it was a good year for horror: for a change, her selections are generally strong and sometimes exceptional.
Accompanying the stories are 2004 overviews in fantasy, horror, and related media. Link and Grant's opinionated overview is unremarkable, Datlow's overview is as always overlong and undiscriminating, and the media summaries are lengthy, informal, and often stray from their fantasy/horror purview. Nevertheless the volume can be a useful resource: skim the overviews, or draw author names from your favorite short stories, and you may discover new writers and new texts to read. All in all, this eighteenth volume is a fairly successful installment of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series. Some selections are distinct disappointments, but the overall quality is middling to high and the handful of wonderful selections make the volume worthwhile on the whole. I recommend it.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
