Fantastic Stories of the Imagination was newly revived by Hugo and World Fantasy Award nominated editor Warren Lapine as a webzine in 2014. Fantastic Stories brings you the very best in science fiction and fantasy with a blend of original fiction, reprints, and criticism of the field. Each month a new issue is posted free on the web for all to read at www.fantasticstoriesoftheimagination.com back issues may also be purchased either as e-books or print editions. Collected here are all of the original stories that ran in 2014. "New Beaches" by Daniel Hatch: Power, corruption, and danger rise with the tides. "Invisible Friends" by Steven Sawicki: He's just an all American boy with a dog that loves to drive his car, some talking monkeys, and a few damned aliens. "Invisible Friends Too (Or, I Have No Bananas and Ice Must Cream): by Steven Sawiki: Monkeys, aliens, and Elvis . . . oh my. "Rope Burns" by Kelly McCullough: He had a secret to keep, but then don't we all? "Night of Apophis" by Brenda Kalt: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die. "Chocolateland" by Shariann Lewitt: When they wanted to eat, to really enjoy a good pig out, they could go to Chocolateland

Winner, 2022 Children's Literature Association Book Award, given by the Children's Literature Association Winner, 2020 World Fantasy Awards Winner, 2020 British Fantasy Awards, Nonfiction Finalist, Creative Nonfiction IGNYTE Award, given by FIYACON for BIPOC+ in Speculative Fiction Reveals the diversity crisis in children's and young adult media as not only a lack of representation, but a lack of imagination Stories provide portals into other worlds, both real and imagined. The promise of escape draws people from all backgrounds to speculative fiction, but when people of color seek passageways into the fantastic, the doors are often barred. This problem lies not only with children’s publishing, but also with the television and film executives tasked with adapting these stories into a visual world. When characters of color do appear, they are often marginalized or subjected to violence, reinforcing for audiences that not all lives matter. The Dark Fantastic is an engaging and provocative exploration of race in popular youth and young adult speculative fiction. Grounded in her experiences as YA novelist, fanfiction writer, and scholar of education, Thomas considers four black girl protagonists from some of the most popular stories of the early 21st century: Bonnie Bennett from the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, Rue from Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games, Gwen from the BBC’s Merlin, and Angelina Johnson from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. Analyzing their narratives and audience reactions to them reveals how these characters mirror the violence against black and brown people in our own world. In response, Thomas uncovers and builds upon a tradition of fantasy and radical imagination in Black feminism and Afrofuturism to reveal new possibilities. Through fanfiction and other modes of counter-storytelling, young people of color have reinvisioned fantastic worlds that reflect their own experiences, their own lives. As Thomas powerfully asserts, “we dark girls deserve more, because we are more.”

A collection of fantasy literature chosen from the most popular works of the past 100 years, and including brief biographical sketches of each author.

“The Fantastic Imagination” is a 1893 essay by Scottish writer George MacDonald (1824–1905). A pioneer of fantasy literature, MacDonald was the mentor of Lewis Carroll and influenced the work of many other notable writers including J. M. Barrie, Mark Twain, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien. This fascinating essay concentrates on writing and imagination, offering expert insights into fantasy and fiction writing by a master of the genre. Highly recommended for fantasy readers and writers alike. Contents include: “George Macdonald, by Richard Watson Gilder”, “Fairy Tales, by G. K. Chesterton”, “The Fantastic Imagination, by George Macdonald”. Other notable works by this author include: “At the Back of the North Wind” (1871), “The Princess and the Goblin” (1872), and “The Wise Woman: A Parable” (1875). Read & Co. Great Essays is republishing this classic essay now complete with an introduction by G. K. Chesterton.

FANTASTIC Editorial, January 1964: Old friends of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser may be surprised to see a byline on their story in this issue that reads-"By Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer." "Who," you are saying, "is Harry Fischer? Some Johnny-come-lately trying to horn in on Leiber's master-characters?" Well, hardly. According to Fritz himself, Harry Fischer is the inventor of Fafhrd and the Mouser. And this is indeed a tale in itself, and one with which we shall acquaint you here and now, in the words of Leiber himself: "Harry and I met in 1930 at the University of Chicago, became fast friends, and have been friends ever since. We had in common enthusiasms for fencing, chess, bridge, drama, and fantasy literature. In our correspondence we often extemporized fragments of fantasy. One day I got a letter from Harry inventing two characters. He wrote: 'All do fear the one known as the Gray Mouser. He walks with swag-ger 'mongst the bravos, though he's but the stature of a child. His costume is all of grey. His weapons [are called] Cat's Claw and Scalpel . . . Fafhrd was full seven feet of height. His wrist . . . was thick as a hero's ankle . . . . His mouth smiled as he fingered the ponderous hilt of a huge longsword.' " From this beginnning, Fischer and Leiber utilized Fafhrd and the Mouser in their dreams and fantasy fragments. In 1937 Fischer wrote about 10,000 words of a novel to be called The Lords of Quarmall, a subterranean kingdom Leiber had invented as part of the land of Nehwon. But the fragment languished for 25 years. During this time Leiber wrote other sagas of Lankhmar, and Fischer put aside the fantasy world to become a successful businessman. A year ago, however, Leiber visited Fischer and suggested that he (Leiber) finish Quarmall. So Fritz took the original 10,000 words, plotted and wrote over twice as many more, and-lo! the result begins on page [1].

When Henry's imagination gets mixed up with the truth during show and tell, his teacher suggests that he write and illustrate his own stories.

Lawrence Venuti, winner of a Guggenheim fellowship and the Global Humanities Translation Prize, among many other awards, has translated into English these Italian Gothic tales of obsessive love, mysterious phobias, and the hellish curse of everlasting life. In this collection of nine eerie stories, Iginio Ugo Tarchetti switches effortlessly between the macabre and the breezily comical. Set in nineteenth-century Italy, his characters court spirits and blend in with the undead: passionate romances filled with jealousy and devotion are fueled by magic elixirs. Time becomes fluid as characters travel between centuries, chasing affairs that never quite prosper. First published by Mercury House in 1992.

21 stories of mischief and magic, dragons and dinosaurs, monsters and mermaids, cruelty and courage.