Everything is all pretty much finalised, though I’m waiting on some bits and pieces and the copyedits, but here is the table of contents for the new best of the year. It’s due out in March and you can pre-order it here.
Introduction, Jonathan Strahan
“Elegy for a Young Elk,†Hannu Rajaniemi
“The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains,†Neil Gaiman
“Seven Sexy Cowboy Robots,†Sandra McDonald
“The Spy Who Never Grew Up,†Sarah Rees Brennan
“The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue,†Holly Black
“Under the Moons of Venus,†Damien Broderick
“The Fool Jobs,†Joe Abercrombie
“Alone,†Robert Reed
“Names for Water,†Kij Johnson
“Fair Ladies,†Theodora Goss
“Plus or Minus,†James P. Kelly
“The Man With the Knives,†Ellen Kushner
“The Jammie Dodgers and the Adventure of the Leicester Square Screening,†Cory Doctorow
“The Maiden Flight of McAuley’s Bellerophon,†Elizabeth Hand
“The Miracle Aquilina,†Margo Lanagan
“The Taste of Night,†Pat Cadigan
“The Exterminator’s Want-Ad,†Bruce Sterling
“Map of Seventeen,†Christopher Barzak
“The Naturalist,†Maureen McHugh
“Sins of the Father,†Sara Genge
“The Sultan of the Clouds,†Geoffrey A. Landis
“Iteration,†John Kessel
“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,†Diana Peterfreund
“The Night Train,†Lavie Tidhar
“Still Life (A Sexagesimal Fairy Tale),†Ian Tregillis
“Amor Vincit Omnia,†K.J. Parker
“The Things,†Peter Watts
“The Zeppelin Conductors’ Society Annual Gentlemen’s Ball,†Genevieve Valentine
“The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window,†Rachel Swirsky
Gorgeous cover, as always, and a stellar lineup. You have been stacking my list of must-buy titles this next year with all the fantastic books you have coming out. I’m looking forward to all of them, Eclipse Four the most. Cannot wait to see the cover art chosen for that volume.
It’s an honor to be in this – and I can’t wait to read the rest of the stories! Volume 4 was transcendant. I don’t read much short fiction as it comes out, but I’ve learned you are the guy to trust for skimming the cream off the top and presenting it in one nice package. There’s pleasure in the reading, but also inspiration – so much junk floats around doing well and making me think, “Oh, what’s the point?” – then I read your collections, and remember what it is. Thanks to you & to the folks at Night Shade for keeping it up for the rest of us.