The Best of British Fantasy 2019

by Jared Shurin (Editor), Helen McClory (Contributor), Gareth E. Rees (Contributor)

Editor Jared Shurin has determined to uncover the very best work published by British and British-based authors in 2019, ending up with as diverse and surprising a set of stories as you are likely to find anywhere. Full of wonder, wit, delight and malevolence. These stories range from traditional to contemporary fantasy, written by a mix of established authors and new voices, combining to provide a veritable potpourri of the fantastical.

Introduction – Jared Shurin
A Manual for Avoiding Further Harm from [REDACTED] –
Helen McClory
Tyrannosaurs Bask in the Warmth of the Asteroid – Gareth E. Rees
Burrowing Machines – Sara Saab
Birds Fell From the Sky and Each One Spoke in Your Voice – Kirsty Logan
A Few Things I Miss About Skeletons – Tom Offland
Tilt – Karen Onojaife
Mr Fox – Heather Parry
Joss Papers for Porcelain Ghosts – Eliza Chan
The Fisher – Melanie Harding-Shaw
Canst Thou Draw Out the Leviathan – Christopher Caldwell
What the Sea Reaps, We Must Provide – Eleanor R. Wood
No Children – E. Saxey
The Colossus Stops – Dafydd McKimm
Wake the Dead – Maura McHugh
Why Aren't Millennials Continuing Traditional Worship of the Elder Dark? – Matt Dovey
Demolition – Nick Adams
The Redemption of Billy Zane – Liz Jones
What It Sounds Like When You Fall – Natalia Theodoridou
Competing Before the King – Leila Aboulela
Dem Bones – Lavie Tidhar
Sin Eater – Chikodili Emelumadu
O Cul-de-Sac – Tim Major
Thank God in the Acknowledgements – Jess Brough

Genres: Anthologies, Fantasy, Science Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2020

About the author

Jared Shurin has edited or co-edited over two dozen anthologies of original and reprint fiction, including The Djinn Falls in Love, The Lowest Heaven, The Outcast Hours, the Best of British Fantasy series, and The Big Book of Cyberpunk.

He has been a finalist for the World Fantasy (twice!), Shirley Jackson (twice!), and Hugo Awards (twice!), and won the British Fantasy Award (twice!).

He currently writes about strategy, books and pop culture at Raptor Velocity.

Reviews

[Lukasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

The Best of British Fantasy 2019 contains twenty-three stories. And not just any, but the best Britain has to offer. We can debate what makes the story the best, but I think I have found the key to Shurin's choices. You simply need a title longer than the story itself (like, say, Why Aren't Millennials Continuing Traditional Worship of the Elder Dark? or Birds Fell From the Sky and Each One Spoke in Your Voice).

On a more serious note, all stories are reprinted and showcase a wide variety of speculative fiction written by British authors - citizens, residents, or expatriates. They show a remarkable range of ideas, styles, and tones but most of them lean toward the literary and contemporary end of the fantasy genre's spectrum. I found most stories serious, introspective, unsettling, and realistic. There's little lighthearted material here. The quirky cover looks great, but it can mislead readers looking for another sword&sorcery fix.

The arrangement of the stories impressed me - each is different from what came before it, whether subtly or completely. As a result, the stories never start to feel "all the same" or repetitive. As readers, we get a diversity of voice, subject, and form as well as a balance between new and established voices. Additionally, most of the stories contained in this volume are literally short - you can read them in 5-8 minutes. It makes BOBF a great lunch or a break from work companion.

As for the stories themselves, I found most of them intriguing. There were, of course, a few that did not appeal to me or that I flatly disliked. With more than 20 stories, there's zero chance of a reader loving everything, though.

The ones that stood out for me include Birds Fell From the Sky and Each One Spoke in Your Voice, which follows relatable protagonist unearthing long-buried memories from a tragedy that blighted his childhood. Tom Offland's A Few Things I Miss About Skeletons is absurd but wildly entertaining. Its narrator examines things he misses about his skeletal structure in a world where, for unknown reasons, skeletons were abducted.

Why Aren’t Millennials Continuing Traditional Worship of the Elder Dark? uses satire to show how the unwillingness to change in older generations ends up backfiring. It tackles Lovecraftian ideas, weaving together the mythology of gods of madness with humor and social commentary. Quality stuff here.

My favorite story, Sin Eater by Chikodili Emelumadu, is dark and engrossing. A normal young woman finds out that her first roommate, Nchedo isn’t exactly human. Nchedo reveals to the narrator the darker aspects of life. It turns out sinners, of all sorts, walk the streets looking for victims. Normal justice doesn't serve its purpose and sometimes you just need to use jaws to cleanse sins. A brilliant mix of humor, horror, and discovery.

As for the weaker stories, Dem Bones by Lavie Tidhar didn’t click with me. It wasn't my least favorite story in the anthology but I mention it here because I usually love everything Tidhar writes. Not this time, though. It's weirdly engaging but lacks a satisfying resolution. A pity as he's the most established author in the anthology and some readers will buy the book just for him.

As a whole, I recommend The Best of British Fantasy 2019 to readers wanting to keep up with the industry and actively looking for new voices. Plenty here for fans of the uncanny.

[Alison C · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title implies, “The Best of British Fantasy 2019” contains stories from British writers, some short, others fairly lengthy, all with a fantastical edge one way or another. As with all such anthologies, readers will differ on which of these 23 stories they prefer; my favourites included the opening tale, “A Manual for Avoiding Further Harm from [Redacted],” by Helen McClory, punchy and short; “What the Sea Reaps, We Must Provide,” by Eleanor R. Wood, in which a dog saves a village from the sea in unexpected ways; “No Children,” by E. Saxey, a selkie tale set in Wales; “Sin Eater,” by Chikodili Emelumadu, a Nigerian take on the old Celtic practice; and “O Cul-de-Sac!” by Tim Major, wherein a sentient house chronicles its occupants over the years. The only author I recognized in this anthology was Lavie Tidhar, which tells me I’ve become somewhat out of touch with fantasy writers of late; this volume, an ARC through Library Thing’s Early Reviewers program, goes some way to addressing that personal deficit. All the stories are good, and some are very good indeed. Also of note is that this is the first book I’ve read in which the introduction references the pandemic, currently in its 6th or 7th month of transmission; I expect there will be more such references in the future! In the meantime, recommended!

[David H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun (mostly) fantasy anthology, with some real gems. My three favorites were "Canst Thou Draw Out of the Leviathan" by Christopher Caldwell (following a gay Black ship's carpenter on a whaler), Matt Dovey's "Why Aren't Millennials Continuing Traditional Worship of the Elder Dark?" (a parody of the 'why aren't millennials...' genre that is just hilarious and on point), and the delightfully bizarre "A Few Things I Miss About Skeletons" from Tom Offland (a tale whose title is literally self-explanatory).

"A Manual for Avoiding Further Harm from [REDACTED]" by Helen McClory also stands out--a short, creepy piece that I adored. E. Saxey's "No Children" was also great, and I want to see lots more from them. A special shoutout to Lavie Tidhar's "Dem Bones" which is literally an "apple a day keeps the doctor away" story, and I loved the strange pub that the narrator finds himself in at the end of Maura McHugh's "Wake the Dead."

Compared to the 2018 volume, I think there were a few more in this one that I didn't like, but the good ones were really good.

[Burhan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trying to give an average rating for an anthology is a tricky thing. The editor’s view of “best of” will not always align with that of the readers’ and that’s definitely the case for me. It was a mixed bag. Looking back over the anthology, my favourite story was “No Children”. Some others I enjoyed were “Why Aren't Millennials Continuing Traditional Worship Of The Elder Dark”, “Sin Eater” and “Canst Thou Draw Out The Leviathan”. Some didn’t work for me at all, like “The Redemption of Billy Zane”.

Despite the dragon on the cover, there was not a hint of high fantasy in any of the stories. I say this not as a positive or a negative, but merely an observation for anyone that would judge the book by its cover. All of the stories had a broad interpretation of “fantasy” which was really interesting and on occasion thought provoking. Though some stories really stretched the definition to the point of being incredibly tenuous.

I read this with a book club and so that adds a layer of scrutiny and analysis that you might not normally have when reading a story collection. We read a story every two weeks, so my memories of a lot of the stories are quite vague now!

Overall I would recommend it though as there are some real gems in there.

[William Wilson]

This collection of 23 fantasy stories roams the world, time, and reality quite entertainingly. You'll find ghosts, gods, gay whalers, sentient houses and maybe a mermaid. What you won't find is young princes, sorcerers, dragons, unicorns, or other standbys of traditional fantasy. I'd refer to most of the entries as urban fantasy, although some are far from urban and some are not contemporary.

Standouts for me include “Why Aren't Millennials Continuing Traditional Worship of the Elder Dark?” which made me consider that author Matt Dovey was the spawn of H.P. Lovecraft and Terry Pratchett. “Burrowing Machines” reminded me of Ben Aaronovitch. “Wake the Dead” is proper Irish creepiness.

There are several stories that are not for the squeamish, by which I mean those who avoid tales of human consumption. You've been warned.

[Kalin]

Read "The Fisher" by Melanie Harding-Shaw for the 2020 Sir Julius Vogel Award nominations. 2 stars.

[Fred Langridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I need to try and remember that these anthologies of short stories often have quite unpleasant content, and are not good for bedtimes.
They are very good stories, though.