Ellen Datlow - The Best Horror of the Year. Volume 6

The Sea Change & Other Stories by Helen Grant (The Swan River Press) is the first collection of a very talented author of four novels. The stories were originally published between 2005 and 2012.

The Condemned by Simon Bestwick (Gray Friar Press) has six novelettes and novellas, two of them reprints. Grim, powerful, hard-edged, well-written.

Paul Kane had two new collections out in 2013: Ghosts (Spectral Press) with sixteen supernatural stories — four first published in 2013, one poem, and a script written for the short film Wind Chimes . Nancy Kilpatrick wrote the introduction. Also, The Spaces Between (Dark Moon Books) with eight longer stories, three published for the first time. It has an introduction by Kelley Armstrong.

The Moon Will Look Strange by Lynda E. Rucker (Karōshi Books) is the debut collection of a writer who amply demonstrates her chops with eleven stories (three published for the first time). It contains an introduction by Steve Rasnic Tem and an author’s note, discussing some of the stories.

Elegies & Requiems by Colin Insole (Side Real Press) is an excellent collection of ghostly stories and weird, dark tales and novellas. Traditional but fresh in feel. Nine of the eighteen stories are new.

Remorseless: Tales of Cruelty by Thomas Tessier (Sinister Grin Press) is the second collection by an author better known for his novels than his short fiction. This volume, with cover art by Alan M. Clark, features fifteen stories published between 1998 and 2011 in various magazines, anthologies, and websites.

Five Autobiographies and a Fiction by Lucius Shepard (Subterranean Press) showcases six powerful horror novellas by a writer utterly at home in any genre (not to mention mainstream), five of which have some autobiographical elements in them.

For Those Who Dream Monsters by Anna Taborska (Mortbury Press) is a debut collection with eighteen stories, two new. Included in the book is the powerful “Little Pig,” which was reprinted in The Best Horror of the Year Volume Four . It has black-and-white illustrations throughout by Reggie Oliver.

Bone Whispers by Tim Waggoner (Post Mortem Press) has eighteen stories, all reprints, published between 2007 and 2012.

The Tears of Isis by James Dorr (Perpetual Motion Publishing Machine) brings together sixteen stories and a poem published between 1992 and 2012. It also includes one new story.

Looking Back in Darkness by Kathryn Ptacek (Wildside Press) is a retrospective of nineteen fantasy and horror stories originally published between 1987 and 2012.

Ten Minute Stories / Day and Night Stories by Algernon Blackwood (Stark House Press) are two short story collections of hauntings, strange nature tales, weird events, and dark fantasy by one of the major writers of supernatural fiction in the twentieth century. It includes a new introduction by Mike Ashley, plus a rare early story, “The Farmhouse on the Hill,” originally published in an Australian newspaper back in 1907.

The Heaven Tree & Other Stories by Christopher Harman (Sarob Press) is a short but excellent introduction to this writer’s supernatural tales. It includes reprints of five recent stories plus two new novelettes.

The Bohemians of Sesqua Valley by W. H. Pugmire (Miskatonic Books) collects six novelettes (one reprint) paying homage to H. P. Lovecraft about the haunted valley in the Pacific Northwest.

Where You Live by Gary McMahon (Crystal Lake Publishing) is a revised edition of the one hundred copy signed, limited hardcover published as It Knows Where You Live in 2012 by Gray Friar Press. Three stories have been deleted, but five new stories have been added to this trade paperback edition.

Worse Things Than Spiders by Samantha Lee (Shadow Publishing) is the author’s first collection of dark fiction. Included are thirteen stories and an introduction by David A. Sutton.

Shades of Nothingness by Gary Fry (PS Publishing) has seventeen stories, twelve published between 2008 and 2012, and five of them — all pretty grim — appearing for the first time.

From the Dusklands: Dark Fiction from the Pen of Aaron Gudmunson (Hazardous Press) is a debut collection featuring ten pieces of fiction, two reprinted essays, and one new novella.

In a Season of Dead Winter by Mark Fuller Dillon (Smashwords) is an interesting collection of seven stories, most published for the first time. Several of the stories are open to interpretation as to whether anything supernatural occurs or if all the events are in the minds of the protagonists.

Rose of Sharon and Other Stories by Gary A. Braunbeck (Creative Guy Publishing) is available as an e-book only. The twenty-nine stories provide a good overview of the author’s work. Three of them are new.

Your Place is in the Shadows by Charlie Williams (Gibbous Moon) is a very good collection of six edgy dark crime stories, available only for Kindle. One story is new.

The Dragonfly and the Siren: A Collection by Jay Wilburn and T. Fox Dunham (Hazardous Press) has eleven stories, six by Dunham, five by Wilburn, all but two (by Dunham) published for the first time.

Dark Renaissance Books is a new publishing venture by Joe Morey, intended to produce beautiful, limited edition, illustrated hardcover books. Three of the first books are prose collections and the fourth is a poetry collection (see under “Poetry” for this last): Worship the Night by Jeffrey Thomas (Dark Renaissance Books) has eight stories, two new. It has black-and-white interior illustrations by Erin Wells. The Universal and Other Terrors by Tony Richards (Dark Renaissance Books) has twelve stories, five of them new. The best of these is the title story, a nicely wrought sf/horror tale. William Meikle’s entertaining Sherlock Holmes: The Quality of Mercy and Other Stories has ten Holmesian adventures, six of them new. The book is a treat for those fans who don’t mind supernatural outcomes for the character. Frontispiece and interior illustrations are by M. Wayne Miller.

Twisted Fairy Tales by Maura McHugh (Barron’s) is a gorgeous package of twenty dark, retold fairy and folk tales illustrated by Jane Laurie. Included are some adult and/or grisly takes on “Snow White,” “The Red Shoes,” “Rapunzel,” and seventeen others. McHugh had a second book out from Barron’s, this one Twisted Myths , with many of the stories sporting more feminist and positive outcomes for the characters. The stories were inspired by Greece and Norse myths and legends from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Again, it is beautifully illustrated by Jane Laurie.

Their Hand Is at Your Throats by John Shire (Invocations Press) is an interesting collection of ten Lovecraftian stories, six originally published in small press journals between 1997 and 2007, four appearing for the first time. The new stories are surprisingly good, mostly rising above pastiche.

Three Miles Past by Stephen Graham Jones (Nightscape Press) is a powerful and disturbing three-story collection (two are new novelettes) that leaves the reader wanting more. Jones provides extensive story notes with each story.

Darkscapes by Anne-Sylvia Salzberg translated from the French by William Charlton (Tartarus Press) features fifteen weird and usually darkly fantastic tales, most appearing in English for the first time. Although some of the stories are overly oblique, most of them are effective.

Staring into the Abyss by Richard Thomas (Kraken Press) is the author’s second collection — made up of twenty reprints — most of which pack a surprisingly powerful punch at very short length.