The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection | ||||||||
edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant | ||||||||
St. Martin's Griffin, 564 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Chris Przybyszewski
The anthology also offers summation on the facets of fantasy and horror, presented by the editors. Of particular interest are the
Media of the Fantastic: 2003; Comics and Graphic Novels: 2003; and Music of the Fantastic: 2003. Clearly, the editors wish to make
inclusive the various mediums by which artists in this modern day work. Artists work best in a community, and publications like
this can draw the various elements together, forging new alliances that lead to creation.
The stories themselves are a testament to such things, and run the gamut of fantasy and horror possibilities. I'm not such a horror
fan, but these stories are a good balance of 'new horror,' which emphasizes suspense over gore, and characterization over visceral
elucidation. In the fantasy department, the editors concentrated their attention to the 'speculative fiction' of the
world. There are stories of swords and sorceries (see below), but stories with a concentration on characters stuck in odd
situations seem to be prevalent.
While smaller publications (e.g., Argosy, The 3rd Alternative) are represented, the editors do place an
emphasis on big-name publications. Many of the stories originated in the most prestigious of the sci-fi/ fantasy journals
such as SCI FICTION, The Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy, and Asimov's Science
Fiction. Other stories come from mainstream sources such as Esquire, The New Yorker, and
the Paris Review.
Whatever the original journals, all the stories are good. Shelly Jackson's "Husband" shows a world in which the citizens
live in a hive social construct. One of the best eaters, the narrator of this story, must decide that balance between creating
a husband for herself (it involves killing the male and wearing its skin) and dedicating her life to the mastication of the
hive's food.
Jackson could have concentrated on the multiple grotesques inherent in this story. But she realized that these were only
strange things to the human reader, and not abnormal for the narrator of the story. The result is a subdued offering that
focuses on the personal sacrifice of the narrator. While some authors might have played up the whole 'she's wearing dead
skin' angle, Jackson accepts it as the norm of this world and moves her character forward.
Neil Gaiman shows the same restraint in his reverse Sherlock Holmes short story, "A Study in Emerald." Gaiman creates an
alternate universe in which "Her Majesty" is now an alien life form, and her shrewd detective is not Sherlock, but rather
his arch-nemesis Moriarty. Gaiman creates a wonderful switch that keeps the original characters true to themselves (Moriarty
is still evil, if you were wondering), while creating new circumstances to which those characters must react. His method is
to write the story solely through the eyes of one narrator, an ex-soldier who has seen his share of horror. This narrator
is not one to exaggerate or embellish. His "just the facts" style helps the unsure reader through the unfamiliar climate
of the story. The writing in this short story is a case of the virtuoso artist (Gaiman) experimenting with his voice and
his talent. The experiment is not a failure.
A third example is of the good old fashioned sword and sorcery variety. In Michael Swanwick's "Dragon King," a young village
boy finds himself in the thralls of a gigantic techno-dragon whose power overwhelms his small populace. The boy must decide
to either protect his life of servitude (which means comfort and personal power), or to stand against the dragon's will for
the good of his people. Swanwick moves away from the fantasy standard in which a character's inherent 'goodness' shines
through at all points. This main character is an addict, a murderer, and a general asshole. His road to redemption is a
long one, and Swanwick does not make it clear if traveling that road will be sufficient at the end of the day. Also
unique is Swanwick's interest in his main character's dragon-induced drug addiction.
In this review's final example, the editors give nod to fantasy's non-Americans and to Philippine writer Dean Francis
Alfar, whose "L'Aquilone du Estrellas" (The Kite of Stars) reads with the knowing sadness of Paulo Coehlo's The
Alchemist and with the magic of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Happily, Alfar's
story of an obsessed woman trying to get the attention of the local astronomer is less convoluted and easy to follow
than Marquez's story. At the same time, Alfar writes a more emotionally complicated story than Coehlo presents in
his short novel.
The editors know a good story when they see one. The editors are also smart enough to not allow
silly words like 'genre' and 'audience' stop them from picking some of the best far-fetched fiction this side of
the International Date Line. The mix of well known and not so well known, of mainstream and of industry specific, creates
a keeper of an anthology.
Chris learned to read from books of fantasy and science fiction, in that order. And any time he can find a graphic novel that inspires, that's good too. |
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