Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen

by Ellen Datlow

Genres: Horror; Anthologies; Dark Fantasy; Gothic

Synopsis

From Ellen Datlow—“the venerable queen of horror anthologies” per the New York Times—comes a new entry in the series that has brought you thrilling stories from Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, the best horror stories available.

For more than four decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave. Now, with the sixteenth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. Encompassed in the pages of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as: Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Stephen Graham Jones, Joyce Carol Oates, Laird Barron, Mira Grant, and many others.

With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.

Release date: October 29, 2024

Publisher: Night Shade

Print pages: 432

Sample

Summation 2023

Here are 2023’s numbers: There are nineteen stories total in this volume and the story lengths range from 2400 words to 10,600 words. There are seven stories by women and twelve stories by men. Ten stories are by contributors living in the United States, two in Scotland, one in Wales, and six in Great Britain. Five of the contributors have never before been published in any volume of my Best of the Year series.

AWARDS

The Horror Writers Association announced the 2022 Bram Stoker Awards® winners at a banquet in The Sheraton Pittsburgh Hotel at Station Square, Saturday June17, 2023.

The 2022 Bram Stoker Awards® went to:

Superior Achievement in a Novel: Gabino Iglesias– The Devil Takes You Home

(Mulholland Press); Superior Achievement in a First Novel: Christi Nogle – Beulah (Cemetery Gates Media); Superior Achievement in a Young Adult Novel: Robert P. Ottone – The Triangle (Raven Tale Publishing); Superior Achievement in a Middle Grade Novel: Daniel Kraus– They Stole Our Hearts (Henry Holt, and Company); (Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel: James Aquilone, editor – Kolchak: The Night Stalker: Fiftieth Anniversary (Moonstone Books); Superior Achievement in Long Fiction: Alma Katsu – “The Wehrwolf” (Amazon Original Stories); Superior Achievement in Short Fiction: Mercedes M. Yardley –”Fracture” (Mother: Tales of Love and Terror) (Weird Little Worlds; Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection: Cassandra Khaw – Breakable Things (Undertow Publications); Superior Achievement in a Screenplay (tie): Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill –The Black Phone (Blumhouse Productions, Crooked Highway, Universal Pictures) and the Duffer Brothers–Stranger Things: Episode 04.01 “Chapter One: The Hellfire Club” (21 Laps Entertainment, Monkey Massacre, Netflix, Upside Down Pictures); Superior Achievement in an Anthology: Ellen Datlow – Screams From the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous (Tor Nightfire); Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction: Tim Waggoner –Writing in the Dark: The Workbook (Guide Dog Books); Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction: Lee Murray – I Don’t Read Horror (& Other Weird Tales) (Interstellar Flight Magazine) (Interstellar Flight Press; Superior Achievement in a Poetry Collection: Cynthia Pelayo – Crime Scene. (Raw Dog Screaming Press).

HWA Lifetime Achievement Awards were given to Elizabeth Massie, Nuzo Onoh, and John Saul.

The Specialty Press Award was given to Undertow Publications.

The Richard H. Laymon President’s Award was given to Meghan Arcuri.

The Silver Hammer Award for service was given to Karen Lansdale.

The Mentor of the Year Award was given to Dave Jeffery.

The Eighth Annual FINAL FRAME Horror Short Competition winners are:

Grand Prize: Michael Rich for The Queue

Best Writing in a Short Film: Michael Rich for The Queue

1st Runner-Up to Grand Prize: Øyvind Willumsen for The Weaver

Second Runner-Up to

 Grand Prize: Rosalee Yagihara for Gnaw

The 2023 Shirley Jackson Awards were presented July 15, in the Boston Marriott Quincy, at Readercon. The winners of the 2022 Shirley Jackson Awards are:

Novel-tie: The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias (Mulholland Books) and Where I End by Sophie White (Tramp Press); Novella: The Bone Lantern by Angela Slatter (PS Publishing); Novelette: What the Dead Know by Nghi Vo (Amazon Original Stories); Short Fiction: “Pre-Simulation Consultation XF007867” by Kim Fu (Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century); Single Author Collection: We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe (Nictitating Books); Edited Anthology: The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors, edited by Doug Murano (Bad Hand Books).

The World Fantasy Awards winners for works published in 2022 have been announced during the 2023 World Fantasy Convention, held October 26-29, 2023, at the Sheraton Crown Center in Kansas City MO.

The Life Achievement Awards, presented annually to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding service to the fantasy field, went to Peter Crowther and John Douglas.

The World Fantasy Awards winners are:

Best Novel: Saint Death’s Daughter, C.S.E. Cooney (Solaris); Best Novella: Pomegranates, Priya Sharma (Absinthe); Best Short Fiction: “Incident at Bear Creek Lodge”, Tananarive Due (Other Terrors: An Inclusive Anthology); Best Anthology: Africa Risen: A New Era of Speculative Fiction, Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Zelda Knight, eds. (Tordotcom); Best Collection: All Nightmare Long, Tim Lebbon (PS): Best Artist: Kinuko Y. Craft; Special Award – Professional: Matt Ottley, for The Tree of Ecstasy and Unbearable Sadness (Dirt Lane); Special Award-non-professional: Michael Kelly, for Undertow Publications

This year’s judges were Dale Bailey, Kelly Robson, Ginny Smith, A.C. Wise, and Ian Whates.

NOVELS

Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones (S&S/Saga Press) brings his hero Jade Daniels back to Prufrock, Idaho four years after the massacre that trauma

traumatized her and the entire town. She hopes to put the past behind her, but as she returns during the storm of the century, an infamous serial killer escapes nearby, restarting a cycle of vicious, grisly murders. An excellent middle book of what is becoming the Indian Lake trilogy.

Maeve Fly by CJ Leede (Nightfire) is a banger of a novel about a lovable psychopath (well, I love her)—harrowing/funny/gross/tragic. Maeve Fly has always known there’s something different about her. She lives and takes care of her grandmother, a famous aged and dying movie star—the only person in the world who understands her. Maeve works at a brand name amusement park as a princess, a job she loves. Her best (and only) friend who works with her is aspiring actress Kate, who is on the cusp of her big break.

A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand (Mulholland Books) is a terrific homage to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. An intriguing cast of characters is slowly seduced by a house—with a bad history—in upstate New York. A struggling playwright believes she’s found the perfect spot to pull together Witching Night, the play she’s been working on for several years. She persuades her girlfriend and two actors to accompany her. As one would guess, things go terribly wrong.

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle (Nightfire) is about a young woman who comes to realize that the memories of her recent past and her so-called (by the religious cult she and her family belong to) deviant desires have been totally wiped at a local camp conducting extreme conversion therapy. Riveting, terrifying, and moving.

In Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey), a talented but underappreciated sound editor in 1990’s Mexico City is introduced to her best friend’s neighbor, a cult horror director who claims that his final film—never quite finished—was imbued with magical qualities that could bestow great power on those in the know. A Nazi occultist tried to harness that power but failed, dying in the process. Now several of his followers want to get their hands on the film to bring him back. A nicely rendered dark fantasy with horror elements.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due (Gallery/Saga) is a suspenseful, harrowing ghost story which attains much of its power from the true life, historically accurate

horrors it depicts. In 1950 Jim Crow south, a young boy is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, dubbed the Reformatory. Rumor has it that dozens of boys were killed there over the years, in addition to the twenty-five who died in a fire thirty years earlier.

The Insatiable Volt Sisters by Rachel Eve Moulton (MCD/Farrar, Straus) is an excellent novel about two half sisters and the island on which they grew up, where there is a history of rumors about missing women. As teenagers they were separated by their divorced parents, and one left for the mainland, but she and her mother return when the father dies. What begins as a family drama evolves into a terrifying story of monsters.

Lone Women by Victor LaValle (One World) takes place in 1915 as a woman leaves her family’s blood-soaked home in California for Montana, with a few possessions, a steamer trunk, and a secret. The book takes a too-often neglected look at the women and people of color who homesteaded the American west. The story is absorbing, powerful, and horrifying, and one of the best horror novels of the year.

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus (Entertainment Books) is a remarkable achievement. A young man, estranged from his family and bitter about his troubled relationship with his father, is swallowed by a sperm whale. Although the premise sounds unbelievable, this tale of memory, reconciliation, and survival is pretty amazing. Is it horror? Only on the verge, with its blood and guts (whale and human), but it’s a read you won’t regret nor forget.

All Hallows by Christopher Golden (St Martin’s Press) opens with multiple domestic dramas unfolding in a suburban Massachusetts neighborhood on Halloween eve. As the townspeople ready themselves for a fun night of trick or treating, four unknown children roam and beg the neighborhood children to hide them from the Cunning Man. This is a good, slow burn of novel with its increasing suspense and terror.

What Kind of Mother by Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books) is an intense story of parenthood and grief and the power of imagination. A single

mother returns to her hometown and encounters an old flame drowning in grief from the death of his wife and disappearance of their child.

All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Crosby (Flatiron Books) is a powerful crime novel about the repercussions of the murder of a beloved schoolteacher and the suicide by cop of the man who killed him. The first black sheriff of the county of Charon, Virginia is faced with the always- present racism of the area as he digs into the two deaths and finds corruption and evil so horrible that it’s difficult to comprehend.

The Spite House by Johnny Compton (Nightfire) is an excellent black gothic about a father and his two daughters on the run from something that happened back in Maryland. Desperate for money and paranoid about being found, he takes a lucrative caretaker’s job in the Spite House, so dubbed by the townspeople of Degener, Texas. The house was built out of spite and hatred, and is weird looking. It also has a reputation for people disappearing into it and for driving others crazy. It’s refreshing to see a group of horror characters with agency with regard to their fates.

Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes (Emily Bestler books/Atria) is about a disgraced arctic explorer in the late nineteenth century whose failed expedition haunts him. Thirteen years later, when his former second-in-command has disappeared in the same part of the arctic, he embarks on a rescue. The book is complex, moving back and forth from describing the first expedition and the second, with many characters. Murder and cannibalism always excused by the refrain by some that survival is all. Grisly, ghostly, with some wonderfully powerful scenes.

ALSO NOTED

At the End of Every Day by Arianna Reiche (Atria Books) is a debut novel about a large, famous amusement park (not Disneyland) whose long-time employee is tasked with closing the park down after several staff disappearances and the death of a celebrity guest. The Strange by Nathan Ballingrud (Saga Press) is the author’s novel debut and it’s a science fantasy/western about a young girl living with her father in an American community on Mars. The colonists have lost all communication with Earth and there’s something in the mines where many of them work that is affecting/infecting and changing them. Think Bradbury and monsters—not really horror but it has some very dark moments. Frost Bite by Angela Sylvaine (Dark Matter Ink) is a coming-of-age story about two teens in a North Dakota town that’s been invaded by an alien worm. The worm is infecting prairie dogs, creating chaos and memory loss. Only the teens can save the town’s human inhabitants. Organ Meats by K-Ming Chang (One World) is another coming of age story, this one of body horror about two girls of dog heritage who decide to transform into dogs (not unknown in this book’s world) binding themselves with red string to demonstrate their mutual loyalty. They become separated and things go downhill from there. The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas (Atria) is about a curator of paleontology who returns to his hometown and its Museum of Natural History for the first time since his little sister was abducted from the museum years before. Graveyard of Lost Children by Katrina Monroe (Poisoned Pen) is about a woman whose mother tried to murder her as a baby, and the trauma, fear, and paranoia that knowledge generates when the woman herself becomes mother to a newborn. The Intruders by Brian Pinkerton (Flame Tree Press) is about strange happenings in an Indiana town, beginning with the buzzing of insects from the sky and the disappearance of residents. The Cthulhu Helix by Umehara Katsufumi, translated by Jim Hubbert (Kurodahan Press), was originally published in Japanese in 1993—it’s sf-horror about genetic research unlocking something that threatens the human race. Smoke, in Crimson by Greg F. Gifune (Cemetery Dance Publications) is about a man drawn back to the beach town where he grew up and had been engaged in a mutually destructive relationship with a woman who has now disappeared. Bad Cree by Jessica Johns (Doubleday) is a debut supernatural novel about a young Cree woman whose dreams come to haunt her waking life as she tries to make sense of the sudden death of her sister. Vial Thoughts by Van Essler (Raw Dog Screaming) is a steampunk/mystery/debut with some horrific/body horror aspects about a woman who inherits her father’s estate, a plague of insanity, and a horrific circus. The Vampire by Froylán Turcios, translated by Shawn Garrett (Strange Ports Press), is the first English translation of this Honduran novel titled El Vampiro, originally published in 1910. An evil priest disrupts the idyllic home of a boy, his mother, and his cousin. Natural Beauty  by Ling Ling Huang (Dutton) is about a young woman who goes to work in a high-end beauty and wellness salon that uses unorthodox products and procedures. She loves the job, but things start going wrong as she’s offered new products to try. Charwood by Josh Schlossberg (Madness Heart Press) is a combination of eco-horror and Jewish mysticism. A woman joins a group of supposed environmentalists living in the woods and it turns out they’re up to no good. The Dead Pennies by Robert Ford (Cemetery Dance Publications) is both a supernatural and psychological horror novel about a woman who left an abusive relationship who becomes caretaker to a newly renovated building that originally housed infirm and unwanted children. The Black Magician by Paul Madsack, translated by Shawn Garrett (Strange Ports Press), is the first English translation of this German novel of the occult, originally published in 1924. Episode 13 by Craig DiLouie (Redhook Books) is about a ghost hunting team that dares to investigate a derelict mansion that was the center of the Paranormal Research Foundation. What they find may not be what they hope for. The Vein by Steph Nelson (Dark Matter Ink) is about a former detective returning to her childhood home in Idaho to sell it after her grandmother has disappeared. While there, a corpse of a man is discovered in one of the silver mines in the area and the woman is asked to help investigate. Let Him In by William Friend (Poisoned Pen Press) is about a widower with twin daughters who are seemingly visited by an imaginary friend that encroaches on their lives with more menace every day. Only Monsters Remain by William J. Donahue (JournalStone) is a post-apocalypse novel about tentacled monsters from the sky that destroy most of civilization, retreat, but leave something behind. Apparitions by Adam Pottle (Dark Matter Ink) is about a deaf teenager who escapes from his captivity by his father only to end up in an isolated psychiatric facility where he’s preyed upon by a resident who initially seems to be his savior only to reveal more malevolent motives. The Still Place by Greg F. Gifune and Sandy DeLuca (JournalStone) is about a troubled artist awarded what appears to be a dream residency with an artists’ collective. But the group’s combination of art and spiritualism becomes worrisome. Extended Stay by Juan Martinez (University of Arizona Press) is about two siblings, who in escaping the hell of their home in Columbia, reach Las Vegas in the United States and end up in a hotel that may be no better than where their journey began. Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder (Nightfire), inspired by the author’s award-winning story “Magdala Amygdala” (chosen for The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five), is cosmic horror about the aftermath of a world-wide virus and the effect the virus has had on three surviving women. Cruel Angels Past Sundown by Hailey Piper (Death’s Head Press) is an historical horror western about what happens after a naked, pregnant stranger arrives at a ranch with a cavalry sabre and death in her eyes. Bad Moon Rising by Luisa Colon (Cemetery Dance Publications) is a debut about two damaged young people who live miles away from each other but are linked by a dark, mystical past. Our Love Will Devour Us by R. L. Meza (Dark Matter Ink) is about a couple whose shaky marriage is overshadowed when their two children go missing in a snowstorm, and the traumas and evils of the past impinge on them all in the present. The Sphinx by Coelho Neto, translated by Shawn Garrett (Strange Ports Press), is the first English translation of this 1908 Brazilian occult novel about a group of people living in a boarding house who are obsessed with the strange Englishman living there. Those We Drown by Amy Goldsmith (Delacorte Press) is about a young woman offered a scholarship to a semester long study program aboard a luxury ocean liner. Initially exciting, things start getting weird and dark pretty quickly. Gris-Gris Gumbo by Rick Koster (JournalStone) is about a guy in his mid-twenties living in New Orleans and working in a voodoo shop popular with tourists. He’s not a believer, but a delivery he makes to a mortuary changes things. Neverest by T. L Bodine (Ghost Orchid Press) is about the widow of a mountaineer who disappeared while climbing Mount Everest. She instigates an expedition to search for his body, encountering supernatural forces. Red Rabbit by Alex Grecian (Nightfire) is a western about a posse stalking a witch, and the demons and ghosts they encounter on their journey. The Vile Thing We Created by Robert Ottone (Hydra Publications) is about a couple who, upon deciding to have a baby, discover that pregnancy and parenthood may not be all they’re cracked up to be. The Militia House by John Milas (Henry Holt) takes place during the war in Afghanistan as a unit of Americans are assigned to a base near an old Soviet barracks called the Militia House. Although they’ve been warned that the building is haunted, they check it out anyway. Burn the Negative by Josh Winning (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) is about a journalist assigned to cover a new streaming horror series—a remake of the cursed movie she starred in as a child, during which a large percentage of cast and crew died horribly. Ragman by JG Flaherty (Flame Tree) is about the descendants of a murderous, tomb-robbing group of British soldiers, plagued by a mummy’s curse, more than a century later. The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro (Del Rey) is about a woman whose family has been haunted by La Llorona, the creature of Mexican folk lore, and how she must learn to fight back to save herself and her children from this soul-sucking demon. Plastic Space House by John F.D. Taff (Trepidatio) is an sf/horror novel taking place in the far future, when humans, ready to colonize space, hit a snag. Something out there really doesn’t want us out there. That Night in the Woods by Kristopher Triana (Cemetery Dance Publications) is about a group of high school friends who experienced trauma in a place known as Suicide Woods and finally meet again decades later. Wasps in the Ice Cream by Tim McGregor (Raw Dog Screaming) is a coming-of-age story in a small town in which a teen experiences first love with a girl who practices folk magic and who his friends hate. His friends find out, and decide to punish the witch who “stole” their friend. The September House by Carissa Orlando (Berkley) is a debut about a couple moving into a haunted house that bleeds from the walls every September, where former inhabitants appear, and something’s in the basement that should not be. The Others of Edenwell by Verity M. Holloway (Titan Books) is a dark, historical novel in which a young man rejected by the army in 1917 instead lives and works with his father in a hydrotherapy retreat surrounded by haunted woodlands in Norfolk, England. Another young man comes to the spa, there’s a murder…and a monster. Edenville by Sam Rebelein (William Morrow) is about a novelist who, after his first novel flops, joins Edenville College as writer-in-residence. His girlfriend, who grew up nearby, isn’t so eager to return to the area, with good reason. My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon (Scout Press) is about a woman forced to return with her husband and children to her dying, malignant mother’s bedside and what happens once they get there. Jump Cut by Helen Marshall (Fledgling Press) is about a lost movie, its last surviving cast member, and a film enthusiast who yearns to discover what happened during the making of the movie. Piñata by Leopoldo Gout (Nightfire) is about a woman who takes her daughters to Mexico while she works on the renovation of an ancient abbey there. Disaster occurs and when the three return to the U.S, something follows, possessing one of the girls. Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas (Berkley) is an historical gothic about the nineteenth century conflict between Mexicans and their northern (U.S.) neighbors, plus vampires and romance. The Once Yellow House by Gemma Amor (Cemetery Gates Media) is about a journalist’s investigation into a massacre that took place in 2020 during which 347 members of a cult were slaughtered. Mothered by Zoje Stage (Thomas and Mercer) is about a woman forced to take in her newly widowed mother, despite their problematic relationship. Nothing good ensues. The Shoemaker’s Magician by Cynthia Pelayo (Agora) is a supernatural crime novel about an obsessive search for an old tv horror host who might have something to do with a series of gruesome murders. Hangtown by Michael Bailey (Written Backwards) is a western based on the true story of hangings that took place in the mid-nineteenth century in a Placerville, California. Everything the Darkness Eats: Hymns for a Decaying God by Eric LaRocca (Clash) is about a seemingly idyllic small town with terrible secrets. How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (Berkley) is about a woman forced to return to the home she grew up in to get it ready for sale now that her parents are dead. But the house has some ideas of its own about this. Crow Face, Doll Face by Carly Holmes (Honno) is about a woman who takes her two youngest daughters with her when she leaves a miserable marriage. A dark depiction of motherhood and dysfunctional families. The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (Harper) is a follow-up to Ruff’s magnificent Lovecraft Country, bringing back some of the same characters dealing with evil, both supernatural and human. Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward (Nightfire) is about a novelist who, while writing about horrific events in his youth, dredges up bad memories that might or might not be accurate. Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez (Hogarth) takes place in two different places: Argentina during its brutal military dictatorship and the London of the swinging sixties. A woman dies, and a grieving father and son flee the family’s matriarch, who heads a cult that wants to use the boy. Holly by Stephen King (Scribner) brings back a recurring character in King’s work, who currently runs a detective agency. She’s asked to find a missing person and is drawn to a couple of evil professors who might have something to do with the disappearance. The Daughters of Block Island by Christa Carmen

(Amazon Publishing) is a gothic novel about two sisters, one murdered upon arriving on an island off New England in search of her birth mother. Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig (Del Rey) is about what happens in a small town when several strange trees in their local orchard bear a new type of apple.

MAGAZINES, WEBZINES, AND JOURNALS

It’s important to recognize the work of the talented artists working in the field of fantastic fiction, both dark and light. The following created dark art I thought especially noteworthy in 2023: Dan Verkys, Lenka Simeckova, Asya Yordanova, Laurel Hausler, Lumitar, João Antunes, Jr., Jean Pierre Arboleda, Mikio Murakami, Kim Jacobsson, Ben Baldwin, Richard Wagner, Greg Chapman, Dave Senecal, Vincent Sammy, Pat R. Steiner, Julie Hamel, Vince Haig, Jason Van Hollander, Zoë Van Dijk, K.L Turner, Lynne Hansen, Jesse Peper, Brian Thummler, Reiko Murakami, Jeffrey Kam, Stephen Jung, David Tibet, Elizabeth Leggett, Caniglia, øjeRum, Daniele Serra, John Coulthart, Welder Wings, Dave McKean, Glenn Chadbourne, João Ruas, Ifan Bates, and Jim Burns.

BFS Journal is a nonfiction perk of being a member of the British Fantasy Society, but there were no issues in 2023. Plans are for the journal to be revived with a new editor in 2024. BFS Horizons edited by Pete Sutton is the fiction companion to BFS Journal. I received #15, the first of their twice-annual journals, but did not receive the second, apparently published in September. There were notable dark stories and poetry by Verity Holloway, Sadie Maskery, Natalie Orr, and Thomas Booker. I always look forward to reading both journals, so hope they get back on track in 2024.

The Green Book: Writings on Irish Gothic, Supernatural, and Fantastic Literature edited by Brian J. Showers is an excellent resource for discovering underappreciated Irish writers. Two issues were published in 2023. Issue 21 focused on three Irish women: B.M. Croker, Althea Gyles, and Mary Frances McHugh, and included several stories and poems by each, plus essays by Simon Cooke and Jim Rockhill. Issue 22 is all about Bram Stoker, including a 2011 appreciation of “The Judge’s House” by graphic novelist Mike Mignola, several essays, and

 four of Stoker’s stories.

Rue Morgue edited by Andrea Subissati is a reliable, entertaining Canadian non-fiction magazine for horror movie aficionados, with up-to-date information on most of the horror films being released. The magazine also includes interviews, articles, and movie stills—many of them gory—along with regular columns on books, horror music, video games, and graphic novels.

Dead Reckonings: A Review of Horror and the Weird in the Arts edited by Alex Houstoun and Michael U. Abolafia published two issues in 2023. Both issues included book and movie reviews plus interviews. Issue #33 had an interview with writer Curtis M. Lawson and Issue #34 has an interview with me. There were also pieces about Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities series for Netflix, horror conventions, and Ramsey Campbell’s regular column.

The Lovecraft Annual edited by S. T. Joshi is a must for those interested in Lovecraftian studies. The 2023 issue has around 240 pages of essays revolving around H. P. Lovecraft—interpretations of and the influence of his work on other writers, artists, and culture in general.

Ghosts & Scholars, the long-running journal celebrating the works of M. R. James, brought out two issues in 2023, the first edited by Benjamin Harris and the second by Katherine Haynes. In addition to the articles and reviews there were notable stories by Katherine Haynes and Marion Pitman.

Black Static 82/83 edited by Andy Cox is the magazine’s final issue. Cox has published excellent horror just short of thirty years, first in his quarterly, mixed-genre magazine The Third Alternative. As TTA began to add more horror to its mix, I started to acquire some of their stories for the horror half of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror in 2003. With Cox’s takeover of Interzone in 2004, TTA gravitated toward being more horror focused. In 2006 no issues were published, but in 2007 the magazine, renamed Black Static, went fully horror with two issues. In 2008, the magazine published six issues and started its run as the best regularly- published horror magazine (in my opinion). Almost every year since, at least one story from the magazine was reprinted by me in one of my annual Bests of the Year. Its demise is a major blow to the field of horror. In its

last (large) issue it published notable stories by Sarah Lamparelli, Steve Rasnic Tem, Andrew Hook, Ray Cluley, Rhonda Pressley Veit, Neil Williamson, Tim Lees, and Aliya Whiteley. The Williamson, Hook, and Tem are reprinted herein.

Nightmare Abbey is a semi-annual magazine edited by Tom English and illustrated throughout by Allen Koszinski. Each issue included fourteen stories and essays, most of them new. There was notable original fiction by Steve Rasnic Tem, Rhys Hughes, Steve Duffy, Helen Grant, Ian Rogers, and Ray Cluley. The Cluley is reprinted herein.

Weird Horror edited by Michael Kelly published two issues in 2023, with columns by Simon Strantzas and Orrin Grey, book and movie reviews, and fiction. There was notable dark fiction by Tim Cooke, Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas, Alexander James, Spencer Harrington, Alexander Glass, Kay Chronister, Spencer Nitkey, Kristiana Willsey, Neil Williamson, and E.M. Linden.

Supernatural Tales edited by David Longhorn is a reliable venue for good short supernatural fiction, and is published three times a year. In 2023, there was notable fiction by Helen Grant, Sam Dawson, Michael Chislett, Christopher Harman, Steve Duffy, Tim Jeffreys, Tina Rath, and Victoria Day. The Grant is reprinted herein.

Chthonic Matter Quarterly edited by C.M Muller is a new print magazine of horror, dark, and weird fiction. It takes the place of Muller’s Nightscript, with the only difference (according to the publisher) being its quarterly nature and name. In 2023, there were notable stories by Jonathan Lewis Duckworth, Gail Pinto, Santiago Eximeno, Gordon Brown, David Surface, Stephen McQuiggan, K. Wallace King, Tim Major, Zachary Rosenberg, Christie Nogle, Timothy Granville, Patricia Lillie, Erica Ruppert, Eli Wennstrom, Perry Ruhland, and Shawn Phelps.

Dracula Beyond Stoker edited by Tucker Christine is a print journal of fiction devoted to new and reprinted stories featuring characters from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There were four issues in 2023, one spotlighting the Bloofer Lady, another Renfield, and two one-story chapbooks. There were notable stories by Grace Athanasiou, JF Faherty, and Mark Oxbrow.

The Horror Zine edited by Jeanne Rector continues to publish reprint and original fiction on its website, and collects all the stories into three print and ezine editions annually.

Cemetery Dance #78, the magazine’s first issue in four years, finally appeared in 2023, with reviews, columns, and interviews published way past their “sell by” date. However, the issue included nine new pieces of fiction, with notable work by James Chambers, Tina Callaghan, Richard Thomas, and Charles Kaiden.

Cosmic Horror Monthly edited by Charles Tyra began its run in 2020 but I only became aware of it around mid-2021. In 2023, the quality of its fiction has become more consistent. There were notable stories by Alan Baxter, Matthew M. Bartlett, K.M. Carmien, Megan M. Davies-Ostrow, Sarah Day, Jennifer Derkitt, Jason Kahler, Nicholas Kaufmann, RSL, S. P. Miskowski, Mob, Jacob Steven Mohr, Sarah Pauling, and Rachel Searcy.

Phantasmagoria is a chunky magazine of horror, science fiction, and fantasy edited by Trevor Kennedy, who is based in Belfast, Ireland. It publishes three issues a year covering past and current material, and publishes one special issue a year, usually focusing on a specific writer. Its 8th special issue focused on “Women in Horror” (I’m interviewed). It includes mostly reprint fiction with the occasional original story, plus columns, reviews, and art. One notable original story was by Jessica Stevens.

MIXED-GENRE MAGAZINES AND WEBZINES

Not One of Us edited by John Benson is one of the longest-running small press magazines regularly publishing horror. It’s a quarterly, containing weird, dark fantasy, and horror fiction and poetry. There were notable stories and poetry in 2023 by Gretchen Tessmer, Rodney K. Sloan, Mackenzie Hurlbert, Jennifer Crow, Sonya Taaffe, and a collaboration by Brad Munson and Bruce McAllister. Weird Tales, now edited by Jonathan Maberry, brought out Issue #367, with a theme of cosmic horror but also including several stories and poems of dark fantasy. There were notable horror stories by Carol Gyzander and Caitlín R. Kiernan, and articles by F. Paul Wilson and Nicholas Diak. Bourbon Penn edited by Erik Secker always has enjoyable stories, often horror. The strongest dark stories in 2023 were by Corey Farrenkopf, Shane Inman, E. Catherine Tobler, Camilla Grudova, Naomi J. Williams, and Josh Rountree. The Tobler is reprinted herein. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction edited by Sheree Renée Thomas has been publishing consistently good science fiction, ...