The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17 Read online

  From the same editor and imprint, Bernie Herrmann’s Manic Sextet contained six dark novelettes by Mike O’Driscoll, Paul Finch, Donald Pulker, Andrew Hook, Gary McMahon, Adam L. G. Nevill, Rhys Hughes and Simon Strantzas.

  The fifth volume of Polyphony, edited by Deborah Layne and Jay Lake for Oregon’s Wheatland Press, featured thirty-one original stories by Iain Rowan, Bruce Holland Rogers, Jeff VanderMeer, Forrest Aguirre, Ray Vukcevich, Leslie What and the late d.g.k. Goldberg, amongst others.

  Lake also edited TEL: Stories for the same imprint, an original anthology of twenty-eight eclectic stories (two reprints) by such authors as Ian Creasey, Tim Pratt, Dean Wesley Smith, Greg Beatty, Forrest Aguirre, Jeff VanderMeer and Gregory Feeley.

  From Raw Dog Screaming Press, John Edward Lawson’s Last Burn in Hell was a modern horror novel in which a man recalled his life while dangling over a lava pit. Also available were volumes #7 and #8 of Bare Bone, edited by Kevin L. Donihe and featuring fiction by Gary Fry, John R. Platt, Donald R. Burleson, Robert Dunbar, C.J. Henderson, Gary McMahon, Michael A. Arnzen and Charlee Jacob.

  Published by Two Backed Books, an imprint of Raw Dog Screaming Press, The Book of a Thousand Suns collected fifteen disturbing stories (nine original) by former World Class Heavyweight kick-boxer Wrath James White. From the same imprint, Tempting Disaster was an anthology of stories exploring sexual taboos, edited by John Edward Lawson and featuring contributions by Jeffrey Thomas and Michael Hemmington.

  John Shirley’s 1988 novel In Darkness Waiting, about a small Oregon town invaded by insectoid evil, appeared in revised and updated trade paperback and hardcover editions from Infrapress, with a new self-congratulatory Foreword by the author.

  Horror Between the Sheets was an anthology of twenty-three stories drawn from Cthulhu Sex magazine, with contributions by Mark McLaughlin and others.

  From Hippocampus Press, Tales Out of Dunwich edited by Robert M. Price was an anthology of ten Lovecraftian stories (one original) from Jack Williamson, Richard A. Lupoff, Nancy A. Collins and others.

  Published by Elder Signs Press, Tim Curran’s novel Hive was a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, set in a series of caverns discovered beneath the South Pole. Horrors Beyond: Tales of Terrifying Realities was available from the same imprint, edited by William Jones. The anthology contained eighteen Lovecraftian stories (one reprint) by Curran, James S. Dorr, Gerard Houarner, C. J. Henderson and Richard A. Lupoff, amongst others. Both books boasted impressive cover artwork by Dave Carson.

  Also out as a print-on-demand title from Elder Signs Press, Terrors was a collection of sixteen stories by Richard A. Lupoff, several of them pastiches of H. P. Lovecraft.

  Chuck Palahniuk had nice words to say about Angel Dust Apocalypse, a collection of twenty stories (eleven reprints) by Jeremy Robert Johnson from Eraserhead Press.

  Available from Chimericana Books, editor Mike Philbin’s Chimeraworld #2 contained twenty-three original tales by Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis, Kurt Newton, Quentin S. Crisp, Ken Goldman, Suzanne Church, Tony Richards, John Meany and others.

  Edited with an Introduction by Charles R. Dinkins, Modern Witches, Wizards, and Magic from Kerlak Enterprises contained sixteen magical stories (ten original).

  Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera was newly translated by Jean-Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier, who also contributed an original story. Available on-demand from Black Coat Press, the book was illustrated by forty-seven artists. From the same imprint, Tales of the Shadowmen 1: The Modern Babylon collected fourteen pastiche pulp stories by Robert Sheckley, Brian Stableford and others, while Paul Féval’s 1878 novella The Wandering Jew’s Daughter (La Fille du Juif Errant) was translated and introduced by Stableford.

  Carrie Masek’s Twice Damned from Mundania Press was about a Nazi-created vampire who learned that others of his kind had also survived. Available from California’s Midnight Library, J. F. Gonzalez’s The Beloved concerned a race of emotional vampires coexisting with humans.

  Watchers: Culloden! was the third volume in William Meikle’s trilogy, available from KHP Industries/Black Death Books, while the hunt for a lost heirloom by Glasgow private investigator Derek Adams led to Lovecraftian horrors in Meikle’s The Midnight Eye Files: The Amulet.

  The Blackest Death Volume II edited by The Staff of Black Death Books was an anthology of twenty-four original horror stories.

  KHP also teamed up with Demonic Clown Books to publish Steve Vernon’s Wild West horror novel, Long Horn Big Shaggy, along with Night of the Loving Dead, James Futch and James Newman’s novella about zombies and the Mafia.

  Rough Magic by John William Houghton was an occult thriller from Unlimited Publishing.

  The Apartment Building Next Door collected six horror stories and six poems by Joseph R. Grych, available from AuthorHouse.

  From Phosphor Lantern Press, Songs & Sonnets Atlantean: The Third Series was the final collection of poet/performer Donald Sidney-Fryer’s 44-year extension of the type of verse and prose-poems achieved by the California Romantics. Terence McVicker supplied the brief Introduction.

  From classy small press imprint Hill House Publishers, The Cat’s Pajamas: Stories +5 was a beautifully designed and expanded edition of Ray Bradbury’s 2004 collection, with amusing illustrations by the author. It was limited to 1,000 numbered and fifty-two lettered slipcased copies, all signed by Bradbury.

  Also from Hill House, the first of the publisher’s holiday Christmas Books was a beautifully hand-crafted edition of Fitz-James O’Brien’s 1858 story Little Red Kriss Kringle, limited to just fifty hardcover copies and issued in an illustrated envelope.

  In January, Jeff VanderMeer’s Ministry of Whimsy Press ended its short-lived association with Night Shade Books after its founder confirmed that he wanted to direct his energies towards his own writing and editing projects.

  Meanwhile, Night Shade’s “Lost Wellman” series kicked off with two attractive hardcover volumes by the late Manly Wade Wellman. Strangers on the Heights and Giants from Eternity each collected two pulp magazine novellas that had remained unpublished for decades.

  Terry Lamsley’s 1996 collection Conference with the Dead was reissued by Night Shade in trade hardcover and as a signed, limited edition that included an extra story.

  Ramsey Campbell’s new serial killer novel, Secret Stories, about an author who committed murder to overcome his writer’s block, appeared from PS Publishing in a signed hardcover edition of 500 trade and 200 deluxe slipcased copies, with an Introduction by Jeremy Dyson.

  Mark Morris’ latest novel, Nowhere Near an Angel, was about a man whose punk-rock past came back to haunt him. With an Introduction by Stephen Gallagher, it was also available in trade hardcover and deluxe slipcase, signed by both contributors.

  PS also published a limited edition of Graham Joyce’s TWOC, a comedic supernatural thriller in which a teenage car thief was haunted by his dead brother after a fatal crash. Rob Grant supplied the Introduction.

  Don’t Turn Out the Light was the latest volume in the revived “Not at Night” series of anthologies edited by Stephen Jones. It contained seventeen stories (nine original) by Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, Terry Lamsley, David J. Schow, Charles L. Grant, Peter Atkins, Roberta Lannes, John Burke, Basil Copper, Hugh B. Cave and others, plus interior illustrations by Randy Broecker. It was published in a 500-copy hardcover edition signed by the editor and 200 numbered and slipcased copies signed by all the living contributors.

  With an Introduction by Christopher Golden, Joe Hill’s first collection, 20th Century Ghosts, was probably the most talked-about book debut of the year and set to become a modern collectible. Containing fifteen often remarkable horror stories (two original, plus another hidden away in the Acknowledgments), it was available from PS as a 1,000-copy trade paperback, a 500-copy trade hardcover signed by the author, and a 200-copy slipcased edition signed by both Hill and Golden.

  Little Machines was the long-awaited new collection from
Paul McAuley. Boasting a wraparound dust-jacket by the legendary Chesley Bonestell, it contained seventeen previously-published stories, along with a brief Introduction by Greg Bear and an Afterword by the author.

  Available from PS Publishing in editions of 500 trade hardcovers and 200 slipcased editions signed by the author, Ray Bradbury’s classic 1960s collections R is for Rocket and S is for Space featured new Forewords and Introductions by Arthur C. Clarke and Tim Powers, and Ray Harryhausen and Michael Marshall Smith, respectively. Both books also came in 100 special slipcased sets signed by all the contributors, along with a bonus new Bradbury collection, Forever and the Earth: Yesterday and Tomorrow Stories, containing eleven reprint stories originally dropped from S is for Space and various correspondence and notes. The books were also profusely illustrated with the magazine artwork that accompanied each story’s original appearance.

  One of the best anthologies of the year was Taverns of the Dead edited by Kealan Patrick Burke, containing twenty-seven stories (nine reprints) about pubs and drinking by Ramsey Campbell, Jack Cady, Neil Gaiman, Thomas Ligotti, Roberta Lannes, Christopher Fowler, Charles L. Grant, Peter Straub, David Morrell, C. Bruce Hunter, Chaz Brenchley, Tim Lebbon, Chet Williamson, Terry Lamsley and others. F. Paul Wilson supplied the Introduction.

  CD also published Burke’s novel The Hides, about a boy who helped the dead find their murderers. It was published in a 750-copy signed edition and a leather-bound lettered edition of twenty-six copies.

  Edited by Peter Crowther, Fourbodings: A Quartet of Uneasy Tales from Four Members of the Macabre contained four novellas by Terry Lamsley, Simon Clark, Tim Lebbon and Mark Morris. Along with the twenty-six traycased copies, there was a 1,000-copy signed edition.

  Hornets and Others collected seventeen horror stories (two original) by Al Sarrantonio, while Zero was the fourth book in F. Paul Wilson’s Sims quartet about chimpanzees genetically modified with human genes. Both books were limited to 750 signed copies and twenty-six lettered.

  Ray Garton’s Scissors was about the return of a childhood nightmare and had a 1,000-copy trade edition from CD.

  In the Cemetery Dance novella series, a meteor shower interrupted a lakeside vacation in Blue November Storms by Brian Freeman, while Geoff Cooper’s Retribution was part of the author’s “Brackard’s Point” series. Both were available as 750-copy signed hardcovers.

  The arrival of crows in the coastal town of Black Stone Bay, Rhode Island, presaged a much more powerful evil in James A. Moore’s Halloween vampire novel Blood Red. It was published by Paul Miller’s Earthling Publications in a 500-copy signed and numbered edition, and a fifteen-copy lettered edition signed by all the contributors, including cover artist “Edward Miller” (Les Edwards) and Simon Clark, who contributed the Introduction.

  Home Before Dark: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories Volume 2 contained nineteen tales (two original, the others revised and corrected) by Gary A. Braunbeck along with related items about the haunted town. Illustrated by Deena Warner, it was also limited to a 500-copy signed and numbered edition and fifteen traycased lettered copies.

  In Erik Tomblin’s original novella Riverside Blues, a wife who disappeared half a century earlier mysteriously returned to her husband. It was published by Earthling in a signed edition of 300 numbered softcovers and fifteen lettered hardcovers, with an Introduction by James Newman.

  China Miéville’s 1998 novel King Rat was reissued by Earthling in 400 numbered slipcased copies and a fifteen-copy lettered traycased edition. The handsome-looking volume included an original Introduction by Clive Barker, a new Afterword by the author, and black and white illustrations by Richard Kirk.

  From the same imprint, Song of Kali: 20th Anniversary Edition was an attractive signed hardcover of Dan Simmons’ classic novel, with a new Introduction by the author. It was available in an edition of 400 numbered and fifteen lettered slipcased copies.

  From Fedogan & Bremer, Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth was a follow-up to editor Stephen Jones’ 1994 anthology Shadows Over Innsmouth. It contained eleven Lovecraftian stories and novellas by Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Kim Newman, Michael Marshall Smith, Paul J. McAuley, Hugh B. Cave, Richard A. Lupoff, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Basil Copper and others. With a wraparound dust-jacket by Bob Eggleton, the book featured interior artwork by Eggleton, Randy Broecker, Les Edwards and Allan Servoss and was available in a trade hardcover edition and a 100-copy signed and numbered slipcased edition.

  To tie-in with his Guest of Honour appearance at the World Fantasy Convention in Madison, Twilight Tales released a trade paperback edition of Robert Weinberg’s The Occult Detective. It reprinted seven stories featuring psychic detective Sidney Taine, with an Introduction by Stefan Dziemianowicz.

  Illustrated by Shelley Jackson, Magic for Beginners was the second collection of Kelly Link’s short fiction from Small Beer Press. The book contained nine stories (three original) and came with glowing quotes from The Village Voice, New York Magazine, Michael Chabon and China Miéville, amongst others. A set of playing cards, also illustrated by Jackson, was used to promote the book.

  Published by Westwood St Thomas School/Beccon Publications in a 125-copy numbered hardcover edition signed by all the contributors (which quickly sold out) and a 800-copy paperback edition signed by the author, Black Dust & Other Tales of Interrupted Childhood contained three reprint stories by Graham Joyce, selected by editor Bob Wardzinski along with an Introduction by Mark Chadbourn, additional contributions by Jeffrey Ford and Jeff VanderMeer and an Afterword by the author. All the contributors to the book (including designer Michael Marshall Smith, the printer and the publisher), donated their work for free to raise as much money as possible to establish a bursary for students at the Nqabakazulu Secondary School near Durban, South Africa.

  From Side Real Press/Northern Gothic and produced with funding from the Arts Council of England, Phantoms at the Phil was a book and CD recording of live ghost story readings by Sean O’Brien, Gail-Nina Anderson and Chaz Brenchley at the Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2004. Limited to 300 numbered and signed hardcover copies, the slim volume included an introductory essay by Ramsey Campbell about his own spooky encounters.

  Al Sarrantnio’s The Pumpkin Boy: A Tale of Halloween, the latest entry in the author’s “Orangefield Cycle”, was the third volume in the Endeavor Press Novelette Series. Nicely illustrated by Keith Minnion, with a cover by Alan M. Clark, the book was available in a 200-copy signed limited edition and a $100 lettered edition.

  From Necessary Evil Press, Pieces of Hate was a new novella by Tim Lebbon, in which Gabriel and the demon Temple from the author’s Dead Man’s Hand found themselves involved with cutthroat pirates. With an Introduction by Brian Keene and artwork by Caniglia, the slim volume was limited to a signed and numbered edition of 450 softcovers and twenty-six hardcovers.

  Boasting an impressive cover illustration by John Picacio, Adventure Vol.1 edited by Chris Roberson was the first volume in a new series of adventure pulp anthologies. It contained seventeen original stories by Mike Resnick, John Meaney, Lou Anders, Kage Baker, Paul Di Filippo, Kim Newman, Michael Kurland, Michael Moorcock and the editor himself.

  From Welsh imprint Pendragon Press, Stuart Young’s The Mask Behind the Face was an attractive collection of four stories (two original) with an Introduction by Mark Samuels.

  From the same imprint, Mark West’s In the Rain with the Dead was a first novel about demonic lust that came with enthusiastic quotes from T. M. Gray and Brian Keene, and Liz Williams supplied the Introduction to An Occupation of Angels, a new novella about celestial invasion by Lavie Tidhar.

  Published by Cold Spring Press, The Shadow at the Bottom of the World was a “Best of” collection containing sixteen stories and an Introduction by Thomas Ligotti. Edited with a foreword by Douglas A. Anderson, most of the stories had been previously collected and were arranged in the order they were written.

  Produced by Biting Dog Press in hand-crafted edit
ions, Jack Ketchum’s Indian fable The Transformed Mouse: A Parable from the Panchatantra was available in a 250-copy signed and numbered edition and a twenty-six copy lettered edition, while Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven was limited to just sixty-five numbered copies with wood engravings by George A. Walker.

  From Ash-Tree Press, Sea Mist contained seventeen stories and was the fifth and final volume in the “Collected Spook Stories” of E. F. Benson, edited by Jack Adrian and covering the period 1927 to the author’s death in 1940.

  Mr. Justice Harbottle and Others: Ghost Stories 1870–73 was the third and final volume collecting the supernatural fiction of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, edited by Jim Rockhill.

  The Watcher by the Threshold collected all the major supernatural stories (twenty-eight) by John Buchan, with an Introduction by Kenneth Hillier, Secretary of The John Buchan Society.

  First published in 1919, The Motion Demon collected the railroad stories of Polish author Stefan Grabinski, translated by Miroslaw Lipinski and available in an edition of 500 copies.

  Harry Ludlam’s short novel The Coming of Jonathan Smith was originally published in 1964 and was the fourth volume from the “Ash-Tree Press Classic Macabre” paperback imprint.

  A man discovered that his dead father had been involved in a blood ritual that had released something evil in Shane Ryan Staley’s novel The Cleansing, published by Bloodletting Press,

  British short film writer and director Frazer Lee was the author of Urbane and Other Horror Tales, a collection of four reprint stories and six previously unpublished short screenplays, issued in trade paperback format by Robber Baron Productions with a blurb by Tobe Hooper.

  Coming in at a hefty 400 pages-plus, the second volume of editor Mark Pilkington’s Strange Attractor was an impressive-looking volume featuring fiction and articles celebrating popular culture by Graham Harvey, John Coulthart, Roger Dobson and many others.