Despite the wealth of answers, including Suzanne’s excellent “Whateverpunk,” in which:
Stories about characters who combine whatever aesthetics or ideologies that please them in an attempt to dissassociate themselves from everyone else. Common and identifying symbolism is the frequent use of the phrase “Whatever!” (either by the characters or the reader) and – or sometimes combined with – repeated character action involving the rebellious, outflung palm.
An example might be: steam-powered clockwork monkeys who wear black lipstick and wield lollipops. Their mission: to help reduce our carbon footprint by turning monster trucks (or any gas-guzzling vehicle) into pine trees. The down side is that they may decide to turn your GGV into a pine tree while you may be sitting in it, and no one has discovered yet what happens to you, or whether that’s an appropriate or legal option.
In the end I couldn’t help but go with anything but Todd Vandemark’s prediction for the latest -punk:
TrunkPunk – Add clockworks and a touch of brass (or the ilk) to any unsold “trunk” story you might have. Send it off to the latest *punk revival anthology. Voila.
Congrats, Todd, you’ll be receiving a munificent $10 via Paypal!
All punkish notions aside, the end of the year is approaching fast — can you hear it, that distant jingle of bells and the sounds of Saturnalia? Now’s the time for thinking back about the past year. So tell us now — what’s the best fantasy, whether in the form of short story, book, movie, TV show, play or some other fantastic configuration? Two names will be chosen from the comments to receive a copy of Eoin Colfer’s And Another Thing, the sixth installment of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Superman: The Complete Animated Serieson DVD.
1 • Dru said:
December 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm, permalink
Best stories – Charles de Lint
Best book – Lord of the Rings, of course.
Best movie – I’m tired of being obvious. Let’s say Krull.
2 • Cat Rambo said:
December 4th, 2009 at 2:25 pm, permalink
How could it be anything BUT Krull??
3 • Gio Clairval said:
December 4th, 2009 at 9:09 pm, permalink
Oh, I can’t. I can’t. TOO MANY!!!
Try. Try. Okay.
Lord of Light–Roger Zelazny
4 • Todd Vandemark said:
December 4th, 2009 at 9:28 pm, permalink
WOOT, BrewBucks! Cheers!
–
Krull and Dark Crystal, early 80’s double feature, ftw!
As for Best Fantasy Stuph from 2009, my favs:
Short Story: Still reading through long list. Kij Johnson’s 26 Monkeys was published in 2008 but I read it this year. Loved it.
Light On The Water, by Genevieve Valentine, has a similar ethereal feel. It ranks high on my 2009 list. As does Shades of White and Road by Camille Alexa.
Novel: The Red Tree by Caitlin R. Kiernan
Film: Let the Right One In (2008 release that didn’t hit my local art house until 2009). English language remake hits Jan 2010.
5 • Edward Brock said:
December 5th, 2009 at 4:59 am, permalink
Best of Fantasy 2009:
Book: Bone Crossed (Patricia Briggs). Currently my favorite “urban fantasy” series.
Film: Coraline. A wonderful adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s equally wonderful book.
TV: Loving “Legend of the Seeker”.
Overall I would have to choose James A. Owen’s “The Chronicles of The Imaginarium Geographica” series (of which we saw book 4 this year) as the best thus far. A fine & entertaining mix of fantasy, history, mythology & adventure. Everyone (both child & adult) should enjoy these.
6 • Dru said:
December 5th, 2009 at 2:53 pm, permalink
Krull is the best movie from EVERY year. Best movie from this year? New Moon. It was like fishhooks in my brain. Possibly I have a highly strange definition of “best”. Don’t count this comment as an entry, I already entered once.
7 • Julianne said:
December 7th, 2009 at 9:01 am, permalink
By far the best fantasy novel(s) ever are by Michael Moorcock, specifically Elric, or The Warhound and The World’s Pain. to quote Edward Brock, above, everyone should read this man’s books.
Movie, I’d have to say, though I adore Excalibur, Pan’s Labyrinth is the best recent fantasy movie; it is, without a doubt a movie that blew me away when I saw it, lovers of mythology should be particularly moved by the movie’s final scenes, if nothing else. If you haven’t seen/read this works of art, do.
8 • Bob said:
December 8th, 2009 at 4:04 pm, permalink
I am imagining that this to mean new things, not things re-watched or re-read in 2009.
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey – Absolutely brilliant story.
Torchwood: Children of Earth If you’re not yet a Torchwood fan you should fix that, pronto! Netflix the first two seasons before you watch this one is preferred, but not required.
9 • Asakiyume said:
December 8th, 2009 at 7:55 pm, permalink
One of my favorite short stories was one that ran here: “Lake Tahoe’s Lover,” by Nadia Bulkin. Another that I liked ran in Strange Horizons, “Second-hand Information,” by Jennifer Linnaea. I also really loved, as so many people did, “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss,” by Kij Johnson. I’m not sure if it’s possible to read it online anymore, but you can hear it here. There were other good ones, too, but those were the stories that lingered with me most strongly, maybe.
10 • Cat C. said:
December 12th, 2009 at 11:30 pm, permalink
I second CRK’s “The Red Tree” as best novel this year. Amazing.
Favorite young adult fantasy was “Catching Fire,” the second book in The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins.
Favorite fantasy short story was “King Pelles The Sure” by Peter S. Beagle in his collection “We Never Talk About My Brother.”
And, not gonna lie, favorite fantasy movie this year was Harry Potter VI. I’m still holding out for Dr. Parnassus and Sherlock Holmes on Christmas, though. I think both of those have the potential to be awesome.