Mixed-Genre Collections
The Hair Wreath and Other Stories by Halli Villegas (Chizine Publications) is an impressive debut collection of magic realism, dark fantasy, and even one eerie and creepy science fiction ghost story. Although a few of the stories are open ended in a way that suggests that the author didn’t know how to finish them, this certainly heralds a fresh new voice. All but one of these sixteen short stories are published for the first time. The extremely talented Angela Slatter had two collections published in 2010: Sourdough (Tartarus) and The Girl with No Hands (and Other Tales) (Ticonderoga Publications). Many of Slatter’s stories are dark retellings of classic fairy tales, following in the tradition of Angela Carter and Tanith Lee. In The Girl with No Hands (and Other Tales) there are sixteen stories, three original to the volume. Sourdough has sixteen stories, only four previously published. Each stands alone, even though the stories and characters are often related to previous stories. Going Back by Tony Richards (Dark Regions Press) is an expansion of a collection that was originally published in 2007. This edition has four additional stories written and published since then. Tales from the Fragrant Harbour by Garry Kilworth (PS Publishing) is divided into two sections—one filled with non-genre stories and the other half supernatural stories. The horror stories have all been published previously, the mainstream stories are new. Kilworth writes really well about different places and cultures. Holiday by the remarkable M. Rickert (Golden Gryphon) is a beauty of a book with illustrations for each of the eleven holiday-themed stories (the one original—quite dark—is reprinted herein). Rickert’s work has mostly been published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and runs the gamut of fantastic genres including science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror. Although her stories are sometimes grim, they’re always worth reading. Several of the stories were chosen for Best of the Year anthologies. How They Were Found by Matt Bell (Keyhole Press) is an impressive debut by a writer better known in literary circles than in genre. Of the thirteen stories, three were first published during 2010 and those three are good and dark. A name to look out for. Animythical Tales by Sarah Totton (Fantastic Books) is a first collection of ten stories (two published for the first time) by a promising newcomer whose work has been published in such magazines and anthologies as Realms of Fantasy, Black Static, Writers of the Future, and The Nine Muses. The Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer (Tachyon Publications) is an absorbing mixed bag of fourteen stories and novellas including one powerful original about a talking rabbit. The Mascarons of the Late Empire & Other Studies by Mark Valentine (Passport Levant) features four original weird tales. Boarding Instructions by the entertaining master of whimsy, Ray Vukcevich (Fairwood Press), features thirty-three stories, a few of which are dark, one new to the collection. SIN & ashes by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Hippocampus Press) is a deliciously varied and ambitious collection of mostly new stories and poems of dark fantasy, weird fiction, and horror by a writer who is quickly making a name for himself. One poem is reprinted herein. The Man Who Collected Machen & Other Stories by Mark Samuels (Ex Occidente Press) is, overall, full of weird rather than horrific stories but is a treat for readers with that interest. More than half of the twelve stories appear for the first time. The Ammonite Violin and Others by Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean Press) collects twenty pieces of varying lengths and mixed genre, all originally published between December 2005–October 2007 in the Sirenia Digest, Kiernan’s monthly email subscription journal. This volume is a wonderful peek into the creative mind of a major dark fantasy/ horror writer. A Web of Black Widows by Scott William Carter (PS) is #7 in the publisher’s mini-collection series and has six stories, four new, by a promising new writer. The Library of Forgotten Books by Rjurik Davidson (PS), #8 in the publisher’s mini-collection series, presents six dark fantasy/sf stories in this upand-coming Australian’s first collection. Four of the six stories are new. Two new Ray Bradbury collections (of previously collected material) were published by Subterranean Press and PS. There is no overlap, although “Long After Midnight” appears in both volumes (as a novella in the Subterranean Press edition and as a short story in the PS edition). A Pleasure to Burn by Ray Bradbury (Subterranean Press) collects sixteen stories related to Fahrenheit 451 and although it’s got gorgeous jacket art by Joseph Mugnaini, there are no editorial notes, no introduction, and not even copyright or first publication information. PS’s Long After Midnight has twenty-two stories, each with a black & white illustration, but again no copyright/first publication information. However, there is an introduction by Ramsey Campbell. Florida Gothic Stories by Vicki Hendricks (Kitsune Books) is the first collection of a writer known for her fierce, brutal noir novels including Miami Purity, Iguana Love, and Voluntary Madness. Dead Sea Fruit by Kaaron Warren (Ticonderoga Publications) is the perfect showcase for one of the brightest stars in recent Australian dark fiction, whether it be science fiction or out-and-out horror. The twenty-seven stories aptly demonstrate Warren’s range. Two new stories are included. Unpleasant Tales by Brendan Connell (Eibonvale) has twenty-two stories, most reprints, from magazines and anthologies including Redsine, Dark Horizon, Polyphony, Strange Tales, Nemonymous, and Darkness Rising. Ventriloquism by Catherynne M. Valente (PS) is, surprisingly, the author’s first collection, surprising because Valente seems remarkably prolific and because she’s been writing marvelous short stories and novels for several years. The book features thirty-two stories published between 2005 and 2010. Several of the stories are dark, all are luscious. Surprising too that The Poison Eaters and Other Stories by Holly Black (Small Beer Press/Big Mouth House) is this author’s first collection, as she’s played an important part in young adult literature for at least a decade. The twelve stories are mostly reprints (two originals, one a very good horror tale) and they are by turn clever, funny, and scary (sometimes all three at the same time). With illustrations by Theo Black. Leviathan Wept and Other Stories by Daniel Abraham (Subterranean Press) is the author’s first collection and has nine stories, one original. Abraham writes sf, fantasy, and horror. Fungus of the Heart by Jeremy Shipp (Raw Dog Screaming Press) is the author’s second collection. These thirteen stories (seven published for the first time) are more surreal and weird than dark or horrific and occasionally the strangeness veers into anarchy, creating incoherence rather than an actual believable story. Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories by Fritz Leiber, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Charles L. Brown (Night Shade Books), is, at seventeen stories, just a sampling of the great short story writer’s oeuvre in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The stories, published between 1941 and 1983, were chosen to demonstrate Leiber’s range in subject matter and tone. Neil Gaiman provides an introduction. Boneyard Babies by Alan M. Clark (Lazy Fascist) has sixteen short stories that are just too goofy or nonsensical to be very horrific. More than half are new, some are collaborations. Beneath the Surface of Things by Kevin Wallace (Bards & Sages) has twenty-four brief tales, fifteen new, and some exceedingly dark. Slow Sculpture, Volume XII of The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon, covering 1970–1972, contains the stories from Sturgeon is Alive and Well, adding two others, one previously unpublished. Case and the Dreamer, Volume XIII of The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon covers 1973–1983, adding one previously uncollected story from 1960 and three previously unpublished stories (both are from North Atlantic Books). Although most of Sturgeon’s short fiction writing is science fiction and fantasy, some of his stories are very dark indeed. Cate Gardner’s collection, Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits and other curious things (Strange Publications) is filled with twenty-four exceedingly strange tales of an alien with a fishbowl head, an undead carnival, mechanical firefighters, and other marvels. Sometimes dark, certainly original. Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical by Robert Shearman (Big Finish-2009) as with all his fiction, provides an interesting mix of the humorous and grotesque in these eighteen new and reprinted stories. A Life on Paper by George-Olivier Châteaureynaud, translated from the French by Edward Gauvin (Small Beer Press), presents twenty-three whimsical, strange, and darkly fantastic tales.