The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2011

Esce in agosto negli Stati Uniti per la Prime Books The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2011, ultima edizione annuale de “il meglio della dark fantasy e l’orrore” secondo la curatrice Paula Guran, selezionato fra i racconti di genere apparsi nel corso dell’anno precedente.

Una varietà di temi, in oltre 500 pagine, dal puro weird al meramente sinistro e l’inquietante tra i toni più oscuri dell’epica fantasy, l’horror lovecraftiano moderno e gli scenari d’incubo del prossimo futuro attraverso l’umorismo nero, il soprannaturale e le mostruosità del quotidiano nella scelta di storie brevi e di novelle pubblicate nel 2010 dai principali autori del momento, da Neil Gaiman a George R.R. Martin, Joe R. Lansdale, Tanith Lee, Gene Wolfe, Tim Powers, John Shirley, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Laird Barron e tanti altri.

Informazioni sul volume presso le pagine di Paula Guran al sito web di DarkEcho, mentre riportiamo a seguito l’indice completo dei contenuti narrativi con (fra parentesi) le rispettive pubblicazioni originali:

How Bria Died – Michael Aronovitz (Weird Tales #356)
Frumpy Little Beat Girl – Peter Atkins (Rolling Darkness Revue 2010)
The Broadsword – Laird Barron (Black Wings)
Thimbleriggery and Fledglings – Steve Berman (The Beastly Bride)
The Dog King – Holly Black (The Poison Eaters and Other Stories)
Tragic Life Stories – Steve Duffy (Tragic Life Stories)
The Thing About Cassandra – Neil Gaiman (Songs Of Love And Death, Tales Of Star-Crossed Love)
He Said, Laughing – Simon R. Green (Living Dead 2)
Hurt Me – M.L.N. Hanover (Songs Of Love And Death, Tales Of Star-Crossed Love)
Oaks Park – M.K. Hobson (Haunted Legends)
Crawlspace – Stephen Graham Jones (The Ones That Got Away)
Red as Red – Caitlin R. Kiernan (Haunted Legends)
Mother Urban’s Booke of Dayes – Jay Lake (Dark Faith)
A Thousand Flowers – Margo Lanagan (Zombies vs. Unicorns)
Are You Trying To Tell Me This Is Heaven? – Sarah Langan (Living Dead 2)
The Stars Are Falling – Joe R. Lansdale (Stories)
Sea Warg – Tanith Lee (Full Moon City)
The Mystery Knight – George R.R. Martin (Warriors)
The Naturalist – Maureen McHugh (Subterranean Magazine, Spring 2010)
Raise Your Hand If You’re Dead – John Shirley (Dark Discoveries #17)
Lesser Demons – Norman Partridge (Black Wings / Lesser Demons)
Parallel Lines – Tim Powers (Stories)
The Moon Will Look Strange – Lynda E. Rucker (Black Static #16)
You Dream – Ekaterina Sedia (Dark Faith)
Red Blues – Michael Skeet (Evolve)
Brisneyland by Night – Angela Slatter (Sprawl)
Malleus, Incus, Stapes – Sarah Totton (Fantasy Magazine, 20 December 2010)
The Return – S.D. Tullis (Null Immortalis)
The Dire Wolf – Genevieve Valentine (Running With the Pack)
The Things – Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010)
Bloodsport – Gene Wolfe (Swords & Dark Magic)

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2011
a cura di Paula Guran
Prime Books, 2011
brossura, 544 pagine, $19.95
ISBN 9781607012818

Andrea Bonazzi