Fantasy

Starred review from July 31, 2006
The 19 mostly excellent short stories in this latest addition to the growing field of annual "best of" fantasy anthologies include works by established stars like Pat Cadigan (the delightful, wry "Is There Life After Rehab?") and Peter S. Beagle ("Two Hearts," a deceptively simple tale about love, loyalty and magic, the short story sequel to his 1968 novel, The Last Unicorn
). In a nod to the "mainstream acceptance" of fantasy, Horton reprints George Saunders's twisted, satirical "CommComm," which originally appeared in the New Yorker
. Distinguishing this anthology are many stories that first appeared in small press venues , including Samantha Henderson's "Five Ways Jane Austen Never Died" and Theodora Goss's haunting "Pip and the Fairies." Horton has gathered a diverse mix of styles and themes that illustrate the depth and breadth of fantasy writing today.

September 1, 2006
An aging, costumed crime fighter wants to trade his cape for the mayor's mantle, while his still-virgin lover wants out of her star-reporter gig. An old acquaintance solicits a 100-year-old ex-vampire to run a probable scam on other ex-vamps who want to suck blood again. A computer-bound trade-mag drudge throws over promotion to editor in chief to find the girl he has fallen in love with, though she lives in an online micronation. A professional discriminator (a what?) has to employ all his interdimensional contact skills to neutralize a client who takes him captive. Such " TV Guide" -ish capsule summaries don't begin to suggest the fascinations of the stories by, respectively, Michael Canfield, Pat Cadigan, Paul Di Filippo, and Matthew Hughes. Horton's dazzling selection contains 15 more as good or better, by both genre stars (Neil Gaiman, Peter S. Beagle, Gene Wolfe) and newcomers (Holly Phillips, Elizabeth Bear, Theodora Goss). Pick of the pack? Maybe Steve Rasnic Tem's deeply affecting "Invisible," a parable for our times if ever there was one. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)

May 28, 2007
Horton fittingly describes “lyricism” as the quality linking his selections for the best fantasy stories of 2006. The morosely poetic “A Fine Magic” by Margo Lanagan pits two attractive sisters against a spurned suitor’s wizardly wrath; Jeffrey Ford’s brilliantly understated “The Night Whiskey” is a dark fantasy gem about a rural village whose residents commune with the dead; M. Rickert’s dreamlike masterwork, “Journey into the Kingdom,” follows a forlorn man who becomes enamored with a mysterious painter and her fantastical history; Benjamin Rosenbaum’s contemplative “A Siege of Cranes,” arguably the anthology’s most poetic and profoundly moving entry, depicts an improbable journey of retribution across a devastated wonderland of magic and myth.