The eclectic second installment of Prime's annual anthology draws equally from venerable genre magazines like Weird Tales
and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
and more literary publications like McSweeney's
and The Cincinnati Review
. Standout stories include M. Rickert's “Memoir of a Deer Woman,” a heartrending tale about a loving husband who must somehow come to grips with his wife's metamorphosis into a deer, and “The Drowned Life” by Jeffrey Ford, an allegorical look at the looming economic crisis through the eyes of a disenchanted HMO employee. Fantasy fans will also enjoy Deborah Coates's paranormal-nuanced “Chainsaw on Hand” and the dark lyricism of Erik Amundsen's “Bufo Rex.” Though it contains few blockbuster stories, this solidly entertaining anthology exemplifies the continuing evolution and expansion of the genre. (Dec.)
