"The deeply affecting story of a sixth son in a household where the seventh is most valued ... It's an excellent piece, beautifully voiced and crafted to lodge uncomfortably in your ribs." (Amal El-Mohtar, SF Site)

"The well told, compelling and compassionate portrait of a girl formerly acting as a goddess' avatar, trying to fit again in a normal life." (Mario Guslandi, SF Site)

"An introspective, character-driven story that touches upon Egyptian culture, as a young woman deals with having lost her status as an avatar for a goddess. The sentiments expressed by the end were very wise and beautiful, and I feel truly enriched for having read it!" (Sequential Tart)

"A compelling, bittersweet fantasy story of a statue brought to life while her 'mate' remains stone; she struggles in a hostile city under siege — with the help of a minotaur who worships her — hoping to find a way bring her mate to life. McHugh's created a vivid, fascinating world here, and I really hope he revisits it!" (Sequential Tart)

"Velociraptors set off on a heroic quest and are faced with a difficult choice that may decide whether their race survives or not." (Gardner Dozois, Locus)

"Picks up with a group of individuals also fleeing a dying world — except the world they're fleeing is a prehistoric Earth, the land they're seeking is Mars, and the individuals in question are dinosaurs. I kid you not. ... It's a wonderfully effective, well-wrought story that reminded me just a little of Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw." (Amal El-Mohtar, SF Site)

"Set in a Polynesian-flavoured world, Kahe is a sorcerer who works his greatest magic by having his wife, Mehahui, attempt to kill him; by nearing death's door, the goddess Hia grants him the power to work his spells. But paying the price of his magic becomes harder and harder, since Kahe's tribesmen are at war with the invading Ouvallese, and straddling the edge of death is a difficult thing to do in battle. Unexpected twists abound in this story, the surprising conclusion of which I loved on several levels." (Amal El-Mohtar, SF Site)

"A beautiful and quite original piece, full of pathos and very imaginative, developing the concept that being close to death enhances the strength of the spells thrown by sorcerers." (Mario Guslandi, SF Site)

"Takes us to a medieval Middle-East, where a young physician has been banished to a backwater village called Beit Zujaaj ... he is summoned to the hovel of Abdel Jameela, a strange recluse who has lived alone with his never-seen wife for many years. As his wife is in need of a physician, the latter's presence is requested, and the story rolls into the marvelous from there." (Amal El-Mohtar, SF Site)

"Explores what happens when one puts aside the prejudices of one's religion while still embracing the loving and faithful aspects." (Sequential Tart)

"This piece begins with a powerful scene but the author's talent soon becomes evident as we discover that the narrative isn't told in chronological order. Our expectations are steered in a different but equally satisfying direction, and Lee manages to mesmerize readers with her attention to detail and beautiful language." (Bibliophile Stalker)

"Lee confirms her extraordinary talent as a storyteller in 'The Pain of Glass,' a perfect story where a bride-to-be becomes first sand and then glass in the shape of a delicate wine vessel. A veritable masterpiece." (Mario Guslandi, SF Site)

"An adorable (albeit somewhat bittersweet) story about a magic fountain, the fish that live in it, and their caretaker. I could easily see this being made into a Pixar short!" (Sequential Tart)

"Desperately beautiful, and the most surreally imaginative, accomplished, and original retelling of Snow White I've ever read. In the jewelled prose that is her trademark, Valente puts forward three theories on the origin of mirrors, threaded through and encompassed by a twisting of the fairy tale — and has them told by lesbian nuns. Again, I am not joking." (Amal El-Mohtar, SF Site)

Selected for Best Horror of the Year 2
edited by Ellen Datlow

Selected for the Locus Magazine
2009 Recommended Reading List

"One of the most successfully ambitious, brilliant, and terrifying stories I've ever read. This is what I wish more horror was: fiction whose effect is a lingering awe, a reluctance to look through windows into the dark for fear of seeing a face, a rising thrill between sternum and chin as page after page is turned. Told through a collection of documents found in a case file, 'each thing i show you is a piece of my death' explains the phenomenon of Background Man, a completely naked man 'wearing a red necklace' who appears inexplicably in film after film where he is not expected to be ... overwhelmingly excellent in its execution." (Amal El-Mohtar, SF Site)

"An exceedingly creepy piece ... It reveals a ghost story through articles, emails, and police reports dealing with a pair of filmmakers and a snuff film they were sent via email. It freaked me out about as much as Ringu, which I consider to be the scariest film I've ever seen!" (Sequential Tart)

"Another story from CLOCKWORK PHOENIX that stayed in my mind for days after I read it was David Sandner's 'Old Foss is the Name of His Cat.' With quirky language tinged with myth, it takes you along a lovesick man's last days as seen through the eyes of his preternatural feline companion." (PhillyBurbs.com)

"A powerful, tragic, magic tale in which a man named John makes a fateful phone call one day, and reaches himself. The bizarre call stirs up memories of John's past, bringing back a time when he and his best friend Justine were inseparable. But what happened to tear them apart? How close was their relationship, and how did it end... or did it? Whatever you think the truth is, it's weirder. One of the most emotionally-powerful stories in the collection, it really needs multiple readings to understand its depths." (SF Site)

"This is a clever, entertaining story that reminds me of classic Charles de Lint." (SF Site)

"A brutally absorbing depiction of the anthropomorphic personifications of the title instruments. What would you imagine their lives to be like, if these key instruments of excommunication were flesh and blood? I'm terribly fond of stories that humanize archetypes well, and this story succeeds painfully and delightfully." (Green Man Review)

"Never stops, never slows down as it tells the story of Molly, a bike-riding traveler who stumbles across a bizarre ceremony involving an angel and a sort-of prophet. Kinetic and fluid, this story addresses issues of faith, belief, and one's inner nature." (SF Site)

"Barron's contribution is all about mood: the wild energy of late nights when time seems suspended and everything seems possible and that horrible, creeping dread when you can't quite figure what's wrong. He ratchets both of these sentiments up for full effect." (The Fix)

"The atmosphere in this story of a couple creeping themselves out over the nothing in the dark that might actually just be something in the dark is so skillfully handled that it actually resulted in me being creeped out. In a nicely lit room." (Green Man Review)

"A moving, tragic hymn to a dying world. Allusions to homosexuality, and unwanted sons, and a curiously ugly paragon of femininity build to a dark revelation against which there is no appeal; grim storytelling this, Lee at her barbaric best." (Locus)

"A tight, fascinating, and gloriously straightforward revenge tale." (Green Man Review)

"An opulent space opera, full of exotic color and historical resonance, about a quest for revenge upon an evil warlord paralleling a figure in Hindu myth. Should the pattern of myth be followed for justice to be done? And what in truth are the mythical referents? The answers are literate and compelling." (Locus)

"Just incredibly amazing ... Old myths inform new lives in this crazy and compelling narrative, and Singh's visual storytelling means I can easily imagine this story as a breathtaking graphic novel." (Green Man Review)

"Cleverly reworking an aspect of Norse myth, this story hints at a much larger world, and events playing out both before and after the scene in question. It's a simple concept, but stunning nonetheless in the execution." (SF Site)

"Mixing themes of religion, faith, redemption, revenge and sacrifice, this is a thought-provoking tale that tackles some complex subjects to admirable results." (SF Site)

"Avery, whose daughter is dying, seeks more time for her from the Tailor. When he grants this desire, the Tailor affects the world all the way down to a dying girl and all the way up to the Engineer of all ... Deborah Biancotti spins out her conceit with a light and fluid intelligence." (The Fix)

"Deborah Biancotti explores the true nature of the universe in 'The Tailor of Time,' where that selfsame individual, responsible for sewing together bits and pieces of time to create the ever-changing days and nights, is visited by a man who asks for a small, simple favor. Sadly, this favor, for all that it's proposed in the best of intentions, is near-impossible to grant, but the Tailor, just this once, will try. What happens then is a mystery, one not even the great Engineer who designed the progress of time itself, can explain. Beautifully told, it's filled with rich imagery and interesting concepts." (SF Site)

"A story about which I can say almost nothing without my hands waving about in awe and delight. This fable of a dryad and her heart is perfect, beautiful, and glorious." (Green Man Review)