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

Haunted: Eleven Tales of Ghostly Horror edited by Monica Valentinelli (Flames Rising Press) is about ghosts and ghost hunters. The best stories are by Alana Joli Abbott and Preston B. DuBose.

Death Rattles edited by Gary Fry (Gray Friar Press) contains six stories inspired by a BBC anthology horror program called Death Rattles that ran for only five or six episodes. According to the contributors, the show was controversial, graphic, and very disturbing. I’m honestly not sure whether this supposed “lost” series is a hoax or was for real, but the anthology is suitably creepy with stories by Stephen Volk, Simon Bestwick, Paul Finch, John Llewellyn Probert, Thana Niveau, and Gary McMahon.

In Laymon’s Terms edited by Kelly Laymon, Steve Gerlach and Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications) is the long-awaited tribute volume to the late Richard Laymon. The 600+ page volume includes personal reminiscences by friends and acquaintances, an interview from Mystery Scene Magazine , photographs, and reprints and original stories by writers who admired his work, plus several of his own short stories and poems. The best original stories are by Rain Graves and Bentley Little.

Supernatural Noir edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books) is exactly what the title says, with sixteen originals stories by writers including Paul G. Tremblay, Richard Bowes, Melanie Tem, John Langan, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Lucius Shepard, Nick Mamatas, Brian Evenson, Laird Barron, and nine other writers. The Langan is reprinted herein.

Blood and Other Cravings edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor) is a kind of follow-up to my first two anthologies of vampirism: Blood is Not Enough and A Whisper of Blood , which while including vampires and blood, attempts to broaden the idea of vampirism to include various types of preying on other beings. The seventeen stories include two reprints and fifteen new stories by Elizabeth Bear, Barbara Roden, John Langan, Margo Lanagan, Michael Cisco, Steve Duffy, and eleven others. The Lanagan is reprinted herein.

Teeth edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (HarperCollins) is a non-sparkly vampire anthology for young adults, with a wide range of different types of vampires. Included are stories and poems by Nathan Ballingrud, Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Tanith Lee, Melissa Marr, Suzy McKee Charnas, Lucius Shepard, Kaaron Warren, and other adult and young adult authors.

Evolve Two edited by Nancy Kilpatrick (Edge) has twenty-two stories about how future vampires might interact with humans, might dominate the planet, and even travel into space. There are notable stories by Ivan Dorin, Silva Moreno-Garcia, Peter Sellers, David Beynon, Heather Clitheroe, Jason S. Ridler, John Shirley, and Anne Mok.

Dead Red Heart edited by Russell B. Farr (Ticonderoga Publications) is a big trade paperback with thirty-three stories about vampires in Australia. There are some wonderfully vicious ones including those by Alan Baxter, Simon Brown, Damon Cavalchini, Joanna Fay, Patty Jensen, Chris Lawson, Angelela Slatter, Jen White, Joanne Anderton, Pete Kempshall, George Ivanoff, Raymond Gates, Donna Marie Hanson, Jacob Edwards, Anne Mok, and Lisa L. Hannett. There are others than are intriguing and/or charming. In all, a very nicely rounded variety of vampires in all their forms.

House of Fear edited by Jonathan Oliver (Solaris) has nineteen original haunted house stories, all of them good but the very best are by Lisa Tuttle, Terry Lamsley, and Christopher Fowler. The Lamsley is reprinted herein.

Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! edited by Otto Penzler (Vintage) is yet another reprint anthology of the living dead using an unusually broad definition of “zombie” with stories by Chet Williamson, Stephen King, Lisa Tuttle, Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Anthony Boucher, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft (three stories), and over fifty other writers.

Terror Tales of the Lake District edited by Paul Finch (Gray Friar Press) is an entertaining anthology of thirteen stories plus brief interstitial “true ghost stories” written by the editor. Three stories are reprints. The strongest of the originals are by Carole Johnstone, Reggie Oliver, Steve Savile, and Simon Bestwick. The Bestwick is reprinted herein.

The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies edited by D.F. Lewis (Megazanthus Press) has some very good stories in it, despite its somewhat limited theme. There were notable stories by Reggie Oliver, E. Michael Lewis, Colin Insole, Rachel Kendall, Joel Lane, and David Mathew.

Dark Minds edited by Ross Warren (Dark Minds Press) is another design disaster, with the double-faced type looking like manuscript pages rather than book type. The best story in the book is by the best-known writer, Gary McMahon.

Tattered Souls 2 edited by Frank J. Hutton (Cutting Block Press) is a non-theme anthology of eight original stories and novellas by relatively new writers (none of whom I’d previously heard of except for Forrest Aguirre, better known as an editor than a writer), with the strongest by Stephanie Shaw and Anne Michaud.

Historical Lovecraft is one of two Lovecraftian anthologies published in 2011 by Innsmouth Free Press and edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles. There are twenty-six stories, all new. The strongest are by Orrin Grey, Bryant Thao Worra, William Meikle, and Aaron Polson. The second is Future Lovecraft , featuring thirty-eight new and reprinted Lovecraftian stories and poems based in the future. The best originals are by Nick Mamatas, Helen Marshall, and A. C. Wise.

Necrotic Tissue: Best of Anthology edited by R. Scott McCoy (Stygian Publications) celebrates the quarterly magazine published between 2007–2011 with the mission of encouraging new writers. The book features thirty-one mostly very short stories chosen from those published.

Candle in the Attic edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles (Innsmouth Free Press) has twenty-seven reprinted and original stories and poems of gothic fiction. The best of the originals are by Berit Ellingsen and Orrin Grey.

What Fears Become edited by Jeani Rector (Imajin Books) combines original and reprinted stories from the webzine The Horror Zine . The book includes stories, poetry, and art. The best of the original fiction is by Stephen M. Dare and David K. Ginn.

Lore: A Quaint and Curious Volume of Selected Stories edited by Rod Heather and Sean O’Leary (The Lore-Firm). Lore was a magazine that published nine issues between 1995 and 1998 and this anthology reprints fourteen stories and a round-robin from the magazine, by writers including Harlan Ellison, Brian McNaughton, Brian Lumley, Elizabeth Massie, and others.

Full Fathom Forty edited by David J. Howe (The British Fantasy Society) is a hefty anthology of forty stories published in honor of the Society’s fortieth anniversary. It consists of reprints and originals, with notable originals by Suzanne Barbieri, Paul Finch, and Robert Shearman (published also in his 2011 collection).

The Mothman Files edited by Michael Knost (Woodland Press) has thirteen original stories about the mythical creature that portends disaster.

Epitaphs: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers edited by Tracy L. Carbone (Shroud Publishing) has twenty-six stories, most published for the first time.

Devil Dolls and Duplicates in Australian Horror edited by Anthony Ferguson (Equilibrium Books) is a reprint anthology with twenty-one stories by Kaaron Warren, Lucy Sussex, Rick Kennett, Stephen Dedman, Robert Hood, and sixteen other Australian writers.

The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2010: The First Annual Collection edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications) features over 150,000 words of fiction (thirty-three stories and poems) by Australian and New Zealand writers, plus an overview of the year in Australian fantasy and horror.