The Year’s Best Fantasy Volume Three
Paula Guran, ed.
Trade Paperback/Ebook
ISBN: 9781645060932
Pyr, August 20, 2024, 300 pgs

Paula Guran, one of genre’s most renowned editors, offers us another “Best Of” showcasing seventeen reprinted fantasy stories. This is a slimmer volume than last year’s edition, which boasted twenty-eight stories and 408 pages; for folks who love short fiction and specifically fantasy, this one is just as worthy an addition to your library as last year’s was¹.

The table of contents will immediately draw many readers through the power of name recognition. Examples include Catherynne M. Valente, whose name on any anthology cover will get attention, and Fran Wilde, who has enchanted her readers through both short and longer works, as well as, more recently, her editorial tastes at The Sunday Morning Transport. Ken Liu has been one of genre’s most significant and consistent short fiction authors for a while now. P. Djèlí Clark’s “What I Remember of Oresha Moon Dragon Devshrata” and Amal El-Mohtar’s “John Hollowback and the Witch” will have folks (in my opinion very reasonably) immediately excited about this book. Nghi Vo, E. Lily Yu, and others round out a list of literary stars, some well-established and others more recently recognized.

There are some folks in this table of contents who are more recently “up-and-coming” or perhaps less established but whose work shines powerfully through these pages. I’ll get deeper into a few of those pieces to whet your appetite; but I’m leaving the rest—newer stars and established pros—for you to delight in their discovery.

“The Spirit of Bois” by Karyn Díaz was originally published in Fiyah, a venue with a knack for finding truly gifted authors. This story, for me, is about the interconnectedness of nature and humans. It’s also a celebration of the Carnival of Trinidad and Tobago: readers are brought to the wonders of the festival through the wanderings of Bois Man, who is the ancient spirit of the woods, as he searches for amusement and reconnects with humankind. Unlike many stories with an ecological theme, this seems like the focus is less about humans ravaging the planet and more about the roles that traditions play, as well as the various ways that relationships between people and nature can look. Ultimately, it’s also a wistful meditation on change, a meditation that realizes a sense of possibility, perhaps even hope.

Megan Chee’s work has been popping up in a number of notable venues and has landed on a bunch of lists, following her first publication in Athena’s Daughters, Volume Two in 2015, and her second publication, “Incense” in Fantasy Magazine in 2021. Guran’s pick for this book was lauded by a number of reviewers and even appeared on the Locus Recommended Reading List. Called “The God of Minor Troubles,” it begins with the classical legend vibe, relaying the origin of Dǔníng, the Forty-Fourth Son of Heaven, who shows up late when the Immortal Emperor is handing out titles and duties. There’s a healthy dose of humor as Dǔníng finds his new role (spelled out in the story’s title) increasingly annoying: humans, it seems, have endless minor troubles. The story becomes absolutely charming when Dǔníng meets Péi, an elderly woman who is returning to the ways of the warrior now that her kids and grandkids are all grown and out of the house. Péi has an important task to undertake, and even warriors have endless minor troubles. The tale resolves as a wonderful exploration of friendship between unlikely heroes, and everything sings on a number of emotional levels.

If the growing notability of R.S.A. Garcia is any indication, readers should be excited to know that she has a book coming out soon called The Nightward. But here, “notability” is a funny thing: Garcia’s debut publication was “The Bois” in Truancy in 2017, which was reprinted in The Apex Book of World SF Volume Five as well as Sunspot Jungle. In other words, several great editors all took notice. Garcia landed a number of pro-rate sales after this, but the awards-level glow has only happened over the past few years. To be less obvious about it: at least for me, it feels as if some folks in certain circles are catching up to and considering “notable” the work of a writer that readers in many equally important but underserved communities have valued (or considered “notable”) for quite a while. I truly hope that as R.S.A. Garcia gathers all the accolades she deserves, the editors who recognized her early on are toasting to her success, while smirking and saying, “called it” or perhaps even “‘bout damn time.” Guran’s selection here is “Mid-Earth Removals Limited” and it is great fun! Occasional rifts in reality appear in random places around the world causing various problems. When a warrior from an evil army is unwittingly transported to our realm, he immediately confronts a real-world single mom, and . . . Well, let’s just say he’s more than outmatched. The dialog in this piece is fantastic and the humor really sparkles. There are things that could be read as subtextual, but it’s also possible that those things just derive from the way the world is, and that the heart of the story is all about telling an enjoyable story. Either way, mission expertly accomplished: this story is a joy to read!

One of the key lines in “The Big Glass Box and the Boys Inside” by Isabel J. Kim is “You can bear anything if you need it enough.” Exploitation is front and center, and while the story modernizes (or, even futurizes) fairy tales, especially the classic but dreaded fairy bargain, it is an effective metaphor for so many kinds of exploitative practices we have in capitalist cultures. Important to the metaphor is the artist’s and/or worker’s participation, usually earned through the promise of something: power, comfort, etc. Here, the details of the story make things fresh and atmospheric, and the excellent use of characters, dialog, and introspection all add nuance. Kim’s prose compels the read: sometimes terse, sometimes elegant, lines often limned with sharp observations about life, relationships, our sense of place, and more. When the story turns it switches from fascinating to emotionally engrossing. It’s no longer just about a guy and fairy prospects and the coworker he is hooking up with. It’s a brilliant journey through desire and change and so much more, one with a fantastic final note.

I hope I’ve made it clear that this book is worth your time. It’s a lovely selection of pieces by skilled and talented authors. The idea of a Best Of is tricky, after all. Perhaps, realistically, it can only ever really mean “these are the best in the opinion of this person, based upon what this person has actually read and remembered, impacted by their perceptions and sociocultural contexts.” If we agree with the selections, we will praise the editor and explain why their taste should be trusted. If we disagree, we will discredit the editor, and talk about how it’s all subjective, or worse (favoritism, for example). There are also longstanding, unforgivable traditions in publishing where Best Of titles fail to include Black authors, Indigenous authors, Latine authors, and many others—implying (year after year) that only certain kinds of writers are ever “the best” (or, that only one or two authors from a demographic could ever be considered among “the best”). I encourage you to be more than skeptical of Best Of books which do not gleefully embrace diversity, and I’m pleased to report that the present book does not have this problem.

These feel like important musings because many people take quite seriously the idea of The Best. I don’t know if Guran read every itty-bitty zine pubbed by passionate editors, pored through every semipro listed in The Submission Grinder, or fanatically dug through those quirky lit mags which randomly have one genre-flavored story from time to time, but she did read piles and piles of short fiction—far more than I did! And far more than most people. For her, these pieces were The Best.

Whatever you think about the idea of “Best Of” anthologies, Guran has made some wonderful selections. Are these truly “The Best Fantasy Stories” of all short fiction published last year? Does such a measurement even exist? Perhaps it doesn’t matter because they are great stories, and genre short fiction readers will enjoy their time with this book. Moreover, the best way to keep them coming is by picking up a copy. Go buy yours and settle in!

¹. See my review: bit.ly/3WJ7GKv.