This incomparable annual compilation of the best short fiction and novellas features an unmatched variety of the quietly weird, the merely eerie, high fantasy, modern Lovecraftian horror, nightmarish near-future scenarios, the darkly humorous, the supernatural, and the monstrously mundane from the brightest new talent, legendary authors like Joe R. Lansdale, Tanith Lee, and Gene Wolfe, and bestsellers such as Holly Black, Neil Gaiman, and Sarah Langan. Includes a 36,000 word novella by George R.R. Martin set in his A Song of Fire and Ice universe.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: Back to the Dark by Paula Guran
Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge
Raise Your Hand If Youβre Dead by John Shirley
As Red as Red by CaitlΓn R. Kiernan
Tragic Life Stories by Steve Duffy
The Naturalist by Maureen McHugh
The Broadsword by Laird Barron
A Thousand Flowers by Margo Lanagan
Frumpy Little Beat Girl by Peter Atkins
The Stars Are Falling by Joe R. Lansdale
Hurt Me by M.L.N. Hanover
Are You Trying to Tell Me This is Heaven? by Sarah Langan
Sea Warg by Tanith Lee
Crawlspace by Stephen Graham Jones
Mother Urbanβs Booke of Dayes by Jay Lake
Brisneyland by Night by Angela Slatter
The Thing About Cassandra by Neil Gaiman
He Said, Laughing by Simon R. Green
Bloodsport by Gene Wolfe
Oaks Park by M.K. Hobson
Thimbleriggery and Fledglings by Steve Berman
You Dream by Ekaterina Sedia
Red Blues by Michael Skeet
The Moon Will Look Strange by Lynda E. Rucker
The Things by Peter Watts
Malleus, Incus, Stapes by Sarah Totton
The Return by S.D. Tullis
The Dog King by Holly Black
How Bria Died by Mike Aronovitz
The Dire Wolf by Genevieve Valentine
Parallel Lines by Tim Powers
The Mystery Knight by George R.R. Martin
About the Authors
Copyrights & First Publication
About the Editor