Year's Best Fantasy 3The door to fantastic worlds, skewed realities, and breathtaking other realms is opened wide to you once more in this third anthology of the finest short fantasy fiction to emerge over the past year, compiled by acclaimed editor David G. Hartwell. Rarely has a more magnificent collection of tales been contained between book covers -- phenomenal visions of the impossible-made-possible by some of the field's most accomplished literary artists and stellar talents on the rise. Year's Best Fantasy 3 is a heady brew of magic and wonder, strange journeys and epic quests, boldly concocted by the likes of Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Swanwick, Tanith Lee, and others. Step into a dimension beyond the limits of ordinary imagination . . . and be amazed!. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 13 | |
Neil Gaiman | 36 |
William Mingin | 51 |
Nalo Hopkinson | 58 |
P D Cacek | 75 |
Charles de Lint | 94 |
James Patrick Kelly | 121 |
Gene Wolfe | 239 |
Donald Barr | 263 |
Tanith | 276 |
Ellen Klages | 302 |
Naomi Kritzer | 327 |
Liz Williams | 355 |
James Van Pelt | 387 |
Brian Stableford | 403 |
Ursula K Le Guin | 165 |
Jeffrey Ford | 183 |
Stepan Chapman | 208 |
Darrell Schweitzer | 423 |
Nicholas Royle | 436 |
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Common terms and phrases
Amirah arms asked Baba Yaga Black Sails Brad breath called Captain Stefan carpet color dark Death door dream Eros eyes face familiar fantasy father feel feet felt forest Fulvia girl gone Gracile green hair hand head heard Hire Jesus Jovus Kathryn Cramer kiss knew Kore Korland La Hire Lady Death laughed light Lily lives Livilla Livius looked magic Maurice Metz Michael Swanwick mother mouth moved Nadezhda Neil Gaiman never night nodded pagodas paint Phileas Fogg Pious Poulengy pulled Reb Shendelman Romulus rose Runt science fiction Sea Beggars shards Shell Shmendrick shook sleep slugs smell smiled sound stared stood stopped story Sycorax Szince Taubenseel tell thing thought told took Tori touch tree trying turned voice waited walked wall watched whispered window witch woman Yavin YEAR'S BEST SF وو
Popular passages
Page 265 - The table I write on I say exists— that is, I see and feel it; and if I were out of my study I should say it existed— meaning thereby that if I was in my study I might perceive it, or that some other spirit actually does perceive it. There was an odor, that is, it was smelt; there was a sound, that is, it was heard; a color or figure, and it was perceived by sight or touch.
Page 153 - Casey would waltz with a strawberry blonde, And the band played on, He'd glide 'cross the floor with the girl he adored, And the band played on, But his brain was so loaded, it nearly exploded, The poor girl would shake with alarm.
Page 218 - Viramontes has received a Creative Writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was selected as a participant in a screen-writing workshop directed by Gabriel Garcia Marquez at the Sundance Institute.
Page 41 - ... You're taking this to a formal vote?" February said. "I cannot believe this. I cannot believe this is happening." He mopped his brow with a handful of tissues, which he pulled from his sleeve. Seven hands were raised. Four people kept their hands down — February, September, January, and July. ("I don't have anything personal on this," said July apologetically. "It's purely procedural. We shouldn't be setting precedents.") "It's settled then,
Page 48 - ... warriors. From the top of the tree one could see the whole world. The sky was starting to lighten, just a hair, in the east. Everything waited. The night was ending. The world was holding its breath, preparing to begin again. "This was the best day I ever had," said the Runt. "Me too," said Dearly. "What are you going to do now?
Page 40 - Well, I hate to say this, but he kind of does have a point. It has to be a new story." September raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips. "I'm done," he said abruptly. He sat down on his stump. They looked at each other across the fire, the months of the year. June, hesitant and clean, raised her hand and said, "I have one about a guard on the X-ray machines at La Guardia Airport, who could read all about people from the outlines of their luggage on the screen, and one day she saw a luggage X ray so...
Page 47 - Forgotten, I'd wager," said Dearly. "Yeah, that's what I'd say too," said the Runt. They went out of the gate, down a gully, and into what remained of the old town. Trees grew through houses, and buildings had fallen in on themselves, but it wasn't scary. They played hide-and-seek. They explored. Dearly showed the Runt some pretty cool places, including a one-room cottage that he said was the oldest building in that whole part of the country. It was in pretty good shape, too, considering how old...
Page 38 - October tfas in the chair, so it was chilly that evening, and the leaves were red and orange and tumbled from the trees that circled the grove. The twelve of them sat around a campfire roasting huge sausages on sticks, which spat and crackled as the fat dripped onto the burning applewood, and drinking fresh apple cider, tangy and tart in their mouths.
Page 43 - Tupperware box and pressed the lid down with a pop that he knew he was going to have to run away. He had read books, newspapers, and magazines. He knew that if you ran away you sometimes met bad people who did bad things to you; but he had also read fairy tales, so he knew that there were kind people out there, side by side with the monsters. The Runt was a thin ten-year-old, with a runny nose, and a blank expression. If you were to try to pick him out of a group of boys, you'd be wrong. He'd be...