Fantasy fiction can be a welcome escape from reality even in the best of times, but 2018 was a particularly exhausting season in the TV melodrama that is America. Thank goodness for these ten books, my favorite novels and short story collections that could conceivably be shelved as fantasy, though all genre is a spectrum.

How Long ’til Black Future Month?

By N. K. Jemisin

Orbit

A masterful short story collection from the author of the Inheritance and Broken Earth trilogies, featuring dragons in New Orleans and fairies in the Jim Crow South.

Once and Forever

The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa

By Kenji Miyazawa

Translated by John Bester

NYRB Classics

A lyrical translation of the best fabulist stories from Miyazawa, the Hans Christian Anderson of Japan.

Spinning Silver

By Naomi Novik

Del Rey

If you loved Uprooted, you’ll love Novik’s epic fantasy spin on the Rumpelstiltskin myth.

Foundryside

By Robert Jackson Bennett

Crown

The author of the Divine Cities trilogy is back with another series, cementing his status as one of our very best worldbuilders (the good kind of worldbuilder, that is).

Children of Blood and Bone

By Tomi Adeyemi

Henry Holt

The propulsive beginning of a new trilogy that draws on West African mythology.

Ahab’s Return

By Jeffrey Ford

William Morrow

A fantastic standalone novel from my favorite fantasy writer, Ahab’s Return imagines what might have happened to Ishmael and Captain Ahab in America after their encounter with Moby-Dick.

Witchmark

By C.L. Polk

Tor.com

In Polk’s stunning, secondary-world debut, noble families control the world through magic.

What Should Be Wild

Julia Fine

Harper

“Without hyperbole, it’s one of the best debut novels I’ve ever read, and the first page made me gasp out loud on the Halsted bus.” —Adam Morgan in Chicago magazine

A Winter’s Promise

By Christelle Dabos

Translated by Hildegarde Serle

Europa Editions

The first-ever YA published by Europa Editions is endlessly fascinating and addictive.

Melmoth

By Sarah Perry

Custom House

I didn’t think Perry could top The Essex Serpent, but somehow, she did.