Year's Best Fantasy 9

The line between utopia and dystopia...is, often, who you are. Or who your neighbors think you are.

Twenty-eight doses of wonder. From the distant past to the present day, from Antarctica and Mars to worlds that never were, the tales in this book bring news from nowhere-and everywhere. Fantasy is a mode of storytelling, a method of entertainment, a mode of argument, and a way of seeing. Here, presented by two of the most distinguished anthologists of the day, are twenty-eight stories that see, tell, argue, and entertain.

Contents

6 • Introduction (Year's Best Fantasy 9) • essay by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer

9 • Shoggoths in Bloom • (2008) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear

27 • The Rabbi's Hobby • (2008) • novelette by Peter S. Beagle

51 • Running the Snake • (2008) • shortstory by Kage Baker

67 • The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm • (2008) • shortstory by Daryl Gregory

86 • Reader's Guide • (2008) • shortstory by Lisa Goldstein

93 • The Salting and Canning of Benevolence D. • (2008) • novelette by Al Michaud

132 • Araminta, or, The Wreck of the Amphidrake • (2008) • shortstory by Naomi Novik

149 • A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antarctica • (2008) • shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente (variant of A Buyer's Guide to Maps of Antartica)

158 • From the Clay of His Heart • (2008) • shortfiction by John Brown

183 • If Angels Fight • (2008) • novelette by Richard Bowes

207 • 26 Monkeys and the Abyss • (2008) • shortfiction by Kij Johnson

217 • Philologos; or, A Murder in Bistrita • (2008) • shortfiction by Debra Doyle and James Macdonald

232 • The Film-makers of Mars • (2008) • shortstory by Geoff Ryman

241 • Childrun • (2008) • novelette by Marc Laidlaw

264 • Queen of the Sunlit Shore • (2008) • shortstory by Liz Williams

272 • Lady Witherspoon's Solution • (2008) • novelette by James Morrow

296 • Dearest Cecily • (2008) • shortfiction by Kris Dikeman [as by Kristine Dikeman ]

303 • Ringing the Changes in Okotoks, Alberta • (2008) • shortfiction by Randy McCharles

330 • Caverns of Mystery • (2008) • shortstory by Kage Baker

346 • Skin Deep • (2008) • novelette by Richard Parks

366 • King Pelles the Sure • (2008) • shortstory by Peter S. Beagle

376 • A Guided Tour in the Kingdom of the Dead • (2008) • shortstory by Richard Harland

386 • Avast, Abaft! • (2008) • shortstory by Howard Waldrop

395 • Gift from a Spring • (2008) • shortfiction by Delia Sherman

415 • The First Editions • (2008) • novelette by James Stoddard

442 • The Olverung • (2008) • shortfiction by Stephen Woodworth

456 • Daltharee • (2008) • shortstory by Jeffrey Ford

464 • The Forest • (2008) • shortstory by Kim Wilkins