BEST HORROR OF THE YEAR, V3 edited by HWA Member Ellen Datlow
Editor: Ellen Datlow
A doctor makes a late-night emergency call to an exclusive California riding school; a professor inherits a mysterious vase… and a strange little man; a struggling youth discovers canine horrors lurking beneath the streets of Albany; a sheriff ruthlessly deals with monstrosities plaguing his rural town; a pair of animal researchers makes a frightening discovery at a remote site; a sweet little girl entertains herself… by torturing faeries; a group of horror aficionados attempts to track down an unfinished film by a reclusive cult director; a man spends a chill night standing watch over his uncle’s body; a girl looks to understand her place in a world in which zombies have overrun the earth; a murderous pack of nuns stalks a pair of Halloween revelers…
What frightens us, what unnerves us? What causes that delicious shiver of fear to travel the lengths of our spines? It seems the answer changes every year. Every year the bar is raised; the screw is tightened. Ellen Datlow knows what scares us; the seventeen stories included in this anthology were chosen from magazines, webzines, anthologies, literary journals, and single author collections to represent the best horror of the year.
Legendary editor Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft Unbound, Tails of Wonder and Imagination), winner of multiple Hugo, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy awards, joins Night Shade Books in presenting The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Three.
Table of Contents:
Summation 2010 by Ellen Datlow
At the Riding School by Cody Goodfellow
Mr. Pigsny by Reggie Oliver
City of the Dog by John Langan
Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls by Brian Hodge
Lesser Demons by Norman Partridge
When the Zombies Win by Karina Sumner-Smith
–30– by Laird Barron
Fallen Boys by Mark Morris
Was She Wicked? Was She Good? by M. Rickert
The Fear by Richard Harland
Till the Morning Comes by Stephen Graham Jones
Shomer by Glen Hirshberg
Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside by Christopher Fowler
The Obscure Bird by Nicholas Royle
Transfiguration by Richard Christian Matheson
The Days of Flaming Motorcycles by Catherynne M. Valente
The Folding Man Joe R. Lansdale
Just Another Desert Night With Blood by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
Black and White Sky by Tanith Lee
At Night When the Demons Come by Ray Cluley
The Revel by John Langan
In the third volume of this annual series, famed editor Datlow brings together 17 stories published in 2010 in a variety of sources both popular and obscure. In Cody Goodfellow’s “At the Riding School,” a veterinarian makes a strange house call at a girls’ school. Catherynne M. Valente’s “The Days of Flaming Motorcycles,” one of several zombie stories, sketches the life of the only living woman among the undead horde. John Langan uses self-conscious narrative to twist the werewolf story in “The Revel.” The usual lists of honorable mentions and award-winners and a thoughtful assessment of the field will encourage readers to seek out the year’s other notable horror stories. As always, Datlow delivers a top-notch anthology with a nice balance of new and established writers. –Publishers Weekly
But it’s diversity, not sameness, that defines the 140,000 words of well-crafted, ambitious fiction that accompany Ellen Datlow’s usual thorough summary of the year in horror fiction. Fans of subtle, thoughtful horror probably already know it, but The Best Horror of the Year is a series not to be missed. –The Stars at Noondasy
Datlow has created a series that must be viewed as essential for serious horror fans. Volume three will help you get your fright on as you eagerly await her 2011 picks. –The Monsters we Deserve
Night Shade
Release Date: June
ISBN_10=1597802174
ISBN_13=9781597802178
