https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/demons-and-dreams-years-best-fantasy-and-horror-...

It’s a compilation of 32 stories and four poems originally published in 1987, chosen by the good taste of Datlow and Windling, including classics like Ursula Le Guin’s “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight”, Jonathan Carroll’s “Friend’s Best Man”, George R.R. Martin’s “The Pear-Shaped Man”, and “Delta Sly Honey” by Lucius Shepard. In fact I think I was surprised by how many of the authors I already knew. The only other really obscure writer apart from my distant cousin Elizabeth Helfman is John Robert Bensink.

Anyway, it’s a good solid collection, though it reminded me from time to time why horror isn’t usually my thing. ( )

quality varies

The first volume in what would become The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Nothing really memorable apart from the Jonathan Carroll story. ( )

My favourite of the fantasy tales was "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight", while there were some very unnerving horror stories, with the scariest being "The Pear-Shaped Man", and "Halley's Passing".

The ending of "The Pear-Shaped Man" was a bit confusing, but I think that the Pear-Shaped Man was a psychic vampire who is never satisfied by his prey and feels that they have taken as much from him as he has taken from them. "Halley's Passing" was about another kind of vampire and the ending made it even more frightening than it had been up to that point. A very varied selection of stories. ( )

I read this a long time ago, and remember that I enjoyed a good number of the stories. George R.R. Martin is always entertaining. I also liked the year summations, especially for Horror. ( )