The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 11 Read online

  MORE PRAISE FOR BEST NEW HORROR:

  “Talk about a book that describes itself! . . . As ever, Jones is to be congratulated for choosing tales that were originally published in a few more off-the beaten track places, as well as choosing some bigger names, though not necessarily better-known stories from those names.” – INTERZONE

  “An outstanding selection of the best in horror and dark fantasy every year . . . this anthology and its predecessors must also be credited with having a hand in keeping horror itself alive.” – PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY *STARRED REVIEW*

  “Probably the most keenly awaited annual event for aficionados of terrifying tales . . . the greatest achievement of this collection is the sheer variety of the tales.” – AMAZON.CO.UK

  “Simply essential for anyone interested in modern horror . . . As always, Jones provides a comprehensive overview of the year in horror along with outstanding stories.” – HORROR ONLINE

  “What gives this anthology its particular edge are its definitive annual recap of horror in all media and its invaluable annual necrology.” – PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY “BEST BOOKS 99”

  “It’s people like editor Stephen Jones who keep the genre alive and maintain a lofty level of quality in the field.” – FANGORIA

  “The quality of work contained in this volume speaks for a vibrant genre.” – THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

  “Editor Jones has put together a terrifically newsy volume.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS

  “A stellar group of authors.” – LOCUS

  STEPHEN JONES lives in London. He is the winner of two World Fantasy Awards, three Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Awards and two International Horror Guild Awards as well as being a twelve-time recipient of the British Fantasy Award and a Hugo Award nominee. A full-time columnist, television producer/director, and genre movie publicist and consultant (the first three Hellraiser movies, Night Life, Nightbreed, Split Second, Mind Ripper, Last Gasp etc.), he is the co-editor of Horror: 100 Best Books, The Best Horror from Fantasy Tales, Gaslight & Ghosts, Now We Are Sick, H.P. Lovecraft’s Book of Horror, The Anthology of Fantasy & the Supernatural, Secret City: Strange Tales of London and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Dark Terrors, Dark Voices and Fantasy Tales series. He has written The Essential Monster Movie Guide, The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide, The Illustrated Dinosaur Movie Guide, The Illustrated Frankenstein Movie Guide and The Illustrated Werewolf Movie Guide, and compiled The Mammoth Book of Terror, The Mammoth Book of Vampires, The Mammoth Book of Zombies, The Mammoth Book of Werewolves, The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein, The Mammoth Book of Dracula, Shadows Over Innsmouth, Dancing With the Dark, Dark of the Night, Dark Detectives, White of the Moon, Exorcisms and Ecstasies by Karl Edward Wagner, The Vampire Stories of R. Chetwynd-Hayes and Phantoms and Fiends by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, James Herbert: By Horror Haunted, two volumes of The Conan Chronicles by Robert E. Howard, Clive Barker’s A-Z of Horror, Clive Barker’s Shadows in Eden, Clive Barker’s The Nightbreed Chronicles and the Hellraiser Chronicles. You can visit Stephen Jones’ web site at http://www.herebedragons.co.uk/jones

  Also available

  The Mammoth Book of Ancient Wisdom

  The Mammoth Book of Armchair Detectives & Screen Crimes

  The Mammoth Book of Arthurian Legends

  The Mammoth Book of Battles

  The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 99

  The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction 12

  The Mammoth Book of Bridge

  The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens

  The Mammoth Book of Cats

  The Mammoth Book of Chess

  The Mammoth Book of Comic Fantasy

  The Mammoth Book of Dogs

  The Mammoth Book of Erotica

  The Mammoth Book of Gay Erotica

  The Mammoth Book of Heroic and Outrageous Women

  The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives

  The Mammoth Book of Historical Erotica

  The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits

  The Mammoth Book of How It Happened

  The Mammoth Book of International Erotica

  The Mammoth Book of Jack the Ripper

  The Mammoth Book of Lesbian Erotica

  The Mammoth Book of Lesbian Short Stories

  The Mammoth Book of Men O’War

  The Mammoth Book of Mindbending Puzzles

  The Mammoth Book of Murder

  The Mammoth Book of New Erotica

  The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures

  The Mammoth Book of Nostradamus and Other Prophets

  The Mammoth Book of Oddballs and Eccentrics

  The Mammoth Book of Private Lives

  The Mammoth Book of Seriously Comic Fantasy

  The Mammoth Book of Short Erotic Novels

  The Mammoth Book of Sports & Games

  The Mammoth Book of Sword & Honour

  The Mammoth Book of Tasteless Lists

  The Mammoth Book of the Third Reich at War

  The Mammoth Book of True War Stories

  The Mammoth Book of 20th Century Ghost Stories

  The Mammoth Book of Unsolved Crimes

  The Mammoth Book of War Diaries and Letters

  The Mammoth Book of the Western

  The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games

  THE

  MAMMOTH BOOK OF

  BEST NEW

  HORROR

  VOLUME ELEVEN

  Edited and with an Introduction by

  STEPHEN JONES

  Robinson

  LONDON

  Constable & Robinson Ltd

  55–56 Russell Square

  London WC1B 4HP

  www.constablerobinson.com

  First published in the UK by Robinson,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd 2000

  Collection and editorial material

  copyright © Stephen Jones 2000

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in

  Publication Data is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 1-84119-167-1

  eISBN 978-1-78033-714-2

  Printed and bound in the EU

  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction: Horror in 1999

  THE EDITOR

  Halloween Street

  STEVE RASNIC TEM

  Others

  JAMES HERBERT

  Growing Things

  T.E.D. KLEIN

  Unhasped

  DAVID J. SCHOW

  The Emperor’s Old Bones

  GEMMA FILES

  The Entertainment

  RAMSEY CAMPBELL

  Harlequin Valentine

  NEIL GAIMAN

  The Stunted House

  TERRY LAMSLEY

  Just Like Eddy

  KIM NEWMAN

  The Long Hall on the Top Floor

  CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN

  Lulu

  THOMAS TESSIER

  The Ballyhooly Boy

  GRAHAM MASTERTON

  Welcome

  MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH

  Burden

  MICHAEL MARANO

  Naming the Dead

  PAUL J. McAULEY

  Aftershock

  F. PAUL WILSON

  A Fish Story

  GENE WOLFE

  Jimmy

  DAVID CASE

&nbsp
; White

  TIM LEBBON

  Pork Pie Hat

  PETER STRAUB

  Tricks & Treats One Night on Halloween Street

  STEVE RASNIC TEM

  Necrology: 1999

  STEPHEN JONES & KIM NEWMAN

  Useful Addresses

  In memory of

  FRANCES GARFIELD

  (1908–2000)

  last of the Southern belles.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to thank Douglas E. Winter, Sara Broecker, David Barraclough, Mandy Slater, Andrew I. Porter, Jo Fletcher, Bill Congreve, Gordon Van Gelder, William K. Schafer, Robert Morgan, Peter Crowther, David Pringle, Frederick S. Clarke, Andy Cox, Peter Atkins, Nancy Kilpatrick and Don Hutchison for their help and support. Special thanks are due to Locus, Interzone, Science Fiction Chronicle, Variety and all the other sources that were used for reference in the Introduction and the Necrology.

  INTRODUCTION: HORROR IN 1999 copyright © Stephen Jones 2000.

  HALLOWEEN STREET copyright © Steve Rasnic Tem 1999. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Number 575, July 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  OTHERS copyright © James Herbert 1999. Originally published in Others. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  GROWING THINGS copyright © T.E.D. Klein 1999. Originally published in 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  UNHASPED copyright © David J. Schow 1999. Originally published in White of the Moon: New Tales of Madness and Dread. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE EMPEROR’S OLD BONES copyright © Gemma Files 1999. Originally published in Northern Frights 5. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE ENTERTAINMENT copyright © Ramsey Campbell 1999. Originally published in 999: New Stories of Horror and Suspense. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  HARLEQUIN VALENTINE copyright © Neil Gaiman 1999. Originally published in World Horror Convention 1999 Program Book. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE STUNTED HOUSE copyright © Terry Lamsley 1999. Originally published in Subterranean Gallery. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  JUST LIKE EDDY copyright © Kim Newman 1999. Originally published in Interzone, Number 148, October 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE LONG HALL ON THE TOP FLOOR copyright © Caitlín R. Kiernan 1999. Originally published in Carpe Noctem, Number 16. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  LULU copyright © Thomas Tessier 1999. Originally published in Lulu and One Other. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE BALLYHOOLY BOY copyright © Graham Masterton 1999. Originally published in Encre Noire, December 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  WELCOME copyright © Michael Marshall Smith 1999. Originally published in White of the Moon: New Tales of Madness and Dread. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  BURDEN copyright © Michael Marano 1999. Originally published on Gothic.Net, March 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  NAMING THE DEAD copyright © Paul J. McAuley 1999. Originally published in Interzone, Number 149, November 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  AFTERSHOCK copyright © F. Paul Wilson 1999. Originally published in Realms of Fantasy, December 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  A FISH STORY copyright © Gene Wolfe 1999. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Number 578, October/November 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, the Virginia Kidd Agency, Inc.

  JIMMY copyright © David Case 1999. Originally published in Brotherly Love and Other Tales of Trust and Knowledge. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  WHITE copyright © Tim Lebbon 1999. Originally published in White. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  PORK PIE HAT copyright © Peter Straub 1999. Originally published in Murder for Halloween (1994). This version published in Pork Pie Hat. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  TRICKS & TREATS ONE NIGHT ON HALLOWEEN STREET copyright © Steve Rasnic Tem 1999. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Number 579, December 1999. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  NECROLOGY: 1999 copyright © Stephen Jones and Kim Newman 2000.

  USEFUL ADDRESSES copyright © Stephen Jones 2000.

  INTRODUCTION

  Horror in 1999

  IN BOTH BRITAIN AND NORTH AMERICA MASS-MARKET HORROR PUBLISHING slipped slightly in 1999, despite an upturn in the number of science fiction and fantasy titles released. The young adult horror market also continued to decline (more so in the US), although vampire books were still popular – particularly the numerous Buffy-related tie-ins.

  Barnes & Noble Inc., and Ingram Book Group called off their proposed merger when reports leaked out that the US Federal Trade Commission would recommend opposing the book retailer’s $600-million bid to acquire the major wholesaler. Both companies announced that protracted litigation would not be in their best interests, and that they planned to work closely together as they moved forward with alternative plans, including the building of new distribution centres. The merger had been opposed by many independent booksellers since it was announced in November 1998.

  When Bertelsmann AG bought Random House in 1998, merging it with Bantam Doubleday Dell to create America’s biggest publishing house, the company promised that the move would enhance the “effectiveness and independence” of the various imprints and divisions. However, that promise was apparently forgotten when Bertelsmann announced it would be merging eight of its publishing units into four new groups. These included the amalgamation of Bantam and Dell, and the merging of Anchor Books and Vintage Books into a division of the Knopf Publishing Group. Meanwhile a number of SF editors at Del Rey were let go or else moved to other departments. Bertelsmann also bought an 80 per cent share in German publisher Springer Verlag for an estimated $600 million, and agreed to merge its book club activities in Italy with Mondadori.

  In spring the HarperPrism imprint reduced its annual number of titles by almost half, and just a couple of months later cut them back again. Then in a surprise move in mid-June, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., owner of HarperCollins, announced its purchase of The Hearst Corporation’s book division, which included the Avon and Morrow imprints, for an estimated $180 million. Three months later more than seventy people were made redundant, including the former head of HarperPrism, John Silbersack; executive editor of HarperPrism, John Douglas; publisher of Avon, Lou Aronica and Clive Barker’s editor Paul McCarthy. A third of the adult imprints and almost half of the young adult lines also disappeared.

  Formed in 1982 when Herman Graf and Kent Carroll left Grove Press, New York publishing house Carroll & Graf was purchased by independent distributor Publishers Group West through its Avalon Publishing Group subsidiary. However, the company was soon hit with a class action suit, originally filed by attorneys in 1998 on behalf of five Carroll & Graf authors, claiming the under-reporting of royalty payments and the holding of unreasonable reserves against returns. C&G president Herman Graf told the trade that he thought the ruling was an error and had “no merit whatsoever”.

  Following the purchase of UK publisher Cassell by Anthony Cheetham’s Orion Group, the Gollancz (hardcover) and Millennium (paperback) genre lists were merged under the control of Orion Managing Director Malcolm Edwards.

  Meanwhile, in late May, British bookseller WHSmith bought Hodder Headline for £185 million cash, a reported 43 per cent above the market value of shares at the time. The sale included all the company’s publishing divisions, including Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, New English Library and others. As an immediate result, shares in the publisher jumped 40 per cent while WHSmith’s shares fell 28 pence.

  Nick Robinson and Ben Glazebrook announced in November that they had agreed terms to transfer their shareholdings in Robinson Publishing Ltd. and Constable & Co. Ltd into a single publishing company, Constable & Robinson
Ltd. Robinson staff moved into Constable’s London offices the following month, with the production, sales and marketing and accounts departments merged at a cost of only two redundancies. For the next year, Robinson & Constable would continue to publish under their respective imprints.

  California’s General Publishing Group, which published Forrest J Ackerman’s World of Science Fiction amongst other titles, went bankrupt and had its assets sold at auction in mid-June.

  Carol Publishing, whose imprints included Citadel Press, Lyle Stuart and Birch Lane Press, ceased business in August after its proposed sale to distributor LPS fell through. Carol had liabilities of $12.3 million against a backlist of 1,300 titles, valued at $25.6 million, which included trade paperback editions of all Philip K. Dick’s short stories, a controversial exposé of L. Ron Hubbard, and various “unauthorized” media tie-ins.

  Despite winning a runner-up award of £750.00 in the Shell Live WIRE Young Business Start Up Awards, Matt Weyland’s Pulp Publications, which reprinted classic adventure stories under the Pulp Fictions imprint by Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Wallace and others, filed for bankruptcy in October with debts of £56,800 owed to its Finnish printers and British artist Bob Covington, amongst others.

  In November, the commissioning editor of Virgin Books’ new SF imprint Virgin Worlds announced that the publisher would not be buying any more titles in the foreseeable future because sales reaction to the three launch titles in March had been less enthusiastic than hoped. Of course the lack of big name authors, dull cover art and negligible sales and marketing promotion had nothing to do with the book trade’s reaction.