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World Fantasy Award Nomination for THE YEAR’S BEST DARK FANTASY, Volume 2

World_Fantasy_Award_treeVery surprised and honored on receiving World Fantasy Award nomination for THE YEAR’S BEST FANTASY, Volume 2! The honor really goes to the authors whose work makes it so much fun to read.

It is unusual for (1) a reprint anthology. (2) let alone one of a series, (3) not to mention a “year’s best” to be nominated for awards. So that makes me triple-chuffed. Super thanks to the judges: C. S. E. Cooney, Julie Crisp, C. C. Finlay, Richard Kadrey, and Misha Stone.

Then there are the other nominees! All great selections you should check out. Here’s the complete list:

  • Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the Most (Fictional) Haunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World (2021 Edition), eds. Charlatan Bardot and Eric J. Guignard (Dark Moon Books)
  • When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson, ed. Ellen Datlow (Titan Books)
  • The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror Volume Two, ed. Paula Guran (Pyr)
  • The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021), ed. Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Jembefola Press)
  • Speculative Fiction for Dreamers: A Latinx Anthology, eds. Alex Hernandez, Matthew David Goodwin, Sarah Rafael García (Mad Creek Books an imprint of the Ohio State University Press)

The winners of the awards will be announced on November 6th, at the World Fantasy Award Banquet in New Orleans, Louisiana. (No, I have no plans of going.)

Content of The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 3 edited by Paula Guran

(Alphabetical by Author Last Name)

G. V. Anderson, “Shuck” (Deadlands #2)
Seán Padraic Birnie, “Hand-Me -Down” (I Would Haunt You If I Could)
J. S. Breukelaar, “Where We Will Go On Together” (The Dark #70)
Rebecca Campbell, “The Bletted Woman” (F&SF 3-4/21)
Tananarive Due, “The Wishing Pool” (Uncanny #41)
Brian Evenson, “The Sequence” (Conjunctions 77)
Christopher Golden, “The God Bag” (Beyond the Veil, ed. Morris)
Elizabeth Hand, “For Sale By Owner” (When Things Get Dark, ed. Datlow)
Alix E. Harrow, “Mr. Death (Apex #121)
Maria Dahvana Headley, “Wolfsbane” (Nightmare #100)
Glen Hirshberg, “Jetty Sara” (December Tales, ed. Horn)
Stephen Graham Jones. “Refinery Road” (When Things Get Dark, ed. Datlow)
Richard Kadrey, “Across the Dark Water” (Tor.com)
Alison Littlewood, “Jenny Greenteeth” (Mammoth Book of Folk Horror, ed. Jones)
Chimedum Ohaegbu, “And for My Next Trick, I Have Disappeared” (F&SF 7-8/21)
Suzan Palumbo, “Laughter Among the Trees” (The Dark #69)
Sarah Pinsker, “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather” (Uncanny #39)
David J. Schow, “Caving” (Weird Doom, ed Scoleri)
Molly Tanzer, “In the Garden of Ibn-Ghazi” (F&SF 3-4/21)
Sheree Renee Thomas, “Barefoot and Midnight” (Apex #122)
Steve Toase, “Beneath the Forest’s Wilting Leaves” (To Drown in Dark Water)
Jade Wilburn, “Blood Ties”(Fiyah #18)
A.C. Wise, “The Nag Bride” (The Ghost Sequences)

To published October 2022 by Pyr Books

Content of THE YEAR’S BEST FANTASY, VOLUME ONE, edited by Paula Guran

(Alphabetical by author’s last name)

• Marika Bailey, “The White Road; Or How a Crow Carried Death Over a River” (Fiyah #18)
• Elizabeth Bear, “The Red Mother” (Tor.com)
• Tobias Buckell, “Brickomancer (Shoggoths in Traffic and Other Stories)
• P. Djèlí Clark, “If the Martians Have Magic” (Uncanny #42)
• Roshani Chokshi, “Passing Fair and Young” (Sword Table Stone: Old Legend, New Voices)
• Varsha Dinesh, “The Demon Sage’s Daughter” (Strange Horizons 2/8/21)
• Andrew Dykstal, “Quintessence” (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #324)
• James Enge, “Drunkard’s Walk (F&SF 5-6)
• Karen Joy Fowler, “The Piper” (F&SF 1-2)
• Carlos Hernandez & C. S. E. Cooney, “A Minnow, or Perhaps a Colossal Squid (Mermaids Monthly, April)
• Kathleen Jennings, “Gisla and the Three Favors” (Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #43)
• Allison King, “Breath of the Dragon King” (Fantasy #72)
• PH Lee, “Frost’s Boy” (Lightspeed #128)
• Yukimi Ogawa, “Her Garden the Size of Her Palm (F&SF 7-8)
• Tobi Ogundiran, “The Tale of Jaja and Canti” (Lightspeed #135)
• Richard Parks. “The Fox’s Daughter (Beneath Ceaseless Skies #344)
• Karen Russell, “The Cloud Lake Unicorn” (Conjunctions:76)
• Sofia Samatar, “Three Tales from the Blue Library” (Conjunctions:76)
• Catherynne Valente, “L’Esprit de Escalier” (Tor.com)
• Fran Wilde, “Unseelie Bros, Ltd.” (Uncanny #40)
• Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, “Gray Skies, Red Wings, Blue Lips, Black Hearts” (Apex #121)
• Isabel Yap,“A Spell for Foolish Hearts” (Never Have I Ever)
• E. Lily Yu, “Small Monsters” (Tor.com)

And yes, some of this is dark fantasy, but there will be plenty of dark (darker?) fantasy in THE YEAR’S BEST DARK FANTASY & HORROR, VOLUME THREE. More about that in a couple of months!)

Release Day for The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Vol 2!

Even though print copies (supply chain problems, printers lacks…whatever) have not reached all venues (most importantly, probably, Amazon) The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 2 is officially released.

I do have copies (almost enough for all the authors, more coming) I need to mail out this week. Yay!

Ace publicist Samatha Lien (@samijolien) of Kaye Publicity, Inc. sent me a list of stuff that has been posted. I don’t watch or listen to the podcasts I’m on because I cannot stand to hear or see my recorded self, so I have no idea how any of these turned out. Nevertheless, here are (so far) links:

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Review: FAR OUT

th_364f27d0a9e0903ba4ca66b270091c81_lightspeed_135_august_2021Although I’ve not seen it myself, Far Out: Recent Queer Science Fiction & Fantasy has been released. You can find info about where to buy it here.

And there’s a fabulous review by Arley Sorg at Lightspeed #135. Far as I know that’s the only review I’ve seen. Here’s an excerpt:

Guran has done something else which I love to see anthologies do: she has flexed her prodigious genre knowledge to curate a batch of stories which, in many cases, readers might have missed, and might otherwise not know about…In this way, Guran performs a service I believe anthologists should, and she does it with grace and style. She’s telling readers, sure, you might know who these folks are, but did you read this…Believe me, dear readers, the stories here are well worth your time…you could throw a glass slipper at this table of contents and any story you hit is going to be good.