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

Dark World: Ghost Stories , edited by Timothy Parker Russell (Tartarus Press), has fourteen stories, all but one original to the anthology. There are notable stories by Steve Rasnic Tem, Anna Taborska, Jason A. Wyckoff, Mark J. Saxton, John Gaskin, Rhys Hughes, and Reggie Oliver. The book is a fundraiser for the Amala Children’s Home in the Tamil Nadu region of India. For more information on the project, visit www.amalatrust.org.

The Grimscribe’s Puppets , edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Miskatonic River Press), is a tribute to weird fiction writer Thomas Ligotti with twenty-two stories, all but one published for the first time. Most of the contributors do an admirable job using Ligotti’s dense, visionary, strange work to create their own weird fictions. There were notable stories by Livia Llewellyn, John Langan, Gemma Files, Jeffrey Thomas, Paul G. Tremblay, Nicole Cushing, Richard Gavin, Michael Griffin, Michael Kelly, Joel Lane, and Kaaron Warren.

Deep Cuts: 19 Tales of Mayhem, Menace, and Misery , edited by Angel Leigh McCoy, E. S. Magill, and Chris Marrs (Evil Jester Press), is a an anthology created to celebrate women horror writers and was funded by Kickstarter. It features nineteen stories (all but three original) by both men and women, and each story is introduced by a woman writer who influenced the contributor. There are notable stories by R. S. Belcher, Samael Gyre, Michael Haynes, Sandra M. Odell, Stephen Woodworth, Colleen Anderson, James Chambers, and Scathe meic Boerh.

Exotic Gothic 5 Volumes I and II , edited by Danel Olson (PS Publishing), has doubled its size to twenty-six stories, split between two volumes. There are notable stories by Nick Antosca, Kola Boof, Terry Dowling, Lucy Taylor, Reggie Oliver, Sheri Holman, Deborah Noyes, John Llewellyn Probert, and Anna Taborska.

Dead North: Canadian Zombie Fiction , edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Exile Editions), is, as is evident from the title, a zombie anthology — a good one. There are five reprints and fifteen new stories, with excellent originals by Rhea Rose, Jamie Mason, Sèphera Girón, Tyler Keevil, and Simon Strantzas. The Strantzas is reprinted herein.

Turn Down the Lights , edited by Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications), celebrates twenty-five years of Cemetery Dance Magazine with ten entertaining stories (all new but for the Ed Gorman) by Stephen King, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and six other writers who have appeared in the long-running horror magazine.

Shadow Masters: An Anthology from The Horror Zine , edited by Jeani Rector (Imajin Books), presents thirty-seven previously unpublished stories. The more interesting ones are by Chris Castle, Simon Clark, Elizabeth Massie, and Yvonne Navarro. The Clark is reprinted herein.

Arcane II , edited by Nathan Shumate (Cold Fusion Media), is an un-themed anthology showcasing twenty-one stories of dark fantasy, horror, and weird fiction. There are notable stories by Harry Markov, Patrick S. McGinnity, Craig Pay, Priya Sharma, Anna Sykora, Nicole M. Taylor, Steve Toase, Andrew Bourelle, and Eric Dimbleby.

Undead & Unbound: Unexpected Tales from Beyond the Grave , edited by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers (Chaosium, Inc), presents nineteen stories about people who return from the grave. There are notable stories by Gary McMahon, Robert Neilson, David Dunwoody, and Mercedes M. Yardley.

Tales of Jack the Ripper , edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Word Horde), is the first book out from this new California publisher and marks the 125th anniversary of one of the most famous serial killers of all time. Most of the nineteen stories and poems are original to the anthology, and the most interesting ones are by T. E. Grau, Laird Barron, Orrin Grey, Joseph S. Pulver, Jr., and E. Catherine Tobler.

Fearie Tales: Stories of the Grimm and Gruesome , edited by Stephen Jones and illustrated by Alan Lee (Jo Fletcher Books), takes the retold fairy tale sub genre, already claimed and used exquisitely in fantasy and dark fantasy fiction, deep into horror territory. Each of the fifteen stories has a précis of the original story and a black-and-white illustration by Lee.

There are notable stories by Ramsey Campbell, Peter Crowther, Brian Hodge, Tanith Lee, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Brian Lumley, Garth Nix, Reggie Oliver, Angela Slatter, Robert Shearman, and Michael Marshall Smith.

A Killer Among Demons , edited by Craig Bezant (Dark Prints Press), has ten new stories mixing crime and horror. The strongest are by Angela Slatter, Chris Large, William Meikle, and S. J. Dawson.

Second City Scares: A Horror Express Anthology , edited by Marc Shemmans (Horror Express Publications), features twelve horror stories that take place in Birmingham, England, including two by members of the editor’s family. There are notable stories by Mike Chinn, Joel Lane, John Howard, and David A. Sutton.

Vampires Don’t Sparkle , edited by Michael West (Seventh Star Press), has fifteen anti-Twilight vampire stories, all but three new. The strongest are by Lucy A. Snyder, Maurice Broaddus, and Douglas F. Warrick.

Gay City 5 Ghosts in Gaslight, Monsters in Steam , edited by Vincent Kovar and Evan J. Peterson (A Minor Arcana Press Incantation), is an interesting anthology of gay and lesbian horror. The title is misleading — few, if any of the thirty-seven stories, poems, and graphic novel are steampunk. There’s notable work by Ocean Vuong, Steve Berman, Gregory L. Norris, and Anthony Rella.

Anatomy of Death: In Five Sleazy Pieces , edited by Mark West (Hersham Horror Books), is an original anthology intended to provide a taste of the old lurid horror of the ’70s. It does, for better or worse, and while some of the stories are entertaining, most don’t stay with the reader longer than it takes to read them. There are notable stories by Stephen Bacon and John Llewellyn Probert, plus one by Stephen Volk that rivals the movie The Human Centipede for repulsiveness.

The Haunted Mansion Project Year Two , presented by Rain Graves and edited by Loren Rhoades (Damnation Books), is the end result of a writers retreat attended by seventeen horror writers in the fall of 2012. It includes essays, poems, and stories inspired by the weekend. The strongest stories and poems are by Weston Ochse, Sèphera Girón, Rain Graves, and Dan Weidman.

The Book of the Dead , edited by Jared Shurin (Jurassic London in partnership with the Egypt Exploration Society), has nineteen stories about mummies. The best are by Maria Dahvana Headley and Maurice Broaddus.

Eulogies II: Tales from the Cellar , edited by Christopher Jones, Nanci Kalanta, and Tony Tremblay (HW Press), contains thirty-two stories, with proceeds going to Tom and Michelle Piccirilli. There were strong stories by Michael Boatman, Gary McMahon, Gary A. Braunbeck, Eric J. Guignard, Malcolm Laughton, Thad Linson, and Monica O’Rourke.

Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre , edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books), is a varied mix of seventeen original (and one reprint) stories about Halloween. All of the stories are readable, most are dark, a few are dark enough to consider horror. The strongest stories are by Brian Hodge, A. C. Wise, Lawrence C. Connolly, Maria V. Snyder, Stephen Graham Jones, Laird Barron, and Laure Bickle. There’s also a very fine horror novella by Norman Partridge.

The Burning Circus: BFS Horror 1 , edited by Johnny Mains, is one of two special anthologies intended for members of the British Fantasy Society. The other is Unexpected Journeys , a fantasy anthology edited by Juliet E. McKenna. The Burning Circus is short, with no apparent theme, despite the title and includes eight stories, one a reprint. Ramsey Campbell provides the introduction. The strongest stories were by Stephen Volk, Adam Nevill, Lynda E. Rucker, and Angela Slatter.