The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 22 Page 5
As the Worm Turns from new PoD imprint Blue Room Publishing contained twenty-two stories (fifteen reprints) by Brian Rosenberger.
Jeremy C. Shipp’s collection, Fungus of the Heart, contained thirteen stories (six reprints). It was available as a PoD hardcover and trade paperback from Raw Dog Screaming Press.
Available from the grandly titled Library of Horror Press, Unbound and Other Tales collected nine stories (six original) by David Dunwoody.
Animythical Tales was the debut short story collection from Canadian writer Sarah Totten, available from Fantastic Books with an Introduction by Forrest Aguirre. It contained nine reprint short stories and an original novelette.
From Skullvines Press, In Sickness: Stories from a Very Dark Place written by the husband-and-wife team of L.L. Soares and Laura Cooney contained five stories (two original) by Cooney and six (one original) by Soares, along with a new collaboration.
Dark Faith was a PoD anthology of twenty-six original stories and five poems edited by Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon for Apex Publications. Contributors included Jay Lake, Brian Keene and Tom Piccirilli.
Editor Jennifer Brozek’s Close Encounters of the Urban Kind from the same imprint contained twenty tales, while The Blackness Within: Stories of the Pagan God Moccus edited by Gill Ainsworth contained thirteen original tales and some recipes centred around the Celtic god of fecundity.
Edited by Tim Lieder for Dybbuk Press, She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror was a PoD anthology of nine stories (five original).
Available from Static Movement, Something in the Doorway: A Haunted Anthology edited and introduced by Gregory Miller contained twenty-two original stories.
Making its debut from BearManor Media, the first volume of And Now the Nightmare Begins: The Horror Zine edited by Jeani Rector was a spin-off from the e-zine, featuring twenty stories (one reprint) and fifty-two poems by Ramsey Campbell, Simon Clark, Terry Grimwood, Trevor Denyer, Gary William Crawford, Joe R. Lansdale and Scott Urban, amongst others. The illustrated PoD trade paperback also included two additional stories by the editor.
The second issue of the PoD magazine Shock Totem: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted edited by K. Allen Wood for Shock Totem Publications (“Established in 2009”), featured nine stories by Kurt Newton and others, along with an interview with James Newman and book and film reviews.
The eighth issue of the online Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies edited by Elizabeth McCarthy and Bernice M. Murphy included articles on Lesbian Gothic, the Nightmare on Elm Street film series, and the short fiction of China Miéville, along with book and media reviews.
In Ramsey Campbell’s latest novel, The Seven Days of Cain, from PS Publishing, a British photographer began receiving e-mails from an international serial killer who was somehow connected to an event that linked them ten years previously.
Gary Fry’s debut novel from PS, The House of Canted Steps, was about a haunted family home, while an author with a fear of clowns moved to a rural area where all was not as it seemed in Terry Dowling’s first novel, Clowns at Midnight.
A recovering heroin addict was haunted by a mysterious and terrible figure from his past in Rio Youers’ End Times, and a young boy was given a glimpse of his own future in Rick Hautala’s short novel Reunion, which came with an Afterword by F. Paul Wilson.
What Will Come After was a collection of nine superior zombie stories (one original) by Scott Edelman, while Literary Remains collected ten often oblique supernatural stories by R.B. Russell (three reprints).
Edited by Stephen Jones, Darkness Mist & Shadow: The Collected Macabre Tales of Basil Copper collected all the author’s macabre and supernatural fiction (sixty-one stories and novellas) in two hefty volumes. Featuring introductions by the editor (#1) and Kim Newman (#2), the books boasted covers by Stephen E. Fabian and interior art by Randy Broecker, Dave Carson, Les Edwards, Bob Eggleton, Gary Gianni and Allen Koszowski. The two volumes were also available in a 200-copy deluxe slipcased edition signed by the author, editor and artists (£95.00).
Also edited with an Introduction by editor Jones and illustrated by Randy Broecker, Pelican Cay & Other Disquieting Tales collected seven stories and novellas (three original) by David Case. The 200-copy deluxe traycased edition (£60.00) contained two extra variant story drafts and was signed by all the contributors, including cover artist Les Edwards.
The eighteen stories (four original) in Garry Kilworth’s collection Tales from the Fragrant Harbour: Short Stories of Hong Kong and the Far East were divided equally between mainstream tales (“Once-Told Tales”) and those featuring the supernatural (“Twice-Told Tales”).
Long After Midnight was a collection of twenty-two stories by Ray Bradbury from PS, with an Introduction by Ramsey Campbell. The book was available as 500 unsigned hardcovers, 200 slipcased hardcovers signed by the author, and 100 deluxe cased sets signed by both Bradbury and Campbell that included a hand-corrected story that was not included in the other editions (£95.00).
Ventriloquism was a collection of thirty-two eclectic short stories by Catherynne M. Valente, and Counting Tadpoles collected twenty reprint stories by reclusive author Uncle River.
Scott William Carter’s A Web of Black Widows was PS Showcase #7 and contained six stories (four original) and an Introduction by the author.
Most novels and collections from PS were available in 500 trade hardcover editions and 100 signed editions.
Published as part of PS Publishing’s handsome novella series, Terry Lamsley’s R.I.P. was about survival after death, while a dead private investigator found himself trying to solve his own murder in Scott Nicholson’s hardboiled ghost novella Transparent Lovers.
Stephen King’s 1977 story One For the Road, a sequel-of-sorts to ’Salem’s Lot, was issued by PS as a delightful landscape picture book, featuring eighteen full-colour illustrations by James Hannah. It was available in hardcover as both a 100-copy slipcased edition signed by the artist (£175.00) and a 500-copy unsigned edition (£75.00).
Unlike the previous year’s disappointing Lovecraft Unbound anthology, most of the twenty-one stories (two reprints) in Black Wings: New Tales of Lovecraftian Horror edited by S.T. Joshi still managed to transcend their eldritch themes while continuing to remain true to the spirit and imagination of their inspiration. Aside from a few fan pieces, some of the best work in the book came from Caitlín R. Kiernan, Michael Shea, Nicholas Royle, Brian Stableford, Ramsey Campbell, Norman Partridge and Michael Marshall Smith.
Darkness on the Edge: Tales Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen was edited and introduced by Harrison Howe and contained nineteen stories based on The Boss’ work by Elizabeth Massie, Gary A. Braunbeck, Tom Piccirilli, Sarah Langan, Jeffrey Thomas, T.M. Wright, James A. Moore, Nancy Kilpatrick and others.
Edited with an Introduction by Allen Ashley, Catastrophia was an anthology of eighteen original stories about the end of the world (as we know it) by Andrew Hook, Simon Clark, Brian W. Aldiss and others.
Volume 22/23 of the “Postscripts Anthology” series, The Company He Keeps, was titled after the lead story by Lucius Shepard. As usual edited by Peter Crowther and Nick Gevers, the hardcover featured thirty-one original horror, fantasy and SF stories by John Grant, Joel Lane, Don Webb, Quentin S. Crisp, Rio Youers, Steve Rasnic Tem, Rhys Hughes, Darrell Schweitzer and Holly Phillips, amongst others.
PS also issued a special edition of Brighton Shock! The Souvenir Book of the World Horror Convention 2010 edited by Stephen Jones. Featuring fiction, articles and art by and about the event’s Guests of Honour, the 400-plus page hardcover also included an entire original anthology of seaside horror (Wish You Weren’t Here), with fiction and poetry by H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, Robert Shearman, Joel Lane, Christopher Fowler, Michael Marshall Smith, Sarah Pinborough, Kim Newman, Tim Lebbon and others. Limited to 100 numbered and slipcased copies, it was signed by no fewer than thirty-three contributors (£95.00).
From Cemetery Dance Publications, Stephen King’s Blockade Billy was a supernaturally themed baseball novella set in the late 1950s, in which the enigmatic title character mysteriously led a small-town team of losers towards a potential pennant victory. Illustrated by Alex McVey, the first 10,000 deluxe copies included a William “Blockade Billy” Blakely baseball card, while a signed limited edition was published by Lonely Road Books. The trade hardcover edition from Scribner also included the story “Mortality”.
The Secretary of Dreams Volume Two was an oversized hardcover from CD that collected six reprint stories by King, profusely illustrated in black and white by Glenn Chadbourne. It was available in a slipcased gift edition of 5,000 copies ($75.00) and a leatherbound, signed traycased edition of 750 copies ($300.00).
Ronald Kelly’s novel Hell Hollow was set in rural Tennessee and was also available in a 1,000-copy signed, lettered and traycased edition ($175.00).
Last Exit for the Lost was a hefty hardcover collection of Tim Lebbon’s short fiction from Cemetery Dance. Limited to 1,500 signed copies, the book contained nineteen stories (two original) and an Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale.
Equally as big was Occasional Demons, which contained thirty stories (two original) by Rick Hautala, every one illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne. The deluxe hardcover was limited to 750 signed copies.
Johnny Halloween collected seven stories (including a new “Dark Harvest” tale) by Norman Partridge and was limited to a signed edition of 1,500 copies.
Futile Efforts was another huge collection of seventeen stories (one original) by Tom Piccirilli, each with an Introduction by a different author, including Gerard Houarner, Edward Lee, Jack Ketchum, Tom Monteleone, T.M. Wright, Tim Lebbon, Gary Braunbeck, Brian Keene, Ed Gorman, Simon Clark, Michael Laimo and Christopher Golden. The book also collected forty-five poems and was available in a 1,000-copy signed edition.
T.M. Wright’s Bone Soup collected thirteen stories (three original), twenty poems (seven original) and a revised version of the 2003 novel Cold House. Illustrated by the author, this included an Introduction by Jack Ketchum and was also available in a signed edition limited to 750 copies and a lettered traycased edition ($175.00).
Jill Bauman illustrated Peter Straub’s 1999 novella Pork Pie Hat, which was issued by CD in a trade edition, a signed edition of 350 copies ($50.00), and a traycased lettered edition of fifty-two copies ($200.00).
Limited to 750 signed and numbered copies apiece, Cemetery Dance’s hardcover Novella series continued with Volume #19: Invisible Fences by Norman Prentiss, in which a cautious man discovered that his parents’ often-gruesome warnings might possibly hold some truth. Keith Minnion supplied the interior artwork.
Volume #20 was Greg F. Gifune’s Catching Hell, which was set in the summer of 1983 and concerned three young actors who found themselves trapped in the demonic rural community of Boxer Hills. Jill Bauman contributed the cover and interior illustrations.
The Corpse King by Tim Curran was #21 in the attractive series and told the story of a couple of 18th-century resurrectionists who discovered that they were not the worst thing haunting graveyards and mortuaries. Keith Minnion again produced the interior art.
From Subterranean Press, Mister Slaughter was the third volume in Robert McCammon’s series set in pre-Revolutionary America that began with Speaks the Nightbird and The Queen of Bedlam. This time gay detective Matthew Corbett was on the trail of escaped serial killer Tyranthus Slaughter, who lived up to his name. It was also available in a 274-copy signed edition and a lettered edition of twenty-six copies ($500).
Issued by the same imprint, The Wolf’s Hour contained McCammon’s 1989 World War II werewolf novel and a new novella, illustrated by Vincent Chong. This was issued as a 750-copy signed edition and a twenty-six copy traycased leatherbound edition ($250.00).
Necroscope: The Plague-Bearer was the latest “Lost Years” novella featuring Brian Lumley’s hero Harry Keogh, who had to save a pack of Scottish werewolves from a vampire-engineered plague that could destroy them. As usual, Bob Eggleton supplied the cover art and interior illustrations for the Subterranean Press hardcover, which was also available in a special signed edition limited to 250 numbered copies.
The Evil of Pemberley House was a mix of Gothic horror and pulp fiction by Philip Jose Farmer and Win Scott Eckert. Along with the trade hardcover, it was also published by Subterranean in a 200-copy edition signed by Eckert along with a bonus chapbook.
Deadman’s Road collected the 1986 novel Dead in the West and four stories (one original) featuring Joe R. Lansdale’s Weird Western character, the Reverend Jedidiah Mercer, illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne.
The Juniper Tree and Other Blue Rose Stories by Peter Straub reprinted the novellas “Blue Rose”, “The Juniper Tree”, “Bunny is Good Bread” and “The Ghost Village”, featuring characters and settings from the novels Koko, Mystery and The Throat. The book also included an interview with the author by publisher Bill Sheehan.
Strange Wonders: A Collection of Rare Fritz Leiber Works edited with an Introduction by Benjamin Szumskyj contained various unpublished or uncollected fiction drafts and fragments, early stories, articles and poetry by one of the genre’s top names. The book was also available in a 150-copy leatherbound edition.
Originally announced by Hill House but never published by that apparently now defunct imprint, Subterranean teamed up with PS Publishing to produce a new edition of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles containing forty-nine stories (twenty-seven from the original 1950 edition), an essay, two screenplays, two Introductions and Afterwords by Richard Matheson, Joe Hill, Marc Scott Zicree and John Scalzi. Edward Miller (Les Edwards) contributed five colour plates. The book was available in a 500-copy limited edition ($300.00) and a twenty-six copy lettered edition ($600.00).
Also from Subterranean, A Pleasure to Burn contained sixteen stories related to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday in August, with the city of Los Angeles hosting a week of Bradbury-themed celebrations.
The imprint also issued the third revised printing of Thomas Ligotti’s 1985 collection Songs of a Dead Dreamer, containing definitive versions of the twenty stories. A leatherbound, signed edition of 250 copies was also available.
Caitlín R. Kiernan’s The Ammonite Violin & Others was a new collection of twenty stories originally available to subscribers of the author’s monthly online publication, Sirenia Digest, featuring “weirdly fantastical dark erotica”. A signed, leatherbound edition came with a bonus chapbook.
Amberjack: Tales of Fear and Wonder collected stories and songs about the eponymous time-traveller by Australian writer Terry Dowling, while Lesser Demons contained ten stories by Norman Partridge. The 250-copy signed and numbered edition included a bonus chapbook.
The Great Bazaar and Other Stories was a companion volume to Peter V. Brett’s dark fantasy novel The Warded Man (aka The Painted Man) that included a deleted chapter and scenes, along with a dictionary of terms.
The Adventures of the Princess and Mr Whiffle: The Thing Beneath the Bed was a not-suitable-for-children storybook from Subterranean Press, written by Pat Rothfuss and illustrated in black and white by Nate Taylor.
Matheson Uncollected: Volume Two from Gauntlet Press collected nine short stories (one original) by Richard Matheson, along with the opening chapters of three uncompleted novels and an unfilmed 1985 screenplay for What Dreams May Come.
Also from Gauntlet, The Fall of the House of Usher/Usher II was an edition of the two stories by Edgar Allan Poe and Ray Bradbury, heavily illustrated by Allois. It was published in an edition of 250 copies signed by the artist, fifty signed by both Bradbury and Allois ($100.00), and a fifty-two copy traycased and lettered edition ($200.00) signed by both.
Not only was Angela Slat
ter’s Sourdough and Other Stories one of the most impressive debut collections of recent years, but the book created by Tartarus Press was a work of art in itself. The volume contained sixteen grim fairy tales (twelve original) by the Australian writer, along with an Introduction by Robert Shearman and an Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer.
As the title indicated, The Collected Connoisseur brought together all twenty-three previously published tales of the eponymous psychic detective by Mark Valentine and John Howard, and Tartarus also reissued Robert Aickman’s 1968 collection of eight “strange stories”, Sub Rosa, in a handsomely produced hardcover edition, limited to 350 copies and with a new Introduction by R.B. Russell.
From Canada’s Ash-Tree Press, Stranger in the House: The Collected Short Supernatural Fiction: Volume One chronologically collected twenty-five stories by Lisa Tuttle with an Introduction by Stephen Jones. It was the first volume in a series that will eventually gather together the author’s own selection of stories.
Pieces of Midnight was an impressive collection of eighteen stories (eight original) by Gary McMahon with an Introduction by Steve Duffy, and Lost Places contained eighteen tales (fourteen original) by Simon Kurt Unsworth, with an Introduction by Barbara Roden and story notes by the author. A special paperback edition was produced for World Horror Convention 2010. All Ash-Tree Press hardcovers were limited to 400 copies apiece.
Published by Irish imprint The Swan River Press in a slim but attractive hardcover edition of just 200 copies, The Old Knowledge & Other Strange Tales collected eight of Rosalie Parker’s (mostly) genteel supernatural stories (three reprints). Glen Cavaliero supplied the Introduction.
Riding the Bullet from Lonely Road Books contained Stephen King’s 2000 online novella and Mick Garris’ screenplay for his barely seen 2004 movie adaptation. Printed in two colours, the book also featured illustrations by Bernie Wrightson and a wraparound cover by Alan M. Clark, along with numerous photos, storyboards and notes from the film. It was available in a 3,000-copy slipcased “collector’s gift” edition ($75.00), a traycased limited edition of 500 copies signed by Garris and Wrightson ($250.00) and a fifty-two copy traycased edition ($750.00) additionally signed by King. Both signed editions sold out prior to publication.