The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 22 Read online

  STEPHEN JONES lives in London, England. He is the winner of three World Fantasy Awards, four Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Awards and three International Horror Guild Awards as well as being a twenty-one time recipient of the British Fantasy Award and a Hugo Award nominee. A former 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, Horror: Another 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, Great Ghost Stories, Tales to Freeze the Blood: More Great Ghost Stories and the Dark Terrors, Dark Voices and Fantasy Tales series. He has written Coraline: A Visual Companion, Stardust: The Visual Companion, Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide, 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 Best New Horror series, 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, The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women, The Mammoth Book of New Terror, The Mammoth Book of Monsters, The Mammoth Book of the Best of Best New Horror, Shadows Over Innsmouth, Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth, Dark Detectives, Dancing with the Dark, Dark of the Night, White of the Moon, Keep Out the Night, By Moonlight Only, Don’t Turn Out the Light, H.P. Lovecraft’s Book of the Supernatural, Travellers in Darkness, Summer Chills, Brighton Shock!, Zombie Apocalypse!, Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels & Heavenly Hosts, A Book of Horrors, Exorcisms and Ecstasies by Karl Edward Wagner, The Vampire Stories of R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Phantoms and Fiends and Frights and Fancies by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, James Herbert: By Horror Haunted, Basil Copper: A Life in Books, Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft, Eldritch Tales by H.P. Lovecraft, The Complete Chronicles of Conan and Conan’s Brethren by Robert E. Howard, The Emperor of Dreams: The Lost Worlds of Clark Ashton Smith, Sea-Kings of Mars and Otherworldly Stories by Leigh Brackett, The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales by Rudyard Kipling, Darkness Mist & Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper, Pelican Cay & Other Disquieting Tales by David Case, Clive Barker’s A–Z of Horror, Clive Barker’s Shadows in Eden, Clive Barker’s The Nightbreed Chronicles, The Hellraiser Chronicles and volumes of poetry by H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. A Guest of Honour at the 2002 World Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the 2004 World Horror Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, he has been a guest lecturer at UCLA in California and London’s Kingston University and St Mary’s University College. You can visit his website at www.stephenjoneseditor.com

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  The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 23

  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, 2011

  Collection and editorial material copyright © Stephen Jones 2011

  The right of Stephen Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  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

  UK ISBN 978-1-84901-618-6

  eISBN 978-1-84901-772-5

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  First published in the United States in 2011 by Running Press Book Publishers,

  A Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

  This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

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  US ISBN: 978-0-7624-4270-6

  US Library of Congress Control Number: 2010941550

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  Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

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  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgments

  Introduction: Horror in 2010

  What Will Come After

  SCOTT EDELMAN

  Substitutions

  MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH

  A Revelation of Cormorants

  MARK VALENTINE

  Out Back

  GARRY KILWORTH

  Fort Clay, Louisiana: A Tragical History

  ALBERT E. COWDREY

  Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls

  BRIAN HODGE

  Fallen Boys

  MARK MORRIS

  The Lemon in the Pool

  SIMON KURT
UNSWORTH

  The Pier

  THANA NIVEAU

  Featherweight

  ROBERT SHEARMAN

  Black Country

  JOEL LANE

  Lavender and Lychgates

  ANGELA SLATTER

  Christmas with the Dead

  JOE R. LANSDALE

  We All Fall Down

  KIRSTYN McDERMOTT

  Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside

  CHRISTOPHER FOWLER

  Losenef Express

  MARK SAMUELS

  Lesser Demons

  NORMAN PARTRIDGE

  Telling

  STEVE RASNIC TEM

  As Red as Red

  CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN

  With the Angels

  RAMSEY CAMPBELL

  Autumn Chill

  RICHARD L. TIERNEY

  City of the Dog

  JOHN LANGAN

  When the Zombies Win

  KARINA SUMNER-SMITH

  Necrology: 2010

  STEPHEN JONES & KIM NEWMAN

  Useful Addresses

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would like to thank David Barraclough, Mandy Slater, Amanda Foubister, Andrew I. Porter, Brian Mooney, Johnny Mains, Philip Harbottle, Sara and Randy Broecker, Vincent Chong, Rodger Turner and Wayne MacLaurin (www.sfsite.com), Peter Crowther and Nicky Crowther, Gordon Van Gelder, Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker, Andy Cox, Ellen Datlow, Charles Black and, especially, Duncan Proudfoot and Dorothy Lumley for all their help and support. Special thanks are also due to Locus, Variety, Ansible and all the other sources that were used for reference in the Introduction and the Necrology.

  INTRODUCTION: HORROR IN 2010 copyright © Stephen Jones 2011.

  WHAT WILL COME AFTER copyright © Scott Edelman 2010. Originally published in What Will Come After. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  SUBSTITUTIONS copyright © Michael Marshall Smith 2010. Originally published in Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  A REVELATION OF CORMORANTS copyright © Mark Valentine 2010. Originally published in A Revelation of Cormorants. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  OUT BACK copyright © Garry Kilworth 2010. Originally published in FantasyCon 2010 Souvenir Programme. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  FORT CLAY, LOUISIANA: A TRAGICAL HISTORY copyright © Albert E. Cowdrey 2010. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, No.688, March/April 2010. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  JUST OUTSIDE OUR WINDOWS, DEEP INSIDE OUR WALLS copyright © Brian Hodge 2010. Originally published on Darkside Digital. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  FALLEN BOYS copyright © Mark Morris. Originally published in The End of the Line: New Horror Stories Set On and Around the Underground, the Subway, the Metro and Other Places Deep Below. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE LEMON IN THE POOL copyright © Simon Kurt Unsworth 2010. Originally published in Lost Places. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE PIER copyright © Thana Niveau 2010. Originally published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  FEATHERWEIGHT copyright © Robert Shearman 2010. Originally published in Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels & Heavenly Hosts. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, PBJ Management.

  BLACK COUNTRY copyright © Joel Lane 2010. Originally published in Black Country. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  LAVENDER AND LYCHGATES copyright © Angela Slatter 2010. Originally published in Sourdough and Other Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEAD copyright © Joe R. Lansdale 2010. Originally published in Christmas with the Dead. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  WE ALL FALL DOWN copyright © Kirstyn McDermott 2010. Originally published in Aurealis: Australian Fantasy & Science Fiction, No.44, September 2010. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  OH I DO LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE copyright © Christopher Fowler 2010. Originally published in Brighton Shock! The Souvenir Book of The World Horror Convention 2010. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  LOSENEF EXPRESS copyright © Mark Samuels 2010. Originally published in The Man Who Collected Machen & Other Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  LESSER DEMONS copyright © Norman Partridge 2010. Originally published in Lesser Demons and Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  TELLING copyright © Steve Rasnic Tem 2010. Originally published in The Seventh Black Book of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  AS RED AS RED copyright © Caitlín R. Kiernan 2010. Originally published in Haunted Legends. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  WITH THE ANGELS copyright © Ramsey Campbell 2010. Originally published in Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels & Heavenly Hosts. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  AUTUMN CHILL copyright © Richard L. Tierney 2010. Originally published in Savage Menace and Other Poems of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  CITY OF THE DOG copyright © John Langan 2009. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, No.687, January/February 2010. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  WHEN THE ZOMBIES WIN copyright © Karina Sumner-Smith 2010. Originally published in The Living Dead 2. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  NECROLOGY: 2010 copyright © Stephen Jones and Kim Newman 2011.

  USEFUL ADDRESSES copyright © Stephen Jones 2011.

  In memory of my dear friend, and one of the Chapel Hill Gang

  C. BRUCE HUNTER

  (1944–2009)

  INTRODUCTION

  Horror in 2010

  AFTER ONLY A YEAR, Angry Robot left HarperCollins UK and became an independent imprint, backed by Osprey Publishing, best known for its military history titles.

  In March, the American Borders book-selling chain held off possible bankruptcy after securing two loans, totalling $790 million. This allowed the company to see if its recent restructuring, which included closing Waldenbooks stores, could halt a continuing decline in sales.

  With so many pundits proclaiming the demise of the traditional bookstore in favour of the Internet and e-books, London’s Foyles bookshop defied the trend and enjoyed its most successful year for more than a decade, with a 9.7 per cent increase in sales on the previous year. It was, however, the first time that the store had made a pre-tax profit since 1999.

  Industry figures revealed that the UK book industry suffered a 5.6 per cent decline in sales overall.

  For the second year in a row, national SAT results in England revealed that reading standards had fallen amongst 11-year-olds in primary schools. This was borne out by a survey of 2,000 UK schoolchildren which revealed that 11 per cent of them thought that Albert Einstein was Frankenstein’s brother and one in five believed that Disney’s Buzz Lightyear was the first person to step on the Moon, not Neil Armstrong. Even more dispiriting, one in six thought Darth Vader’s Death Star was the furthest place from Earth, one in six believed that the Daleks occupied Britain, and 12 per cent of kids thought that the Battle of Britain took place in outer space.

  In the annual rundown of the most popular names for newborn babies in 2009, issued by America’s Social Security Administration at the beginning of May, “Cullen” was placed at #485 – a leap of almost 300 slots from the previous year, and the biggest increase for any boy’s name. This was put down to the fact that it is the surname of moody vampire “Edward” in Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight Saga”. Perhaps more worrying, “Jacob” (the name of Meyer’s buff werewolf) was the most popular boy’s name for the eleventh year running, while “Isabella” – the progenitor of Meyer’s heroine “Bella” (which itself rated #58) – topped the list of girls’ names.

  Meanwhile, the Pacific Inn Motel in Forks, Washington – home to Meyer’s fictional Cullen family of vampires – opened six Twilight-themed
rooms decorated in black and red Gothic trappings.

  Stephenie Meyer’s The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella was about the “newborn” teenage vampire whom Bella met in Eclipse. It was originally written by the author as an exercise. Published with a first print run of 1.5 million copies, with a dollar from each sale donated to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, the slim hardcover was also available online as a free download in June, as a special thank-you to “Twi-hard” fans.

  British horror writer James Herbert received an OBE in the 2010 Queen’s Birthday Honours list. So, too, did scriptwriter/producer Brian Clemens, whose credits include TV’s The Avengers and Thriller.

  In October, J.K. Rowling was named the most influential woman in Britain. Victoria Beckham was the runner-up, followed by the Queen in third place. Earlier in the year, Rowling donated £10 million to set up a multiple sclerosis research clinic in Edinburgh.

  English professor Justin Cronin’s much-hyped The Passage, a large novel about an enigmatic young girl turned into an immortal vampire (called “virals”) through a covert military experiment, was the subject of a bidding war amongst publishers, with Ballantine finally securing the rights. Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions snapped up the movie rights and, inevitably, the author was planning two sequels.

  A group of four college friends, whose lives had been ruined one night in 1966 during a secret occult ritual, revisited the past in an attempt finally to face their very different visions in Peter Straub’s A Dark Matter. An earlier and longer version of the novel, entitled The Skylark, was published by Subterranean Press in a 500-copy signed edition and as a traycased and lettered edition of twenty-six copies ($250.00).

  Frankenstein: Lost Souls was the fourth in the series by Dean Koontz, in which mad scientist Victor created a race of evil replicants who recycled their human counterparts into biological components. From the same author, What the Night Knows was a supernatural serial-killer novel.

  In Joe Hill’s eagerly anticipated second novel, Horns, a man let his inner devil loose when he found that he had grown horns and acquired the power to know the worst secrets and darkest desires of everyone he met. A 500-copy signed and slipcased edition was also available from PS Publishing, along with a 200-copy traycased edition signed by Hill and artist Vincent Chong (£200.00).