In fact I don't understand why some of these stories were published at all. Some of the stories Ma Rung, The Body Politic, seemed to be predictable cliches, that take overdone themes and don't take them in a new direction. Other writers such as Sara Douglas and Stephen Dedman, who I have enjoyed in other anthologies do not present there best work here. To me the stories seem to be mostly a collection of second rate stories from some editors slush pile. (ie the Last Dance by Ian Nichols- this bloke seems to have an aversion to driving along country roads in Western Australia, give me the wildflowers of Merredin, rather than the industrial landscape you hit not long after, the first traffic light at Armadale).

Perhaps I just not a fan of speculative fiction, but I rarely got beyond the first page of half of these stories. I'm a lot more careful in my selection of reading material, I'm wary of the glowing wraps given to books such as this one that are not fulfilled

Harriet Klausner

If you care about science fiction, fantasy, horror, or "slipstream" fiction, then you should buy anthologies like this. The genre has always thrived on short fiction.

Why should you buy this particular anthology? It won the World Fantasy Award and the Ditmar Award. Its editors are Jack Dann, Nebula-Award-winning writer, and Janeen Webb, who is that rare combination: a respected literary academic *and* an excellent fiction writer.

The anthology dominated the Australian awards. All six short story nominations for the Ditmar Award came from the anthology ("The Truth About Weena" won). Not surprisingly, it won the Ditmar for Best Magazine or Anthology in its own right. Stories from Dreaming Down Under also dominated the Aurealis Awards, winning for Best Science Fiction Short Story ("The Truth About Weena") and for Best Fantasy Short Story ("A Walk-On Part in the War").

My story from the anthology has been reprinted twice (in the Dozois Year's Best Science Fiction #16 and Event Horizon), has been translated into French for Galaxies magazine, and has been optioned for feature film development. And it wasn't even one of the award-nominated stories!

Finally, it has a fantastic cover by Hugo-nominated artist Nick Stathopoulos, which also won a Ditmar.

It's an enormous anthology with a breadth of style and subject matter. The only drawback: you might need to train at the gym to strengthen your wrists while reading it.