The Best Horror of the Year-Volume One

An Air Force Loadmaster is menaced by strange sounds within his cargo; a man is asked to track down a childhood friend... who died years earlier; doomed pioneers forge a path westward as a young mother discovers her true nature; an alcoholic strikes a dangerous bargain with a gregarious stranger; urban explorers delve into a ruined book depository, finding more than they anticipated; residents of a rural Wisconsin town defend against a legendary monster; a woman wracked by survivor's guilt is haunted by the ghosts of a tragic crash; a detective strives to solve the mystery of a dismembered girl; an orphan returns to a wicked witch's candy house; a group of smugglers find themselves buried to the necks in sand; an unanticipated guest brings doom to a high class party; a teacher attempts to lead his students to safety as the world comes to an end around them...

What frightens us, what unnerves us? What causes that delicious shiver of fear to travel the lengths of our spines? It seems the answer changes every year. Every year the bar is raised; the screw is tightened. Ellen Datlow knows what scares us; the twenty-one stories and poems included in this anthology were chosen from magazines, webzines, anthologies, literary journals, and single author collections to represent the best horror of the year.

Legendary editor Ellen Datlow (Poe: New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe), winner of multiple Hugo, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy awards, joins Night Shade Books in presenting The Best Horror of the Year, Volume One.

Cover Art by Santiago Caruso

Ebook
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

First printing, October 2009

Distributed by Night Shade Books
1423 33rd Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122

Electronic version by Baen Books
https://www.baen.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-59780-161-4
ISBN-10: 1-59780-161-5

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One
© 2009 by Ellen Datlow

This edition of The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One
© 2009 by Night Shade Books

Cover art by Santiago Caruso
From the book The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft.
Published in Spanish by Libros del Zorro Rojo / www.librosdelzorrorojo.com

Cover design by Michael Ellis
Interior layout and design by Michael Lee

Introduction, story notes, and arrangement © 2009 by Ellen Datlow.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

Night Shade Books
1423 33rd Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94122
http://www.nightshadebooks.com

Acknowledgment is made for permission
to print the following material:

"Cargo" by E. Michael Lewis. Copyright © 2008 by E. Michael Lewis. First published in Shades of Darkness, edited by Barbara and Christopher Roden, Ash-Tree Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"If Angels Fight" by Richard Bowes. Copyright © 2008 by Richard Bowes. First published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, February. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Clay Party" by Steve Duffy. Copyright © 2008 by Steve Duffy. First published in The Werewolf Pack, edited by Mark Valentine, Wordsworth Editions. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Penguins of the Apocalypse" by William Browning Spencer. Copyright © 2008 by William Browning Spencer. First published in Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy, edited by William Schafer, Subterranean Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Esmeralda" by Glen Hirshberg. Copyright © 2008 by Glen Hirshberg. First published in Shades of Darkness, edited by Barbara and Christopher Roden, Ash-Tree Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Hodag" by Trent Hergenrader. Copyright © 2008 by Trent Hergenrader. First published in Black Static 7, TTA Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Very Low-Flying Aircraft" by Nicholas Royle. Copyright © 2008 by Nicholas Royle. First published in Exotic Gothic 2, edited by Danel Olson, Ash-Tree Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"When the Gentlemen Go By" by Margaret Ronald. Copyright © 2008 by Margaret Ronald. First published in Clarkesworld #21, July. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Lagerstätte" by Laird Barron. Copyright © 2008 by Laird Barron. First published in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Ellen Datlow, Del Rey Books. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Harry and the Monkey" by Euan Harvey. Copyright © 2008 by Euan Harvey. First published in Realms of Fantasy, December. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Dress Circle" by Miranda Siemienowicz . Copyright © 2008 by Miranda Siemienowicz. First published in Hecate, Volume 34, No. 1. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Rising River" by Daniel Kaysen. Copyright © 2008 by Daniel Kaysen. First published in Black Static 5. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Sweeney among the Straight Razors" by JoSelle Vanderhooft. Copyright © 2008 by JoSelle Vanderhooft. First published in Star*Line, September/October. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Loup-garou" by R. B. Russell. Copyright © 2008 by R. B. Russell. First published in The Werewolf Pack, edited by Mark Valentine, Wordsworth Editions. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Girl in Pieces" by Graham Edwards. Copyright © 2008 by Graham Edwards. First published in Realms of Fantasy, April. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"It Washed Up" by Joe R. Lansdale. Copyright © 2008 by Joe R. Lansdale. First published in Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy, edited by William Schafer, Subterranean Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Thirteenth Hell" by Mike Allen. Copyright © 2008 by Mike Allen. First published in The Journey to Kailash, Curiosities, an imprint of Norilana Books. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Goosle" by Margo Lanagan. Copyright © 2008 by Margo Lanagan. First published in The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Ellen Datlow, Del Rey Books. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Beach Head" by Daniel LeMoal. Copyright © 2008 by Daniel LeMoal. First published in On Spec, Summer, #73 volume 20 number 2. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Man from the Peak" by Adam Golaski. Copyright © 2008 by Adam Golaski. First published in Worse Than Myself, Raw Dog Screaming Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Narrows" by Simon Bestwick. Copyright © 2008 by Simon Bestwick. First published in We Fade to Grey, edited by Gary McMahon, Pendragon Press. Reprinted by permission of the author.

I'd like to dedicate this volume to James Frenkel,
packager of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror
for its twenty-one volume run.

Also, to my co-editors Terri Windling,
and then Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant.

Also Edited by Ellen Datlow

A Whisper of Blood
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
Inferno
Lethal Kisses
Little Deaths
Nebula Awards Showcase 2009
Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex
Omni Best Science Fiction
Omni Books of Science Fiction
Omni Visions
Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe
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)
The Coyote Road (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)
Twists of the Tale
Vanishing Acts
Wild Justice
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (with Terri Windling, Gavin J. Grant, and Kelly Link)
 

Forthcoming from Night Shade Books

Tails of Wonder and Imagination
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Two

Acknowledgements to John Kenny, Frank Ludlow, David Murphy, Eugene Myer, Sheila Williams, Brian Bieniowski, Harlan Ellison, and Charles Tan.

Thanks to Gavin J. Grant for suggesting I approach the editors at Night Shade about spinning off a new best of the year in horror annual.

I'd like to acknowledge the following magazines and catalogs for invaluable information and descriptions of material I was unable to obtain: Locus, All Hallows, Publishers Weekly, Washington Post Book World, and Prism (the quarterly journal of fantasy given with membership to the British Fantasy Society). I'd also like to thank all the editors who made sure I saw their magazines during the year, the webzine editors who provided printouts, and the book publishers who provided review copies in a timely manner. Also, the writers who sent me printouts of their stories when I was unable to acquire the magazine or book in which they appeared.

And thank you to Jeremy Lassen and Jason Williams for taking a chance on a new best of the year anthology.