Hannu Rajaniemi

Usman T. Malik

Sofia Samatar

Maria Dahvana Headley

Brooke Bolander

Eugene Fisher

Ben Loory

Adam Ehrlich Sachs

Carmen Maria Machado

Talented, diverse, and bold - the new voices of fantasy are breaking all of the rules.

The New Voices of Fantasy

A. D. Knapp

I won this signed anthology from Goodreads Giveaways.

This well-curated anthology showcases an all-star selection of up-and-coming speculative fiction writers and trend-setters in the genre. Starting with the gastronomical vampirism of Alyssa Wong's Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers and ending with a grandfather's Jinn in Usman T. Malik's The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn, the nineteen stories collected here are not (by-and-large) your grandfather's fantasy of elves, dragons and castles, but represent a newer take on the genre. Sometimes bordering on urban fantasy or even horror.

As is to be expected in any anthology, I found the stories to be a bit uneven in quality, but the highlights made up for any fallow patches I encountered along the way. The real strength of this collection for me was that it allowed me to touch base with a genre that I loved as a teenager but have grown a bit distant from since. Although each story did not rate five stars from me, the collection as a whole was strong enough that I feel comfortable giving it that rating.

Special thanks to Peter S. Beagle and Jacob Weisman who were both gracious enough to sign my copy. Thanks guys.

The New Voices of Fantasy

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