Why is there a new cover? Because it was discovered the art for the other cover was AI generated. When the image was selected many months ago from licensable stock art, there was no indication anywhere it was generated by AI. We had no idea. When I “revealed” the cover on 23 July (the cover has been public for a few months on Amazon and elsewhere) it was noted on social media it was AI generated. Thanks to Ellen Datlow, who saw posts online and related the controversy to me, and to Michael Kelly, the ONLY person to actually email me about this, I became aware of the problem. Despite being up against a print deadline, my editor Rene Sears and Pyr art director Jennifer Do immediately took the steps necessary to rectify the situation. Pyr never intended to use AI art. Thus the new cover. Going forward, we will be checking any art more closely.

Escape on a journey from the ordinary to the extraordinary with award-winning fantasy editor Paula Guran.

Discover bewitchment and wonder, the surreal and the chimerical, in a fantasy anthology representing a diverse array of accomplished talent from around the world . . . and perhaps beyond.

Find places to buy here.

Reviews:

• Nerd Cantina
• The Book Reporter

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.)

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:

• Oct 19, 2021 – Jessica Belmont’s Blog: #BOOKREVIEW | The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror Anthology edited by Paula Guran
• Oct 18, 2021 – Fanbase Press: “Fanbase Press – Fanbase Press Interviews Paula Guran on the Upcoming Release of ‘The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume Two’”
• Oct 15, 2021 – The Nerd Cantina: “The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Vol. 2 by Paula Guran: Book Review – The Nerd Cantina”
• Oct 5, 2021 – Publishers Weekly: “The Good Fight: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror 2021–2022″
• Oct 4, 2021 - Black Gate: “The Nexus of Horror: An Interview With Paula Guran”
  Oct 1, 2021 – Hasty Book List: “Books Coming Out in October – Book Review – Hasty Book
• AND, the earlier STARRED Publishers Weekly review.

The stellar lineup of 30 stories selected by Guran for this annual “best-of” volume attest to the imaginative breadth of dark fantastic fiction written in 2020…not a story in the mix that doesn’t merit the appellation of “best,” and the diversity of the selections bodes well for future annuals.”