THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR

Another huge, 51-piece compilation of 44 stories, an essay, and six poems, ranging in tone from light humor through splatterpunk to dark horror. Among the standouts: John Brunner's tale of moths, witchcraft, and vengeance; computer surgery (Adrian Cole); the power of words (Isabel Allende); and a typically brilliant, witty Sleeping Beauty piece from R.A. Lafferty. Elsewhere, Joyce Carol Oates, T.E.D. Klein, Angela Carter, Peter Straub, Karel Capek, Michael Bishop, and others less renowned offer variations on: ghosts, abandonment, carnival freaks, satyrs, sinister festivals, dreams, sex, clocks, baseball, little people, Einstein, snake people, cancer, hats, organ donors, quilts, TV people, butterflies, Alice, Cinderella, dogs, mass murders, therapy, cartoon litigants, haunted houses, initiations, God as an amnesiac, and more. Eclectic, well crafted, with authentic thrills and chills: a solid addition to the series.