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

In Search Of and Others by Will Ludwigsen (Lethe Press) has some excellent dark stories among the fifteen in his second collection. Six appear for the first time and there is an introduction by Jeffrey Ford.

The Girlfriend Game by Nick Antosca (Word Riot) collects twelve dark tales by a writer who won the Shirley Jackson Award for his short novel, Midnight Picnic.

The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories by Joanne An-derton (Fablecroft) is an excellent debut collection of science fiction and horror, often with the two mixed. A few appear for the first time.

Flowers of the Sea by Reggie Oliver (Tartarus press) includes sixteen weird and often dark stories and novellas, including three published for the first time. As always, Oliver’s experiences and enthusiasms shine through this excellent collection. The introduction is by Michael Dirda.

What the Doctor Ordered by Michael Blumlein (Centipede Press) is a beautiful looking collection illustrated throughout by Brian McCarty. Of the fifteen stories, two are new, a few are dark. There’s an introduction by Rudy Rucker.

An Emporium of Automata by D. P. Watt (Eibonvale Press) is an expanded version of the author’s first, hard to find collection. In this edition, there are twenty strange tales.

Rumbullion by Molly Tanzer (Egaeus Press) is the second collection by this up-and-coming writer. Included are seven stories, one a new novella.

Tell My Sorrows to the Stones by Christopher Golden (CZP) brings together twelve stories in different genres. All but two were published in anthologies. The other two have appeared online.

Written by Daylight by John Howard (The Swan River Press) is a beautiful little hardcover volume of eleven weird, sometimes dark stories originally published between 2003 and 2013.

Defeated Dogs by Quentin S. Crisp (Eibonvale Press) is the author’s fifth collection of weird and dark fiction. Of the ten stories, four appear for the first time.

Growing Pains by Ian Whates (PS Publishing) is the author’s debut collection, containing nine science fiction and dark fantasy/horror stories, two published for the first time.

Psychedelia Gothique by Dale Sproule (Arctic Mage) is an overview of the author’s short fiction published between 1984–2013. Five of the stories appear for the first time.

They Might be Demons: A Collection of Flash Fiction Bizarro by Max Booth III (Dark Moon) is filled with strange, often dark (and sometime funny) short-shorts.

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell (Knopf) is the excellent second collection by a writer embraced by the literary despite her fantasy/horror writing. Among the eight stories in the new collection are the very dark title story and “Reeling for the Empire.”

The Inner City by Karen Heuler (CZP), the author’s second collection, has fifteen weird, sometimes dark stories, one published for the first time.

The Miniature Wife and Other Stories by Manuel Gonzalez (Riverhead Books) is an interesting fantasy and dark fantasy-tinged debut collection.

The Story So Far by Kit Reed (Wesleyan University Press) is a great overview of Reed’s short fiction, with a selection of thirty-five of her stories published between 1959 and 2013. Prescient, vicious, funny, creepy — she’s written everything during her (so-far) fifty-five-plus year long career. The Oblivion Room by Christopher Conlon (Evil Jester Press) is a fine collection of four stories and one novella, all published for the first time.

Masquerade by Marija Elektra Rodriquez (Huntress Ink) has twenty-eight erotic horror stories and vignettes (most vignettes). Three appear for the first time. Unseen Moon by Eliza Victoria (CreateSpace) is a five-story collection with one new story by this award-winning Filipino writer.

Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing by Kenneth Yu (self-published) is the first collection of a Filipino writer, showcasing fifteen stories originally published in a variety of genre magazines, webzines, and anthologies.

Antiquities and Tangibles and Other Stories by Tim Pratt (The Merry Blacksmith Press) is the third collection of the Hugo Award-winning author. There are twenty-three science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy stories here, including three new ones.

Before and Afterlives: Stories by Christopher Barzak (Lethe Press) has seventeen fantasy/dark fantasy, gothic, and ghostly stories. One is original.

Rabbit Pie and Other Tales of Intrigue by Brian Clemens (PS Publishing) collects fifteen oddball stories by a writer best known for his screen and television work, particularly for writing the pilot and most of the scripts for The Avengers television series.

The Year of Ancient Ghosts by Kim Wilkins (Ticonderoga Publications) presents five fantasy and dark fantasy novellas by the multi award — winning Australian. Two of the novellas are new, one a horrific story about a vengeful ghost’s incursion into the contemporary world.

The Man Who Noticed Everything by Adrian Van Young (Black Lawrence Press) is the author’s first collection and has seven stories, five new. Although none of the stories is actually horror, most of them dwell on the fringes of the dark and might appeal to horror readers.

If Angels Fight by Richard Bowes (Fairwood Press) showcases a dozen stories written over twenty-five years, all originally published in anthologies, magazines, and webzines. Some of them are very dark indeed. Two new pieces of flash fiction are included.

The Tenth of December by George Saunders (Random House) has ten stories, and while generally considered a mainstream writer, Saunders’s work — usually satire — slops over into the fantastical (and to the dark) enough to be of interest to aficionados of the dark. (His 2009 story, “The Red Bow” was chosen by me for The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection ).

Goblin Fruit , a quarterly webzine edited by Amal El-Mohtar, Jessica P. Wick, Caitlyn Paxson, Oliver Hunter, and Dmitri Zagidulin remains the best publisher of fantasy and dark fantasy poetry, consistently publishing varied, quality material. Some of the darkest poems in 2013 were by Laura Lee Washburn, Jennifer Jerome, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, Samantha Hen derson, Liz Bourke, Mike Allen, Yumi Dineen Shiromi, Shweta Narayan, C. S. E. Cooney, and Andy Humphrey. The fall issue, in addition to its usual great line up of poetry, featured an interview and series of poems by Mike Allen.

Star*Line , edited by F. J. Bergmann, is the bi-monthly journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and publishes science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry. During 2013, it published notable dark poems by Ann K. Schwader, Wade German, and Ian Hunter.

Paper Crow (no editor listed) is meant to be bi-annual, but only had one issue out in 2013. There were notable dark poems by Bruce Boston and Jill Crammond.

Dreams of Fear: Poems of Terror and the Supernatural , edited by S. T. Joshi and Steven J. Mariconda (Hippocampus Press), is, according to the publisher, the first comprehensive historical anthology of weird, horrific, and supernatural poetry in more than fifty years. The survey begins with The Odyssey and ends with contemporary weird poets Richard L. Tierney, Bruce Boston, W. H. Pugmire, and Ann K. Schwader.

The Sex Lives of Monsters by Helen Marshall (Kelp Queen Press) is the prose writer and poet’s strong second collection, the first of which won Canada’s Aurora Award. Much of Marshall’s poetry uses fairy tale, myth, and urban legends. Six of the seventeen poems are new.