Year's Best Fantasy 7

by David G. Hartwell (Editor), Kathryn Cramer (Editor)

The legendary editing team of David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer return with the much-anticipated seventh installment of their popular anthology series showcasing the best-selling authors and rising stars of fantasy fiction. This engaging volume collects the essential fantasy stories of 2006, a year of outstanding and original offerings. Representing the breadth of talent in the fantasy genre and collecting each year’s most outstanding stories, the Year’s Best Fantasy series continues to be the definitive treasury of fantasy fiction.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction

372 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

David Geddes Hartwell was an American editor of science fiction and fantasy. He worked for Signet (1971-1973), Berkley Putnam (1973-1978), Pocket (where he founded the Timescape imprint, 1978-1983, and created the Pocket Books Star Trek publishing line), and Tor (where he spearheaded Tor's Canadian publishing initiative, and was also influential in bringing many Australian writers to the US market, 1984-date), and has published numerous anthologies. He chaired the board of directors of the World Fantasy Convention and, with Gordon Van Gelder, was the administrator of the Philip K. Dick Award. He held a Ph.D. in comparative medieval literature.

He lived in Pleasantville, New York with his wife Kathryn Cramer and their two children.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this anthology because it included stories by two of my favorite authors, Diana Wynne Jones and Martha Wells. Unfortunately, they both turned out to be stories I had previously read. They were good, although not either author's very best. I had also already read Sharon Shinn's "The Double-edged Sword," which I enjoyed much more than her novels (I tend to find her too... saccharine is definitely not quite the word, nor is romantic. Too close to romance as a genre? Anyway.) and Nina K. Hoffman's "Sea Air" (again, good).

Of the stories I hadn't already read my favorites were "The Osteomancer's Son" by Greg van Eekhout and "The Christmas Witch" by M. Rickert. Those were especially interesting as they almost seemed like a themed pair: small children caught up in dark, bone-related powers and the incomprehensible adult world.

Other stories I liked: Beagle's "Four Fables" (which really is fables and not a story per se) and Modesitt's "Ghost Mission". MacLeod's "Bonny Boy," Waldrop's "Thin, on the Ground," and Grant's "Yours Etc" were interesting but not so much so that I was motivated to seek out more by those authors.

The rest I either didn't enjoy or didn't read. (See how that gets me out of specifying?)

[Ricki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid anthology that runs the displays the diversity of the fantasy genre.

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of anthologies lately for some reason. I really liked the selection here - a good read, and good stories.

[bluetyson]

Year's Best Fantasy 7 (Year's Best Fantasy) by David G. Hartwell (2007)