| Title | : | The Years Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1921857145 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781921857140 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 506 |
| Publication | : | First published August 1, 2012 |
| Awards | : | Ditmar Award Best Collection (2013), Aurealis Award Best Anthology (2012), Australian Shadows Award Edited Publication (2012) |
Contents:
Peter M Ball "Briar Day" (Moonlight Tuber)
Lee Battersby "Europe After The Rain" (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
Deborah Biancotti "Bad Power" (Bad Power, Twelfth Planet Press)
Jenny Blackford "The Head in the Goatskin Bag" (Kaleidotrope)
Simon Brown "Thin Air" (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
David Conyers and David Kernot "Winds Of Nzambi" (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
Stephen Dedman "More Matter, Less Art" (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
Sara Douglass & Angela Slatter "The Hall of Lost Footsteps" (The Hall of Lost Footsteps, Ticonderoga Publications)
Felicity Dowker "Berries & Incense" (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
Terry Dowling "Dark Me, Night You" (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
Jason Fischer "Hunting Rufus" (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
Christopher Green "Letters Of Love From The Once And Newly Dead" (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
Paul Haines "The Past Is A Bridge Best Left Burnt" (The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Brimstone Press)
Lisa L Hannett "Forever, Miss Tapekwa County" (Bluegrass Symphony, Ticonderoga Publications)
Richard Harland "At The Top Of The Stairs" (Shadows and Tall Trees #2, Undertow Publications)
John Harwood "Face To Face" (Ghosts by Gaslight, HarperCollins)
Pete Kempshall "Someone Else To Play With" (Beauty Has Her Way, Dark Quest Books)
Jo Langdon "Heaven" (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
Maxine McArthur "The Soul of the Machine" (Winds of Change, CSFG)
Ian McHugh "The Wishwriter's Wife" (Daily Science Fiction)
Andrew J McKiernan "Love Death" (Aurealis #45, Chimaera Publications)
Kirstyn McDermott "Frostbitten" (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
Margaret Mahy "Wolf Night" (The Wilful Eye - Tales From the Tower #1, Allen & Unwin)
Anne Mok "Interview with the Jiangshi" (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
Jason Nahrung "Wraiths" (Winds of Change, CSFG)
Anthony Panegyres "Reading Coffee" (Overland, OL Society)
Tansy Rayner Roberts "The Patrician" (Love and Romanpunk, Twelfth Planet Press)
Angela Rega "Love In the Atacama or the Poetry of Fleas" (Crossed Genres, CGP)
Angela Slatter "The Coffin-Maker's Daughter" (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
Lucy Sussex "Thief of Lives" (Thief of Lies, Twelfth Planet Press)
Kyla Ward "The Kite" (The Land of Bad Dreams, P'rea Press)
Kaaron Warren "All You Can Do Is Breathe" (Blood and Other Cravings, Tor)
In addition to the above incredible tales, the volume will include a review of 2011 and a list of recommended stories.
The Years Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011 Reviews
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When Talie Helene told me in a Canberra pub that she had a new copy of Ticonderoga Press’s Years Best Fantasy and Horror 2011, I laid my last twenty bucks on the table, sight unseen. The first of the volume was such a diversely satisfying collection of recently published stories by Australian writers that there was no chance I was going to miss out on Part Two.
And what a collection it is. As chunky as a novel, what the current Year’s Best shows is how integrated the Horror and Fantasy genres have become among Australian writers now—we like a good dollop of darkness with our fantastic fiction, and the lines between are as blurred as the shadow that lurks in your room after the lights go out.
Ten to fifteen years ago, a fantasy collection would have heavily leant towards stories of the Tolkienesque and heroic D&D kind. We might still see a resurgence of this after readers get tired of the current media and literary fashion of dystopia and grimdark, but that’s still a way off, if our best published stories give any indication.
There are several standouts in this collection. Angela Slatter’s Gravedigger‘s Daughter, won this Year’s British Fantasy Award winner. She absolutely deserved it.. The tropes of ghosts and magic and dastardly dames are all eminently recognisable, yet a quirk of noir elevates a murderous tale into something else altogether.
Revenge seems to play a big part in a lot of these stories. A great many victims turn the tables on their oppressors, bad people get punished. Pure Horror sometimes doesn’t have this denouement, as he Final Girl often runs off only to fall into our monster/killer’s last trap. The fantasy element of this collection allows for a sweeter, more triumphal wrap-up of our sometimes hapless protagonist.
One final note, many of these stories were published overseas. As little as five years ago it was unfairly suggested that AU publications didn’t have the same robustness as say, UK and US markets. I’m happy to say that this comparison is no longer the case.
Elephant Stamp On The Hand Rating: - Good Work! -
Katharine is a judge for the Aurealis Awards. This review is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
To be safe, I won't be recording my review here until after the AA are over. -
A wonderful book with beautifully written stories that would be perfect for anyone who is a fan of the Horror/fantasy genres!
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Standard Ticonderoga Disclaimer: We published this book because we loved it!
