Mixed-Genre Anthologies
Clockwork Phoenix 3: New Tales of Beauty and Strangeness edited by Mike Allen (Norilana Books) is a notable addition to the series with fifteen stories, some dark. The best of those are by Gregory Frost, Gemma Files, Georgina Bruce, and C. S. E. Cooney. Los Angeles Noir 2: The Classics edited by Denise Hamilton (Akashic Books) has reprints by fifteen writers including James Ellroy, Leigh Brackett, Chester Himes, James M. Cain, Walter Mosley, and others. Son of Retro Pulp Tales edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Keith Lansdale (Subterranean Press) is ideal for fans of pulp fiction with ten original (and one reprint by Harlan Ellison) science fiction, fantasy, and horror adventure tales, with the strongest by Joe R. Lansdale and Cherie Priest. Stories edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio (William Morrow) is composed of twenty-seven stories by science fiction, fantasy, horror, mystery, and mainstream writers. The intent is two-fold: show (yet again) that good writers write good stories, no matter what genre (or not) they write in. And that the success of a story is to get the reader to turn the page. So how well does the book succeed with its self-imposed challenge? There’s a surprising lack of verve and voice that makes a story memorable and most I forgot as soon as I read them. However, some are memorable (not all horror): those by Joe R. Lansdale, Jeffrey Ford, Al Sarrantonio, Roddy Doyle, Lawrence Block, Neil Gaiman, and particularly Elizabeth Hand’s (which is barely fantastical). More Stories from the Twilight Zone edited by Carol Serling (Tor) features eighteen original stories (and one reprint) of fantasy and dark fantasy inspired by the classic television series. Sprawl edited by Alisa Krasnostein (Twelfth Planet Press) is an excellent mixed-genre anthology of seventeen stories and one poem, with standouts of dark fiction by Paul Haines, Kaaron Warren, Simon Brown, Dirk Flinthart, Ben Peek, and Angela Slatter, plus excellent non-horror stories by Anna Tambour and Cat Sparks. The Dark End of the Street edited by Jonathan Santlofer and S. J. Rozan (Bloomsbury) showcases a strong selection of nineteen new crime stories usually tinged with sex. The darkest are by Lynn Freed, Jonathan Lethem, Val McDermid, Abraham Rodriguez, Jr., and S. J. Rozan. Songs of Love and Death edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Gallery Books) is an enjoyable original anthology of science fiction, fantasy, and horror with seventeen stories by mostly bestselling authors. Varied in tone and subject and most of the stories are quite readable. The strongest dark stories are by Neil Gaiman, M. L. N. Hanover, and Marjorie M. Liu. The Company He Keeps edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers is volume 22/23 of the magazineturned-anthology from PS Publishing. The stories run the gamut, including science fiction, fantasy, surrealism, ghost stories, and horror. The strongest of the darker stories (some mixed with sf) are by Chris Beckett, Steve Rasnic Tem, Gregory Norminton, James Cooper, Peter Hardy, Jack Ketchum, Don Webb, Joel Lane, Catherine J. Gardner, and Lucius Shepard. The Best of Talebones edited by Patrick Swenson (Fairwood) is a tribute to a consistently interesting small press magazine that published science fiction, fantasy and horror for thirty-nine issues. Requiems for the Departed edited by Gerard Brennan and Mike Stone (Morrigan Books) is an all-original anthology of crime stories based in Ireland, with some of the stories containing supernatural elements. For a crime/suspense anthology, some of the stories are surprisingly devoid of plot, suspense, or denouement. The best are by Arlene Hunt, John Grant, and Stuart Neville. Null Immortalis, Nemonymous Ten is the last volume in the experimental series Des Lewis has been publishing over the past several years. Scott Tullis won a competition to be named in each of the twenty-six stories of Null Immortalis and so he is, sometimes as a major character, more often in passing. The best darker stories are by Reggie Oliver, Stephen Bacon, Tim Nickels, Rachel Kendall, Marge Simon, S. D. Tullis, Joel Lane, Daniel Pearlman, and Gary Fry. Warriors edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (Tor) mostly features historical and contemporary fantasy, but a few stories of psychological horror might appeal to aficionados of the dark. There are notable stories by Lawrence Block, David Ball, James Rollins, Steven Saylor, and Peter S. Beagle. Kiss Me Deadly edited by Trisha Telep (Running Press Teens) has thirteen tales of paranormal love for young adults. The best is Daniel Waters’s powerful, horrific, and poignant tale of the zombie-like revival of teens who died in a car accident. Bites of Passion edited by Cecelia Tan (Red Silk Editions) is an anthology of eight stories of vampire erotica. Crimewave Eleven: Ghosts edited by Andy Cox (TTA Press) is the first volume published since 2008 of the original mystery/crime anthology series that evolved from the magazine Crimewave. This one’s filled with fourteen fine stories. Those that are the darkest and might be of most interest to horror readers are by Alison J. Littlewood, Nina Allan, Ilsa J. Bick, Richard Butner, Christopher Fowler, Joel Lane, and Mikal Trimm. Darkness on the Edge: Tales Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen (PS) is an interesting concept anthology, with stories a motley mix of genres. The dark stories that worked best for me were by Guy Adams, Kurt Dinan, and Lawrence C. Connolly. Scenes from the Second Storey edited by Amanda Pillar and Pete Kempshall (Morrigan Books) is another original anthology of stories inspired by music. This time the band is The God Machine, an alternative rock band from San Diego, popular in the early ’90s, and each of the thirteen contributors takes a track from the album Scenes from the Second Storey. The best of the darker stories are by Robert Hood, Felicity Dowker, and Andrew J. McKiernan. Never Again: Weird Fiction Against Racism and Fascism edited by Allyson Bird and Joel Lane (Gray Friar Press) presents twenty-three reprints and original stories about various kinds of intolerance. Some of the stories are a bit heavy-handed and a few are so oblique that it's difficult to see how they relate to the theme, but on the whole it’s a good anthology. The best of the originals is by Alison J. Littlewood. Sympathy for the Devil edited by Tim Pratt (Night Shade) has thirty-five reprints about the devil, with a roster including Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Natalie Babbitt, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Holly Black. Classics Mutilated edited by Jeff Connor (IDW) features thirteen new mashups of classics of literature with horror tropes, creating a strange brew of concepts and stories that sometimes work, sometimes don’t—and rarely generate disquiet or dread. The best are by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Joe R. Lansdale, and Nancy A. Collins. Tesseracts Fourteen: Strange Canadian Stories edited by John Robert Colombo and Brett Alexander Savory (Edge) is an annual—this one had very little horror except for stories by Michael Lorenson, Catherine MacLeod, Susan Forest, and Leah Silverman. The End of the World edited by Martin H. Greenberg (Skyhorse) has nineteen reprints about the apocalypse. Sing Sorrow Sorrow: Dark and Chilling Tales edited by Gwen Davies (Seren) are twenty-two mysterious and sometimes weird tales with a fairy tale/mythic feel but only a few are dark or chilling. The strongest are by Anne Lauppe-Dunbar, Imogene Rhia Harrad, Deborah Kay Davies, Niall Griffiths, Cynan Jones, Roshi Fernando, and Tristan Hughes. Fangs for the Mammaries edited by Esther Friesner (Baen) is an original anthology about suburban vampires. Best American Noir of the Century edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) contains thirty-nine stories published between 1923 (starting with “Spurs,” by Tod Robbins, the source material for Tod Browning’s classic film Freaks) and 2007. Contributors include Harlan Ellison, Charles Beaumont, David Morrell, Patricia Highsmith, Ed Gorman, Jeffery Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates, and others. My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me: Forty New Fairy Tales edited by Kate Bernheimer (Penguin) has both retold and brand new fairy tales, and is a mixture of reprints and originals. Some of the contributors who often write genre fiction are Brian Evenson, Karen Joy Fowler, Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, Joyce Carol Oates, and Katherine Vaz. With a foreword by Gregory Maguire. Wilde Stories 2010: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction edited by Steve Berman (Lethe Press) has twelve stores of sf/f/h (including “Strappado” by Laird Barron). Kaiki: Uncanny Tales from Japan, Volume 2: Country Delights selected and introduced by Higashi Masao (Kurodahan Press) with a foreword by Robert Weinberg and Masao about the rise of Japanese weird fiction. The volume covers 1776 to 2005 with ten stories.