Fantasy

Though this anthology is billed as ""a little taste"" of the work found in the quarterly Fantasy Magazine, the overall flavor of this literary sampler is decidedly bland. Among numerous unremarkable selections, however, are a few excep-tional entries. Sarah Monette's ""Somewhere Beneath Those Waves Was Her Home"" is a powerfully moving and in-tensely bittersweet story about the sisterhood that develops between a woman trapped in an unfulfilling marriage and a selkie imprisoned by a man who stole her skin, while Maura McHugh's ""Bone Mother"" brilliantly blends Slavic folklore with the vampire mythos to create a speculative gem of a tale. Cat Rambo's ""Sugar"" takes an unstereotypical look at the swashbuckling pirate adventure, and Jeremy Tolbert gets in touch with his inner Bigfoot in the wonder-fully weird ""The Yeti Behind You."" Despite this handful of stellar stories, the majority of entries are not-contrary to the back cover's claims-especially edgy, modern or sophisticated.