“Ellen Datlow is the queen of anthology editors in America.”

–Peter Straub

With original stories by Jeffrey Ford, Pat Cadigan, Elizabeth Bear, Margo Lanagan, and others

From Del Rey Books and award-winning editor Ellen Datlow, two of the most respected names in science fiction and fantasy, comes a collection of fifteen all-new short stories, plus a science fiction novella, that could count as a virtual “best of the year” anthology. Here you will find slyly twisted alternate histories, fractured fairy tales, topical science fiction, and edgy urban fantasy.

In “Daltharee,” World Fantasy Award-winning author Jeffrey Ford spins a chilling tale of a city in a bottle–and the demented genius who put it there. In “Sonny Liston Takes the Fall,” John W. Campbell Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear pens a poignant and eerie requiem for the heavyweight forever associated with his controversial loss to Cassius Clay. From hot new writer Margo Lanagan comes “The Goosle,” a dark, astonishing take on Hansel and Gretel. In the novella “Prisoners of the Action,” Paul MccAuley and Kim Newman take a trip down a rabbit hole that leads to a Guantanamo-like prison whose inmates are not just illegal but extraterrestrial.

Many of the writers you’ll recognize. Others you may not. But one thing is certain: These stars of today and tomorrow demonstrate that the field of speculative fiction is not only alive and well–it’s better than ever.

Datlow was the fiction editor of Omni magazine and Omni Online from 1981 through 1998, and edited the ten associated Omni anthologies. She has edited the horror portion of the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series since 1988 (with Terri Windling editing the fantasy portion through 2003, followed by the team of Gavin Grant and Kelly Link). She has also edited numerous original science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies solo, or with Terri Windling. She was editor of the webzine Event Horizon: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror from 1998 through 1999, and was the editor of Sci Fiction until it ceased publication with its last piece of fiction, December 28, 2005.

Datlow won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor in 2002 and 2005, and her editing work has received two Bram Stoker Awards, eight World Fantasy Awards, three Locus Awards for Best Editor, and has twice led the Science Fiction Chronicle reader's poll.