edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in November 1980. Despite the anthology's title, it gathers together pieces originally published during a four-year period, 1977 to 1980, with the preponderance of them from 1979.[1]

The book collects eleven novelettes and short stories by various fantasy authors, deemed by the editor the best from the period represented, together with an introductory survey of the year in fantasy, an essay on the year's best fantasy books, and introductory notes to the individual stories by the editor. The pieces include a pseudonymous work (the story by "Grail Undwin", actually by Carter)