Ellen Datlow - The Best Horror of the Year. Volume 4

A Book of Horrors edited by Stephen Jones (Jo Fletcher Books) is the first in what will hopefully be a new series of original, non-theme horror anthologies edited by veteran editor Jones. There’s a good variety of work with the strongest stories and novellas by Reggie Oliver, Robert Shearman, Angela Slatter, Michael Marshall Smith, Peter Crowther, Elizabeth Hand, Brian Hodge, and Stephen King. The King and the Hodge are reprinted herein.

Portents edited by Al Sarrantonio (Flying Fox Publishers) is a non-themed anthology of nineteen quiet horror stories, all but one (the story by Christopher Fowler) original to the book. Overall this is a very readable volume. The stories that most impressed me are those by Jeffrey Ford, Brian Keene, Joe R. Lansdale, Elizabeth Massie, Kim Newman, Steve Rasnic Tem, Tom Piccirilli, Kit Reed, Melanie Tem, and Tia V. Travis.

Dead But Dreaming 2 edited by Kevin Ross (Miskatonic River Press) is an entertaining follow-up to Dead But Dreaming , a Lovecraftian anthology published in 2002. The strongest of the twenty-two stories are by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Cody Goodfellow, Darrell Schweitzer, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr., W. H. Pugmire, William Meikle, and Michael Tice.

Chilling Tales: Evil Did I Dwell; Lewd I Did Live edited by Michael Kelly (Edge) is a fine, all original Canadian anthology with strong entries by Leah Bobet, Suzanne Church, Michael R. Colangelo, Sandra Kasturi, Christopher K. Miller, David Nickle, Simon Strantzas, Claude Lalumière, Ian Rogers, Gemma Files, Robert J. Wiersema, and Tia V. Travis (although not horror). The Leah Bobet and David Nickle are reprinted herein.

Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead edited by Stephen Jones (Ulysses Press) is a good anthology of twenty-five original and reprinted ghost stories. The strongest of the new tales are by Reggie Oliver, Christopher Fowler, Sarah Pinborough, R. B. Russell, Lisa Tuttle, and Simon Kurt Unsworth.

Bites and Bones edited by Lois Metzger (Scholastic) are both for very young readers — not too dark, not too scary. With stories by authors such as R. L. Stine, Neal Shusterman, and Nina Kiriki Hoffman.

Fear of the Dark: An Anthology of Dark Fiction edited by Maria Grazia Cavicchioli and Jason Rolfe (Horror Bound Magazine Publications) is a non-theme horror anthology with twenty stories. There are notable pieces by Angel Leigh McCoy and Martin Rose.

Bite Sized Horror edited by Johnny Mains (Obverse Books) is a mini-anthology of six stories, the best of which by Reggie Oliver, was in the author’s collection Mrs Midnight, which came out a few months earlier than the anthology.

Box of Delights edited by John Kenny (Aeon Press Books) is Kenny’s first anthology, although he’s been a longtime co-editor of the Irish mixed-genre magazine Albedo One . The sixteen stories in the volume are all original. The strongest are by Priya Sharma, Sean MacRoibin, Eleanor Marney, and N. A. Sulway. Sharma’s is reprinted herein.

Vintage Vampire Stories edited by Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Richard Dalby (Skyhorse) contains thirteen stories and two novel excerpts written in the nineteenth century.

Vampires: Classic Tales edited by Mike Ashley (Dover) is an anthology of twelve stories including early ones by Lord Byron and Alexander Dumas and contemporary ones by Tanith Lee, Nancy Holder, and Brian Stableford.

Halloween edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books) is a reprint anthology of thirty stories and three poems by Ray Bradbury, F. Paul Wilson, Nancy Holder, K. W. Jeter, Peter Straub, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Stewart O’Nan, and many others.

Bewere the Night edited by Ekaterina Sedia (Prime Books) has twenty-nine original and reprint tales of shapeshifters, with contributions by Kaaron Warren, Elizabeth Hand, Nick Mamatas, Richard Bowes, Holly Black, and others.

New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books) is a big reprint anthology of almost thirty stories of Lovecraftian horror by Neil Gaiman, Laird Barron, Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear, Paul McAuley, Michael Marshall Smith, John Shirley, and many more.

Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters edited by John Langan and Paul Tremblay (Prime Books) has twenty-six reprints by Clive Barker, David J. Schow, Joe R. Lansdale, Sarah Langan, Gemma Files, Lisa Tuttle, Norman Partridge, and others.

Shivers VI edited by Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications) is a non-theme anthology of original and reprinted stories. Fourteen of the twenty stories appear for the first time. There are notable originals by Jay Bonansinga, Brian Hodge, Alan Peter Ryan, Al Sarrantonio, and David B. Silva.

Fell Beasts edited by Ty Schwamberger (Dark Quest Books) features eleven stories about things that go bump in the night.

Delicate Toxins is a very good original anthology of strange tales inspired by Hanns Heinz Ewers and edited by John Hirschhorn-Smith (Side Real Press) — it has notable stories by rj krijnen-kemp, Mark Howard Jones, Colin Insole, Daniel Mills, Reggie Oliver, Peter Bell, Michael Chislett, and Adam S. Cantwell.

Demons: Encounters with the Devil and His Minions, Fallen Angels, and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers) contains thirty-seven stories and excerpts, mixing reprints and originals. The strongest of the originals are by Zak Jarvis, Alethea Kontis, Brian Hodge, Livia Llewellyn, John Skipp, and Adam-Troy Castro.

Swallowed by the Cracks: Sixteen Stories of the Space in Between by Lee Thomas, Gary McMahon, S.G. Browne, and Michael Marshall Smith (Dark Arts Books) features four stories from each writer — several published for the first time. The book is edited and introduced by Bill Breedlove and John Everson.

Vampires: The Recent Undead edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books) is a big book of twenty-five vampire stories first published between 2000 and 2010. Included are stories by Holly Black, Kim Newman, Charlaine Harris, Karen Russell, John Langan, Michael Marshall Smith, and others.

Zombiesque edited by Stephen L. Antczak, James C. Bassett, and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW) presents all new stories, most from the zombie point of view. The best are by Nancy Holder, Jim C. Hines, Charles Pinion, Xalieri Laszlo, and Wendy Webb.

Rock ‘N’ Roll is Dead: Dark Tales Inspired by Music edited by Marc Ciccarone (Blood Bound Books) would have been more coherent as a “theme” anthology if each contributor had supplied a paragraph explaining how the piece of music picked inspired the story. Readers unfamiliar with the songs will find it difficult to get a handle on the specific inspiration. Unfortunately, even for familiar songs the connection to the stories is pretty thin. Despite this, there’s good work by Rex McGuire, G. Winston Hyatt, Belen Lopez, and Natalie L. Sin.

The Book of Cthulhu edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books) is a 500+ page reprint anthology of twenty-seven stories and novellas about H. P. Lovecraft’s greatest creation that were published between 1976 and 2011—with two very good originals by John Hornor Jacobs and Laird Barron.

Comes the Night edited by Dorothy Davies (Static Movement) has twenty-seven brief horror stories about night time, with one notable story by Jeremy Bush.

The Eighth Black Book of Horror selected by Charles Black (Mortbury Press) has thirteen stories, the best of which are by Anna Taborska, Paul Finch, Stephen Bacon, Tony and Tina Rath, and Thana Niveau. There are no author biographies and there’s no introduction. The Taborska is reprinted herein.

Cover of Darkness edited by Tyree Campbell (Sam’s Dot) is a twice yearly non-themed dark fantasy and horror anthology of short stories, novelettes, and poems. The strongest work in 2011 was by Marc Colten, Richard H. Fay, Jason Andrews, and Dick Bowler.