Year's Best Weird Fiction: Volume One

Edited by Laird Barron. Cover art by Santiago Caruso.

Welcome to the weird! Acclaimed author and editor Laird Barron, one of weird fiction's brightest exponents, brings his expert eye and editorial sense to the inaugural volume of the Year's Best Weird Fiction. No longer the purview of esoteric readers, weird fiction is enjoying wide popularity. Chiefly derived from early 20th-century pulp fiction, its remit includes ghost stories, the strange and macabre, the supernatural, fantasy, myth, philosophical ontology, ambiguity, and a healthy helping of the outré. At its best, weird fiction is an intersecting of themes and ideas that explore and subvert the Laws of Nature. It is not confined to one genre, but is the most diverse and welcoming of all genres. Hence, in this initial showcase of weird fiction you will discover tales of horror, fantasy, science fiction, the supernatural, and the macabre. Contributing authors include Jeffrey Ford, Sofia Samatar, Joseph S. Pulver Sr, John Langan, Richard Gavin, and W. H. Pugmire.

Contents:

• “Success” by Michael Blumlein, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov./Dec.
• “Like Feather, Like Bone” by Kristi DeMeester, Shimmer #17
• “A Terror” by Jeffrey Ford, Tor.com, July.
• “The Key to Your Heart Is Made of Brass” by John R. Fultz, Fungi #21
• “A Cavern of Redbrick” by Richard Gavin, Shadows & Tall Trees #5
• “The Krakatoan” by Maria Dahvana Headley, Nightmare Magazine/The Lowest Heaven, July.
• “Bor Urus” by John Langan, Shadow’s Edge
• “Furnace” by Livia Llewellyn, The Grimscribe’s Puppets
• “Eyes Exchange Bank” by Scott Nicolay, The Grimscribe’s Puppets
• “A Quest of Dream” by W.H. Pugmire, Bohemians of Sesqua Valley
• “(he) Dreams of Lovecraftian Horror” by Joseph S. Pulver Sr., Lovecraft eZine #28
• “Dr. Blood and the Ultra Fabulous Glitter Squadron” by A.C. Wise, Ideomancer Vol. 12 Issue 2
• “The Year of the Rat” by Chen Quifan, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July/August.
• “Fox into Lady” by Anne-Sylvie Salzman, Darkscapes
• “Olimpia’s Ghost” by Sofia Samatar, Phantom Drift #3
• “The Nineteenth Step” by Simon Strantzas, Shadows Edge
• “The Girl in the Blue Coat” by Anna Taborska, Exotic Gothic 5 Vol. 1
• “In Limbo” by Jeffrey Thomas, Worship the Night
• “Moonstruck” by Karin Tidbeck, Shadows & Tall Trees #5
• “Swim Wants to Know If It’s as Bad as Swim Thinks” by Paul Tremblay, Bourbon Penn #8
• “No Breather in the World But Thee” by Jeff VanderMeer, Nightmare Magazine, March
• “Shall I Whisper to You of Moonlight, of Sorrow, of Pieces of Us?” by Damien Angelica Walters, Shock Totem #7