Horror writer H.P. Lovecraft has long inspired a wide range of authors. This latest anthology features 27 Lovecraftian tales published between 2000 and 2010. A father’s death and a tape recording force a young man to confront a horrible family secret in John Langan’s subtly revelatory tale, “Mr. Gaunt.” In a twist on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald” features a famous consulting detective who investigates a royal murder in a Victorian England ruled by beings from beyond the stars. The contributors’ list consists of a who’s who in contemporary sf and dark fantasy, including China Miéville, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, Charles Stross, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and John Shirley. VERDICT For fans of Lovecraftian fiction and well-wrought horror.

A 2011 Hugo Award nominee, online magazine Lightspeed (www.lightspeedmagazine.com) focuses exclusively on sf, introducing new writers and showcasing familiar voices. This anthology of 48 tales represents the best of the publication’s first year. In Carol Emshwiller’s “No Time Like the Present,” a group of eerily similar families who seem unfamiliar with the basics of modern American culture moves into an upscale neighborhood. A young woman is addicted to diseases in a world where everything is curable in David Tallerman’s “Jenny’s Sick.” There are also stories by George R.R. Martin, Tananarive Due, Bruce Sterling, Stephen Baxter, and Ken Liu. VERDICT This solid introduction to online speculative fiction deserves wide exposure.

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“In this slim, grim, and powerful novel, Shirley lets his imagination loose on the frightening possibilities of a massive natural disaster striking a small American town. A tidal wave transforms Freedom, Calif., from seaside idyll into a broken and perilously unstable landscape….Shirley’s vision is vivid and horrifying…”—Publishers Weekly

Publication Date: June 2012

Legends and myths of all cultures tell of those possessing captivating allure we are powerless to resist. Sirens, demon lovers, femme fatales, and others compel our love, drawing us into realms of forbidden desire and uncontrollable passion. These seductions are not always supernatural, nor even sexual. We can be haunted by unrequited desire, ensnared by our own minds, or swept away by another’s madness. Obsession overwhelms, takes us to irrational extremes, involves us in dangerous liaisons and fatal attractions . . . obsession consumes. Enticing, compulsively readable tales from nineteen masterful storytellers.

“Medusa’s Child,” Kim Antieau
“Hot Eyes, Cold Eyes,” Lawrence Block
“Hymenoptera,” Michael Blumlein
“She’s Not There,” Pat Cadigan
“My Lady of the Hearth,” Storm Constantine
“Calypso in Berlin,” Elizabeth Hand
“Lady Madonna,” Nancy Holder
“In the Cold, Dark Time,” Joe R. Lansdale
“Nunc Dimittis,” Tanith Lee
“The Girl with Hungry Eyes,” Fritz Leiber
“Tallulah,” Charles de Lint
“The Snake Woman’s Lover,” Catherine Lundoff
“Land of the Lost,” Stewart O’Nan
“The Oval Portrait,” Edgar Allan Poe
“The Hound Lover,” Laura Resnick
“Barbara,” John Shirley
“An Apiary of White Bees,” Lee Thomas
“Close to You,” Steve Rasnic Tem
“The Light That Passes Through You,” Conrad Williams

“The Silver Wind” by Nina Allen (Interzone)
“Martian Heart” by John Barnes (Life on Mars)
“East of Furious” by Jonathan Carroll (Conjunctions 56)
“Late Bloomer” by Suzy McKee Charnas (Teeth)
“The Last Sophia” by C.S.E. Cooney (Strange Horizons)
“Walking Stick Fires” by Alan DeNiro (Asimov’s)
“The Adakian Eagle” by Bradley Denton (Down These Strange Streets)
“Rampion” by Alexandra Duncan (F&SF)
“And Weep Like Alexander” by Neil Gaiman (Fables from the Fountain)
“Pug” by Theodora Goss (Asimov’s)
“Widows in the World” by Gavin Grant (Strange Horizons)
“Ghostweight” by Yoon Ha Lee (Clarkesworld)
“Choose Your Own Adventure” by Kat Howard (Fantasy)
“Younger Women” by Karen Joy Fowler (Subterranean)
“The Man Who Bridged the Mist” by Kij Johnson (Asimov’s)
“The Sighted Watchmaker” by Vylar Kaftan (Lightspeed)
“Mulberry Boys” by Margo Lanagan (Blood and Other Cravings)
“Canterbury Hollow” by Chris Lawson (F&SF)
“Some of Them Closer” by Marissa Lingen (Analog)
“The Summer People” by Kelly Link (Steampunk!)
“The Choice” by Paul McAuley (Asimov’s)
“A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong” by K.J. Parker (Subterranean)
“Woman Leaves Room” by Robert Reed (Lightspeed)
“My Chivalric Fiasco” by George Saunders (Harper’s)
“Fields of Gold” by Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse 4)
“The Smell of Orange Groves” by Lavie Tidhar (Clarkesworld)
“The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland, for a Little While” by Catherynne M. Valente (Tor.com)
“The Sandal-Bride” by Genevieve Valentine (Fantasy)
“The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees” by E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld)