The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Thirteenth Annual Collection

The Diogenes Club #(You Don't Have to Be Mad ...)

by Ellen Datlow (Editor), Terri Windling (Editor), Laini Taylor

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 1999Edward Bryant
1999, Seth Johnson
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 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 1999

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Short Story Collection, Collections

640 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for forty years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and editor of Event Horizon and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short stories and novellas for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited about one hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year series, The Doll Collection, Mad Hatters and March Hares, The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea, Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, Edited By, and Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles.
She's won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for "outstanding contribution to the genre," was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.

Reviews

[Sir He-Man · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of this remarkable collection, I would have to say the best stories are:

Darkrose and Diamond, Ursula K. Le Guin
The Chop Girl, Ian R. MacLeod - The most touching story in this anthology
The Girl Detective, Kelly Link - Always quirky in her prose, Link always delivers something I've never seen before.
The Transformation, N. Scott Momaday
Harlequin Valentine, Neil Gaiman
You Don't Have to be Mad . . .Kim Newman
The Anatomy of a Mermaid Mary Sharratt
The Grammarian's Five Daughters Eleanor Arnason
The Tree Is My Hat, Gene Wolfe - Disturbing and invigorating. Ever had the vacation from hell? Nothing compared to this story.
Welcome, Michael Marshall Smith
Keepsakes and Treasures: A Love Story Neil Gaiman
What You Make It, Michael Marshall Smith
The Parwat Ruby, Delia Sherman
Naming the Dead, Paul J. McAuley
The Stork-Men, Juan Goytisolo
White, Tim Lebbon - The scariest story here, a post apocalyptic monster nightmare. One of the best monster stories I think I've ever read.
At Reparata, Jeffrey Ford
Skin So Green and Fine, Wendy Wheeler
Small Song, Gary A. Braunbeck - Magical and brilliant. This, along with the Chop Girl, strike an emotional chord that nothing else in the book really comes close to.
The Emperor's Old Bones Gemma Files - A slam bang action adventure story with a horrifying core. Think Empire of the Sun if the main character went totally evil.
The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse Susanna Clarke
The Kiss, Tia V. Travis - A sweeping love story turned sour, then turned into one of pure revenge. Amazing. A dark, fairy tale ending, and I mean DARK fairy tale.

New authors to me that really stood out were Gary Braunbeck, Gemma Files, Tia V. Travis, and Paul J. McAuley. And I love everything that Michael Marshall Smith writes. He is one of the most underrated genre authors out there. Jeffrey Ford, Ursula K LeGuin and Gene Wolfe are pure genius.

[Mylee · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hit or miss collection, mostly misses for this reader due to the editors’ overly romantic, laboriously Victorian and slow-paced choices. In other words, I got bored. The Momaday, Sherman, McKillip, Frits Goldberg, and Rasmic Tem pieces were good — particularly the poems. Otherwise, I found the collection a snoozer.

[Valissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It fell as gracefully as a falling world."
"It's a sound. Like silk ripping. Cerise."
"I don't want a silent shining path of gold. I need the imperfect world broken up into words"
- Patricia McKillip "Harrowing the Dragon"

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorites:
The Chop Girl, Ian R. MacLeod
Heat, Steve Rasnic Tem
The Grammarian's Five Daughters, Eleanor Arnason
Shatsi, Peter Crowther
What You Make It, Michael Marshall Smith
The Parwat Rubt, Delia Sherman
The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman, Steven Millhauser
Skin So Green and Fine, Wendy Wheeler
Halloween Street, Steve Rasnic Tem
Pixel Pixies, Charles de Lint

[Odile · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first of this anthology series that I've read, but it was a very refreshing and entertaining look at the world of imaginative fiction. I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for the other instalments.

After reading a collection of short stories and poems like this, you realise how horribly dull the mainstream fantasy/horror market can be, compared to what is written by authors operating in the periphery. This truly is the *best* in Fantasy and Horror, or at least, it is certainly much better than much of the material that gets put out on the mass market.

The stories range from magical realism to folkloric adaptions to just plain old ghost and horror stories and fantastic tales. The material is extremely varied, and will hold interesting bits and pieces for many types of readers. Here's a selection of my favourites:

Neil Gaiman - "Harlequin Valentine" [A typical Gaiman piece, nicely dirty and original]
Thomas Wharton - "The Paper-Thin Garden" [A beautifully evocative concept, worked out brilliantly in only a couple of pages]
Michael Marshall Smith - "Welcome" [Nicely melancholic piece about a man slowly fading from this world]
Tim Lebbon - "White" [Good old fashioned 'monsters kill occupants of a snowed-in cabin one by one', but superbly done, with great atmosphere]
Charles de Lint - "Pixel Pixies" [original and funny folkloric fantasy in an everyday setting]

Also, the extensive overview (200+ pages) of new work in these areas of fiction is indispensible for those who follow the field in detail.

[bluetyson]

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror : Thirteenth Annual Collection by Ellen Datlow (2000)

[Frank Taranto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly what the title says.

[Cupcakencorset · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something for lovers of any subgenre of fantasy and sci-fi.

[Oliviaolivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorites from this collection are: The Chop Girl by Ian R MacLeod, The Grammarian's Five Daughters by Eleanor Arnason, Welcome and What You Make It both by Michael Marshall Smith, The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman by Steve Millhauser, and White by Tim Lebbon.

[phil breidenbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

as with any collection of stories, I enjoyed most of them. A few left me high and dry. So I skipped them, the others made up for them!