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amongst them, although, with so many different subjects, styles, genres, and themes on offer, some appealed to my personal sensibilities more than others. The collection offers stylish writing, original story-telling, and a variety of applaudable, alternative perspectives. Subjects covered include: life and neighbour harassment in a post-apocalyptic and globally warmed garbage world; murder by sex-bot; a feminist take on a Rumpelstiltskinesque fairy story; a boy who can control both the desert and dead things; a sword-and-sorcery tale with kick-ass female super heroes and a non-traditional take (by sword and sorcery standards) on sexuality, and a deep-space interlude involving inter-stellar jewels made from compressed human corpses. I could go on (for another twenty-two stories) because each story is a unique, perfectly cut gem in its own right. The list of publications that sourced this myriad of glittering stories is equally impressive and includes Tor.com, Clarkesworld, The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy, The New Yorker, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. A sample of authors indicates work by a good sample of both male and female writers including Joe Abercrombie, Nina Allen, Seth Dickinson, Amal El-Mohtar, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Yoon Ha Lee, and Ken Liu, to namedrop but a few. In conclusion, this is a large and impressive anthology that, in my opinion, is well worth checking out before volume twelve comes along. I couldn’t say if it is the absolute best of what was published last year, but it is certainly outstanding. By J.S.Watts
FEVERISH FICTION #1 By Various https://feverishfiction.wordpress.com/ I’m sure you will agree there’ll always be room in the market for another dark fiction magazine, especially one as lavish, delightfully produced and, for want of a better word, niche as this. Feverish Fiction is the brainchild of editor-inchief Michael Faun, who claims in the editor’s note to have first birthed the idea whilst getting drunk after an Ozzy gig in Stockholm, which is an admirable feat in itself. The prime motivation for this was to, “Bring back to life the gaudy pulps and sleaze fiction writings popular from the 1920s and throughout the 1950s.” This is quite a slim print volume, meaning you can expect quality over quantity, and features an impressive selection of dark art, poetry, cartoons, and weird fiction. Very weird fiction. The first story to assault your senses, thrashed out by Justin A Mank, is about a cheeky leprechaun in desperate need of a slug of whisky. This is the level of weirdness we are talking about. Elsewhere in the issue you’ll find contributions from Alex S Johnson, Ashley Dioses, KA Opperman, Konstantine Paradias, and a stand-out offering from Patrick Winters. Published monthly by Sleazy Viking Press, each edition is limited to just 50 copies, making each issue an instant collector’s item. The debut issue is now sold out. But don’t worry, by the time you read this the latest issues will still be in stock. If you’re lucky. By C.M. Saunders
MYTH OF THE MAKER By Bruce R. Cordell www.angryrobotbooks.com Carter Morrison kills his friends and himself to save the world. Fortunately it is in VR. Except it is really not. Three years later Katherine Manners finds a melting man in a computer room. Complex is the only word to accurately describe this book. Set in The Strange RPG world, this blends the alien VR world with reality in a way that is similar to The Matrix. The technical terminology will find some readers struggling, but the characters are what really hold this book together. Intense, complex, realistic, and intelligent, this is a book that manages to entertain and draw you in. By Adrian Brady
THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY OF THE YEAR (VOLUME ELEVEN) Edited by Jonathan Strahan Apparently this is “the first volume of the second decade of the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year anthology series”, which figures, as it is volume eleven of an annual imprint. To have kept going for so long, one must assume that the editor/publisher has been getting something right. I certainly felt they got it right for volume eleven, a wide-ranging and quality collection of twenty-eight speculative fiction short stories (science fiction, fantasy, and a touch of horror, or at least dark fantasy). I didn’t find a weak story 7