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

Edited by Ellen Datlow

A Whisper of Blood

A Wolf at the Door (with Terri Windling)

After (with Terri Windling)

Alien Sex

Black Heart, Ivory Bones (with Terri Windling)

Black Swan, White Raven (with Terri Windling)

Black Thorn, White Rose (with Terri Windling)

Blood is Not Enough: 17 Stories of Vampirism

Blood and Other Cravings

Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror

Digital Domains: A Decade of Science

Fiction and Fantasy

Fearful Symmetries

Haunted Legends (with Nick Mamatas)

Hauntings

Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural

Lethal Kisses

Little Deaths

Lovecraft Unbound

Lovecraf’s Monsters

Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy

Nebula Awards Showcase 2009

Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex

Omni Best Science Fiction: Volumes One through Three

Omni Books of Science Fiction: Volumes One through Seven

Omni Visions One and Two

Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe

Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells (with Terri Windling)

Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears (with Terri Windling)

Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy (with Terri Windling)

Silver Birch, Blood Moon (with Terri Windling)

Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers (with Terri Windling)

Snow White, Blood Red (with Terri Windling)

Supernatural Noir

Swan Sister (with Terri Windling)

Tails of Wonder and Imagination: Cat Stories

Teeth: Vampire Tales (with Terri Windling)

Telling Tales: The Clarion West 30 thAnniversary Anthology

The Beastly Bride: And Other Tales of the Animal People (with Terri Windling)

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Five

The Beastly Bride: Tales of the Animal People

The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (with Terri Windling)

The Dark: New Ghost Stories

The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm

The Green Man: Tales of the Mythic Forest (with Terri Windling)

Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales (with Terri Windling)

Twists of the Tale

Vanishing Acts

The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (with Terri Windling, Gavin J. Grant, and Kelly Link)

I’d like to thank Kris Dikeman for being my first reader. I’d like to thank Charles Tan for introducing me to so many exciting books and writers from the Philippines, as well as Steve Berman and Dave Truesdale for recommendations.

I’d like to acknowledge Locus, British Fantasy Society Journal for their invaluable information and descriptions of material I was unable to obtain. Thanks to the editors who made sure I saw your magazines during the year, the webzine editors who provided printouts and efiles, and the book publishers who provided review copies in a timely manner. Also, the writers who sent me printouts of your stories when I was unable to acquire the magazine or book in which they appeared.

Thanks to Merrilee Heifetz and Sarah Nagel at Writers House.

And thank you to my in-house editor Jason Katzman, for his patience.

First, here are some numbers: There are twenty-three stories and one poem included this year. They were chosen from magazines, webzines, anthologies, single author collections, chapbooks, and a newspaper. Five of the stories were originally published by Black Static . Twelve of the stories are by writers living in England, Ireland, and Wales — the first time that’s ever happened. In addition, there are two stories written by writers living in Canada and eight by writers living in the United States.

Three pieces are more than 10,000 words, the longest is 15,800 words. The shortest is 1,100 words.

The authors of the one poem and ten of the stories have never appeared in previous volumes of my year’s bests. Eighteen stories are by men. Five stories and the poem are by women.

There are always a few novellas that I wish I could have taken but were just too long. Here are the ones from 2013: Nina Allan’s “Vivian Guppy and the Brighton Belle” from Rustblind and Silverbright; Norman Partridge’s “The Mummy’s Heart” from Halloween; “Black Helicopters” by Caitlín R. Kiernan, published as a hardcover chapbook included with the limited edition of Kiernan’s collection The Ape’s Wife; “Mother of Stone” by John Langan from his collection The Wide, Carnivorous Sky; and Laird Barron’s “Termination Dust” from Tales of Jack the Ripper .

The Horror Writers Association chose a historic hotel in the haunted city of New Orleans to announce the winners of the 2012 Bram Stoker Awards® June 15, 2013. The presentations were made at a banquet held as the highlight of the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend, which, in 2012, incorporated the World Horror Convention. The winners:

Superior Achievement in a Novel: The Drowning Girl by Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc); Superior Achievement in a First Novel: Life Rage by L. L. Soares (Nightscape Press); Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel: Flesh & Bone by Jonathan Maberry (Simon & Schuster); Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel: Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times by Rocky Wood and Lisa Morton (McFarland and Co., Inc.); Superior Achievement in Long Fiction: The Blue Heron by Gene O’Neill (Dark Regions Press); Superior Achievement in Short Fiction: “Magdala Amygdala” by Lucy Snyder ( Dark Faith: Invocations , Apex Book Company); Superior Achievement in a Screenplay: The Cabin in the Woods by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (Mutant Enemy Productions, Lionsgate); Superior Achievement in an Anthology: Shadow Show edited by Mort Castle and Sam Weller (HarperCollins); Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection: (tie) New Moon on the Water by Mort Castle (Dark Regions Press) Black Dahlia and White Rose: Stories by Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco Press); Superior Achievement in Non Fiction: Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween by Lisa Morton (Reaktion Books); Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection: Vampires, Zombies & Wanton Souls by Marge Simon (Elektrik Milk Bath Press).

The Shirley Jackson Award, recognizing the legacy of Jackson’s writing, and with permission of her estate, was established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. The awards were announced at Readercon 23, July 14, 2013, held in Burlington, Massachusetts. Jurors were Laird Barron, Ellen Datlow, Chesya Burke, Jack Haringa, and Graham Sleight.

The winners for the best work in 2012: Novel: Edge , Koji Suzuki (Vertical, Inc.) Novella: Sky, Kaaron Warren ( Through Splintered Walls , Twelfth Planet Press); Novelette: “Reeling for the Empire,” Karen Russell (Tin House, Winter 2012); Short Story: “A Natural History of Autumn,” Jeffrey Ford ( Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction , July/August 2012); Single-Author Collection: Crackpot Palace , Jeffrey Ford (William Morrow); Edited Anthology: Exotic Gothic 4: Postscripts #28/29 , edited by Danel Olson (PS Publishing).