Usually with Nightmare, by the end of the issue I’ve picked a clear favorite story. The stories are always well-written, but there’s usually one that especially moves me. This month, we’ve got two haunted towns and two haunted families that consistently play with the concept of who is haunted and who is the haunter. And I just can’t pick a favorite. It starts with “Things Crumble, Things Break” by Nate Southard, about a town that’s slowly dying from a chemical…
The Dark switched to monthly publication in May, and has had a terrific year so far. It’s published original fiction from Steve Rasnic Tem, Steve Berman, Kali Wallace, Leena Likitalo, A.C. Wise, Cassandra Khaw, and many others, and reprints from Angela Slatte, Tananarive Due, Helen Marshall, Seanan McGuire, Gemma Files, Stephen Graham Jones, Robert Shearman, Mark Morris, and others. At $1.99 per issue, it’s one of the best bargains in the field. The Dark is edited by Sean Wallace, with…
Jonathan Strahan used to edit a marvelous anthology series for the Science Fiction Book Club called Best Short Novels. He published four volumes, from 2004-2007. On his Coode Street website yesterday, Jonathan published “An Imaginary List” of his picks for a 2016 volume. I was pondering what I’d put into my old Best Short Novels series, if I was still editing it for someone today. After a bit of reflection I came up with the following list. I wasn’t restricted to…
With the surprising number of Years Best anthologies on the market these days — nearly a dozen, by my count — it takes something pretty darn special to get me to pry open my wallet for another one. Salt Publishing has accomplished exactly that with their dual series, The Best British Fantasy, edited by Steve Haynes. and Best British Horror, edited by Johnny Mains. Where the other Years Best series mine the same American magazines and anthologies for the same…
Michael Kelly’s Year’s Best Weird Fiction has fast become one of my favorite Year’s Best series. Kelly is the editor of the acclaimed anthology series Shadows and Tall Trees, and every year he invites a guest editor to help select the finest strange and weird fiction from the last 12 months. Laird Barron and Kathe Koja ably assisted with the first two volumes, and this year Simon Strantzas (Burnt Black Suns, Shadows Edge) bent his considerable editorial talents to the…
The evening of Saturday, July 23, was going to be busy for me, with three shows at the De Sève Theatre. First, a showcase of short films called Born of Woman, which the Fantasia program told me would feature nine films by women directors “centred largely around themes of the body and interpersonal malaise.” Then after that two science-fiction features. The first would be Realive, about a man from our time (or close to it) who dies and is cryonically…
The 2015 World Fantasy Awards Ballot, compiled by the voting attendees of the World Fantasy Convention, has just been released. If you’re looking for a short list of the best fantasy published last year as you prepare for a length stay on a desert island, your wait is over (and remember: leave room for sunscreen). For both of the last two years the coveted Life Achievement Award has been given to two recipients (Ellen Datlow and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro in…
Last week I surveyed eleven upcoming Best of the Year anthologies, including books edited by Rich Horton, Jonathan Strahan, Paula Guran, Gardner Dozois, John Joseph Adams and Joe Hill, Stephen Jones, and others. All eleven will be published between May and October — a bumper crop for everyone who delights in excellent short fiction. Night Shade Books used to publish two: Strahan’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, and Ellen Datlow’s Best Horror of the Year, but after…
The March 2015 issue of Nightmare Magazine is now available. Nightmare is an online magazine of horror and dark fantasy, with a broad focus — editor John Joseph Adams promises you’ll find all kinds of horror within, from zombie stories and haunted house tales to visceral psychological horror. Fiction this month is: Original Stories “Please, Momma” by Chesya Burke “An Army of Angels” by Caspian Gray Reprints “Featherweight” by Robert Shearman “The Burned House” by Lynda E. Rucker In his editorial, John…
Back in September, I told you about Jonathan Strahan’s newest fantasy collection Fearsome Magics: The New Solaris Book of Fantasy, the follow-up to his acclaimed Fearsome Journeys. Fearsome Magics has a stellar list of contributors, including Ellen Klages, Robert Shearman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Tony Ballantyne, and many more. I’m too lazy to copy over the complete list and the back copy text from my prior post, but you can read them here. Here’s what James McGlothlin said in his review…