The seventeen stories and novelettes chosen this year come from anthologies, magazines, single author chapbooks, and one was originally published in a webzine. The authors hail from the United States, Wales, England, Canada, and Australia. Eight stories are by writers whose stories I've never before chosen for a Best of the Year volume.
The Bram Stoker Awards for Achievement in Horror is given by the Horror Writers Association. The full membership may recommend in all categories but only active members can vote on the final ballot. The awards for material appearing during 2008 were presented at the organization's annual banquet held Saturday evening, June 13th 2009 in Burbank, California.
2008 Winners for Superior Achievement:
Novel: Duma Key by Stephen King; First Novel: The Gentling Box by Lisa Manetti; Long Fiction: "Miranda" by John R. Little; Short Fiction: "The Lost" by Sarah Langan; Fiction Collection: Just After Sunset by Stephen King; Anthology: Unspeakable Horror, edited by Vince A. Liaguno and Chad Helder; Nonfiction: A Hallowe'en Anthology by Lisa Morton; Poetry Collection: The Nightmare Collection by Bruce Boston; Lifetime Achievement Award: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and F. Paul Wilson.
Richard Laymon, President's Award: John Little; Silver Hammer Award: Sèphera Girón; Specialty Press Award: Bloodletting Press.
The Shirley Jackson Award, recognizing the legacy of Jackson's writing, and with the permission of her estate, was established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. The second year's awards were announced at Readercon, held in Burlington, Massachusetts.
The winners for the best work in 2008:
Novel: The Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford (William Morrow); Novella: Disquiet by Julia Leigh (Penguin/Hamish Hamilton); Novelette: "Pride and Prometheus" by John Kessel (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction); Short Story: "The Pile" by Michael Bishop (Subterranean Online, Winter 2008); Collection: The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa (Picador); Anthology: The New Uncanny edited by Sarah Eyre and Ra Page (Comma Press).
The World Fantasy Awards were announced November 1, 2009 at the World Fantasy Convention in Calgary, Alberta. Lifetime Achievement recipients were previously announced.
Winners for the best work in 2008:
Life Achievement: Ellen Asher and Jane Yolen; Novel: The Shadow Year, by Jeffrey Ford (William Morrow)and Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf); Novella: "If Angels Fight", Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08); Short Story: "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss", Kij Johnson (Asimov's 7/08); Anthology: Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, Ekaterina Sedia, ed. (Senses Five Press); Collection: The Drowned Life, Jeffrey Ford (HarperPerennial); Artist: Shaun Tan; Special Award Professional: Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (for Small Beer Press and Big Mouth House); Special Award Non-Professional: Michael J. Walsh (for Howard Waldrop collections from Old Earth Books).
Midnight Picnic by Nick Antosca (Word Riot Press) is a lean novel that grabs the reader from the first line to the last, about a man drawn against his will to accompany the ghost of a murdered boy who wants to revenge himself on his murderer. No fireworks: just good writing, fine characterizations, a meditation on death—and a slowly mounting sense of menace.
The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes (William Morrow) is a sequel to the entertaining The Somnambulist. If you liked that novel, you'll love this. If you didn't care for that one, I suspect you'll enjoy this one more. A secret war is being waged in contemporary London for the very soul of the city and its inhabitants. A mild-mannered file clerk is dragooned into the Directorate, the organization in which his grandfather played a great part. The terrifying, monstrous, and hilarious Hawker and Boon, two supernatural creatures of a destructive nature that appear as humans dressed as British schoolboys (think of them as the evil Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum) are more important in The Domino Men than in The Somnambulist. A few unexpected (and punch in the gut) twists and turns towards the end keep the plot moving towards its—just right—conclusion.
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin Press) is a charming first novel that brings to mind G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday and Franz Kafka. Despite superficial similarities to The Domino Men: a lowly clerk is promoted within a large organization whose job is to prevail against the chaos being created by evil personages, the protagonist comes of age while solving the dangerous mysterious around him. In The Manual of Detection, too, a clerk in a detective agency is promoted to detective when the detective he reported to disappears. But from there, the Berry veers into surreal territory.
The Little Sleep by Paul G. Tremblay (Henry Holt and Company) is an intriguing first novel that drags readers along with its narcoleptic detective protagonist through the pain, powerlessness, and humiliation of his medical condition while forcing us to accompany him on his search for truth no matter where it leads. Mark Genevich's car accident several years before the beginning of the novel has left him battered and odd looking and with narcolepsy—i.e. he falls asleep at the drop of a hat, as a result of stress or sometimes just living. He's a private eye whose biggest case falls into his lap while he's asleep. Compromising photos of a young woman who might be the DA's daughter are left by . . . someone—who hires him to . . . what? Mysteries abound and Mark's the only one who can (or wants) to solve them.
Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Quercus) is by the Swedish author of the excellent novel Let the Right One In, adapted into an even better movie, so I had high hopes for his take on zombies. These are not teeth gnashing, brain eating George Romero zombies but dead-eyed empty vessels of their former owners remaining generally placid, unless they pick up strong emotions from those alive. The epidemic—which only lasts a fixed period of time and takes place exclusively in Sweden, seems to be triggered by mysterious falling caterpillars. The story is more concerned with the living than the unliving as the resurrected are dubbed and follows three recently bereaved families, and how they deal with the trauma of their loved ones' return, often in advanced states of decay.
Last Days by Brian Evenson (Underland Press) combines the novella "The Brotherhood of Mutilation," published in 2003, with a new section. A former undercover cop is lauded for not only surviving an attack that leaves him mutilated, but killing his attacker one-handed after he cauterizes the wound himself. His notoriety brings him to the attention of a cult that takes literally the biblical entreaty to cut off the hand that offends thee. The detective is abducted and brought to the religious compound to solve a mystery—or else—as he becomes involved in a power struggle between two warring groups within the cult. A scary and sometimes grisly well-written book about obsession.
Darling Jim by Christian Moerk (Henry Holt) opens with the discovery of the bodies of two sisters and their aunt in a suburb of Dublin and unfolds into even more horror, all radiating from a seductive traveling story teller who enchants every woman and girl within reach of his uncanny charms. Darling Jim, as he is dubbed by those he seduces, entrances the inhabitants of every pub he visits as he weaves his tale of two brothers, a wolf, a curse, and a princess. The mystery of the three deaths is painstakingly unraveled by a young mailman who really wants to be a graphic novelist as he doggedly searches for clues to the truth when he accidentally discovers the diary of one of the dead sisters.
The Mystic Arts of Erasing all Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books) is a macabre, moving, and darkly humorous novel about an emotionally damaged ex-teacher who's living off his oldest friend until he's offered the job of a lifetime—to work with Clean Team, a company that mops up after violent, or just messy, deaths. The plot careens from hilarity to tragedy, often in the same paragraph, as our protagonist meets a young lady "cute"—being hired to clean up after her rich dad, who blew his brains out with a 9mm. This is the first Huston novel I've read and it won't be the last.
The City & The City by China Miéville (Del Rey) is a dark, metaphysical police procedural that opens with the discovery of a body. The mystery is contingent on the unusual world Miéville creates, a world as bizarre in its way as any Miéville has previously envisioned: in an alternate reality from our own, two eastern European cities—Beszel and Ul Qoma—overlap in the same space, yet their citizens are forbidden to interact or acknowledge the existence of any person/event/physical location in the other, overlapping city. Breach is invoked for those caught breaking the law, and the guilty are taken away, never to be seen again. A detective from the Beszel Extreme Crime Squad is assigned to the murder and his life is utterly changed. It's a great read.
Finch by Jeff VanderMeer (Underland Press) is the culmination of the author's series about the imaginary city of Ambergris. Another reluctant detective, the eponymous protagonist, has a past that comes back to bite him in the ass, a girlfriend he doesn't trust, and a partner who is turning into something not human. Past wars among the various factions inhabiting Ambergris over the years are nothing compared to the enemy contemporary citizens face—the fungoid current rulers of their world. A great read that's not contingent on reading the earlier books.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (Shaye Areheart Books) is a disturbing, multi-stranded tale that begins one wintry January night in 1985, when most of a family are slaughtered, apparently by the fifteen year old son, in what is dubbed the "Satanic Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas." A seven-year-old girl survives, and her testimony sends her brother to prison for life. The fallout from the crime and its aftermath haunt Libby Day for the next twenty-five years. Then, intruding into her depression, bitterness, anger, and unhappy solitude is a member of a club that studies and even celebrates the perpetrators of violent crimes. Some of the members think Ben is innocent and want to get Libby to recant. She's gradually forced to face the past and slowly becomes interested in discovering the truth of what actually happened that night.
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard (Doubleday) is a darkly macabre and entertaining deal with the devil tale about a necromancer who realizes that without his soul (given up years before the novel begins) he cannot accomplish his best research. So Satan, a bit bored, makes a new deal in which Cabal must get one hundred suckers to sign their souls away in exchange for the return of his own. Satan helps Cabal along by giving him a traveling circus—all the necromancer's got to do is populate it with the animated dead.
Bad Things by Michael Marshall (William Morrow) is a fine, tense novel of supernatural and psychological horror. It begins with a four-year-old child dying—of nothing—after falling off the pier at the family home in a small town in Washington state. Three years later, the father—divorced and still grieving—is living in a summer resort town in Oregon and working as a waiter. A mysterious email he receives churns up the past, forcing him to return to Black Ridge, Washington and confront the dark practices of the founding family. It's more complex than it sounds and is a very good read.
The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (Delacorte) is a debut young adult zombie novel that while beautifully written, enjoyable and creepy, could have trimmed much of the (seemingly) never-ending teen angst. The set up is a good one. An isolated village is ruled by a strict religious order of Sisters and surrounded by hordes of the "unconsecrated" (zombies). The order inculcates the inhabitants with the dogma that they are the last enclave of humans on earth, although one family's females pass on stories of the "ocean." The protagonist is spunky and stubborn and adventurous and is forced throughout the story to make hard choices. This will probably appeal more to teenage girls than adults.
Slights by Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot) is the long and complex debut novel by a talented Australian teller of dark tales. At eighteen years old, Stevie (aka Stephanie) is responsible for the death of her mother in a car crash. Her beloved father, a cop, was killed in a shootout a few years before. The story follows the troubled eighteen year old Stevie through her mid-thirties. When not attempting suicide she works in a nursing home, keeps the front yard of the house she's inherited filled with manure, and spends hours sifting through the detritus of decades of her family's existence . . . including bones of all kinds.
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Riverhead) is a terrific historical novel that slowly ratchets up the tension as it becomes a disturbing psychological puzzle and haunted house story. The story is told from the point of view of a middle-aged local doctor in a post World War II Britain still suffering shortages. Dr. Faraday becomes physician to the owners of Hundreds Hall, the now-dilapidated estate on which his mother worked as a maid years earlier. Are the members of the household becoming unhinged from stress or is there something at Hundreds that is actually trying to "get" them? Despite the house's fall into ruin, it becomes the focal point of Faraday's longed for acceptance by the local gentry, and his stubborn, extreme rationalization plus this fixation that has dominated his imagination since childhood prevents him from actually helping before it's too late.
The Sound of Building Coffins by Louis Maistros (Toby Press) is a nicely told novel about New Orleans in 1891. The one-year-old child of a lynched Sicilian immigrant has been possessed by a demon and after the doctor flees in terror, several other people attempt to save the child's life. The repercussions on those involved ripple over the years into a complex (sometimes too complex) tale of jazz, love, hate, betrayal, death, and redemption. Well worth reading for the way it brings New Orleans of that period alive.
The Lovers by John Connolly (Atria) is the eighth Charlie Parker book in the series. I've only read a couple, and not the immediate predecessor to this one, but the author provides enough back story for this hardboiled supernatural novel to stand on its own. Parker's private eye license has been pulled, and he works in a bar. Restless, he investigates events from when he was fifteen: his policeman father killed a pair of unarmed teenagers and then killed himself. As Parker probes deeper, he uncovers secrets that were meant to protect him from the mysterious, eponymous lovers.
Audrey's Door by Sarah Langan (HarperCollins) is a riveting novel of a promising but emotionally troubled architect who takes up residence in an infamous old building in New York. As in Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, the Breviary—as a result of its mad creator, founder of the cult of Chaotic Naturalism—houses great evil that influences those who live there.
Therapy by Sebastian Fitzek, translated by Sally-Ann Spencer (St. Martin's Press) from German and published in the UK in 2008. A deft psychological thriller about a famous therapist who loses it when his twelve-year-old daughter goes missing. Four years later, his marriage is finished, he's quit his practice, and moved to the peaceful island where he and his family had a vacation home. Then things really go bad. This is the kind of book that three-fourths of the way through I was afraid to continue because I couldn't believe that the author would be able to pull off a believable, satisfying ending. I think he succeeded.
The Red Tree by Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc) is a disturbing novel about a blocked writer who leaves Atlanta after a disastrous relationship for an isolated town in Rhode Island, hoping to find peace. Unfortunately, instead she finds an unfinished manuscript by a former tenant who committed suicide and her life goes downhill from there. Is the giant red oak that she can see from her kitchen window more than just a tree or is she overreacting in her fragile emotion state? The tale is told in diary entries, news reports, and excerpts from the abandoned manuscript but what really makes for a gripping read is the voice of the protagonist.
This is not meant to be all inclusive but merely a sampling of dark fiction available during 2009.
When I wrote my summary of the 2008 year in horror, it looked like zombies were finally fading away, so I was surprised when the sub-genre made an overwhelming resurgence in 2009. Zombie zombies everywhere: anthologies, movies, novels, comic books.
Some of the notable zombie fiction: Breathers: A Zombie's Lament by S. G. Browne (Broadway) a black comedy about a newly risen zombie that just wants some love. The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks (Three Rivers) is a graphic novel history of zombie attacks beginning in 60,000 BC, Africa. The UK publisher Abaddon Books has a whole zombie line of novels dubbed "Tomes of the Dead" including Way of the Barefoot Zombie by Jasper Bark and Tide of Souls by Simon Bestwick. Then there's the first classic mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith (Quirk Books). Jailbait Zombie by Mario Acevedo (Eos) mixes vampires with zombies in this fourth of a series of novels featuring a vampire Private Eye. Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry (St. Martin's Press) is about terrorists who have a weapon that can turn people into zombies.
Vampires never retreated—they can still be found in 23 Hours by David Wellington (Three Rivers) fourth in his vampire series. Dacre Stoker (nephew of Bram) and co-author Ian Holt, wrote a sequel to the classic titled Dracula The Un-Dead (Dutton). Terence Taylor debuted with a vampire novel called Bite Marks (St Martin's) and The Thirteenth by L.A. Banks(St. Martin's), the twelfth and final novel in her vampire Huntress legend series was published. Lord of Misrule, (NAL) is book five in Rachel Caine's Morganville Vampires series. Guillermo del Toro tried his hand at prose, co-authoring The Strain with Chuck Hogan, the book is the first of a trilogy about a vampire plague. Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, bolstered by the hit TV adaptation, has a ninth entry with Dead and Gone, and Laurell K. Hamilton came out with Skin Trade, the seventeenth in the Anita Blake series.
Young adult vampire novels have exploded into the world as a result of the success of Stephenie Myers' Twilight series: Night Life is a young adult vampire novel by Nancy A. Collins (HarperTeen ), sequel to Vamps. Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (St. Martin's), fourth in their House of Night series. Eternal by Cynthia Lietich Smith (Leisure), is a prequel to her novel Tantalize.
Plus a ton of paranormal romances featuring vampires. Paranormal romance in general continued to sell like crazy, but as I don't consider most of them horror, I won't mention any here.
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey (Eos) features the potent mix of noir, monsters and fallen angels. Bestial by Ray Garton (Dorchester) is a sequel to his werewolf novel, Ravenous. Cold Black Hearts, is a supernatural detective novel by Jeff Marriotte (Jove).
The Hound Hunters by Adam Niswander (Hippocampus) is a Lovecraftian novel, third in his Shaman Cycle series.
Adult literary writer Dale Peck turns his talents to horror with Body Surfing (Atria), about a demon-possessed teenager and a demon hunter. In the novella The Show That Smells (Akashic) by Derek McCormack the wife of a dying country western singer makes a deal with a vampire. In Those Who Went Remain There Still (Subterranean), Cherie Priest's short novel is about a winged monster in nineteenth-century-rural Kentucky. Her novel Boneshaker (Tor) got lots of buzz with its steampunk background and ravenous living dead.
Many of the field's regulars had new books out: Stephen King's Under the Dome (Scribner), is about a small New England town mysteriously trapped under a huge glass dome and how its inhabitants react. Dan Simmons followed up his brilliant The Terror with another historical novel with supernatural elements, Drood, ( Little, Brown) about Charles Dickens and his unfinished novel, The Mystery of Edward Drood. L.A. Banks also had a werewolf novel out, Undead on Arrival (St. Martin's Press), third in the Crimson Moon series. Mike Carey's Dead Man's Boots (Grand Central) continued his excellent hardboiled series about an exorcist. The Black Train by Edward Lee (Leisure) is an historical novel about an evil train. Leisure also published Lee's The Golem, and The Bone Factory by Nate Kenyon, Far Dark Fields by Gary Braunbeck, and The Shore by Robert Dunbar.
Some horror novels were published as non-genre including The Glister by John Burnside (Doubleday/Nan Talese) about disappearances in the woods poisoned by a nearby chemical factory, Fragment by Warren Fahy (Delacorte) an sf horror novel about the discovery of a dangerous lost world, and The Séance by John Harwood (Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt) is the International Horror Guild Award-winning author's second novel and takes place in Victorian England.
And some promising debuts: House of Windows by John Langan (Night Shade Books) and Twisted Ladder by Rhodi Hawks (Forge).
Phantom edited by Paul G. Tremblay and Sean Wallace (Prime Book) is a fine follow-up to their 2007 non-theme anthology Bandersnatch. This one, with fourteen new stories is more to my dark taste, with some very strong horror stories by Steve Rasnic Tem, Stephen Graham Jones, Steve Eller, Vylar Kaftan, Nick Mamatas, Steve Berman, and Lavie Tidhar. With an introduction by Tremblay. The Eller story is reprinted herein.
British Invasion edited by Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon, and James A. Moore (Cemetery Dance) is a long overdue (the copyright page says 2008, but the book came out in early 2009), mixed bag of twenty-one stories intended to showcase contemporary horror from the United Kingdom. The stories range from ineffective and slight to powerful. The strongest are by Mark Morris, Adam L. G. Neville, Mark Chadbourne, Peter Crowther, Paul Finch, Phil Nutman, Tony Richards, Conrad Williams, and a collaboration by Steve Lockley and Paul Lewis. Steven Volk supplies an introduction, the three editors provide a preface, and Kim Newman wraps it all up with his afterword.
Shivers V edited by Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance) is the best of this non-theme series so far. Of the twenty-four stories, two, those by Stewart O'Nan and Steve Vernon, are reprints, and at least eight of the others are quite dark and very good. One other, by Chet Williamson, is also a winner but it's not very dark.
He is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet) has an in interesting variety of sequels, prequels, and stories inspired by a fantastic writer who's written some of the most memorable pieces of horror in the genre's history. The book has fifteen stories and novellas, the best by Gary A. Braunbeck, Stephen King and Joe Hill, F. Paul Wilson, Joe R. Lansdale, and Richard Christian Matheson. The volume includes the previously unpublished 20,000 word screenplay of Fritz Leiber's novel Conjure Wife, adapted by Matheson and Charles Beaumont and later filmed as Burn, Witch Burn.
Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe edited by Ellen Datlow (Solaris) was commissioned in honor of Poe's Bicentennial in 2009 and intends to showcase stories infused with Poe's themes while avoiding pastiches. Stories by Suzy McKee Charnas, Laird Barron, and John Lanagan are reprinted herein.
Return of the Raven: New Tales and Poetry Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe Master of the Macabre edited by Maria Grazia Cavicchioli (Horror Bound Magazine Publications) is another tribute volume, with twelve stories and poems that stay a bit closer to the originals.
Hellbound Hearts edited by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan (Pocket Books) is an ambitious all original anthology of twenty-one stories inspired by images from Clive Barker's movie Hellraiser: the puzzle box that when opened brings forth the Cenobites, who promise extreme pain and pleasure. As in most cases, the stories that are the most interesting are those that use the theme as a starting rather than end point. The best stories are by Conrad Williams, Sarah Langan, Chaz Brenchley, Nancy Kilpatrick, Mark Morris, Kelley Armstrong, Peter Atkins, Simon Clark, a short graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, and a collaboration by Gary A. Braunbeck and Lucy A. Snyder. Clive Barker provides an preface, Stephen Jones an introduction, and Doug Bradley (Pinhead in the movies) an afterword.
Strange Tales III edited by Rosalie Parker (Tartarus Press) is a strong follow up to the award-winning Strange Tales II, with seventeen odd, eerie, and outright strange stories. Not all of them are dark, but enough are to keep any horror reader happy. My favorites of the seventeen are those by Nina Allan, Gerard Houarner, Angela Slatter, and Adam Golaski. The Allan is reprinted herein.
Gaslight Grotesque edited by J.R Campbell and Charles Prepolec (Edge) is a Sherlock Holmes inspired anthology that's surprisingly fresh and entertaining, possibly because it's the rare volume that allows Holmes and Watson to be dumbfounded by matters (which is course, the antithesis of the ratiocination for which Holmes is known. There's much that's actually supernatural in here. The most interesting stories are by Neil Jackson, Robert Lauderdale, J. R. Campbell, and Barbara Roden.
American Fantastic Tales: Poe to Pulps and American Fantastic Tales: 1940s to Now edited by Peter Straub is a two-volume set of supernatural literature. The two books together are a treat to anyone interested in the evolution of the dark side of the fantastic in American literature.
Tesseracts Thirteen edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell (Edge) is the first of Canada's Tesseracts series dedicated to horror fiction. Alas, the format—organizing the stories in three themed sections—lessons the impact of the whole book because it emphasizes the sameness of the stories in the first section (Youth) rather than showcasing their differences. The strongest stories in the book were by David Nickle, Suzanne Church, Daniel Sernine, and Michael Kelly.
Exotic Gothic 3: Strange Visitations edited by Danel Olson (Ash-Tree Press) is an all original anthology of nineteen stories set all over the world, with terrific ones by Simon Clark, Terry Dowling, Simon Kurt Unsworth, and Kaaron Warren and good ones by the other contributors. The Warren is reprinted herein.
Bare Bone 11 is the last volume of Kevin L. Donihe's (Raw Dog Screaming) anthology series that began life as a magazine, and it went out with a bang. Most of the eighteen stories were very strong.
The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire edited by Trisha Telep (Running Press) is aimed at teens and was disappointing (conflict of interest alert—Terri Windling and I are co-editing one for the same market but with only a few sexy stories). The best are by Holly Black, Cecil Castellucci, Cassandra Clare, and Kelley Armstrong.
By Blood We Live edited by John Joseph Adams (Night Shade Books) boasts over 200,000 words of vampire fiction, all but two reprints by some of the biggest names around, including Anne Rice (with a much reprinted story), Stephen King, Kelley Armstrong, L. A. Banks, Garth Nix, Neil Gaiman, David Wellington, Tanith Lee, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and many others. The two originals, a story by Sergei Lukyanenko, Russian author of the vampire novels (adapted into films) Night Watch and Day Watch and a novella by John Langan, are extra special.
The Vampire Archives: The Most Complete Volume of Vampire Tales ever Published edited by Otto Penzler (Vintage Crime) is even bigger, with twice as many stories—but these include stories by some of the earliest authors of vampire fiction and poetry including Lovecraft, Poe, Keats, E. F. Benson, D. H. Lawrence, and M. E. Braddon up to 2001, with stories by Richard Layman, David J. Schow, Lisa Tuttle, Tanith Lee, and F. Paul Wilson.
Dark Jesters edited by Nick Cato and L.L. Soares (Novello Publishers) has ten humorous horror stories.
Half-Minute Horrors edited by Susan Rich (Harper) is an anthology of very short horror stories for kids, with contributors including Lemony Snicket, M.T. Anderson, Holly Black, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Brian Selznick, Jonathan Lethem, Joyce Carol Oates, and Libba Bray, among many other well-known names.
Infernally Yours: A Descent into Edward Lee's Vision of Hell edited and illustrated by GAK (Necro) with all original stories by John Shirley, Charlee Jacob, John Everson, Bryan Smith, Brian Keene, Gerard Houarner, and the collaborative team of L.H. Maynard and M.P. N. Sims. Also included is a short novel by Lee, himself. A good-looking book for collectors and those who delight in Lee's type of horror.
Spook City edited by Angus Mackenzie (PS) features three Liverpudlian horror writers: Clive Barker, Peter Atkins, and Ramsey Campbell, showcasing stories by each of them that are meant to explore and illuminate their native city. The only original story in the book is by Peter Atkins, but it's a very good one. Doug Bradley, the actor who played Pinhead in Barker's Hellraiser movie series, wrote the introduction.
Eldritch Horrors: Dark Tales edited by Henrik Sandbeck Harksen (H. Harksen Productions) is volume one of a projected series of H.P. Lovecraft mythos anthologies. In this volume are nine original stories and five reprints. The best of the originals are by Linda Navroth, Gary Hill, Blake Wilson, and Paul Mackintosh.
Apparitions edited by Michael Kelly (Undertow Publications) is a very good anthology from a new imprint created by Kelly. While some of the thirteen original stories don't actually have enough story for my taste, there are some excellent tales by Simon Bestwick, Paul Finch, Gemma Files, Steve Duffy, and Gary McMahon.
Dark Delicacies III: Haunted edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb (Running Press) has nineteen new stories and a poem. The strongest stories in the book are by Marie Alexander, Michael Boatman, Simon Clark, Gary A. Braunbeck, John Connelly, Mick Garris, Richard Christian Matheson, and David Morrell (the latter, very moving but not horror).
Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead edited by John Skipp (Black Dog & Leventhal) is a whopper of a zombie anthology (almost 700 pages) by the co-father of zombie anthologies. The book comes with an introduction and overview of the renewal of zombie fiction by the editor, an historical perspective of the zombie, and thirty-two stories, reprints, except for five originals. Most of the reprints will be overly familiar to zombie aficionados. The best of the originals are by Justine Musk, Eric Shapiro, Carlton Mellick III, Mehitobel Wilson, and Cody Goodfellow.
The Dead That Walk edited by Stephen Jones (Ulysses Press) is a mixed reprint and original zombie anthology of twenty-four stories. Most of the eleven originals are notable, particularly those by Robert Shearman, Stephen Woodworth, Nancy Holder, Gary McMahon, Lisa Morton, Scott Edelman, and Weston Ochse.
Cthulhu Unbound and Cthulhu Unbound 2 are both edited by John Sunseri and Thomas Brannon (Permuted Press) and are entertaining volumes of fifteen original Lovecraftian stories each. The strongest from the first volume are by John Goodrich, John Claude Smith, Kim Paffenroth, Kevin Lauderdale, and C. J. Henderson and those from volume 2 are by Rhys Hughes, Joshua Reynolds, Brandon Alspaugh, William Meikle, and Inez Schaechterle.
Lovecraft Unbound edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse) is intended to be Lovecraftian without ichor or tentacles. It features twenty stories, four of them reprints. A collaboration by Dale Bailey and Nathan Ballingrud is reprinted herein.
Leaves of Blood edited by Mike Brown (Altair Australia) may or may not be a themed anthology—hard to tell. Something about a "gothic reign" but there are spiders, bullies and ghouls, some mass and/or serial killings and vampiric critters. The best of the nine original stories is by Jean Claude Dunyach.
Campus Chills edited by Mark Leslie (Stark Publishing) has thirteen stories taking place on Canadian college campuses across the country. The strongest stories are by Steve Vernon and Brit Trogen.
Festive Fear edited by Stephen Clark (Tasmaniac Publications) has fourteen original Christmas stories by Australians. Few of the writers use the Australian landscape to differentiate these stories from those about any other English speaking country, most are unsubtle, and one is torture porn. Despite this, there were notable stories by Marty Young and Felicity Dowker.
Cinnabar's Gnosis: A Homage to Gustav Meyrink edited by D.T. Ghetu (Ex Occidente Press) has twenty-three original fantasy and dark fantasy stories, most a bit ornate for my taste. Meyrink was an Austrian who lived between 1868 and 1932 and is best known for his novel The Golem. My favorite stories in the book were by Michael Cisco, Steve Rasnic Tem, R.B. Russell, Reggie Oliver, and Adam Golaski.
Dead Souls edited by Mark Deniz (Morrigan Books) has twenty-five stories, sixteen of them published for the first time. The best originals are by Carole Johnstone and Sharon Irwin, (who has contributed a wonderful dark fantasy).
Monstrous: Twenty Tales of Giant Creature Terror edited by Ryan C. Thomas (Permuted Press) is exactly what it says, but only a few of the stories are a cut above the typical pulp tropes. The two best are by E. Anderson and Gregory L. Norris.
Midnight Walk edited by Lisa Morton (Darkhouse Publishing) showcases fourteen mostly new writers from the west coast or Midwest, many of them from southern California. The best story is by newcomer Joey O'Brian.
Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas edited by Matt M. McElroy (12 to Midnight) is a loosely connected shared world anthology of a small town in eastern Texas with more than its share of haunts, monsters, and mysterious murders. Surprisingly, there's an original story by David Wellington, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it's the best in the book.
Vile Things: Extreme Deviations of Horror edited by Cheryl Mullenax (Comet Press) has fifteen stories by relatively new writers plus four reprints by Ramsey Campbell, Graham Masterton, Jeffrey Thomas, and C.J. Henderson.
Mighty Unclean edited by Bill Breedlove (DarkArts Books), has sixteen new and reprinted stories by four writers: Gemma Files, Gary A. Braunbeck, Cody Goodfellow, and Mort Castle. With an introduction by the editor.
The Fourth Black Book of Horror edited by Charles Black (Mortbury Press) is a disappointing lot of fifteen stories, with only a few standouts. The best were by Reggie Oliver, David Sutton, Daniel McGachey, and Gary McMahon. The Fifth Black Book of Horror with thirteen stories, was much better with notable stories by Craig Herbertson, David A. Riley, Ian C. Strachen, John Llewellyn Probert, and again, Reggie Oliver. The Oliver is reprinted herein.
Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary edited by Carol Serling (Tor) is a, tepid tribute to the great original television series. Most of the stories have kind of predictable sting in the tail endings. The best dark ones are by Tad Williams and Whitley Strieber.
New Dark Voices 2 edited by Brian Keene (Delirium Books) features novellas from three horror writers: Nick Mamatas and two relatively new writers Brett McBean and Ronald Damien Malfi.
Strange Brew edited by P. N. Elrod (St. Martin's Press) has nine urban tales of vampires and witches and werewolves, a few of them even scary. The best are by Rachel Caine and Faith Hunter.
Northern Haunts edited by Tim Deal (Shroud Publishing) presents 100 horror vignettes, all situated in New England.
Harvest Hill edited by Michael J. Hultquist and Douglas Hutcheson (Graveside Tales) present thirty-one interconnected tales about the town of Harvest Hill, Tennessee.
Deadly Dolls edited by Terrie Leigh Relf and David Byron (NVH Books) is possibly the only anthology I've ever seen titled to reflect the gender of contributors rather than the contents. It's an all woman contributor non-theme horror anthology of fourteen stories, including one by co-editor Relf. In addition, there are interviews with six female writers (only three of whom have stories in the anthology).
Twisted Legends features thirty three brief retellings of various urban legends. The Middle of Nowhere: Horror in Rural America has twenty-eight horror tales and are both edited by Jessy Marie Roberts (Pill Hill Press).
Butcher Shop Quartet II edited by Frank J. Hutton (Cutting Block Press) features four dark novellas by five new writers.
Cover of Darkness edited by Tyree Campbell (Sam's Dot) has twenty-one dark urban fantasy stories, all but one published for the first time.
The Ancestors by L. A. Banks, Tananarive Due, and Brandon Massey (Dafina) is comprised of three original horror novellas (no editor listed).
Fifty-Two Stitches: Horror Stories edited by Aaron Polson (Strange Publications) features fifty-two pieces of flash fiction.
Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 20 edited by Stephen Jones (Robinson) had twenty stories, and none overlapped with The Best Horror of the Year, Volume One although we both took different stories by some of the same authors.
This is the Summer of Love: A Postscripts New Writers Special Number 18, edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers (PS) is the first volume in the quarterly anthology series replacing Postscripts Magazine. It's excellent, with most of the ten stories at least tinged with darkness if not outright horror. I very much enjoyed all of the stories, with Norman Prentiss's opener, the creepiest. It's reprinted herein. Enemy of the Good Number 19 edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers (PS) has twelve stories about good vs. evil and the slippery demarcations between the two. The stories I liked the best were by M.K. Hobson, Daniel Abraham, Marly Youmans, and Justin Cartaginese. The third PS anthology of the year was Edison's Frankenstein, Number 20/21, edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers. Only a few of the stories in this volume were dark but the best of those were by Eric Schaller, Rjurik Davidson, and George-Oliver Châteaureynard. Sideshow edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick) is third in a series of young adult original anthologies. The first two Gothic! and The Restless Dead had some fine dark stories by a variety of writers known within the horror field. Alas, Sideshow, with its seven stories and three comic strips, has a minimal amount of dark fiction, with one strong story about tortured bread starter (really) by Cecil Castellucci. Masques edited by Gillian Polack and Scott Hopkins (CSFG Publications) is a mixed genre anthology featuring mostly new writers. Unfortunately, while some of the ideas and characterizations are good, the bulk of the stories are too short (thirty stories in 280 pages) and possibly for this reason they don't feel full finished. Despite this, there's good dark fiction by Cat Sparks, Chris Jones, Felicity Bloomfield, Marcus Olsson, Jason Fischer, and an intriguing mystery by Phillip Berrie. Cern Zoo: Nemonymous Nine edited by Des Lewis is an entertaining volume in this annual series of stories, not matching up the authors with the titles (until the next volume). A few of the stories are too fragmentary or oblique to be fully satisfying but others among the darker ones are quite effective, peculiarly those by Dominy Clements, Tim Nickels, Lee Hughes and Steve Duffy. The Duffy is reprinted herein. The Stories Between edited by Greg Schauer, Jeanne Benzel, and W.H. Horner (Fantasist Enterprises) celebrates the thirty year existence of the Delaware genre bookstore Between Books, with sixteen stories of sf/f/h, most original. One of the reprints is by Jonathan Carroll. The best new dark story is by Gregory Frost. British Fantasy Society Yearbook 2009 edited by Guy Adams showcases twenty-one new stories by members of the organization, with fiction ranging from sword and sorcery, contemporary fantasy, supernatural and psychological horror. Some of the strongest darker stories are by Rob Shearman, Christopher Fowler, Tim Lebbon, Gary McMahon, Adam L. G. Nevill, Sarah Pinborough, Conrad Williams, and Stephen Volk. The Death Panel: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness edited by Cheryl Mullenax (Comet Press) has thirteen new hardboiled, dark, sometimes grotesque crime stories, many of them horror. The best are by Tim Curran, Kelly M. Hudson, David Tallerman, John Everson, and Tom Piccirilli. The World is Dead edited by Kim Paffenroth (Permuted Press) follows up on Paffenroth's 2007 zombie anthology History is Dead. In the new volume, living with zombies is the norm and the eighteen varied stories show how people do, with the best by William Bolen, Gary A. Braunbeck, Jack Ketchum, Carole Lanham, Ralph Robert Moore, and David Wellington. Cinema Spec: Tales of Hollywood and Fantasy edited by Karen A. Romanko (Raven Electrick Ink) has thirty-two poems and vignettes about Hollywood. The only notable dark pieces are by Sarah Brandel and Lisa Morton.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2009 edited by Jeffery Deaver (Mariner) has the best of the genre published in the year 2008 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, James Lee Burke, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Connelly, and others. Some of the stories are dark, half are taken from literary journals, others from venues ranging from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Akashic's Noir anthology series, to an sf anthology of alternative history. Between the Dark and the Daylight and 27 More of the Best Crime and Mystery Stories of the Year edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg (Tyrus Books) includes stories by Joyce Carol Oates, Norman Partridge, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Jeremiah Healey, Bill Pronzini, and others. Kaiki: Uncanny Tales From Japan volume 1: Tales of Old Edo selected and introduced by Higashi Masao (Kurodahan Press) is the first volume of a three book series and is a wonderful introduction to the uncanny fiction of Japan. This book—with ten stories first published in Japan between 1898 and 1993—focuses on stories taking place in Old Edo (now known as Tokyo). With a preface by Robert Weinberg and an essay on the origins of Japanese weird fiction by Masao.
It's important to recognize the work of the talented artists working in the field of fantastic fiction, both dark and light. The following artists created art that I thought especially noteworthy during
2009: Mike Bohatch, Zach McCain, Daniel Merriam, Anita Zofia Siuda, Steven Archer, Russell Dickerson, Adam Tredowski, David Gentry, John Stanton, Andrew Hook, Dominic Harman, Derek Ford, Jason Van Hollander, Phil Fensterer, Cat Sparks, Adam Katsaros, Enaer, Saara Salmi, Sean Stone, Carrie Ann Baade, Jørgen Mahler Elbang, T. Davidson, Harry O. Morris, Bob Hobbs, Ben Baldwin, Laura Givens, Eric M. Turnmire, Hendrik Gericke, Allen Koszowski, Vance Kelly, David Prosser, Andrew Trabbold, Andrew Chase, Stephen Stanley, Shweta Narayan, Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein, Vincent Chong, Danielle Serra, Julia Helen Jeffrey, Martin Bland, Mark Pexton, and Warwick Fraser-Coombe.
Because of the annual turnover in small-press magazines—most rarely last more than a year or two—it's difficult to recommend buying a subscription to those that haven't proven their longevity. But I urge readers to at least buy single issues of those that sound interesting. Most magazines have web sites with subscription information, eliminating the need to include it here. The following are, I thought, the best in 2009.
Some of the most important magazines/webzines are those specializing in news of the field, market reports, and reviews. The Gila Queen's Guide to Markets, edited by Kathryn Ptacek, emailed to subscribers on a regular basis, is an excellent fount of information for markets in and outside the horror field. Market Maven, edited by Cynthia Ward is a monthly email newsletter specializing in professional and semi-professional speculative fiction market news. Ralan.com is the web site for up-to-date market information. Locus, edited by Charles N. Brown (who died mid-2009), Liza Groen Trombi, and Amelia Beamer and Locus Online, edited by Mark Kelly specialize in news about the science fiction and fantasy fields, but include horror coverage as well.
The only major venues specializing in reviewing short genre fiction are the newly revived Tangents edited by David Truesdale and Locus but none of them specialize in horror. Of the two, only Locus publishes regularly.
There are, however, some important critical journals covering horror: Dead Reckonings: A Review of Horror Literature edited by S. T. Joshi and Jack M. Haringa and published by Hippocampus Press is a fine review journal that comes out twice a year. It focuses on contemporary work while also considering the classics. In addition to the reviews, it includes the regular column "Ramsey Campbell, Probably." Haringa is leaving the co-editorship with the next issue and Tony Fonseca will take his place. Dissections edited by Gina Wisker, David Sandner, Michael Arnzen, Al Wendland, and Lawrence Connolly is an online journal specializing in horror. The May issue focused on teaching horror. Wormwood: Literature of the Fantastic, Supernatural and Decadent edited by Mark Valentine and published by Tartarus Press, had two issues in '09 and they're as usual erudite and perfect for those interested in literature of "the fantastic, supernatural and decadent." Studies in the Fantastic edited by S. T. Joshi only published one issue in 2009 and unfortunately it was announced that it was to be its last.
Of the three nonfiction magazines I read that specialize in movies, my favorite is Video Watchdog, a bi-monthly edited by Tim Lucas. It specializes—some would say obsesses—over minute details of all kinds of movies, and is erudite yet entertaining. In addition to review of movies, it has a regular audio column by Douglas E. Winter and a regular column by Ramsey Campbell.
Fangoria, edited by Anthony Timpone, is the daddy of the existing magazines that cover horror movies of all types, and celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2009. It's superficial but entertaining, covering big budget and independent horror productions, the grislier the better. The magazine also features regular columns on news, DVD releases, video games, comics, and books. And lots of gore. A special anniversary issue had a Hall of Fame, featuring fifty top horror personalities as voted by the readers, and a new column by former "Raving and Drooling" columnist David J. Schow.
Rue Morgue, edited by Jovanka Vuckovic, is another monthly media magazine covering horror in all its bloody glory (with the still photos to prove it) but unlike Fangoria, in between the gore there are often thoughtful articles and columns. Probably the most intriguing article appearing in Rue Morgue in 2009 was Graven Images: The Art of Japanese Bloody Ukiuo-E Woodcutting by Jason Lapeyre, featuring full color illustrative examples of the art.
Black Static edited by Andy Cox is the most consistently excellent horror magazine published. Its mix of fiction, movie and book reviews, interviews, and regular columns creates a vibrant magazine that should be required reading for everyone interested in topnotch horror fiction. The six issues of 2009 had many fine stories. One, by Carole Johnstone, is reprinted herein.
Cemetery Dance edited by Brian Freeman has been trying its best to get back on a regular schedule. In 2008 there was only one issue published. In 2009 three came out, and they were chockfull of good fiction by Sarah Langan, Brian Keene, Darren Speegle, Lawrence C. Connolly, Bruce McAllister, Peter Straub, and Stephen Mark Rainey. During the year there were interviews with editor Stephen Jones and writers Thomas Tessier, Ray Garton, Jeff Strand, Tananarive Due, and Peter Straub. Starting with issue #61 I've been contributing a column called "The Last Ten Books I Read."
Supernatural Tales edited by David Longhorn, had two issues in 2009, both up to the magazine's usual high standards in writing quality. Despite this, too many stories in issue 15 telegraphed their endings within a few pages. The stories that most impressed me in both issues were by Huw Langridge, Jim Steel, Gary Fry, and Louis Marvick.
Not One of Us is the long running magazine edited by John Benson and the traditional annual one-off is (Going Going) Gone featuring some ghostly fare. The best darker pieces in 2009 are by Kent Cruse, Gemma Files, and Patricia Russo. There was a notable poem by J. C. Runolfson in the one-off.
Weird Tales edited by Ann VanderMeer had three issues out (one overlapping with '08) and they featured excellent stories by Kathe Koja, Eric Red, Jeffrey Ford, Eric Lis, Michael Phillips, Ben Thomas, Paul G. Tremblay, Robert Davies, Micaela Morrissette, and Felix Gilman. Included in the varied mix are reviews, columns on various subjects, and interviews. The Morrissette story is reprinted herein.
Necrotic Tissue edited by R. Scott McCoy moved from online to print with issue 7. There was good dark fiction in 2009 by Samantha Sterner and Bruce Cooper.
H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine edited by Marvin Kaye only lasted five issues and the last was only available as a free pdf file download. There were notable stories by Eugie Foster, Terry McGarry, Andrew J. Wilson, Park Godwin, and Ekaterina Sedia.
Midnight Street edited by Trevor Denyer brought out two issues in 2009 and announced that it would be leaving behind its print edition, instead being available for download from its website. In addition to the fiction there were book reviews plus interviews with Guy N. Smith, Gord Rollo, and self-proclaimed vampire and writer Michelle Belanger. The strongest stories in 2009 were by William Mitchell, Marion Arnott, Gary Couzens, and Tony Richards.
Arkham Tales: A Magazine of Weird Fiction edited by Nathan Shumate is a good online zine that I only discovered with its issue 4. There were strong stories by Maurissa Guibord, Paula R. Stiles, and Fraser Sherman.
Inhuman edited by Allen Koszowski published its first issue since 2006, with notable originals by Justin Gustainis, Joe, Nassise, Matt Cardin, Darren Speegle, Stephen Mark Rainey,and Kiel Stuart. There were also three classic reprints, an article on Stephen King by Bev Vincent, and illustrations by the editor throughout. All in all, it was a very good issue.
Dark Discoveries edited by James Beach published three issues in 2009, one celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Twilight Zone. Throughout the year there were interviews with Steve Rasnic Tem, Dan O'Bannon, S. T. Joshi, Brian Lumley, and others. The strongest stories were by Cody Goodfellow, Glen Singer, W. H. Pugmire, David A. Riley, Steve Rasnic Tem, and Christopher Conlon.
The Digest of Philippine Genre Stories produced a special horror issue edited by Yvette Tan. Although some of the stories were good, I didn't find any of them especially dark.
New Genre Issue six edited by Adam Golaski had only four stories. Two, those by Eric Schaller and Stephen Graham Jones were powerful horror stories. The Jones is reprinted herein. Sybil's Garage Issue six edited by Matthew Kressel had some fine darker stories by James B. Pepe, Genevieve Valentine, and Toiya Kristen Finley. New Horizons edited by Andrew Hook for members of the British Fantasy Society is tuned more toward fantasy than horror (their sister publication, Dark Horizons, takes care of that) but there were good dark tales by Paul Campbell and Eliza Chan. On Spec edited by members of the Copper Pig Society, including the fiction editors: Robin S. Carson, Barb Galler-Smith, Susan MacGregor, Ann Marston, and Diane L. Walton, is a Canadian quarterly that published sf/f/h. There was strong dark work in 2009 by Colleen Anderson, Sandra Glaze, Andrew Bryant, Amanda Downum, Dave Cherniak, and E. Catherine Tobler. Issue 78, the fall issue, celebrated the magazine's twentieth anniversary. Borderlands, an Australian magazine edited by Stephen Dedman is a mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Number eleven, published in 2009 is the last issue of the digest-sized magazine and I'll be sorry to see it go. That issue had good dark stories by Madhvi Ramani, Durand Welsh, Bill Congreve, and Jason Fischer. Aurealis, the Australian mixed-genre magazine edited by Stuart Mayne brought out two issues in 2009. My favorites of the dark stories were by Jason Fischer, Brendan Carson, and Geoffrey Maloney. Talebones edited by Patrick Swenson published a good genre mix in 2009 and had notable dark stories by David Sakmyster, Marie Brennan, and Jason D. Wittman. Unfortunately, #39 was the magazine's last issue, after a run of fourteen years. Up until the last five issues Patrick and Honna Swenson co-edited the magazine, then Patrick took it over completely. Albedo One edited by John Kenny, Frank Ludlow, David Murphy, Roelof Goudriaan, and Robert Neilson published two issues in 2009. There was a scattering of dark stories during the year by Mike O'Driscoll, Sara Joan Berniker, and D.T. Neal plus the usual book reviews and interviews with Paul Di Filippo and Greg Egan. Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine is an Australian bimonthly edited by a rotating co-op only sometimes publishes horror. The best dark stories in 2009 were by Anna Tambour, Grant Stone, Caroline M. Yoachim, and Jessica E. Kaiser. Shimmer edited by Beth Wodzinski is an attractive little zine that specializes in publishing newer writers and usually has at least some notable dark fiction. There were two issues out in 2009, with good dark stories by Nir Yanev, Alex Wilson, Sara Genge, and Claude Lalumière. Electric Velocipede edited by John Klima won the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine, (I think it's the first that a fiction magazine has ever won) and is a lovely little perfect bound digest sized zine that publishes a variety of material. There was more dark fiction than usual in its three 2009 issues, with notable stories and poetry by Matthew Kressel, Marly Youmans, Toiya Kristen Finley, A. C. Wise, and Barbara Krasnoff. Paradox edited by Christopher Cevasco, published its last issue in 2009 and had a strong piece of dark fiction by Maura McHugh. Space and Time edited by Hildy Silverman always publishes a mixed bag of fiction and poetry. In the three issues I saw in 2009 there were good dark stories by Ian R. Faulkner, Stephanie Burgess, and Rich Sampson. The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction edited by Gordon Van Gelder always has a number of dark fantasy and horror stories and 2009 was no different. There were notable dark stories by Jim Aiken, Richard Bowes, Fred Chappell, Albert E. Cowdrey, Michael Meddor, Sarah Thomas, Geoff Ryman, and Matthew Hughes. Realms of Fantasy edited by Shawna McCarthy is a bi-monthly that focuses on fantasy but occasionally publishes dark fiction. The best dark stories in 2009 were by Tanith Lee, Dirk Strasser, and S. E. Ward. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine edited by Janet Hutchings often has at least a few extremely dark stories during the year and in 2009 the strongest were by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Charles Ardai, David Dean, R. T. Smith, Barbara Callahan, Trina Corey, Marjorie Eccles, Mick Herron, and David Raines. Black Clock 10 edited by Steve Erickson, is a magazine published by California Institute of the Arts in association with the MFA Writing Program. While every issue has some interesting fiction, this one focuses on noir, and for me it was the best I've read in awhile. Interspersed with excellent dark fiction by Francesca Lia Block, Scott Bradfield, Brian Evenson, T. Towles, are recommendations of "essential noir" movies, characters, music, novels, performances, and even a poem. A highly recommended issue. Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet edited by Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link brought out issue 24 in 2009, in which there were notable dark stories by Alexander Lamb, Liz Williams, and Jasmine Hammer. Probe is the long running official publication of Science Fiction and Fantasy South Africa. In addition to publishing a few short stories every issue there are interviews and reviews and a letter column. It comes out quarterly.
Northwest Passages by Barbara Roden (Prime) is an impressive debut collection of ten stories (two appearing for the first time). Four of the reprints were given honorable mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series, and one was reprinted in #19. With an introduction by critic Michael Dirda. One of the best collections of the year.
Mindful of Phantoms by Gary Fry (Gray Friar Press) features eighteen ghostly stories, six of them original to the collection. In his introduction, he describes the genesis of the stories.
Madder Mysteries by Reggie Oliver (Ex Occidente Press) is a very attractive volume from a new press that has, in addition to eight stories (several published for the first time), several critical essays, and "curiosities"—a series of amusing vignettes, black and white illustrations by the author throughout, and a lovely frontispiece painting by Joanna Dunham. The stories are uniformly entertaining and most are extraordinarily creepy. Oliver introduces the volume.
Cold to the Touch by Simon Strantzas (Tartarus Press) is the second collection by the author, with thirteen stories, six of them new, all of them quite powerful and dark. With an afterword by the author. Tartarus also published Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories, the first to assemble all of Irving's supernatural fiction in one volume. Also Tales of Terror by Guy de Maupassant selected and translated by Arnold Kellett collecting thirty-two of the author's best tales of terror. The Double Eye by William Fryer Harvey brings together thirty of the author's uncanny tales, including "The Beast With Five Fingers," made into the classic horror movie with Peter Lorre.
Broken on the Wheel of Sex by Jack Ketchum (Overlook Connection Press) is an expanded and more reasonably priced edition of the collection published by Delirium in 2003. It has eighteen stories dubbed the "Stroup" stories written under a pseudonym early in Ketchum's career.
Got To Kill Them All and Other Stories by Dennis Etchison (CD Publications) contains eighteen reprints, some previously uncollected, spanning the author's forty year career. With an introduction by George Clayton Johnson.
Monstrous Affections by David Nickle (Chizine Publications) is this Canadian's first collection, although the stories in it were originally published between 1994 and 2009. That story from 1994, "The Sloan Men," was chosen for the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixth Annual Collection. Michael Rowe provides an introduction to a powerful collection.
Pictures of the Dark by Simon Bestwick (Gray Friar Press) is the author's second collection, following A Hazy Shade of Winter published in 2004. Of the twenty-three stories of supernatural and psychological horror, almost half appear for the first time. The originals are very strong and the collection is highly recommended.
The Darkly Splendid Realm by Richard Gavin (Dark Regions Press) is the author's third collection and showcases thirteen stories, eleven of them appearing for the first time. With an introduction by Laird Barron. The book is available in three editions, all signed by Gavin.
In the Closet, Under the Bed by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe) features fifteen stories, nine original to this nicely varied and very readable collection. Some of the stories explore the intersecting guilt and confusion of men faced with their repressed desire for other men.
A Blood of Killers by Gerard Houarner (Necro Publications) collects thirteen reprints and twelve original dark, intense psychological horror stories, many about the brutal amoral hired assassin called Max and the Beast within him—a darkness that is even more depraved and brutal than he. Although a few of the stories about Max and his missions have story arcs that are a bit too similar, most of the stories are powerful and very readable.
The Catacombs of Fear by John Llewellyn Probert (Gray Friar Press) is the author's entertaining follow-up to his collection, The Faculty of Terror. Five macabre stories are tied together by linking interludes about a reverend given a tour of his new Cathedral post,. All the stories are original to the collection and they're sure to give the reader a chill.
Nachtmahr-Strange Tales by Hanns Heinz Ewers (Side Real Press) (1871–1943) wrote three (vaguely) autobiographical novels and several volumes of short stories. His novels and a few of his stories were translated and published in the 1920s but barring a volume by the Runa Raven press (published 2000) he is largely still unknown to the English speaking world not least because these volumes now command high prices on the second-hand market.
Blanket of White by Amy Grech is an expanded (by two new stories) edition of the author's first collection Apple of My Eye.
Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong (Bantam) collects four novellas, three of which originally were published on the author's website as e-serials, complementing her Otherworld werewolf novel series.
Shards by Australian writer Shane Jiraiya Cummings (Brimstone Press) and illustrated by Andrew J. McKiernan has over thirty pieces of flash fiction, eight published for the first time.
Midnight Grinding by Ronald Kelly (Cemetery Dance) is a first collection of thirty-two stories (two published for the first time) by a veteran writer of southern inflected horror, whose career boomed and busted back between the mid-eighties and the mid-nineties. Some of the reprints were originally published in small press magazines such as 2 AM, Deathrealm, and Eldritch Tales starting in 1988, in Cemetery Dance, and in some high profiles original anthologies.
Putting the Pieces in Place by R. B. Russell (Ex Occidente Press) is an excellent and very satisfying debut collection of five stories of the supernatural, all published for the first time.
The Shadows of Kingston Mills by David B. Silva (Dark Regions Press) is the author's second collection and all but one of the twelve stories appear for the first time. The entertaining stories, a mixture of supernatural and psychological horror, all take place in the imaginary town of the title in Northern California.
Brief Encounters: Da Silva Tales by Chico Kidd is the fourth in a series of self-published chapbooks about the adventures of a Portuguese pirate captain with magical powers. In this volume there are four stories, two published for the first time.
Blood Will Have Its Season by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Hippocampus Press) is an ambitious debut including thirty stories and one long poem, most published for the first time. Although obviously influenced by H. P. Lovecraft and Robert W. Chambers, for the most part Pulver uses their influences to create potent tales of his own. A writer to keep an eye on. S. T. Joshi provides an introduction.
Slices by James A. Moore (Earthling Publications) is the author's entertaining first collection, and includes nine reprints from 1998–2007 plus three new ones and individual story notes.
Taste of Tenderloin by Gene O'Neill(Apex) has eight stories, all taking place in San Francisco's tenderloin district. Three of the stories are published for the first time.
The Monster Within Idea by R. Thomas Riley (Apex) features eighteen stories, with more than half original to the collection.
Remove the Eyes by Ralph Robert Moore (Sentence Publishing) is the first collection by a fine writer, with nine stories, one reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection, and four new stories.
Aftershock and Others: 19 Oddities by F. Paul Wilson (Forge) is a great showcase for Wilson's storytelling, with a variety of supernatural and more naturalistic tales.
Feminine Wiles John Grover (Blu Ph'er Publishing) contains sixteen stories with females as the main characters.
Unhappy Endings by Brian Keene (Delirium) is the author's fourth collection. Some of the stories were originally published in limited editions so this is a boon for Keene fans. Other appear for the first time.
Dark to Be Scared 4: Thirteen More Tales of Terror by Robert D. San Souci (Cricket) are stories for kids. I've never found San Souci's work to be particularly scary or disturbing but perhaps eight-to twelve-year olds would.
Shades of Blood and Shadow by Angeline Hawkes (Dark Regions) has fourteen reprints published between 2002 and 2008 and three originals.
Copping Squid and Other Mythos Tales by Michael Shea (Perilous Press) features eight stories, four of them new. Shea's mythos tales are often shot with humor, despite the awful things happening to his characters, and always imaginative.
Mysteries of the Worm: Early Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by Robert Bloch edited by Robert M. Price (Chaosium) contains twenty stories, an overall introduction and individual story introductions by Price, and an afterword by Bloch written in 1981.
The Day the Leash Gave Way by Trent Zelazny (Fantastic Books) is a first collection, with twenty-four horror stories by a young writer who has nice way with the vernacular but is a bit overly influenced by Joe R. Lansdale. Four of the stories appear for the first time.
Martyrs and Monsters by Robert Dunbar (DarkHart) has fourteen stories, running the gamut in subject matter from noir and urban legends to the origins of zombies and vampires. All are all reprints.
Broken Symmetries by Steve Redmond (Dog Horn Publishing) is the first collection by a writer of mostly satirical horror. Four of the twenty-six stories were originally published in 2009.
Fresh Blood: Tales From the Speculative Graveyard by Lawrence R. Dagstine (Sam's Dot) has thirteen stories, six original to the collection.
They That Dwell in Dark Places by Daniel McGachey (Ghost House/Dark Regions Press) is a collection of traditional and nicely creepy ghost stories by a Scottish writer new to me. Half the thirteen stories appear for the first time, one was published in an anthology in 2009, the rest were published in UK anthologies from 2006 to 2008. For those who enjoy M. R. James, McGachey's fiction might be your cup of tea. Included are story notes by the author.
Broken Skin by Nate Southard (Thunderstorm Books) is a beautiful looking limited edition hardcover of fifteen horror stories, nine published for the first time by a writer whose storytelling skills are growing by leaps and bounds.
Skeleton in the Closet and Other Stories by Robert Bloch (Subterranean Press) is a collection of sixteen previously uncollected stories and is edited by Stefan Dziemianowicz.
Dark Entities by David Dunwoody (Dark Regions Press) presents eleven stories, five of them published for the first time.
Slice of Life by Paul Haines (The Mayne Press) features seventeen of the award-winning Australian author's visceral, often profane stories. With one original.
Necroscope: Harry and the Pirates: And Other Tales from the Lost Years by Brian Lumley (Tor) has six Lovecraftian tales, three of them original novellas.
The Dream of X and Other Fantastic Visions by William Hope Hodgson (Night Shade) is the fifth and final volume of The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson series. Edited by Douglas A. Anderson and with an introduction by Ross E. Lockhart.
Waking the Dead and Other Horror Stories by Yvette Tan (Anvil) feature ten stories in this debut collection by an award-winning Filipino writer.
The Edge of the County and Other Stories by Trevor Denyer (Immediate Directions) collects fourteen stories, four new.
Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars by Cody Goodfellow (Swallowdown Press) is an interesting mix of fifteen psychological, supernatural and sf/horror stories by a promising new horror writer.
Fugue State by Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press) features nineteen, surreal, strange, and sometimes extremely dark stories, a prolific short story writer under appreciated in the horror community. Several of the stories in the collection were given Honorable Mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Returning My Sister's Face by Eugie Foster (Norilana Books) features twelve stories published between 2005 and 2008 by a promising new fantasist. The Haunted Heart and Other Tales by Jameson Currier (Lethe Press) is the author's third collection. The twelve stories, six published for the first time are focused on the gay experience and most, despite being ghost stories, have only minimal elements of horror, or even fantasy. You Might Sleep by Nick Mamatas (Prime) is an intriguing mixed bag of twenty-two pieces of sf/f/horror/political/satirical fiction. Four stories are original to the volume. Scenting the Dark by Mary Robinette Kowal (Subterranean) is a short collection of eight reprinted stories written by a winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, on the basis of her short fiction. Two of the eight stories are dark. A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti (Twelfth Planet Press) is the author's first collection and showcases twenty-one stories, six of them new. Some are horror, others not. But most are very fine. Everland and Other Stories by Paul Witcover (PS) has twelve stories of science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror—five of them new and all are good. With an introduction by Elizabeth Hand. The Nightfarers by Mark Valentine (Ex Occidente Press) from an ambitious new publisher out of Romania, contains fourteen stories that are more in the weird and gothic tradition than outright horror but the collection is a very good example of its kind. Eight of the stories are published for the first time. Ugly Man by Dennis Cooper (Harper Perennial) has eighteen, mostly original, very brief stories about gay men. Some of the stories are as dark and powerful as his early novels, Frisk and Closer, both of which were obsessed with sex and death. Horror Story and Other Horror Stories by Robert Boyczuk (Chizine Publications) has nineteen short stories, five appearing for the first time in this debut mixing science fiction, surreal fiction, and dark fictions, most dealing with love and loss. Scaring the Crows by Gregory Miller (Stonegarden.net) features twenty-one stories and vignettes of fantasy and dark fantasy, all but two published for the first time. The Sound of Dead Hands Clapping by Mark Rich (Gothic Press) features six stories previously published in small press magazines between 1993 and 2000. The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny (NESFAS) is a good-looking hardcover six volume series collected all Zelazny's short fiction and poetry. The series was edited by David G. Grubbs, Christopher S. Kovacs, and Ann Crimmins. It contains introductions and tributes by Robert Silverberg, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Walter Jon Williams, Gardner Dozois, David G. Hartwell, Neil Gaiman, George R. R. Martin, and other sf/f luminaries. Although best known for his Amber series, much of his short fiction includes dark fantasy and sometimes horror. Zoo by Otsuichi translated by Terry Gallagher (Haika Sora) showcases eleven weird, fantastic, horrific, and just plain odd stories by the thirty-two-year old Japanese writer. A Robe of Feathers and Other Stories by Thersa Matsuura (Counterpoint) is a masterful debut collection of surreal, sometimes horrific but always richly Japanese stories. Eleven of the seventeen stories appear for the first time. Pumpkin Teeth by Tom Cardamone (Lethe Press) is a mixture of thirteen stories of fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror. Five of the stories appear for the first time. Objects of Worship by Claude Lalumière (Chizine Publications) features twelve strong stories of science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror. Two stories appear for the first time. The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction (Tor) features thirty-one of Wolfe's science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories published between 1970 and 1999, including many of my personal favorites, including two that were in the horror half of Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Collected Stories by Lewis Shiner (Subterranean Press) is a gorgeous retrospective of forty-one stories by an underrated writer who has been writing stories of sf/f/h for over thirty years. With story notes by the author. We'll Always Have Paris by Ray Bradbury (William Morrow) has twenty-two new stories from the master of the fantastic. Memories of the Future by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky translated from the Russian by Joanne Trumbull (NYRB) has seven stories written in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, most satirical, some dark. There Once Was a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor's Baby: Scary Fairy Tales by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya translated by Keith Gessen and Anna Summers (Penguin) is a very weird collection of nineteen stories by a writer who has won the Russian equivalent of the Booker Prize. The Creepy Girl and Other Stories by Janet Mitchell (Starcherone) features fifteen disturbing stories.
Horror 101: The A-list of Horror Films and Monster Movies edited by Aaron Christiansen (Midnight Marquee) is a collection of essays covering movies in detail, alphabetically, from all over the world. Weird Words: A Lovecraft Lexicon by Dan Clores (Hippocampus Press's) is a hefty trade paperback covering words/names from Abbadon to Zmargad, defining them, showing their derivation, and giving examples of their usage. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunted Collaboration by Gregory William Mank (McFarland and Company) is a dual biography expanded by half from its original edition published in 1990. The new edition has more interviews, new photographs, and a revised filmography. Twilight and Other Zones: the Dark Worlds of Richard Matheson edited by Stanley Wiater and Matthew R. Bradley (Citadel) is a collection of essays, tributes, afterwords and introductions to Matheson's work, plus extensive bibliography. Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King by Lisa Rogak (Thomas Dunne Books) is the first biography of the most famous practitioner of horror fiction alive today. The Television Horrors of Dan Curtis by Jeff Thompson (McFarland), about the director, producer, and writer of such classics as The Night Stalker and Dark Shadows TV series. The Edogawa Rampo Reader by Edogawa Rampo and translated by Seth Jacobowitz (Kurodahan Press) is an anthology of stories and essays by the grandmaster of Japanese crime and horror fiction. In the Land of Long Fingernails: A Gravedigger in the Age of Aquarius by Charles Wilkins (Skyhorse publishing) is a first person account of five months in the author's life during the summer of 1969, when he worked as a gravedigger in one of Toronto, Canada's largest cemeteries. Zombie Holocaust: How the Living Dead Devoured Pop Culture by David Flint (Plexus) is about the zombie in history, religion, and ultimately in movies. The Zombie Handbook: How to Identify the Living Dead and Survive the Coming Zombie Apocalypse by Rob Sacchetto (Ulysses Press) includes advice on everything zombie from feeding habits and favorite sexual positions to surviving and fighting the brain-eaters. Phantom Variations by Ann C. Hall (McFarland) examines the themes and variations evolving from the classic Gaston Leroux 1910 novel. Jack Hill: The Exploitation and Blaxploitation Master, Film by Film by Calum Waddell (McFarland) interviews Hill himself, Roger Corman, and others about the work of the man who wrote and directed such low budge movies as Spider Baby, Foxy Brown, and Switchblade Sisters, breaking racial and gender barriers. Beyond Hammer: British Horror Cinema Since 1970 by James Rose (Auteur) provides new critical readings of several British horror films and contextualizes them vis-à-vis British themes and history. Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street With the Man of Your Dreams by Robert Englund and Alan Goldsher (Pocket) is a memoir of the veteran actor who became a horror icon in 1984 by playing the villain in Wes Craven's The Nightmare on Elm Street. Bite: A Vampire Handbook by Kevin Jackson (Portobello Books Ltd) is a relatively brief history of vampires in history, literature, and the cinema. The Pleasure and Pain of Cult Horror Films: An Historical Survey by Bartlomie Paszylk (McFarland) is entertaining and informative, covering almost ninety movies from The Phantom Carriage (1921) to something called William Winkler's Frankenstein vs. the Creature from Blood Cove (2005). Queens of Scream: The New Blood edited by David Byron (BearManor) features a series of brief, lightweight interviews with contemporary scream queens, originally published in NVF Magazine. Ghostly Tales of Route 66 by Connie Corcoran Wilson (Quixote Press) gives a taste of some of the weird stops along a road made famous by a song and a TV series. Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues edited by Loren Rhodes (Scribner) compiles some of the best true stories from Morbid Curiosity, an underground magazine of the "unsavory, unwise, unorthodox, and unusual," published 1997–2006. Inside the Dark Tower Series: Art, Evil and Intertexuality in the Stephen King Novels by Patrick McAleer (McFarland) looks at questions of genre and art. Stephen King Goes to the Movies by Stephen King (Pocket) is a collection of five of the author's stories that were made into movies and his commentary about each. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vampires by Jay Stevenson(Penguin/Alpha) is a general guide to vampire lore and popular media. Stephen King: The Nonfiction by Rocky Wood and Justin Brooks (CD Publications) is a guide to all of King's known nonfiction with synopses and criticism of over 560 published and twenty -four previously unpublished pieces. They Bite: Endless Cravings of Supernatural Predators by Jonathan Maberry and David F. Kramer (Citadel) is a compendium about various monsters. Writers Workshop of Horror edited by Michael Knost (Woodland Press) contains nuts and bolts and more general advice about writing horror, plus interviews with some horror notables such as Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Clive Barker, F. Paul Wilson, and Tom Piccirilli. The Big Book of Necon edited by Bob Booth (CD Publications) includes stories, poems, essays, and art most published in program books for Necon, the Northeast Regional Fantasy and Horror Convention. With an introduction by Douglas E. Winter, and many former guests' contributions. The Unknown Lovecraft by Kenneth W. Faig, Jr (Hippocampus) is a collection of thirteen essays about Lovecraft's family, life and others close to him and how they affected his work. Classics & Contemporaries: Some Notes on Horror Fiction by S. T. Joshi (Hippocampus) is a sampling of the reviews Joshi has published over thirty years. On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears by Stephen T. Asma (Oxford University Press) is about the fascination of humans with monsters over the centuries. Asma studies the symbolic meaning of monsters and their psychological function. Illustrated by the author. The New Horror Handbook by A.S. Berman (BearManor) is a series of interviews with ten twenty-first century directors who have rebelled against the "cartoonish" character of '80s horror monsters like Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers and moved on to more realistic and darker material.
Star*Line, the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Society edited by Marge Simon, is a long-running bi-monthly poetry magazine. In 2009 there were notable dark poems in it by David Kopaska-Merkel and Marcie Lynn Tentchoff. Mythic Delirium, edited by Mike Allen, publishes two issues a year. In 2009 there was strong dark poem by J. C. Runolfson. The Magazine of Speculative Poetry edited by Roger Dutcher is published twice a year. In 2009 there was excellent dark poetry by Jennifer Crow and Spanish poet Alfredo Álamo. Dreams and Nightmares, edited by David C. Kopaska-Merkel, has been publishing two or three issues annually since January 1986. In 2009 there were notable dark poems by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff and Wade German. Goblin Fruit edited by Amal El-Mohtar, Jessica P. Wick, and Oliver Hunter is an excellent online quarterly for fantasy and dark fantasy poetry. There were notable poems by too many of the contributors to list here. Highly recommended.
The 2009 Rhysling Anthology edited by Drew Morse (The Science Fiction Poetry Association in cooperation with Prime Books) collects the best science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry of 2008. Spores From Sharnoth and Other Madnesses by Leigh Blackmore (P'rea Press) came out from an Australian Press in 2008 and contains over forty short poems, more than half published for the first time. Featuring a preface by S. T. Joshi. JoSelle Vanderhooft had two books of poetry published in 2009: The Memory Palace, (Norilana Books) is not really horror but the second Fathers, Daughters, Ghosts, & Monsters by JoSelle Vanderhooft (vanZeno Press), is far darker. The latter is illustrated by Marge Simon. Barfodder: Poetry Written in Dark Bars and Questionable Cafes by Rain Graves (Cemetery Dance) collects over one hundred new dark poems by the award-winning author. For anyone interested in dark poetry, this is the collection for you. Chimeric Machines by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing) showcases thirty-six poetry of mixed-genres, some very personal.
There was such an explosion of single author chapbooks in 2009 from small presses that I'm dismayed I didn't have the time to read most of them. But here are some:
The Harlequin and the Train by Paul G. Tremblay (Necropolitan Press) is an expansion of a story originally published in 2004. Surreal, complex, and extraordinarily creepy, it focuses on Rudy, a commuter train engineer, who after only a few months on the job, hits a harlequin clown standing on the tracks. The aftermath is shocking and unexpected and embroils Rudy in a web of despair and fear. There's some experimentation with structure that for me, neither enhances nor detracts from the powerful core of the tale.
The Witnesses are Gone by Joel Lane (PS) is a bleak novella about a man whose passive anger at contemporary politics and personal malaise combined with the discovery of a strange video tape draws him into a dark, Lovecraftian abyss. While this sort of story has been done before (indeed, Lane credits the anonymously written "The Vanishing Life and Films of Emmanuel Escobada" for the core idea) Lane's writing is compelling enough to make the idea his own. With an introduction by Conrad Williams.
Shrike by Quentin S. Crisp (PS) is about a bored, middle-aged Englishman who visits a widow with whom he's acquainted in a small Japanese town. The man is depressed about life in general and about a failed love affair in particular and becomes unhealthily interested in the bodies of lizards and toads that are displayed in the garden by an elusive shrike. Although the language is perfect, the introspection and lack of momentum is may not entice most readers of dark fiction. Introduction by Lisa Tuttle.
From Bad Moon: The Hunger of Empty Vessels by Scott Edelman is about a man whose bitter divorce has separated him from his adored emotionally disturbed son. Then one day while spying on his son at school he encounters a stranger who seems to get joy from the pain and upset that surrounds the boy; The Lucid Dreaming by Lisa Morton is a well-told story about a young violent paranoid schizophrenic who because of the medication she's on is one of the few people not affected by a plague of waking dreams and nightmares that wreaks havoc on society.
British writer Nicholas Royle has started publishing again with the imprint Nightjar Press. His last publishing venture was Egerton Press in the early1990s, which published the original anthologies Darklands and Darklands 2 and Joel Lane's first collection The Earth Wire. Nightjar Press has been created to publish two fine chapbooks of the short stories: "The Safe Children" by newcomer Tom Fletcher about a desperate unemployed man who takes a job at a mysterious building as night watchman and What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night by Michael Marshall Smith, a deceptively simple tale about a child waking up in the night. The latter is reprinted herein.
Mama Fish by Rio Youers (Shroud) is a strong novella that begins in a such a way that seems predictable, but becomes anything but when a student at Harlequin High decides to befriend the class weirdo. The boy's determined curiosity to know more about his classmate totally changes his own life. Youers plays nicely with the reader, weaving a suspenseful and very satisfying tale.
Horn by Peter M. Ball (Twelfth Planet Press) is an entertaining fantasy/noir detective story taking place in a world in which magic abounds. A resurrected private eye is persuaded to investigate the ugly murder of a fourteen-year-old girl.
Roadkill by Robert Shearman and Siren Beat by Tansy Rayner Roberts (Twelfth Planet Press) are two excellent novellas in one chapbook. Shearman won the World Fantasy Award a couple of years ago for his first collection Tiny Deaths. Roadkill is as much a character study as a tale of an uneasy couple encounter with the strange during a dirty weekend. Roberts' story is more straightforward but just as entertaining as the wounded "Guardian" of Hobart, Tasmania must protect her people from two sirens on the prowl.
The Rolling Darkness Revue 2009: Bartlett: A Centenary Symposium is a lovely little chapbook purportedly honoring a little-known Edwardian writer of ghost tales, Thomas St. John Bartlett. It includes his biography and an introduction by Barbara Roden. Best of all though are three stories. One each by Glen Hirshberg and Peter Atkins, and a third by Bartlett (in actuality, by Hirshberg and Atkins). The Hirshberg is reprinted herein.
Cruel Summer by Matt Venne (Tasmaniac) is a coming of age story set against the backdrop of the series of killings committed by "The Night Stalker" in the summer of 1985. Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale.
Death Metal by Armand Rosamilia (Sam's Dot) is a fast-moving novella about a former writer/musician of "death metal" whose attempt to get out of the world he left behind is stymied by the kidnapping of his daughter.
A Pair of Little Things by John Little (Bad Moon Books) is made up of two stories—one barely published as a bonus by a publisher that went under and the other originally published in an anthology.
For You Faustine by Allyson Bird (Pendragon Press) was published to coincide with the British Fantasy Convention. A mother who lives in the sea goes to Coney Island to avenge her daughter's murder.
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Zombies! A Book of Zombie Christmas Carols by Michael P. Spradlin (HarperCollins) is, surprise! very silly. With cheesy black and white illustrations throughout by Jeff Wiegel, over two dozen traditional carols are manhandled into songs for zombies, such as "I Saw Mommy Chewing Santa Claus" and "Deck the Halls with Parts of Wally." Need I say more? It's either your taste or not.
Dracula by Bram Stoker, pop-ups by David Hawcock, art by Anthony Williams, story by Claire Brompton (Universe) opens with an in your face pop-up of Dracula's castle plus fold-ins on the left and right page edges with the story and very small pop-ups of characters and creatures. Each subsequent paged is laid out similarly. The illustrations are richly gothic in the EC comics tradition, the paper engineering is ingenious, and the adaptation of the story does the job. It would make a great gift for kids or adults who enjoy pop-up books and horror.
The Late Fauna of Early North America: The Art of Scott Musgrove (Last Gasp) is a cornucopia of odd fantasy beasts some of which have a giant eyed cuteness that belies their utter creepiness. Think of surreal animal versions of the Keane children mixed with Japanese anime and you may have an idea of Musgrove's vision.
Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D by Yoshitaka Amana (Dark Horse) is a four hundred page treasure of the full color art Amano created to accompany the series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi. The collection includes a story by Kikuchi.
A Time to Cast Away Stones by Tim Powers (Charnel House) is a beautiful, limited edition of a novella commissioned by the publisher to celebrate the house's twentieth anniversary. This imaginative dark fantasy was inspired by the discovery of the notebook with which Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned, and is related to Powers' novel The Stress of Her Regard, the first book Charnel House ever published.
Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage 1880–1930 by John Harley Warner and James M. Edmonson (Blast Books) is a marvelous photographic exploration and social history of the education of American doctors. Many of the 138 photographs were taken by the students posing with the cadavers.