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Lace. Leather. Open collars over exquisite collarbones. A single red drop on paper-white cuffs. From the brocade extravagance of the Unseelie courts to the ubiquitous leather of supernatural detectives to the old-fashioned good taste of wealthy vampires -- we are as familiar with fantasy protagonists' attire as we are with their paranormal deed. Tales of tormented designers and well-dressed vampires strut into spotlight in this anthology of fantasy tales focusing on the world of fashion and its intersection with the uncanny!

Table of Contents:

• The Coat of Stars - (2007) - shortstory by Holly Black
• Savage Design - (2012) - shortfiction by Richard Bowes
• Bespoke - (2009) - shortstory by Genevieve Valentine
• Dress Code - (2012) - shortfiction by Sandra McDonald
• The Anadem - (2012) - shortfiction by Sharon Mock
• The First Witch of Damansara - (2012) - shortfiction by Zen Cho
• The Faery Handbag - (2004) - novelette by Kelly Link
• The Truth or Something Beautiful - (2012) - shortfiction by Shirin Dubbin
• Waifs - (2012) - shortfiction by Die Booth
• Where Shadows Meet Light - (2010) - shortfiction by Rachel Swirsky
• Capturing Images - (2012) - shortfiction by Maria V. Snyder
• How Galligaskins Sloughed the Scourge - (2010) - shortstory by Anna Tambour
• Avant-noob - (2012) - shortfiction by Nick Mamatas
• Incomplete Proofs - (2012) - shortfiction by John Chu

Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Ekaterina Sedia
• Something About a Death, Something About a Fire - (1990) - short story by Peter Straub
• Smoke & Mirrors - (2006) - short story by Amanda Downum
• Calliope: A Steam Romance - (2007) - short story by Andrew J. McKiernan
• Welcome to the Greatest Show in the Universe - (2009) - short story by Deborah Walker
• Vanishing Act - [Jackson's Circus] - (2005) - short fiction by E. Catherine Tobler
• Quin's Shanghai Circus - [Veniss] - (1997) - short story by Jeff VanderMeer
• Scream Angel - (2003) - novelette by Douglas Smith
• The Vostrasovitch Clockwork Animal and Traveling Forest Show at the End of the World - (2010) - short story by Jessica Reisman
• Study, for Solo Piano - (2011) - short story by Genevieve Valentine
• Making My Entrance Again with My Usual Flair - (2011) - short story by Ken Scholes
• The Quest - [Circus World] - (1979) - novelette by Barry B. Longyear
• 26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss - (2008) - short story by Kij Johnson
• Courting the Queen of Sheba - (2011) - short fiction by Amanda C. Davis
• Circus Circus - (2007) - short story by Eric M. Witchey
• Phantasy Moste Grotesk - (2009) - novelette by Felicity Dowker
• Learning to Leave - (2006) - short fiction by Christopher Barzak
• Ginny Sweethips' Flying Circus - (1988) - novelette by Neal Barrett, Jr.
• The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue - (2010) - short story by Holly Black
• Manipulating Paper Birds - (2010) - short story by Cate Gardner
• Winter Quarters - (2000) - short story by Howard Waldrop
• About the Authors- essay by uncredited
• About the Editor - essay by uncredited

In a Russia where the Decembrists' rebellion was successful and the Trans-Siberian railroad was completed before 1854, Sasha Trubetskaya wants nothing more than to have a decent debut ball in St. Petersburg. But her aunt's feud with the emperor lands Sasha at university, where she becomes one of its first female students - an experiment, she suspects, designed more to prove female unsuitability for such pursuits than offer them education. The pressure intensifies when Sasha's only friends - Chinese students - start disappearing, and she begins to realize that her new British companion, Jack, has bigger secrets than she can imagine! Sasha and Jack find themselves trying to stop a war brewing between the three empires. The only place they can turn to for help is the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace, newly founded by the Taiping rebels. Pursued by the terrifying Dame Florence Nightingale of the British Secret Service, Sasha and Jack escape across Siberia via train to China. Sasha discovers that Jack is not quite the person she thought he was...but then again, neither is she.

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, March 2009. It can also be found in the anthology Clarkesworld: Year Three (2013), edited by Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

The first short story collection by award-winning author Ekaterina Sedia! One of the more resonant voices to emerge in recent years, this Russian-born author explores the edge between the mundane and fantastical in tales inspired by her homeland as well as worldwide folkloric traditions. With foreword by World Fantasy Award-winner Jeffrey Ford, Moscow But Dreaming showcases singular and lyrical writing that will appeal to fans of slipstream and magical realism, as well as those interested in the uncanny and Russian history.

This anthology of 21 original fantasy stories explores humanity's most dynamic and forceful creation--the city. Featuring tales from fantasy heavyweights such as Hal Duncan, Catherynne M. Valente, Jay Lake, and Barth Anderson, the collection whisks readers from dizzying rooftop perches down to the underpasses, gutters, and the sinister secrets therein. Mutilated warrior women, dead boys, mechanical dogs, and escape artists are just some of the wonders and horrors explored in this bizarre assembly of works from voices new and old.

Contents:

• i - Urban Fantasy - essay by Jess Nevins
• 1 - Andretto Walks the King's Way - short story by Forrest Aguirre
• 15 - The Tower of Morning's Bones - short story by Hal Duncan
• 35 - Courting the Lady Scythe - short story by Richard Parks
• 49 - The Bumblety's Marble - [Tabat Short Fiction] - short story by Cat Rambo
• 61 - Promises: A Tale of the City Imperishable - short story by Jay Lake
• 73 - Ghost Market - short story by Greg van Eekhout
• 79 - Sammarynda Deep - [Sammarynda] - short story by Cat Sparks
• 97 - Tearjerker - short story by Steve Berman
• 109 - The Title of This Story - short story by Stephanie Campisi
• 125 - The One That Got Away - short story by Mark Teppo
• 139 - Alex and the Toyceivers - short story by Paul Meloy
• 153 - Godivy - short story by Vylar Kaftan
• 157 - Painting Haiti - short story by Michael Jasper
• 173 - The Funeral, Ruined - short story by Ben Peek
• 187 - Down to the Silver Spirits - (2008) - short story by Kaaron Warren
• 203 - They Would Only Be Roads - short story by Darin Bradley [as by Darin C. Bradley]
• 217 - Taser - short story by Jenn Reese
• 225 - Somnambulist - short story by David J. Schwartz
• 233 - The Age of Fish, Post-Flowers - short story by Anna Tambour
• 247 - The Last Escape - short story by Barth Anderson
• 255 - Palimpsest - short story by Catherynne M. Valente

Mattie, an intelligent automaton skilled in the use of alchemy, finds herself caught in the middle of a conflict between gargoyles, the Mechanics, and the Alchemists. With the old order quickly giving way to the new, Mattie discovers powerful and dangerous secrets - secrets that can completely alter the balance of power in the city of Ayona. This doesn't sit well with Loharri, the Mechanic who created Mattie and still has the key to her heart - literally.

Trying to escape her embarrassing immigrant mother, Vimbai moves into a dilapidated house in the dunes... and discovers that one of her new roommates has a pocket universe instead of hair, there's a psychic energy baby living in the telephone wires, and her dead Zimbabwean grandmother is doing dishes in the kitchen. When the house gets lost at sea and creatures of African urban legends all but take it over, Vimbai turns to horseshoe crabs in the ocean to ask for their help in getting home to New Jersey.

Every city contains secret places. Moscow in the tumultuous 1990s is no different, its citizens seeking safety in a world below the streets - a dark, cavernous world of magic, weeping trees, and albino jackdaws, where exiled pagan deities and faery-tale creatures whisper strange tales to those who would listen. Galina is a young woman caught, like her contemporaries, in the seeming lawlessness of the new Russia. In the midst of this chaos, her sister Maria turns into a jackdaw and flies away - prompting Galina to join Yakov, a policeman investigating a rash of recent disappearances. Their search will take them to the underground realm of hidden truths and archetypes, to find themselves caught between reality and myth, past and present, honor and betrayal . . . the secret history of Moscow.

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #11 August 2007. It can also be found in the anthology Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine (2007), edited by Sean Wallace and Nick Mamatas. The story is included in the collection Moscow But Dreaming (2012).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This short story originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, October 2007. It can also be found in the anthology Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.