Stephen Jones: Best New Horror #26

Also “borrowing” its title—this time from a classic Arkham House volume— Strange Gateways was a welcome new collection of eleven stories (four original) by Simon Kurt Unsworth, which also included an Afterword and story notes by the author.

25 Years in the Word Mines: The Best Short Fiction of Graham Joyce was an impressive retrospective collection of twenty-three stories by the late British author. It came with a Foreword by Owen King, an Afterword by Kelly Braffet, and entertaining Story Notes by Joyce himself. Unfortunately, as with the Unsworth collection from PS, this volume also lacked details about the original publication appearances of the stories.

Fans of Ian Watson’s writing could get The Uncollected Ian Watson , containing stories and essays, in a special slipcase together with the author’s memoir Doing the Stanley: Encounters with Kubrick , plus the short story collection The Best of Ian Watson slipcased with Squirrel, Reich, & Lavender: Bonus Stories , containing three original tales. All four volumes were edited by Nick Gevers.

Robert Guffey’s Spies and Saucers contained three sui generis novellas exploring the anti-Communist hysteria of the 1950s, while The Metanatural Adventures of Dr. Black collected thirteen tales and fragments based around Brendan Connell’s unusual investigator with an Introduction by Jeff VanderMeer.

Shifting of Veils was the third in Tim Lebbon’s “Apocalypse Trilogy” of zombie novellas, following on from Naming of Parts and Changing of Faces , while James Cooper’s coming-of-age novella Strange Fruit was about the awakening of a young girl. Both were available from PS in special signed hardcover printings of 100 copies, along with unsigned editions.

Edited by Nate Pedersen, The Starry Wisdom Library was a fun Lovecraftian-inspired tome purporting to be a “Catalogue of the Greatest Occult Book Auction of All Time”. Amongst those contributing bibliographic descriptions were Edmund Bergland, Ramsey Campbell, Gemma Files, Robert M. Price, W.H. Pugmire, Darrell Schweitzer, Simon Strantzas, Don Webb and F. Paul Wilson, while S.T. Joshi supplied the Introduction.

Joshi also edited and introduced Black Wings III: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror , which contained seventeen stories by Donald R. Burleson, Richard Gavin, Darrell Schweitzer, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Jason V. Brock, Don Webb, Peter Cannon, Lois Gresh, Simon Strantzas, Brian Stableford and others.

Far Voyager: Postscripts 32/33 was edited by Nick Gevers, after Peter Crowther stepped down as co-editor after eleven years. It featured an impressive thirty-two stories by Michael Swanwick, Darrell Schweitzer, Rio Youers, Angela Slatter, Paul Park, Quentin S. Crisp, Richard Calder, Thana Niveau, Gary A. Braunbeck, Robert Reed, Gary Fry, Ian Watson, Alison Littlewood and John Langan, amongst others, including three by Mel Waldman.

PS Publishing’s paperback imprint Drugstore Indian Press (DIP) put out attractive trade paperback editions with flaps of Brian W. Aldiss’ 1976 novel The Malacia Tapestry , Peter Crowther’s 2004 collection Songs of Leaving with an Introduction by Adam Roberts, and revised and updated editions of Best New Horror #1 and #2 edited by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell.

From PS’ Stanza Press imprint, Tell Them What I Saw was a hardcover collection of poetry by Matt Bialer with an Introduction by Sébastien Doubinsky.

A new imprint from PS Publishing was The Pulps Library, which began reprinting classic stories by H.P. Lovecraft illustrated in psychedelic colours by Pete Von Sholly with Introductions by S.T. Joshi. The first three titles in the “Lovecraft Illustrated” series were The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath , The Dreams in the Witch House and The Dunwich Horror .

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Cemetery Dance magazine, editor Richard Chizmar edited an anthology of heavy-hitters who “helped make the magazine what it is today”. Turn Down the Lights featured ten original stories by Stephen King, Norman Partridge, Jack Ketchum, Brian James Freeman, Bentley Little, Ed Gorman, Ronald Kelly, Steve Rasnic Tem, Clive Barker and Peter Straub, along with an Introduction by the editor and an Afterword by Thomas F. Monteleone.

Chizmar also compiled CD’s impressive-looking but ultimately disappointing anthology Smoke and Mirrors: Screenplays, Teleplays, Stage Plays, Comic Scripts & Treatments . Despite an exalted line-up of contributors that included William Peter Blatty, Poppy Z. Brite, Frank Darabont, Neil Gaiman, Mick Garris, Joe Hill and others, the oversized hardcover not only didn’t include any editorial content, but only William F. Nolan and Joe R. Lansdale put their contributions into any kind of context. A 400-copy limited edition signed by the editor and thirteen contributors was available for $150.00.

Dreamlike States collected six stories (one original) by Brian James Freeman, with an Introduction by Ed Gorman, while Weak and Wounded collected five revised stories from the same author. Both volumes were illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne, and limited to 750 signed copies. There was also a deluxe traycased lettered edition for $175.00.

Lucifer’s Lottery was a reprint of the 2010 novel by Edward Lee in a signed edition also limited to 750 copies, while Bentley Little’s 1990 novel The Revelation , reissued in trade paperback, was a winner of the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel.

Originally published in 1997, Screamplays edited by Richard Chizmar and Martin H. Greenberg was reprinted by CD with illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne. It contained seven screenplays by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Joe R. Lansdale, Richard Laymon and Ed Gordon, with an Introduction by Dean Koontz.

Chiliad: A Meditation from Subterranean Press contained two interrelated stories by Clive Barker set exactly one thousand years apart. A traycased, lettered edition of twenty-six copies was available for $250.00. The publisher also issued a boxed set of Barker’s six Books of Blood collections in a limited edition of 500 copies with the first volume signed by the author ($250.00), along with a traycased twenty-six copy lettered edition ($1,500.00).

Also from Subterranean, The Complete Crow collected eleven reprint stories about Brian Lumley’s psychic investigator with an Introduction by the author, and The Top of the Volcano: The Award-Winning Stories of Harlan Ellison collected twenty-three stories published over forty years.

For fans of Thomas Ligotti, The Spectral Link was a collection of two new stories that was also available in a 400-copy signed edition, along with Born to Fear: Interviews with Thomas Ligotti , containing seventeen interviews and edited with an Introduction by Matt Cardin. The latter was also available in a leatherbound 250-copy edition signed by both Ligotti and Cardin.

Subterranean reprinted Neil Gaiman’s 1998 collection Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions with new illustrations by the book’s designer, Dave McKean. It was available in a 500-copy slipcased edition and twenty-six lettered copies, signed by both author and artist.

Robert McCammon’s 1981 novel They Thirst was reprinted in an edition of 1,000 signed copies and twenty-six deluxe lettered copies, illustrated with colour paintings by Les Edwards.

Nobody’s Home: An Anubis Gates Ghost Story was a novelette by Tim Powers featuring a disguised Jackie Snapp and a girl trying to escape the spectre of her husband in 19th century London. Illustrated by J.K. Potter, this was also available from Subterranean Press in a signed, leatherbound, slipcased edition of 474 copies ($75.00) and a traycased lettered edition of twenty-six copies ($350.00).