The Best Horror of the Year Volume 13

by Ellen Datlow

Genres: Anthologies; Horror

Synopsis

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

 

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Release date: November 16, 2021

Publisher: Night Shade Books

Print pages: 536

Sample

SUMMATION 2020

Here are 2020’s numbers: There are twenty-four stories, novelettes, and one poem in this volume. The story lengths range from 3100 to 12,000 words. Fifteen stories and the poem are by men, nine by women. The contributors hail from the United States, United Kingdom, Thailand, Italy, and Canada. For some reason, the overwhelming number this year are from the United Kingdom. Ten of the contributors have never before appeared in any volume of my Best of the Year series. Six have been in multiple volumes.

AWARDS

The Horror Writers Association announced the 2019 Bram Stoker Awards® winners on a YouTube Live presentation April 18, 2020—after Stokercon, scheduled to take place in Scarborough, England, was postponed as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19. The UK convention changed its name to ChillerCon UK, and will be held in 2022. Stokercon 2021 was held virtually, from May 20–23, 2021.

Superior Achievement in a Novel: Coyote Rage by Owl Goingback (Independent Legions Publishing); Superior Achievement in a First Novel: The Bone Weaver’s Orchard by Sarah Read (Trepidatio Publishing); Superior Achievement in a YA novel: Oware Mosaic by Nzondi (Omnium Gatherum); Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel: Neil Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran (Dark Horse Books); Superior Achievement in Long Fiction: “Up from Slavery” by Victor LaValle (Weird Tales Magazine #363) (Weird Tales Inc.); Superior Achievement in Short Fiction: “The Eight People Who Murdered Me (Excerpt from Lucy Westenra’s Diary)” by Gwendolyn Kiste (Nightmare Magazine Nov. 2019, Issue 86); Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection: Growing Things and Other Stories by Paul Tremblay (William Morrow); Superior Achievement in Screenplay: Us by Jordan Peele (Monkeypaw Productions, Perfect World Pictures, Dentsu, Fuji Television Network, Universal Pictures); Superior Achievement in an Anthology: Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories by Ellen Datlow (Gallery Books/Saga Press); Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction: Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction by Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson (Quirk Books); Superior Achievement in Short Non-Fiction: “Magic, Madness, and Women Who Creep: The Power of Individuality in the Work of Charlotte Perkins Gilman” by Gwendolyn Kiste (Vastarien: A Literary Journal Vol. 2, Issue 1); Superior Achievement in Poetry: The Place of Broken Things by Linda D. Addison and Alessandro Manzetti (Crystal Lake Publishing).

The Life Achievement Award: Owl Goingback and Thomas Ligotti

The Silver Hammer Award: Leslie S. Klinger

The Mentor of the Year Award: Lee Murray

The Richard Laymon President’s Award: Rena Mason

The Specialty Press Award: Paul Fry, SST Publications

The 2019 Shirley Jackson Awards, usually awarded during Readercon in Quincy, Massachusetts, were instead awarded in a virtual production July 12, 2020. The Jurors were Chikodili Emelumadu, Michael Thomas Ford, Gabino Iglesias, Kate Murayama, and Lynda E. Rucker.

The winners were: Novel: The Book of X, Sarah Rose Etter (Two Dollar Radio); Novella: Ormeshadow, Priya Sharma (A Tor.com Book); Novelette: “Luminous Body,” Brooke Warra (Dim Shores); Short Story: “Kali_Na,” Indrapramit Das (The Mythic Dream); Single-Author Collection: Song for the Unraveling of the World, Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press); Edited Anthology: The Twisted Book of Shadows, edited by Christopher Golden & James A. Moore (Twisted Publishing).

The World Fantasy Awards were, because of the Covid-19 virus, presented at a Virtual Convention put on by Salt Lake City Sunday, November 1, 2020. The Judges were Gwenda Bond, Galen Dara, Michael Kelly, Victor LaValle, and Adam Roberts.

The Lifetime Achievement Awards: Rowena Morrell and Karen Joy Fowler Novel: Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender (Orbit); Novella: “Silver in the Wood” by Emily Tesh (A Tor.com Book); Short Fiction: “Read After Burning” by Maria Dahvana Headley (A People’s Future of the United States); Anthology: New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color edited by Nisi Shawl (Solaris Books); Collection: Song For the Unraveling of the World by Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press); Artist: Kathleen Jennings; Special Award–Professional: Ebony Elizabeth Thomas for The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games (New York University Press); Special Award, Non-Professional: Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Laura E. Goodin, and Esko Suoranta, for Fafnir, Nordic Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy Research.

NOTABLE NOVELS OF 2020

Worse Angels by Laird Barron (Putnam) is Barron’s third novel featuring former mob enforcer turned private detective Isaiah Coleridge, and it’s moved from the subtle hints of the weird in the first two books to full bore supernatural in this one. He’s hired to investigate a suspicious death and encounters a cult of the rich, who welcome the end of this world, as Coleridge encounters strangeness that might be real or chemically induced.

The Deep by Alma Katsu (Putnam) is a supernatural historical novel about the Titanic and her sister ship, the Britannic. A young woman who is assigned as steward to a wealthy family in first class miraculously escapes a watery death, only to find herself several years later as a nurse on the Britannic, now used as a rehabilitation center for badly wounded soldiers.

Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold (Balzer + Bray) is a fiercely feminist coming-of-age story about a teenage girl’s journey to self-discovery and power in a world inhabited by boys and men who literally become wolves. This is a great read, by turns horrific, joyous, moving, and ultimately satisfying.

The Ancestor by Danielle Trussoni (William Morrow) is a powerful modern gothic, beginning with an unexpected inheritance requiring a young woman to travel to her ancestral home in Italy to claim it. Once there, she discovers both shocking and marvelous truths about herself and her family.

Coincidentally, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey) covers some of the same ground as the Trussoni novel for the first two thirds—except that it takes place in Mexico. A vain, spoiled young woman is sent to a remote mountaintop gothic home to check on a newly wedded cousin who has sent a crazy-sounding note to her family. The final third, though, is more Lovecraftian in its secrets, and more horrific than the Trussoni.

Ballistic Kiss by Richard Kadrey (HarperVoyager) is the penultimate volume of the energetic, entertaining, dark fantasy Sandman Slim series. James Stark, the last Nephilim (half human/half angel), is tasked with ridding LA’s Little Cairo neighborhood of violent ghosts and tracking down a missing angel, and stumbles onto a secret club running excursions virtually guaranteed to kill at least some of their members.

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay (William Morrow) is a brilliant, tense, heartbreaking pandemic novel. Written before and published just as Covid-19 was becoming a household term and a worldwide epidemic, the book perfectly captures the confusion, misinformation, and government missteps in handling an outbreak of virulent rabies that has jumped from mammals to humans. A pregnant woman and her friend, a doctor, try to outrun the virus in Massachusetts. Their relationship is what really makes the story special. Highly recommended.

Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moss (Scribner), is a grotesque, beautifully written/translated, deeply disturbing Argentinian dystopian novel about the official promotion of the breeding and consumption of humans, when a virus makes all animals poisonous. I’ve read books and stories about cannibalism before, but none of them delve into the details of the slaughter, nor the degradation of emotion and empathy in those who partake (most people). Highly recommended.

Malorie by Josh Malerman (Del Rey) is the excellent sequel to Malerman’s bestselling novel (and movie) Bird Box. Malorie is paranoid—but with good reason. In a world where what you see can drive you mad, she has survived for twelve years by enforcing strict rules of engagement for herself and her two children, after the events of the first novel. But now those children are teenagers, chafing at her rules—wanting to live, not merely to survive. It’s easy to empathize with both views and agonize for all three characters. Highly recommended.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga Press) is a brilliant, heart-wrenching horror novel about the breaking of cultural taboos, guilt, and vengeance. Four young Blackfeet commit a violent trespass on ancient land and years later a spirit of that land seeks retribution against them. As much of the novel’s power lies in the straightforward depiction of contemporary Native American life as it does in the supernatural entity hunting its nemeses. Highly recommended.

The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson (Saga Press) is an absorbing, terrifying sf/horror novel about a northwest United States tourist town that becomes a hellhole of craziness and bloody, graphic violence overnight. A government conspiracy and bad science are almost certainly to blame for a nightmare that comes to threaten the whole world. But it’s also a poignant story of several alienated teenagers banding together to survive an impossible situation. Highly recommended.

The American by Jeffrey Thomas (JournalStone Publishing) is a powerful and violent, fast-paced supernatural crime novel about a disfigured Vietnam vet who is called back to that country, years later, by the son of a friend when the friend’s daughter is brutally murdered. The protagonist lost much during the war, but in exchange he’s gained a supernatural insight into the darkness surrounding us and with that ability becomes entangled with two other Americans, both marked by incredible evil.

A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster) has all the hallmarks of Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels, featuring the ex-detective haunted by his predilection for booze, his experiences in Vietnam, and the loss of loved ones. Over the years the series has had more and more of the supernatural laced throughout, and this novel might have the most yet.

Two teenagers dream of playing rock ‘n’ roll but their respective crime families have other, darker plans. When the girl is given as a sex slave to the known pervert head of the boy’s crime family, Dave and his best friend Clete find themselves embroiled in hallucinogenic and real nightmares that may crush their souls.

The Invention of Sound by Chuck Palahniuk (Grand Central Publishing) is a fast-moving, gruesome (without graphic details), satirical horror novel told in two strands. One about a man obsessed with finding his daughter, abducted seventeen years before, and who he is convinced is still alive. The other about a Foley artist who creates screams for movies, following in her father’s footsteps. Their stories come together perfectly (and horrifically).

The Book of Lamps and Banners by Elizabeth Hand (Mulholland Books) brings back Hand’s memorable anti-hero Cass Neary, a middle-aged, self-destructive, and very damaged individual who can sense “damage” in others. This time, she becomes embroiled in the sale, theft, and search for an ancient book that might enable a young visionary tech genius to recalibrate human trauma.

Wonderland by Zoje Stage (Mulholland Books) is a dark, suspenseful, totally effective supernatural tale about a couple from Brooklyn who move with their two children to the Adirondacks. What they discover in this beautiful, wintry, haunting environment is inexplicable, terrible, and dangerous.

ALSO NOTED

Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed (Solaris Books/Rebellion Publishing) is a dark fantasy about two friends—one a child prodigy—who, because she invents something marvelous, become targets for Lovecraftian ancient ones who want to slip into our world to rule humanity. The Rooby Alan Baxter (self-published) is a short, fast-moving novel about a killer kangaroo that wreaks havoc on a small, outback town in Australia. Pulpy, violent, and fun. The Living Dead by George Romero and Daniel Kraus (Tor) is an epic encompassing the entire history of the zombie plague envisioned by George Romero in his movies. Started, but incomplete when Romero died, Kraus uses extensive notes to finish this new novel. Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare (HarperTeen) is a timely slasher pitting young vs. old and tradition vs. progress as several high schoolers are blamed by their elders for, well, basically everything bad that’s ever happened in their small town. The Butchers’ Blessing by Ruth Gilligan (Tin House) is about a group of eight men—known as Butchers—in rural Ireland, who annually travel from farm to farm, slaughtering and dressing cattle. Tradition and modern life clash violently. The Boatman’s Daughter by Andy Davidson (MCD/FSG) is an imaginative, brutal southern Gothic that occasionally trips over its overly complicated plot but never fails to grip the reader. The Fourth Whore by EV Knight (Raw Dog Screaming Press) is about the accidental release of Lilith into the world, seeking revenge for herself and all women. The Children of Red Peak by Craig DiLouie (Hachette/Redhook) is about the adult survivors of a religious cult who are drawn back to the place they grew up. The Dirty South by John Connolly (Atria/Emily Bestler) is the eighteenth title in the Charlie Parker series of supernatural thrillers, this one going back to the beginning of the protagonist’s career. We Hear Voices by Evie Green (Berkley) is about a child who, having recovered from a deadly disease, is haunted by an imaginary friend that influences him to become increasingly violent. Lucifer and the Child by Ethel Mannin (The Swan River Press) was originally published in 1945. The bestselling author, who died in 1984, published more than fifty novels and numerous collections of stories, autobiographical, political, and travel writing. It is the only full-length work of speculative fiction by Mannin. The Return by Rachel Harrison (Berkley) is about a woman who disappears for two years, then returns. Three of her close friends from college decide to meet up with her for a weekend at a remote inn, and find her very different from the person they knew. Seeing Things by Sonora Taylor (self-published) is about a thirteen-year-old girl who is the only one who sees blood in the hallway of her school and subsequently the ghost of a girl in a locker. Pine by Francine Toon (Doubleday) is a gothic debut taking place in the Scottish Highlands, where mysterious and deadly things happen. One Who Was With Me by Conrad Williams (Earthling Publications) is about a family that moves from London to a village in the south of France after a brutal home invasion, attempting to rebuild their lives. Munky by B. Catling (The Swan River Press) is a whimsical farce about a monk haunting a village in England between the two World Wars, and what happens when a ghost hunter is brought in. The Hollow Onesby Guillermo de Toro and Chuck Hogan (Grand Central Publishing) opens with an FBI agent forced to kill her partner, who has become inexplicably violent. The Storm by Paul Kane (PS Publishing) is about the monstrous creatures unleashed by a storm in England. Dead Lies Dreaming by Charles Stross (A Tor.com Book) is part of Stross’s Laundry Files series and takes place in a UK ruled over by a revived Elder God Prime Minister and magical enforcers. A mixture of thriller, horror, and satire. The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher (Saga Press) is a tense, very enjoyable novel inspired by Algernon Blackwood’s novella The Willows. A thirty-four-year-old divorcee goes to live with a beloved uncle and help run his Glory to God Museum of Natural Wonders, Curiosities and Taxidermy. She discovers a portal to another world within his house and things get weird and dangerous.

MAGAZINES, JOURNALS, AND WEBZINES

I believe 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 that I thought especially noteworthy in 2020: Daniele Serra, Sam Dawson, Paul Lowe, Richard Wagner, Ben Baldwin, John Coulthart, Reiko Murakami, Glenn Chadbourne, K. R. Teryna, Harry O. Morris, Victo Ngai, Vince Haig, Iris Compiet, Les Edwards, Wendy Saber Core, Liam Barr, Stephen Mackey, Marko Stamatovic, Andrey Kiselev, George Cotronis, Vincent Chong, Fintan Magee, Danielle Tunstall, Adrian Borda, Mike Davis, Dave McKean, Samuel Araya, and Sarah Kushwara.

Rue Morgue edited by Andrea Subissati is an entertaining Canadian nonfiction 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 gory movie stills, along with regular columns on books, horror music, and graphic novels.

BFS Journal edited by Sean Wilcock is a twice yearly non-fiction perk of membership in the British Fantasy Society. It has reviews, scholarly articles, and features about recent conventions. BFS Horizons edited by Shona Kinsella and Ian Hunter is the fiction companion to BFS Journal. There were notable dark stories and poetry by Jenni Coutts, Eric Ortlund, A. N. Myers, Ashley Stokes, Daniel Hinds, Patrick Creek, and Lorna Smithers.

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. Three issues were published in 2020. The first Issue #14, is dated 2019 but came out the summer of 2020. It contains reminiscences and interviews with writers active in the nineteenth through mid-twentieth century by their contemporaries, plus first-hand accounts of ghostly occurrences. The second issue of 2020 is (unusually) an all-fiction issue of nine supernatural reprints by Irish-born writers, such as Rosa Mulholland, Dorothy Macardle, and Robert Cromie, among others. The third issue continues to serialize The Guide to Irish Writers of Gothic, Supernatural and Fantastic Literature, publishing ten new entries. Showers and Jim Rockhill co-edited the volume.

Wormwood edited by Mark Valentine is an excellent journal for a general audience. The one issue published in 2020 included six articles, and review columns by Reggie Oliver and John Howard.

Penumbra No. 1 edited by S. T. Joshi is a promising new annual journal of weird fiction and criticism. This issue presents nine pieces of new fiction plus six poems, and articles about the work of China Miéville, Simon Strantzas, Edith Wharton, John Collier, and others. There was notable fiction by Dylan Henderson, Mark Samuels, and Michael Parker.

Dead Reckonings: A Review of Horror and the Weird in the Arts edited by Alex Houstoun and Michael J. Abolafia published two excellent issues in 2020, both filled with reviews, commentaries, and essays. There’s a particularly interesting piece by Darrell Schweitzer in the spring issue about an earlier, longer version of John W. Campbell’s great novella Who Goes There? The story—with three opening chapters that were eventually cut from the version we know—was originally submitted as Frozen Hell to Argosy magazine, and was rejected. According to Schweitzer, the published version is the better for it.

Lovecraft Annual edited by S. T. Joshi is a must for those interested in Lovecraftian studies. The 2020 volume includes wide-ranging essays about the author’s work, life, and philosophies.

Supernatural Tales edited by David Longhorn is as an excellent source of supernatural fiction. There were three issues in 2020, with notable stories by Steve Duffy, Tim Foley, Tom Johnstone, Sam Dawson, James Machin, Michael Kelly, Victoria Day, William Curnow, and Chloe N. Clark.

Not One of Us edited by John Benson is one of the longest running small press magazines. It’s published twice a year and contains weird and dark fiction and poetry. In addition, Benson puts out an annual “one-off” on a specific theme. There were notable stories and poetry in 2020 by Dan Coxon, Mark A. Nobles, Steve Toase, Phoebe Low, Hudson Wilding, Mark Seneviratne, Jennifer Crow, Pam Bissonnette, Jonny Spinasanto, Gerry Leen, Alexandra Seidel, Cate Gardner, and Rob Francis.

Nightmare edited by John Joseph Adams is a monthly webzine of horror and dark fantasy. It publishes articles, interviews, book reviews, and an artists’ showcase, along with two reprints and two original pieces of fiction per month. During 2020, it published notable horror by Benjamin Percy, Ben Peek, Angela Slatter, Adam-Troy Castro, G. V. Anderson, Carlie St. George, Adam R. Shannon, Vajra Chandrasekera, Ray Nayler, and Milly Ho.

Conjunctions 74: Grendel’s Kin: The Monster Issue edited by Bradford Morrow is a long-running literary journal published by Bard College that often contains the literature of the fantastic and/or horror. This issue is full of horror and the strongest, darkest stories are by Brian Evenson, Elizabeth Hand, Joanna Ruocco, Sofia Samatar, Lucas Southworth, Jeffrey Ford, Julia Elliott, Joyce Carol Oates, Karen Heuler, Terese Svoboda, Justin Noga, and Quinton Ana Wikswo.

The New Gothic Review is an online magazine of gothic fiction published by Ian McMahon. It debuted with two issues that show promise, with notable stories by Rebecca Parfett, Holly Kybett Smith, Heather Parry, and Nadine Rodriguez.

Weird Horror edited by Michael Kelly is a new, promising semi-annual horror magazine featuring fiction, articles, and movie and book review columns. The first issue was published in October with non-fiction by Simon Strantzas and Orrin Grey, and with notable stories by Steve Toase, Steve Duffy, Shikhar Dixit, Naben Ruthnum, and John Langan.

Black Static edited by Andy Cox continues its long run as the best, most consistent venue for horror fiction. Alas, Cox has mentioned that he’s planning on closing down the magazine once he runs all the current inventory. This will be an incalculable loss to the field. In addition to essays, interviews, and book and movie reviews there was notable fiction by Lucie McKnight Hardy, Tim Cooke, Gregory Norman Bossert, Ray Cluley, Maria Haskins, Ainslie Hogarth, Christopher Kenworthy, Philip Fracassi, Andrew Reichard, Danny Rhodes, Steve Rasnic Tem, Shaenon K. Garrity, Françoise Hardy, David Martin, Keith Rosson, and Stephen Volk. The Haskins and Volk are reprinted herein.

Phantasmagoria edited by Trevor Kennedy is a bimonthly magazine of horror, science fiction, and fantasy—I’d never seen it before receiving #3, part of a Special Edition series featuring M. R. James. Included are articles about and by James, and a reprint of his famous “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad.” Plus a bibliography by Stephen Jones and Jamesian fiction reprints and a few original stories and poetry. There was a notable new story by Dean M. Drinkel. The issue features excellent art and spot illustrations by Les Edwards, Jim Pitts, James McBryde, Allen Koszowski, Dave Carson, Peter Coleborn, Randy Broecker, Stephen Jones, and Gch Reilly.

The Horror Zine edited by Jeani Rector is a monthly webzine that has been publishing online for eleven years. It features fiction, poetry, art, news, and reviews. Each issue include reprints by well-known writers with new stories by newcomers.

LampLight: A Quarterly Magazine of Dark Fiction edited by Jacob Haddon published some excellent literary horror during 2020, including notable stories by Priya Sridhar, J. A. W. McCarthy, Julie Mandelbaum, A. J. Bermudez, Monte Lin, Emily Ruth Verona, and Brigitte N. McCray.

Midnight Echo is the magazine of the Australasian Horror Writers Association. It’s published annually, and the 2020 issue was guest edited by Lee Murray. There were some very good dark stories and poems by Jay Caselberg, Melanie Harding-Shaw, Rebecca Fraser, Joanne Anderton, and J. A. Haigh.

Podcasts have become more popular for everything, and horror is no exception. These two have been around awhile: Pseudopod edited by Shawn Garrett and Alex Hofelich, and hosted by Alasdair Stewart, is a weekly show that’s been broadcasting readings of original and reprinted stories since 2006. There were notable stories featured in 2020 by Christi Nogle, Johnny Compton, Jonathan Lewis Duckworth, Lyndsie Manusos, A. C. Wise, Wendy N. Wagner, and Christine Lucas. Tales to Terrify is another weekly. It’s been broadcasting readings of originals and reprints since 2012, and is hosted and produced by Drew Sebesteny. There were notable stories in 2020 by Jenny Blackford and Lauren Mills.

MIXED-GENRE MAGAZINES

Bourbon Penn edited by Erik Secker, already good, gets better with each issue, mixing, horror, sf, and weird fiction. It’s supported by a Patreon and is well worth the investment. The best horror stories in the three 2020 issues are by Chip Houser, Corey Farrenkopf, Casey Forest, Mark Pantoja, Erin K. Wagner, Barton Aikman, Crystal Lynn Hilbert, E.C. Barrett, Josh Pearce, and Vincent H. O’Neil. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction edited by C. C. Finlay (recently taking over the helm is Sheree Renée Thomas) is one of the longest running sf/f/h magazines in existence. Although it mostly publishes science fiction and fantasy, it also publishes very good horror. The strongest horror stories of 2020 were by Albert E. Cowdrey, Julianna Baggott, Richard Bowes, Holly Messinger, Essa Hensen, Mel Kassel, Rebecca Zahabi, Stephanie Feldman, Amanda Hollander, R.S. Benedict, M. Rickert, Ashley Blooms, Sarina Dorie, and Melissa Marr. Weird Fiction Review Number 10 is dated fall 2019, but didn’t come out until 2020. It was edited by John Pelan and contains almost four hundred pages of weird fiction, articles, and illustrations. The strongest of the dark stories are by Gemma Files, Kaaron Warren, Orrin Grey, Gregory Bossert, and Richard Gavin. Weirdbook edited by Doug Draa published one issue in 2020. Although there’s usually more dark fantasy than horror, there were notable darker pieces by Adrian Cole and Rivka Jacobs. F(r)ictionedited by Dani Hedlund sometimes refers to itself as a “literary anthology,” other times as a journal. It’s published by the Brink Literacy Project and proceeds support their nonprofit mission to “foster a love of literature, increase literacy rates, and empower underserved communities through storytelling.” The magazine rarely publishes horror, but the three issues published in 2020 presented some well-wrought darker fiction by Sachin Waikar, Stephen Graham Jones, and Benjamin Percy. Vastarien: A Literary Journal is an excellent magazine of the uncanny and weird, edited by Matt Cardin and Jon Padgett. Two issues were published in 2020, the second one over three hundred pages. Most of the work is fiction, but there is occasional nonfiction as well. Some of the stories are dark enough to be classified as horror. The notable dark stories are by Miguel Fliguer, Matthew M. Bartlett, Lora Gray, David Stevens, Ivy Grimes, Jessica Ann York, Eddie Generous, Alex Jennings, Sam Hicks, Christopher Ropes, Todd Keisling, Sarah L. Johnson, M. Christine Benner Dixon, Avra Margariti, and Cody Goodfellow. The Hicks is reprinted herein. The Tor.com website publishes stories and novelettes almost weekly (although not in December). Several in-house and freelance editors acquire fiction, including myself. There’s a mixture of science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror. The notable horror stories published in 2020 were by Stephen Graham Jones, M. Rickert, Usman T. Malik, Melissa Marr, Claire Wrenwood, Brian Evenson, Zin E. Rocklyn, Ian Rogers, Matthew Pridham, Alex Sherman, and Sarah Pinsker, this last reprinted herein. The Dark, a monthly webzine edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Sean Wallace, publishes more dark fantasy than horror but, in 2020, there were notable dark stories by Steve Rasnic Tem, Kristi DeMeester, Orrin Grey, Stephen Volk, Tobi Ogundiran, Clare Madrigano, Gabriela Santiago, Ebuka Prince Okoroafor, and Kali Napier. Sirenia Digest has been published by Caitlín R. Kiernan for several years as an early iteration of Patreon. Sponsors pay a set amount for a monthly, emailed digest of new dark and weird stories, vignettes, and other bits springing from the mind of this excellent writer. Simon Bestwick began publishing original short stories on his Patreon account in 2020, and several are quite good, including one reprinted herein. Uncanny edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damien Thomas is a monthly webzine publishing fantasy, speculative, weird fiction, and occasionally horror poetry; it also runs podcasts, interviews, essays, and art. In 2020, there were notable dark stories by Rae Carson, Kornher-Stace, Arkady Martine, and Natalie Theodoridou. Weird Tales has been resurrected once more—issue 364 was published mid-December. Edited by Jonathan Maberry and featuring thirteen stories, flash fiction, and poetry. It includes notable horror fiction and poetry by Gregory Frost, Rena Mason, Lee Murray, Alessandro Manzetti, and Linda D. Addison. Asimov’s Science Fiction edited by Sheila Williams is primarily a science fiction magazine but sometimes publishes fantasy or horror. In 2020, there were notable dark stories by Michael Libling, Y.M. Pang, Jason Sanford, and Rich Larson. The Sanford is reprinted herein. Lackington’s edited by Ranylt Richildis bills itself as speculative, but sometimes publishes horror. In 2020, there were notable dark stories by Mike Allen, Steve Toase, and A. Z. Louise.

Some other magazines/webzines, and websites that on occasion publish dark work are K-Zine, Kaleidotrope, On Spec, and Aurealis.

ANTHOLOGIES

Fighters of Fear edited by Mike Ashley (Telos Publishing) is an anthology of thirty-one reprints about occult detectives, ranging from stories by writers such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Arthur Machen, and Robert M. Chambers, to more recent works by Manly Wade Wellman, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, and Mark Valentine.

Midnight Under the Big Top: Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Magic edited by Brian James Freeman (Cemetery Dance Publications) is about circuses, and contains thirty-eight stories and poems. Nine of the stories and fourteen of the poems are published for the first time. The best are by Kelley Armstrong, Lisa Morton, Josh Malerman, Alessandro Manzetti, and Stephanie Wytovich.

Cursed edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (Titan Books) is an anthology about all kinds of curses. Seven of the twenty stories and poems are reprints. The best of the originals are by Catriona Ward, M. R. Carey, Maura McHugh, Alison Littlewood, Tim Lebbon, Lilith Saintcrow, James Brogden, and Angela Slatter.

Miscreations: Gods, Monsters & Other Horrors edited by Doug Murano and Michael Bailey (Written Backwards) contains twenty-three stories and poems (two reprints). With a foreword by Alma Katsu. The strongest originals are by Linda D. Addison, Josh Malerman, Max Booth III, Ramsey Campbell, Laird Barron, Brian Hodge, and Joanna Parypinski.

Shadowy Natures edited by Rebecca Rowland (Dark Ink Books) contains twenty-one new stories of psychological horror. The most interesting are by Lee Rozelle, C. W. Blackwell, and Scott Milder.

Arterial Bloom edited by Mercedes M. Yardley (Crystal Lake Publishing) is a nicely varied, unthemed anthology of sixteen stories, two of them reprints. The strongest are by Carina Bissett, Jimmy Bernard, Grant Longstaff, Kelli Owen, Linda J. Marshall, John Boden, Naching T. Kassa, and Dino Parenti. With a foreword by Linda D. Addison.

The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors 2 edited by Peter Coleborn and Jan Edwards (The Alchemy Press) is an all original, unthemed anthology of seventeen horror stories. The most impressive are by Pauline E. Dungate, Samantha Lee, Garry Kilworth, Pete W. Sutton, Eygló Karlsdóttir, Thana Niveau, Tim Jeffreys, Sharon Gosling, and Gail-Nina Anderson. The Sutton is reprinted herein.

The Horror Zine’s Book of Ghost Stories edited by Jeani Rector and Dean H. Wild (Hellbound Books) has twenty-six original modern ghost stories—mostly by newcomers, with a few by well-known writers. The best are by Joe R. Lansdale and a collaboration by Graham Masterton and Dawn G. Harris. With a foreword by Lisa Morton.

The Ghosts and Scholars Book of Mazes edited by Rosemary Pardoe (Sarob Press) features fourteen supernatural stories about mazes, six of them new. The chilling originals are by Victoria Day, C. E. Ward, Christopher Harman, Helen Grant, Katherine Haynes, and John Howard. The Harman is reprinted herein.

The Fiends in the Furrows II: More Tales of Folk Horroredited by David T. Neal & Christine M. Scott (Nosetouch Press) is a worthy follow-up to the first volume of tales, from which I reprinted two stories in The Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven. This time there are eleven new stories, with especially notable ones by Jack Lothian, Alys Hobbs, Elizabeth Twist, Neil McRobert, Hazel King, Kristi DeMeester, and Tim Major. The Lothian is reprinted herein.

It Came From the Multiplex edited by Joshua Viola (Hex Publishers) pays nostalgic homage to the horror movies of the ‘80s, with fourteen stories (one reprint). The strongest are by Stephen Graham Jones, Steve Rasnic Tem, and Orrin Grey.

Weird Women: Classic Supernatural Fiction by Groundbreaking Female Writers 1852-1923 edited by Lisa Morton and Leslie S. Klinger (Pegasus Books) contains a selection of twenty-one stories by prominent writers such as Ellen Glasgow, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Marjorie Bowen, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and others.

The Valancourt Book of World Horror Stories Vol. 1 edited by James D. Jenkins and Ryan Cagle (Valancourt Books) showcases twenty horror stories from around the world, all published in English for the first time. It’s a fascinating look at the differences and similarities in horrific concerns from a variety of cultures. There were notable stories by Benardo Esquinca, Michael Roch, Christien Boomsma, Anders Fager, Marco Hautala, and Lars Ahn.