The Year in Fantasy: A Critic's Perspective

Panelists: Charles N. Brown (moderator), Kathryn Cramer, Jo Fletcher, W. Paul Ganley
Notes from the World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi, Texas
Transcribed by A. T. Campbell, III
October 26, 2000

Brown started by naming his favorite novels of the past year:

• Zeitgeist by Bruce Sterling ("controversial, alternate world fantasy novel with ghosts, funny")
• Galveston by Sean Stewart ("about the next Galveston flood, by one of the smoothest writers in the field")
• The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman ("very fine work, better than his previous book")
• The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia McKillip ("does things for knights and quests that haven't been done in a while"
• A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin ("tense every three pages, best book of this series")
• Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay
• Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson
• Ash by Mary Gentle ("fine alternate world fantasy")
• Perdido Street Station by China Miéville (closest to Gormenghast, works on many levels)

Cramer then began a discussion of short fiction. She mentioned that 2000 had overall been a better year for short SF than short fantasy. Then she named her favorite stories from anthologies:

From Black Heart, Ivory Bones:

• "Chanterelle" by Brian Stableford ("best story of the year")
• "My Life as a Bird" by Charles de Lint
• "And Still She Sleeps" by Greg Costikyan ("an archaeologist find a sleeping woman and many people try to wake her by kissing, but she doesn't wake up")

From Dark Matter:

• "The Woman in the Wall" by Steven Barnes ("good story, arguably not fantasy or SF, but maybe speculative fiction")
• "Greedy Choke Puppy" by Nalo Hopkinson ("excellent use of folk material")
• "an excellent story about sweaty palms whose title and author I've forgotten"
• "Sister Lilith" by Honorée Fannone Jeffers ("a creation myth with a good voice")

From Strange Attraction:

• Lots of good stories, but hard to read several of these in a row
• "Many Worlds Are Born Tonight" by Charles de Lint
• "Pocketsful of Diamonds" by Gene Wolfe

From Graven Images:

• "The Face of Sekt" by Storm Constantine ("best story in book")
• "The Eleventh City" by Gene Wolfe

Cramer then briefly spoke about the state of magazines. She said that Interzone consistently carried the best short stories, and she singled out the work of Zoran Zukovic published there. From American magazines, she liked the following:

"The Fey" by Renee Bennett (from MZBFM)

"The Two Old Men" by Kage Baker (from Asimov's)

"Shapechanger's Story" by Eliot Fintushel (from Asimov's)

Ganley then spoke about his work as a World Fantasy Awards judge for 1999. He said that he'd hardly read any fantasy published since 1999, but wanted to mention dthe works he'd like most from that year. His favorite novels are below:

• Thraxas by Martin Scott ("junior-grade Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, very funny")
• Red Heart of Memories by Nina Kiriki Hoffman ("one of the stranger books I've read, indescribable")
• Lord Demon by Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold ("I couldn't get anyone else to read this, but it was really good")
• This Is My Blood by David Niall Wilson ("a novel about Jesus Christ and a vampire Mary Magdalene")
• Queen of Darkness by Anne Bishop ("best book of the year, not for the squeamish")
• Necroscope: Invaders by Brian Lumley
• Mr. X by Peter Straub

Among shorter fiction, Ganley's favorites were the following:

• "The Hand That Feeds" by Peter Crowther and James Lovegrove
• "Pixel Pixies" by Charles de Lint
• "The Executioner's Guild" by Andy Duncan

Ganley's favorite collections were the ones by de Lint and Donaldson. His favorite magazines were Interzone and Weird Tales. Ganley concluded by saying this year he read Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, and it was better than anything published in 1999.

Fletcher mentioned that she was primarily going to talk about British books. Her favorite novels were the following:

• Ash by Mary Gentle ("most astonishing book in years, you must read it")
• Sultan of the Moon and Stars by Tom Arden
• Black Eagle Rising by Kate Jacoby
• Noonshade by James Barclay
• The Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling ("trudging where Diana Wynne Jones has done for 20 years")
• Year of the Griffin by Diana Wynne Jones

Fletcher passed along recommendations from Jane Johnson:

• A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin ("astonishing!")
• Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb
• Prospero's Children by Jan Siegel
• Mr. X by Peter Straub
• Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

Fletcher also passed along recommendations from Stephen Jones:

• The Director's Cut by Nicholas Royle
• Run by Douglas E. Winter

Cramer then mentioned several trends she'd noticed in recent short fiction: God, the devil, children, trolls, and women having supernatural communication around the house.

Fletcher mentioned her favorite collections:

• The Conan Chronicles by Robert E. Howard
• Time and the Gods by Lord Dunsany ("collects 6 books")
• Dystopia by Richard Christian Matheson
• The Third Cry to Legba and Other Invocations by Manly Wade Wellman
• Where the Bodies Are Buried by Kim Newman
• Phantoms and Fiends by R Chetwynd-Hayes
• Dark Matters by Terry Lamsley

Brown mentioned his favorite collections of the year:

• Mixed Magics by Diana Wynne Jones
• High Cotton by Joe R. Lansdale ("the author's favorite stories")
• Where the Bodies Are Buried by Kim Newman
• Strange Travelers by Gene Wolfe ("better at short fiction than novels, good language")
• Punktown by Jeffrey Thomas

Fletcher named her favorite anthologies:

• Dark Terrors 5 edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton ("massive, great")
• The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
• Taps and Sighs edited by Peter Crowther

There was some brief discussion about the state of the field. Brown and Ganley mentioned that too much stuff is being published for anyone to read it all. Fletcher said that while most of the books mentioned on the panel were from large publishers, small presses are producing quality books too. Cramer mentioned difficulties defining fantasy, and wondered if slipstream existed any more.

Brown mentioned his favorite nonfiction books:

• At the Foot of the Story Tree: An Inquiry into the Fiction of Peter Straub by Bill Sheehan
• Hauntings: The Official Peter Straub Bibliography by Michael Collings
• J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey
• The Strange Case of Edward Gorey by Alexander Theroux
• Vast Alchemies: The Life and Work of Mervyn Peake by G. Peter Winnington

Fletcher and Cramer identified their favorite new writers: Zoran Zukovic, James Barclay, Renee Bennett, and Jan Siegel.

Wrapping up, Brown mentioned that he was already reading books from 2001. Cramer mentioned that she'd been reading SF lately, and there were too many disease stories. Ganley encouraged people to read the new Beowulf translation.