The Century’s Best Horror Fiction was published by Cemetery Dance in two huge volumes, covering the years 1901–1950 and 1951–2000. Editor John Pelan selected one representative story for every year of the twentieth century.
As if Pelan’s volumes were not enough of a treat for horror fans, CD also brought out The Horror Hall of Fame: The Stoker Winners edited with an Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale. Covering the first decade of the HWA’s annual award, which began in 1988, the volume featured contributions from George R. R. Martin, Alan Rodgers, Elizabeth Massie, David B. Silva, Nancy Holder, David Morrell, Robert Bloch, Thomas Ligotti, Harlan Ellison and others, including the editor himself. Each story was illustrated by the busy Glenn Chadbourne.
Edited by Kelly Laymon, Steve Gerlach and Richard Chizmar, Laymon’s Terms was a large anthology of forty tribute stories and forty-five appreciations to the late Richard Laymon, along with various pieces by Laymon from his own files, including six stories and four poems. It was available in trade edition ($50.00), a 400-copy slipcased edition signed by most of the contributors ($150.00) and a fifty-two copy lettered and traycased edition ($400.00).
Illustrated by Vincent Chong, Jay Bonansinga’s futuristic Lovecraftian novelette The Miniaturist was the eighth volume in the “Cemetery Dance Signature” series, limited to a 550-copy signed edition and twenty-six traycased, leatherbound lettered copies.
Picking the Bones collected seventeen stories (three original) by Brian Hodge, while the long-delayed Stories from the Plague Years collected nine long stories (two original) by Michael Marano, illustrated by Gabrielle Faust. John Shirley supplied the Introduction.
Kin was a serial killer novel by Kealan Patrick Burke, available in an edition of 750 signed copies, and CD also reprinted Simon Clark’s 1997 novel King Blood and Edward Lee’s 2008 novel Bride of the Impaler in 1,000-copy signed editions and limited traycased, leatherbound editions.
Cemetery Dance also issued an omnibus of William Peter Blatty’s novels The Exorcist and Legion, illustrated by Keith Minnion and featuring an interview with the author by Brian Freeman. The book was available in a 750-copy signed edition and a lettered, traycased and leatherbound edition of fifty-two copies ($400.00).
Richard Matheson’s Nightmare at 20,000 Feet from Gauntlet Press collected the original story along with scripts for the Twilight Zone TV version and the movie adaptation, illustrated with storyboards and photos. Contributors included William Shatner, Richard Donner, Carol Serling and Richard Christian Matheson, amongst others, and the book was available in a bewildering number of different editions, ranging from $50.00 up to a signed deluxe version priced at $1,000.00.
Dawn to Dust included two unproduced screenplays, two drafts of a teleplay and a previously unpublished short story by Ray Bradbury, along with various ephemeral material and an Introduction by the author. Edited with a Preface by Donn Albright, the book was available in three states, with the lettered and traycased edition ($250.00) also containing unused sketches and fragments from The Illustrated Man.
Also from Gauntlet, J. N. Williamson’s Illustrated Masques, edited by Mort Castle and David Campiti, presented graphic adaptations of eight stories that originally appeared in the late Williamson’s Masques anthologies by Stephen King, Robert R. McCammon, Robert Weinberg, F. Paul Wilson, Paul Dale Anderson, Wayne Allen Sallee and two by co-editor Castle, who also supplied a Preface. A fifty-two copy lettered and signed edition cost $1,500.00.
Earthling Publications produced The Very Best of Best New Horror: A Twenty-Year Celebration edited by Stephen Jones in 300 numbered copies signed by the editor, and a 200-copy slip-cased edition ($250.00) signed by all the contributors, including Stephen King, Peter Straub, Harlan Ellison, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman and Joe Hill.
Peter Crowther’s By Wizard Oak was a Halloween novel from Earthling with an Introduction by Rick Hautala.
From new imprint Flying Fox Publishers, Portents, edited with an Introduction by Al Sarrantonio, was inspired by the “quiet horror” of Charles L. Grant’s Shadows series. The anthology was limited to 1,000 numbered hardcovers and featured nineteen original stories by Joe R. Lansdale, Gene Wolfe, Kim Newman, Brian Keene, Elizabeth Massie, Ramsey Campbell, Steve Rasnic Tem, Joyce Carol Oates, Christopher Fowler and others, along with a Foreword by Stephen Jones.
John Hornor Jacobs’ debut novel Southern Gods, from Night Shade Books, involved the search for a legendary bluesman, Ramblin’ John Hastur, whose music reputedly sent men mad and caused the dead to rise.
Jonathan Wood’s No Hero was another debut novel, about an Oxford police detective recruited to battle tentacled Lovecraftian horrors.
On the same theme, editor Ross E. Lockhart’s The Book of Cthulhu collected twenty-seven tales (two original) by Ramsey Campbell, David Drake, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Thomas Ligotti, Joe R. Lansdale, Cherie Priest, Bruce Sterling, Gene Wolfe and other, more surprising, contributors to the Mythos.
The Panama Laugh was a zombie novel by Thomas S. Roche, while J. M. Lassen edited the YA anthology Z: Zombie Stories containing eleven stories (one original) by Kelly Link, Nina Kiriki Hoffman and Scott Nicholson, amongst others.
The Miscellaneous Fictions of Clark Ashton Smith from Night Shade collected eighteen peripheral stories (two original), a poem and a play, along with a Foreword by editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger and an essay by Donald Sidney-Fryer.
Published by Tartarus Press, Reggie Oliver’s fifth collection, Mrs Midnight and Other Stories, quickly sold out of its 400-copy hardcover printing. The book contained thirteen stories (four original) and also included some delightful heading illustrations by the author.
Michael Reynier made a fine debut with his collection Five Degrees of Latitude, which contained five novellas written in the classic tradition, while Frankenstein’s Prescription by Tim Lees was an impressive novel about the search for eternal life that also involved Mary Shelley’s sympathetic creature.
Also from Tartarus, Dark Entries, Powers of Darkness and Cold Hand in Mine reprinted the stories by Robert Aickman (1914–81), while We Are the Dark was a reprint of the 1964 collection of collaborations between Aickman and Elizabeth Jane Howard. The new edition was officially launched at the Halifax Ghost Story Festival.
From Side Real Press, Delicate Toxins: An Anthology Inspired by Hanns Heinz Ewers was a beautifully-crafted hardcover edited and introduced by John Hirschhorn-Smith. It contained eighteen original tales inspired by the German author of “strange” fiction (1871–1943) by such writers as Richard Gavin, R. B. Russell, Mark Valentine, Reggie Oliver, Michael Chislett, Mark Samuels and Thana Niveau. Limited to 350 numbered copies and priced at a very reasonable £30.00, copies purchased directly from the publisher came with a unique signed bookplate.
Paul Kane’s Shadow Writer from MHB Press was a beautifully-produced volume containing the contents of the author’s first two collections, Alone (In the Dark) (2001) and Touching the Flame (2002), along with four previously uncollected tales (two original), poetry, a graphic novel script, story notes and an Introduction by Simon Clark. The special signed edition was limited to a 150-copy numbered Collector’s Edition, a seventy-five copy Deluxe Edition numbered in roman numerals, and twenty-six copies lettered A–Z.
Clark also supplied the Introduction to Paul Kane’s third collection of the year, The Adventures of Dalton Quayle from Mundania Press, which contained seven comedic reprints featuring the eponymous psychic investigator.
Rumours of the Marvellous collected fourteen stories (one original) by Peter Atkins, with an Introduction by Glen Hirshberg. It was published by Alchemy Press/Airgedlámh in a signed and numbered hardcover edition of just 250 copies.
From Screaming Dreams, Hunter’s Moon was a debut novella by Charlotte Bond, about four university friends who discovered that dark forces awaited them on holiday in a quiet French village.
Everyone’s Just So So Special was a collection of twenty-one tales “of the comic and the macabre” (fourteen original) by Robert Shearman,
published in teeny-tiny type by Big Finish Productions.
Published in pocket-size by Borderlands Press, A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff collected obscure fiction, introductions, essays, speeches and poetry by Neil Gaiman.
Edited by D. F. Lewis, The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies from Megazanthus Press was a clever idea for an anthology, even though not all of the twenty original stories stuck strictly to the theme. Contributors included Rhys Hughes, Joel Lane, E. Michael Lewis, Mike O’Driscoll, Reggie Oliver, Mark Valentine and D. P. Watt.
Published in an edition of just 100 copies to coincide with a special exhibition of artist John Martin’s work at London’s Tate Britain gallery, Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse was edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin and contained eighteen original stories by Lauren Beukes, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Lou Morgan, Jonathan Oliver and others, along with an Introduction by Tom Hunter. The hardcover was sold exclusively through Tate Britain, although an e-book edition was also available.
The revived Sarob Press issued Mark Nicholls’ collection of classical ghost stories, Dark Shadows Fall, while Flame & Other Enigmatic Tales contained four short stories (one reprint) and two novellas by the conjoined Maynard Sims, illustrated by Paul Lowe.
From Small Beer Press, The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories was a posthumous collection of nineteen delightful stories (seven original) by Joan Aiken (1924–2004), mostly written in the 1950s and 1960s. The book also included a 1995 Introduction by the author and a new piece by her daughter, Lizza Aiken.
Maureen F. McHugh’s After the Apocalypse: Stories collected nine contemporary tales (three original).
Edited by Eduardo Jiménez Mayo and Chris N. Brown for Small Beer, Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic contained thirty-four quite short tales with an Introduction by Bruce Sterling.
Published in trade paperback by Two Ravens Press (“the most remote literary publisher in the UK”, situated on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides), Murmurations: An Anthology of Uncanny Stories About Birds was edited by Nicholas Royle and contained thirty stories (sixteen original) by, among others, Joel Lane, Russell Hoban, Tom Fletcher, Jack Trevor Story, Mark Valentine, Conrad Williams, R. B. Russell, Michael Kelly, Daphne du Maurier, and the editor himself. Featuring a Foreword by Angelica Michelis, all royalties and fees were donated to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Bite Sized Horror: The Obverse Quarterly: Book One was edited with an Introduction by Johnny Mains for Obverse Books. The slim anthology featured original stories by Reggie Oliver, Paul Kane, David A. Riley, Marie O’Regan, Conrad Williams and the editor himself.
Herbert van Thal’s “lost” 1933 collection Child Performer was reprinted by Noose & Gibbet Publishing as The Mask and Other Stories. The author’s only collection of short stories, written when he was in his twenties, the slender hardback was bulked out with a new Introduction by Johnny Mains, van Thals’ 1945 essay “Recipe for Reading” (originally written for his two godsons), and various Introductions by the author. The 100-copy edition sold out in under a month.
The stated ethos of new imprint Dark Minds Press was to publish projects that were “produced to the best standards of production achievable”. Unfortunately, the anthology Dark Minds: An Anthology of Dark Fiction, “selected and prepared for publication” by Ross Warren, featured far too many basic design and typographical errors. Gary McMahon and Stephen Bacon were the best-known of the twelve contributors, while Will Jacques contributed some squiggly interior art.
David J. Howe’s Telos Publishing imprint issued a collection of his own writings, Talespinning, that included short stories (five original), a pair of unfinished novels, two 100-word Doctor Who drabbles and a couple of DVD scripts.
From the same imprint, Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings collected thirteen stories (ten original) and six poems (five original) by Sam Stone, along with a Foreword by Graham Masterton, and half-page Afterword by actor Frazer Hines, and copious commentary by the author. Russell Morgan supplied the interior art.
The Bible Repairman and Other Stories from Tachyon Publications collected six ghostly stories by Tim Powers, including a sequel novella to The Stress of Her Regard.
Edited with an Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale, Crucified Dreams: Tales of Urban Horror included nineteen reprint stories by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison, Lucius Shepard, Michael Bishop, Joe Haldeman, Lewis Shiner, Norman Partridge and the editor himself.
Lansdale was also co-editor of The Urban Fantasy Anthology with Peter S. Beagle. It contained twenty reprint stories broken down into “Mythic Fiction”, “Paranormal Romance” and “Noir Fantasy” by, amongst others, Charles de Lint, Neil Gaiman, Kelley Armstrong, Suzy McKee Charnas, Thomas M. Disch, Holly Black, Tim Powers and the two editors. The book also included new Introductions by Beagle, Lansdale, de Lint and Paula Guran.
Also from Tachyon, Kafkaesque: Stories Inspired by Franz Kafka edited with an Introduction by John Kessel and James Patrick Kelly contained seventeen reprint stories by Kafka, J. G. Ballard, Jorge Luis Borges, Carol Emshwiller, Damon Knight, Rudy Rucker and others, along with a comic strip illustrated by Robert Crumb.
From Centipede Press, Deadfall Hotel was a new novel by Steve Rasnic Tem about a haunted hotel, illustrated by John Kenn Martensen. Limited to 300 signed copies, the book also included an Afterword by the author and a new short story.
Published as part of the imprint’s oversized “Masters of the Weird Tale” series, Old Time Weird Tales & Quality Horror Stories collected thirty-eight stories and novellas by Karl Edward Wagner. Edited with an Introduction by Stephen Jones, the massive tome also included reprint pieces by Peter Straub, David Drake and the late author, along with a new Afterword by Laird Barron. The book was illustrated in colour by J. K. Potter and also featured many rare photographs.
In the same series, Henry Kuttner collected twenty-nine horror and supernatural tales by the pulp author with an Introduction by editors Stefan Dziemianowicz and Robert Morrish. Once again, J. K. Potter supplied the frontispiece and endpapers artwork. Both books were limited to 200 signed copies ($295.00 apiece).
Haffner Press’ Terror in the House: The Early Kuttner Volume One collected author’s first forty stories, most of them taken from the pages of Weird Tales and such “shudder pulps” as Thrilling Mystery and Spicy Mystery. Edited by Stephen Haffner, the hefty hardcover included a Preface by Richard Matheson and an Introduction by Gary G. Roberts Ph.D.
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares from Mysterious Press contained seven macabre tales by Joyce Carol Oates, mostly reprinted from non-genre sources.
Edited by Bill Breedlove and John Everson, Swallowed by the Cracks from Dark Arts Books featured sixteen original and reprint stories about “the spaces between” by Lee Thomas, Gary McMahon, S. G. Browne and Michael Marshall Smith.
The indefatigable Joe Morey continued to produce a range of attractive trade paperback under his Dark Regions Press imprint. William Ollie’s Fifteen Minutes concerned a centuries-old ring that had the power to transform its wearer, while Pitch from the same author was a Halloween novel set in the 1960s.
Something deadly came out of the ocean near a quaint fishing village in Shaun Jeffrey’s Fangtooth.
Nightingale Songs was a third collection from Canadian writer Simon Strantzas, containing twelve stories (four original) along with an Introduction by John Langan, while The Gaki and Other Hungry Spirits collected seventeen stories (six original) by Stephen Mark Rainey.
A huge seismic disturbance in North Korea had global consequences for a biomedical engineer in Michael McBride’s novella Blindspot, and a woman continued to suffer from a childhood trauma in Paul Melniczek’s novella The Watching.
The Engines of Sacrifice contained four new Lovecraftian novellas by James Chambers, and W. H. Pugmire’s Gathered Dust and Others collected eighteen Lovecraft-inspired stories (four original) and an Introduction by editor Jeffrey Thomas.
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nbsp; Beautiful Hell was another entry in Thomas’ own demonic “Hades” series, reprinted from a 2007 volume. A twenty-six copy leatherbound and slipcased edition quickly sold out.
The Invasion and The Valley formed a “Dark Regions Double” by William Meikle, and the publisher also issued the authorised pastiche Sherlock Holmes: Revenant by the same author in a special signed and numbered trade paperback edition, limited to just 125 copies.
From companion imprint Ghost House, Meikle’s Carnacki: Heaven and Hell was a collection of ten original stories based on the character originally created by an uncredited William Hope Hodgson, nicely illustrated by Wayne Miller.
Most Dark Regions/Ghost House titles were available in various print editions as well as ebook format.
Edited by Jason V. Brock and William F. Nolan, The Devil’s Coattails: More Dispatches from the Dark Frontier was a followup to the co-editors’ previous anthology, The Bleeding Edge, also from Cycatrix Press. The heavily-illustrated volume contained new fiction, poetry and a even a teleplay by Ramsey Campbell, the late Dan O’Bannon, John Shirley, Melanie Tem, the late Norman Corwin, Steve Rasnic Tem, Richard Christian Matheson, Earl Hammer Jr., Nancy Kilpatrick, Marc Scott Zicree, Gary A. Braunbeck and others, including both editors. Limited to 500 trade hardcovers, there was also a fifty-two copy signed and lettered edition for $194.95.
Jeffrey Thomas’ Blood Society from Necro Publications was about an immortal criminal.
For Aeon Press Books, John Kenny edited Box of Delights, and anthology of sixteen original stories that included Steve Rasnic Tem, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Resnick and Don D’Ammassa.
Edited by Adam Bradley for Morpheus Tales, 13 Tales of Dark Fiction included contributions from, amongst others, Eric S. Brown, Joseph D’Lacey, Gary Fry, Andrew Hook, Shaun Jeffrey and Gary McMahon.
The ubiquitous McMahon also had a new collection of stories out from Gary Fry’s Gray Friar Press, limited to 100 signed hardcover copies. I Know Where You Live: Tales of Modern Unease contained sixteen stories (two reprints) along with a Foreword and story notes by the author.
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