Ellen Datlow: The Best Horror of the Year – Volume One

Demons: Beast of Desire by Lisa Renee Jones (Silhouette Nocturne) is a romance about demon hunters. The Devouring by Simon Holt (Little, Brown), a young adult novel about a girl confronted by demons that feed on fear. Another novel about creatures that feed upon fear is Mary SanGiovanni's Found You (Leisure), the sequel to The Hollower.

Ghosts: Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh (Obsidian) is the first book in a series featuring a ghosthunter. The Wicked Dead, the young adult series about ghosts by Stefan Petrucha and Thomas Pendleton, continues (HarperTeen). Seer of Shadows by Avi (HarperCollins) is a young adult ghost story taking place in 1872. Ghost Walk by Brian Keene (Leisure) is about a haunted Halloween attraction.

Zombies, despite all the hype of 2007, seem to have died down in popularity, judging by the tiny number of novels published last year. Soulless by Christopher Golden (Pocket/MTV Books) is about what happens when a séance held in Times Square somehow summons up the living dead. Empire by David Dunwoody (Permuted Press) with the Grim Reaper as a hero, destroying zombies wherever he goes. Blood of the Dead by A. P. Fuchs (Coscom Entertainment), first in the Undead World trilogy.

Some other odds and ends in the novel category: Stephen King had a big new novel out, Duma Key (Scribner) and so did Dean Koontz with Your Heart Belongs to Me (Bantam). Stephenie Meyer's first adult novel, The Host, was published by Little, Brown. Orgy of Souls by Wrath James White and Maurice Broaddus (Apex) was a short novel as was Ray Garton's The Folks 2: No Place Like Home, follow-up to his early short novel The Folks (Cemetery Dance). The Midnight Man by Simon Clark (Severn House). Coffin Country by Gary A. Braunbeck (Leisure), which is a prologue to his Cedar Hill series and includes two reprinted Cedar Hill stories. Johnny Gruesome by Greg Lamberson (Bad Moon Books). The Academy by Bentley Little (Signet). Night Children by Kit Reed (Tor). The Economy of Light by Jack Dann (PS) about a retired Nazi hunter called in by authorities to identify what is thought to be Mengele's body in Brazil. Night Work by Thomas Glavinic, translated from the German by John Brownjohn (Canongate), is about a man who wakes up to find the world deserted. Starts off well but loses steam about halfway through. Contagious by Scott Sigler (Crown) is the sequel to Infected, reviewed above. The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein by Peter Ackroyd (Chatto & Windus) is another retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The always reliable Patrick McGrath's Trauma (Knopf) is about a psychiatrist trying to manage his own demons. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale (Walker) is the fictionalized re-creation of an infamous case of child murder taking place in 1860 and Scotland Yard Detective-Inspector Jonathan Whicher who attempted to solve it.

2008 was a disappointing year for original horror anthologies with a few exceptions noted below

The Werewolf Pack, selected and introduced by Mark Valentine (Wordsworth Editions Ltd.) provides a good historical overview of the subgenre with seventeen werewolf stories. Four are contemporary tales, with three original to the volume. The originals by Gail-Nina Anderson, Steve Duffy, and R. B. Russell are very fine contributions to the canon, with Russell's and Duffy's both reprinted herein. From the same publisher, The Black Veil and Other Tales of Supernatural Sleuths, selected and introduced by Mark Valentine, has another seventeen stories, four published for the first time. The reprints are by William Hope Hodgson, Arthur Machen, A. F. Kidd, editor Valentine, and others. The strongest originals are by R. B. Russell and Rosalie Parker. The publisher presents both anthologies so that it appears that editor Valentine wrote all the stories-the front jacket doesn't identify him as the editor and the table of contents has story titles with no individual authors. Very odd.

Shades of Darkness edited by Barbara and Christopher Roden (Ash-Tree Press) is the fifth volume of original fiction in the series and it's excellent. The stories are varied and literate and although the anthology started a little slowly for me, most of the stories are good, and several are better than that. This is one of the best original horror anthologies of the year. Stories by Glen Hirshberg and E. Michael Lewis are reprinted herein.

Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy edited by William Schafer (Subterranean Press) is a beautiful hardcover with stunning cover art by Dave McKean, featuring eleven new stories, all of them good. The best of the darker ones are by Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Rachel Swirsky, William Browning Spencer, and Darren Speegle. The Spencer and Lansdale are reprinted herein.

Exotic Gothic 2 edited by Danel Olson (Ash-Tree Press) is a worthy follow-up to the editor's first, mixed reprint and original anthology. EG2 has all new stories taking place all over the world. The most notable were those by George Makana Clark, Barbara Roden, Nicholas Royle, Nancy A. Collins, Edward P. Crandall, Christopher Fowler, Reggie Oliver, Tia V. Travis, and Robert Hood. The Royle is reprinted herein.

The New Uncanny: Tales of Unease edited by Sarah Eyre and Ra Page (Comma Press) makes great use of Sigmund Freud's 1919 essay listing eight uncanny tropes, "irrational causes of fear deployed in literature." The editors sent the original essay to fourteen writers and asked them "to respond directly and consciously, in any way they wished, with a new story." At least five of the stories use dolls or doubles as their central image. Many of the stories are quite good, making this for me, one of the best original horror anthologies of the year.

The Second Black Book of Horror selected by Charles Black (Mortbury Press) was very good overall, with only a few clunkers. The strongest stories were by Mike Chinn, Rog Pile, Steve Goodwin, writing partners L. H. Maynard and M. P. N. Sims, Daniel McGachey, and Gary McMahon. The Third Black Book of Horror selected by Charles Black also came out in 2008 with good stories by Mike Chinn, Paul Finch, David A. Riley, Craig Herbertson, Joel Lane, Gary McMahon, Paul Newman, and Rog Pile.

Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes edited by J. R. Campbell and Charles Prepolec (Edge) is a thoroughly entertaining anthology of eleven new stories that likely would have had Holmes turning over in his grave (if he existed), as he loathed any hint of the supernatural, and always solved his cases rationally. But despite this, you the reader can enjoy them. Those I liked the best were by Barbara Roden, M. J. Elliott, Martin Powell, Chris Roberson, J. R. Campbell, Kim Newman, and a collaboration by Chico Kidd and Rick Kennett.

We Fade to Grey edited by Gary McMahon (Pendragon Press) has five non-theme dark novelettes and novellas by British writers. Simon Bestwick's "The Narrows" a very powerful, frightening sf/horror story, is reprinted herein.

Bound for Evil: Curious Tales of Books Gone Bad edited by Tom English (Dead Letter Press) is a hefty, entertaining anthology of sixty-five stories about nasty, demented, or overly influential books and the people who love or obsess over them. It's a good-looking limited edition hardcover tome of almost eight hundred pages, with half the stories original to the volume, and of those, at least eleven are notable. Illustrations by Allen Koszowski.

The Second Humdrumming Book of Horror Stories edited by Ian Alexander Martin (Humdrumming) is the follow-up to last year's promising anthology and it doesn't disappoint. All fifteen stories appear for the first time and some are quite good, particularly those by Christopher Fowler, Davin Ireland, Michael Kelly, Sarah Pinborough, Simon Strantzas, John Travis, and Conrad Williams.Unfortunately, the press ceased publishing.

Desolate Souls, the souvenir anthology of the World Horror Convention 2008 held in Salt Lake City, Utah, was edited by Mark Worthen and J. P. Edwards (Bones & Casket Press). Thematically related in its use of the desert and other desolate areas around SLC, the anthology includes reprints and originals. The best originals were by Scott Edelman, Linda Addison, and Cullen Bunn.