The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2017 Edition

The darkness creeps upon us and we shudder, or it suddenly startles and we scream. There need be no monsters for us to be terrified in the dark, but if there are, they are just as often human and as supernatural. Join us in this outstanding annual exploration of the year's best dark fiction that includes stories of quiet fear, the utterly fantastic, the weirdly surreal, atmospheric noir, mysterious hauntings, seductive nightmares, and frighteningly plausible futures. Featuring tales from masterful authors and talented new writers sure to make you reconsider walking in the shadows alone...

Contents

7 • Introduction: Not Afraid of the Dark • (2017) • by Paula Guran

11 • Seasons of Glass and Iron • (2016) • by Amal El-Mohtar

25 • The Future Is Blue • (2016) • by Catherynne M. Valente

43 • Grave Goods • (2016) • by Gemma Files

62 • The Ballad of Black Tom • (2016) • by Victor LaValle

120 • Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies • (2016) • by Brooke Bolander

123 • An Ocean the Color of Bruises • (2016) • by Isabel Yap

134 • The Iron Man • (2016) • by Max Gladstone

144 • The Blameless • (2016) • by Jeffrey Ford

156 • Birdfather • (2016) • by Stephen Graham Jones

180 • The Jaws That Bite, the Claws That Catch • (2016) • by Seanan McGuire

191 • The Rime of the Cosmic Mariner • (2016) • by John Shirley

204 • Fairy Tales Are for White People • (2016) • by Melissa Yuan-Innes

213 • Lullaby for a Lost World • (2016) • by Aliette de Bodard

219 • The Finest, Fullest Flowering • (2016) • by Marc Laidlaw

225 • Spinning Silver • (2016) • by Naomi Novik

248 • Grave Goods • (2016) • by Priya Sharma

258 • Braid of Days and Wake of Nights • (2016) • by E. Lily Yu

276 • Wish You Were Here • (2016) • by Nadia Bulkin

291 • Only Their Shining Beauty Was Left • (2016) • by Fran Wilde

302 • The Line Between the Devil's Teeth (Murder Ballad No. 10) • (2016) • by Caitlín R. Kiernan

311 • Photograph • (2016) • by Steve Rasnic Tem

317 • Red Dirt Witch • (2016) • by N.K. Jemisin

333 • My Body, Herself • (2016) • by Carmen Maria Machado

338 • The Sound of Salt and Sea • (2016) • by Kat Howard

347 • A Dying of the Light • (2015) • by Rachel Caine

370 • Postcards from Natalie • (2016) • by Carrie Laben

381 • As Cymbals Clash • (2016) • by Cate Gardner

387 • The Games We Play • (2016) • by Cassandra Khaw

400 • Bright Crown of Joy • (2016) • by Livia Llewellyn

419 • Mommy's Little Man • (2016) • by Brian Hodge

427 • A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers • (2016) • by Alyssa Wong

436 • Surfacing • (2016) • by Lisa L. Hannett

446 • Meet Me at the Frost Fair • (2016) • by Alison Littlewood

457 • October Film Haunt: Under the House • (2016) • by Michael Wehunt

475 • Whose Drowned Face Sleeps • (2016) • by An Owomoyela and Rachel Swirsky

492 • When the Stitches Come Undone • (2016) • by A.C. Wise

511 • The Red Forest • (2016) • by Angela Slatter