by Ellen Datlow
First published 2023
This World Fantasy Award winning anthology gathers fifteen writers who push fantasy into unexpected territory. The collection opens with Delia Sherman's story of a nineteenth century Parisian prostitute who takes a mysterious lover among her fellow women, a wraith who perceives past, present, and future simultaneously. Catherynne M. Valente tells of a woman who shelters a selkie and discovers her sorrowful history. Paul Di Filippo imagines children whose dreams birth a magnificent city from tsunami waters. Peter S. Beagle, Lucius Shepard, and other established voices join emerging writers in stories that bridge historical and contemporary settings, folklore traditions and modern political realities, linear storytelling and experimental forms. The tales create conversations between different approaches to fantasy, showing how the genre can encompass both intimate character studies and sweeping imaginative visions. These stories demonstrate fantasy's capacity to illuminate human experience through magical transformation.
Genres: literary-fiction, fantasy, magical-realism
Vibes: intimate, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: experimental-form, intimate-character-studies, sweeping-imaginative-visions
Setting: Paris, Tsunami
Period: 19th Century
407 pages · Kindle Edition · Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy