Review by Booklist Review
This collection includes a diverse group of writers utilizing some classic horror, sci-fi and fantasy elements and themes. There are ghost stories--like Zen Cho's "Odette," or Victor LaValle's "Recognition" (which takes place during the pandemic in a New York apartment), and Brian Evenson's creepy "The Thickening." There are stories of tiny invaders of the body in Craig Laurance Gidney's "Desiccant." John Wiswell's aptly named "Open House on Haunted Hill" gives a somewhat hopeful spin to the haunting of this home. Creature stories are retold: zombies in Steve Rasnic Tem's "The Dead Outside My Door"; the Caribbean mythological creature "Lusca" by Soleil Knowles; and the shape-shifters in Alison Littlewood's "Swanskin." A. C. Wise has a great take on pirates on a ghost ship in space in "To Sail the Black." Acclaimed writer Elizabeth Bear has a fantastic story about underwater frog people that must be read to be appreciated. There are others by notable writers and newcomers alike, all deservedly part of this excellent collection.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The stellar lineup of 30 stories selected by Guran for this annual "best-of" volume attest to the imaginative breadth of dark fantastic fiction written in 2020. Victor Lavalle's "Recognition" is a ghost story set in contemporary Manhattan during the Covid-19 pandemic. By contrast, Alix E. Harrow's "The Sycamore and The Sybil" and Alison Littlewood's "Swanskin" approach their explorations of gender roles through traditional fairy and folktales. Elizabeth Bear mixes the whimsical with the weird in "On Safari in R'lyeh and Carcosa with Gun and Camera," while Brian Evenson's "The Thickening" and Elizabeth Hand's "The Owl Count" end with nightmarish thunderclaps of genuinely unsettling horror. The familiar weird fiction themes of the haunted house and the vampire get creative makeovers in John Wiswell's "Open House on Haunted Hill" and Craig Laurance Gidney's "Desiccant," respectively, while A.C. Wise's "To Sail the Black" and Elaine Cuyegkeng's "The Genetic Alchemist's Daughter" probe the relatively underexplored dark side of science fiction. There's not a story in the mix that doesn't merit the appellation of "best," and the diversity of the selections bodes well for future annuals. (Oct.)
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