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

Dead Clown Barbecue by Jeff Strand (Dark Regions Press) features twenty-nine stories, including seven new ones.

Fresh Cut Tales by Kenneth W. Cain (Distressed Press) is the second collection by the author and has sixteen stories, half of them appearing for the first time.

Unfortunately, I only got hold of Let the Old Dreams Die and Other Stories , John Ajvide Lindquist’s 2012 horror collection (Quercus) in 2013. The eleven stories were translated from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy and includes a story that might be considered a tangential sequel to his brilliant vampire novel, Let the Right One In . There’s also an afterword about the Swedish and US film versions of his novel (he enjoyed both very much) stating that the implied ending of both versions don’t reflect his intent at all.

How to Die Well by Bill Breedlove (Bad Moon Books) features twenty effective humorous horror stories.

The Tightening Spiral by Tara Fox Hall (Hazardous Press) has nineteen stories, some new and some reprints.

Dead Reflections by Carol Weekes (Journalstone) contains a short novel, five short stories, and two poems.

Cravings by Joan VanderPutten (Necon E-Books) is a ten-story reprint collection.

David A. Riley had two new collections out in 2013: His Own Mad Demons (Hazardous Press), with five stories published between 2007 and 2010; and The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror (Shadow Publishing), a more substantial collection with seventeen stories, the first published in 1974 and one appearing for the first time in this volume. The introduction to the latter is written by David Sutton.

Tricks, Mischief and Mayhem by Daniel I. Russell (Crystal Lake Publishing) has twenty-two stories, almost half published for the first time in 2013.

Bible Stories for Secular Humanists by S. P. Somtow (Diplodocus Press) features nine reprinted stories and an essay that was originally published in Iniquities Magazine.

Lovecraft’s Pillow and Other Strange Stories by Kenneth W. Faig, Jr. (Hippocampus Press), who is best-known as a Lovecraftian scholar, but this is a collection of his fiction, mostly stories previously published in the Esoteric Order of Dagon (EOD) and Necronomicon amateur press associations between 1977 and 2006.

Black Tea and Other Stories by Samuel Marolla (Mezzotints) is a minicollection of three dark tales published for the first time in English. The stories are translated from the Italian by Andrew Tanzi, and Gene O’Neil supplies an introduction.

Absinthe & Arsenic: Tales of Victorian Horror by Raven Dane (Telos) has sixteen mostly supernatural tales, of which all but a couple are new.

The Whispering Horror by Eddy C. Bertin (Shadow Publishing) has fourteen mostly Lovecraftian horror stories originally published between 1968 and 2013. One is new to the collection.

Not to Be Taken at Bed-Time & Other Strange Tales by Rosa Mulholland (Sarob Press) contains seven of what are considered this Victorian writer’s best supernatural and weird stories. This is the first time they’re collected in one volume. It features an introduction by Richard Dalby.

Bleeding Shadows by Joe R. Lansdale (Subterranean Press) is a big, beautiful, 150,000-word collection of thirty stories, novellas, and poems in all the genres Lansdale excels: crime, dark fantasy, and horror. It contains story notes.

Across the Event Horizon by Mercurio D. Rivera (Newcon Press) is an excellent showcase for this relatively new author of science fiction, who is not afraid of delving into the dark aspects of future behavior. The thirteen stories within were originally published in Interzone, Black Static, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Electric Velocipede, Sybil’s Garage , and some anthologies. Some of the stories are sf/horror.

Steve Rasnic Tem had two impressive mixed-genre collections out in 2013: Onion Songs (Chomu Press) is a retrospective of this prolific short story writer’s career, with forty-two stories of varying lengths, including several new short-shorts. As always with Tem, this is a mix of existential horror about relationships, weird fictions, and disturbing meditations.

And Celestial Inventories (CZP) with twenty-two stories from obscure venues, plus one new story. Several stories from this latter collection were reprinted in the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Kabu Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor (Prime) is the author’s first collection and features twenty-two stories, several published for the first time, a few of them dark.

Caution: Contains Small Parts by Australian Kirstyn McDermott (Twelve Planets) is volume 9 of the Twelve Planets series of short collections. It has four original stories and novellas by the award-winning writer, a couple of them horror.

Nina Allan had two collections out in 2013: Stardust: The Ruby Castle Stories (PS Showcase 11 ), containing a mix of six horror and mainstream stories and novellas and one poem (all but one new) and Microcosmos (Newcon Press), containing five reprints and two originals by this up-and-coming British writer.

Jewels in the Dust by Peter Crowther (Subterranean Press) collects thirteen fantasy and dark fantasy stories by the British author.

Ghost Stories and Mysteries by Ernest Favenc, edited by James Doig, (Borgo Press) collects thirty-one gothic and supernatural stories by a prolific but now almost forgotten Australian journalist and non fiction writer. The stories span the period 1875–1907 and are reprinted for the first time since their original publications.

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa (Picador), translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder, is an intertwined series of eleven weird, sometimes dark stories, all but three published in English for the first time.

Simulacrum and Other Possible Realities by Jason V. Brock (Hippocampus Press) contains sixteen stories and thirteen poems of sf/f/dark fantasy and horror.

The Bride Price by Cat Sparks (Ticonderoga Publications) features thirteen sf/f and dark fantasy stories by this Australian writer — three of the stories won awards and two appear for the first time.

Everything is a Graveyard by Jason Fischer (Ticonderoga Publications) has fourteen sf/f/dark fantasy stories published since 2008. Three of the stores are new.

This Strange Way of Dying by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Exile Editions) is the first collection by a Mexican-Canadian who is probably better known within horror for her editorship of Innsmouth Free Press. The fifteen stories (four, first published in 2013) are science fiction, fantasy, and horror. A few of them, rather than hinting at something inconclusive beyond the “ending,” simply trail off. But others are quite effective, and my favorite of the originals is a well-told zombie story.

Plow the Bones by Douglas F. Warrick (Apex Publications) is Book 01 of Apex Voices, a new series of collections to be published several times a year. The idea is to introduce mostly newer voices to the reading public. Warrick is an excellent choice — his work includes science fiction, horror, and just plain weird stories. Four of the fourteen appear for the first time (and one was in a vampire anthology earlier this year). Gary A. Braunbeck supplies an introduction.

13 Conjurations by Jonathan Thomas (Hippocampus Press) is the author’s third collection and all but four of the stories are new. Some of the stories are Lovecraftian, others about weird occurrences.

Of Eggs and Elephants by Darren Speegle (Gallows Press) is a fine third collection of sixteen stories, with four originals, including the powerfully weird eponymous novella.