Edited by Talie Helene (horror) and Liz Grzyb (fantasy).
Available on 
The third annual compilation of the best fantasy and horror, covering work produced by Australian and New Zealand writers in 2012. Over 140,000 words of fiction from some of the genre’s best and most awarded writers. Together with an annual genre overview and recommended reading list this is both a book to be read and a valuable reference work. This volume collects 34 stories and poems by Joanne Anderton, R.J. Astruc, Lee Battersby, Alan Baxter, Jenny Blackford, Eddy Burger, Isobelle Carmody, Jay Caselberg, Stephen Dedman, Felicity Dowker, Terry Dowling, Tom Dullemond, Thoraiya Dyer, Will Elliot, Jason Fischer, Dirk Flinthart, Lisa L. Hannett, Narrelle M. Harris, Kathleen Jennings, Gary Kemble, Margo Lanagan, Martin Livings, Penelope Love, Andrew J. McKiernan, Karen Maric, Faith Mudge, Nicole Murphy, Jason Nahrung, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Angela Slatter, Anna Tambour, Kyla Ward, and Kaaron Warren.
- WINNER – the Aurealis Award for Best Anthology
Peter Tennant on Black Static #39 wrote:"An excellent introduction to Australian fantasy and horror, this is a multifaceted anthology with extremely broad reader appeal. The consistently excellent (and sometimes surprising) stories, drawn from a variety of sources, are beautifully sequenced by the editors. This is a landmark instalment in a highly regarded series."
“One of the things that always strikes me about the Australian genre scene is how prevalent women writers and editors appear to be … that strong female presence is reflected both in the makeup of this feature, with six of the eight books under consideration either written or edited by women, and the contents of THE YEAR’S BEST AUSTRALIAN FANTASY & HORROR 2012 (Ticonderoga Publications paperback, 488pp, £16.99), with twenty of the thirty four pieces it contains coming with a female by-line.
The book appears to follow a similar format to the Datlow/Windling helmed Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror of several years back. It opens with the editors, Liz Grzyb (Fantasy) and Talie Helene (Horror), giving an overview of the year in genre from an Australian perspective, then continues with a brief necrology and a tribute to the writer Paul Haines by Cat Sparks. It ends with contributors’ notes, a recommended reading list and a roundup of the various awards within the community. Sandwiched between those two slices of reality is the fiction, and a very substantial filling it is indeed … that demonstrates the genres of Horror and Fantasy are in good health on the other side of the world.
Another thing that strikes me about the Australian scene is that there is more overlap between the genres, with writers happy to flit between Horror and Fantasy, avoiding the kind of labelling and pigeonholing that passes for the norm elsewhere.”
