Nightmares, p.1
Nightmares, page 1
— Praise for Nightmares —
“Ellen Datlow is a tremendously influential figure in horror circles, and this collection is one more significant milestone to be set among the score or so other titles and collections listed in its front matter…[Nightmares] delivers on its intention of showcasing the best in a decade of fantastically ambitious and creative dark and frightful fiction, as well as following up on a past classic.” —Metaphysical Circus
“An excellent collection over all, featuring some of the best voices in horror. It has something to suit a wide variety of tastes, blending stories about real life trauma and bloodshed, to stories that pass into the realms of cosmic terror, horror in the old west and even those with a grim fairytale-like feel. In these pages you will find a nightmare for every horror fan.” —This Is Horror
“Datlow offers another impressive, diverse and hugely enjoyable collection of short fiction…This is a great collection of horror fiction. I’d highly recommend it.” —The Book Lover’s Boudoir
— Praise for The Monstrous —
“★ Datlow, horror anthologist extraordinaire, brings together all things monstrous in this excellent reprint anthology of 20 horror stories that explore the ever-widening definition of what makes a monster, with nary a misstep. The varied sources of monstrosity include a very troubled kindergarten teacher, a catering company that puts humans on the menu, and spirit-devouring creatures out of Japanese mythology, all creating distinctive microcosms where monsters reign in many forms. In Gemma Files’s ‘A Wish from a Bone,’ an archeological reality show filming in Sudan uncovers evidence of the Terrible Seven, ancient beings who are bent on destruction and domination. Adam-Troy Castro’s ‘The Totals’ skewers bureaucracy and the daily grind by populating a drinking hole with monsters, who create mayhem, commit murder, and kvetch with their deadly coworkers with the same sense of ennui felt by any office drone. Other standouts by Sofia Samatar, Dale Bailey, and Christopher Fowler round out this atmospheric and frequently terrifying collection.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The list of contributors, including Gemma Files, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Adam L. G. Nevill, and Kim Newman, will be enough to get horror fans excited. The assortment of styles means that there is a monster here for everyone’s taste.” —Library Journal
“Honestly, every story in this anthology is excellent. It’s really a testament to Datlow’s wealth of experience in the genre, and her masterful touch in editing and compiling the best stories around.” —The Warbler
— Praise for Lovecraft’s Monsters —
“Ellen Datlow’s second editorial outing into the realm of Lovecraft proves even more fruitful than the first. Focusing on Lovecraftian monsters, Datlow offers readers sixteen stories and two poems of a variety that should please any fans of the genre.” —Arkham Digest
“[An] amazing and diverse treasure trove of stories. As an avid fan of Lovecraft’s monstrous creations, THIS is the anthology I’ve been waiting for.” —Shattered Ravings
“Datlow brings together some of the top SF/F and horror writers working today and has them play in Lovecraft’s bizarre world. And that’s a delight.” —January Magazine
— Praise for Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror —
“This diverse 25-story anthology is a superb sampling of some of the most significant short horror works published between 1985 and 2005. Editor extraordinaire Datlow (Poe) includes classic stories from horror icons Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Stephen King as well as SF and fantasy luminaries Gene Wolfe, Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, and Lucius Shepard. The full diversity of horror is on display: George R. R. Martin’s ‘The Pear-Shaped Man’ about a creepy downstairs neighbor, and Straub’s ‘The Juniper Tree,’ which chronicles a drifter’s sexual molestation of a young boy, exemplify horror’s sublime psychological power, while Barker’s ‘Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament’ and Poppy Z. Brite’s ‘Calcutta, Lord of Nerves’ are audaciously gory masterworks. This is an anthology to be cherished and an invaluable reference for horror aficionados.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Make sure you are in a safe place before you open it up.” —New York Journal of Books
“Darkness promises to please both longtime fans and readers who have no clue what ‘splatterpunk’ was supposed to mean.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“I can’t recommend this book highly enough, and no, that’s not just the rabid fanboy inside me talking. This is my serious critic’s voice. I know it doesn’t translate well in the written word, but trust me. I give my highest recommendation for this book.” —Hellnotes
— Praise for Hauntings —
“This anthology of 24 previously published dark fantasy and horror stories, edited by the ever-adept Datlow (Blood and Other Cravings), explores a variety of situations in which people encounter literal or figurative specters from beyond.… Solid entries by Neil Gaiman, Caitlín R. Kiernan, and Joyce Carol Oates capture the mood perfectly and will thrill fans of the eerie.” —Publishers Weekly
“Datlow once again proves herself as a master editor. Her mission to broaden readers’ concepts of what a haunting can be is nothing short of a success, and the twenty-four stories on display run the gamut from explicitly terrifying to eerily familiar. Readers who wish to be haunted themselves should not miss this one. Highly recommended.” —Arkham Digest
“Ms. Datlow has assembled a formidable community of eminent genre artists working at the very heights of their literary powers to create this outstanding dark fantasy anthology. This is the best of the best—don’t miss it!” —The Tomb of Dark Delights
“I have a short list of editors that I will buy an anthology of, regardless of whether or not I have even heard of the writers it contains, and Ellen Datlow is at the top of that list. She has this crazy knack of consistently putting together stellar anthologies and Hauntings is no different.” —Horror Talk
— Praise for The Cutting Room —
A Publishers Weekly Book of the Week
“Superstar editor Datlow makes no missteps in this reprint collection of dark tales involving movies and moviemaking.… [T]he entire volume is outstanding.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
A Kirkus Excellent Horror Read for October
“What if, for example, the Wicked Witch of the West didn’t stay in Oz? What if James Dean got a second chance at life? These are just some of the weird-but-cool ideas explored in this tempting volume of stories from renowned editor Ellen Datlow.” —Kirkus
“This collection of 23 stories should appeal to fans of horror and SF primarily, though noir and hard-boiled-mystery readers should feel welcome too.… Definitely worth checking out.” —Booklist
Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror
Copyright © 2016 by Ellen Datlow
This is a work of collected fiction. All events portrayed in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form without the express permission of the editor and the publisher.
Introduction copyright © 2016 by Ellen Datlow
Last two pages represents an extension of this copyright page.
Cover art “Silence” copyright © 2012 by Nihil
Cover design by Elizabeth Story
Interior illustrations and design
copyright © 2016 by John Coulthart
Tachyon Publications LLC
1459 18th Street #139
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 285-5615
www.tachyonpublications.com
tachyon@tachyonpublications.com
Series Editor: Jacob Weisman
Project Editor: Jill Roberts
ISBN 13: 978-1-61696-232-6;
epub: 978-1-61696-233-3;
Mobi: 978-1-61696-234-0;
PDF: 978-1-61696-235-7
First Edition: 2016
—— also edited by ellen datlow ——
A Whisper of Blood
A Wolf at the Door (with Terri Windling)
After (with Terri Windling)
Alien Sex
Black Heart, Ivory Bones (with Terri Windling)
Black Swan, White Raven (with Terri Windling)
Black Thorn, White Rose (with Terri Windling)
Blood and Other Cravings
Blood Is Not Enough: 17 Stories of Vampirism
Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror
Digital Domains: A Decade of Science Fiction and Fantasy
Fearful Symmetries
Haunted Legends (with Nick Mamatas)
Hauntings
Inferno: New Tales of Terror and the Supernatural
Lethal Kisses
Little Deaths
Lovecraft Unbound
Lovecraft’s Monsters
Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy
Nightmare Carnival
Off Limits: Tales of Alien Sex
Omni Best Science Fiction: Volumes One through Three
Omni Books of Science Fiction: Volumes One through Seven
OmniVisions One and Two
Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe
Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells (with Terri Windling)
Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears (with Terri Windling)
Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy (with Terri Windling)
Silver Birch, Blood Moon (with Terri Windling)
Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers (with Terri Windling)
Snow White, Blo
Supernatural Noir
Swan Sister (with Terri Windling)
Tails of Wonder and Imagination: Cat Stories
Teeth: Vampire Tales (with Terri Windling)
Telling Tales: The Clarion West 30th
Anniversary Anthology
The Beastly Bride: And Other Tales of
the Animal People (with Terri Windling)
The Best Horror of the Year:
Volumes One through Seven
The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (with Terri Windling)
The Cutting Room: Dark Reflections of the Silver Screen
The Dark: New Ghost Stories
The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction & Fantasy
The Doll Collection
The Faery Reel: Tales from the Twilight Realm (with Terri Windling)
The Green Man: Tales of the Mythic Forest (with Terri Windling)
The Monstrous
The Nebula Awards Showcase 2009
The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror
(with Terri Windling, Gavin J. Grant, and Kelly Link)
Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales (with Terri Windling)
Twists of the Tale
Vanishing Acts
CONTENTS
Introduction
Ellen Datlow
Shallaballah
Mark Samuels
Sob in the Silence
Gene Wolfe
Our Turn Too Will One Day Come
Brian Hodge
Dead Sea Fruit
Kaaron Warren
Closet Dreams
Lisa Tuttle
Spectral Evidence
Gemma Files
Hushabye
Simon Bestwick
Very Low-Flying Aircraft
Nicholas Royle
The Goosle
Margo Lanagan
The Clay Party
Steve Duffy
Strappado
Laird Barron
Lonegan's Luck
Stephen Graham Jones
Mr Pigsny
Reggie Oliver
At Night, When the Demons Come
Ray Cluley
Was She Wicked? Was She Good?
M. Rickert
The Shallows
John Langan
Little Pig
Anna Taborska
Omphalos
Livia Llewellyn
How We Escaped Our Certain Fate
Dan Chaon
That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love
Robert Shearman
Interstate Love Song (Murder Ballad No. 8)
Caitlín R. Kiernan
Shay Corsham Worsted
Garth Nix
The Atlas of Hell
Nathan Ballingrud
Ambitious Boys Like You
Richard Kadrey
Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over thirty-five years. She currently acquires short fiction for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited more than ninety science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including Lovecraft’s Monsters, Fearful Symmetries, The Monstrous, The Doll Collection, and Children of Lovecraft.
She’s won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre,” and was honored with the Life Achievement Award given by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and the Life Achievement Award given by the World Fantasy Convention.
She lives in New York and cohosts the monthly Fantastic Fiction Reading Series at KGB Bar. More information can be found at www.datlow.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter as @EllenDatlow.
Introduction
Ellen Datlow
Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror could be considered a sequel to Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, an anthology that covers the years 1985 to 2005. 2005–2015 has been a great period for short horror fiction, as new writers have entered the field, established writers have either dipped their feet into horror or jumped in wholeheartedly, and those who have been writing in the field for decades have continued to create great new stories. As I said in the last volume, I’m not a horror critic or expert. I’m an enthusiast who has dipped into horror fiction my whole life and who became totally immersed in the short-story form of it during the mid-1980s.
My intention for this anthology was to choose stories that I love. Stories that have had a lasting impact on me (that might or might not be well known within or outside the field). I’ve selected some of these stories for annual and themed anthologies, and commissioned several stories as original publications, including Garth Nix’s Shirley Jackson Award nominee, “Shay Corsham Worsted.” I’ve mostly included writers who were not in Darkness. Although several important new writers have emerged during the past decade, their foci are quite varied. Some write what might be referred to as “psychological” horror or “terror tales,” some have embraced cosmic horror, creating a boomlet of Lovecraftian fiction. And there are still monsters: vampires, zombies, ghosts and other haunts, madmen.
As with Darkness, the stories herein are organized by year of publication. It seems the most natural way. Because the period is half that covered in Darkness, there is often more than one story chosen per year. So in those years I’ve ordered the stories with intent.
By necessity, I’ve not been able to include every writer or every story that continues to make an impression on me. Juggling any anthology’s contents is challenging, but in one like this, it’s even more difficult than usual. Space is always a consideration. There were some excellent horror novellas (stories between 17,000 and 39,999 words) published during the period I’ve covered, but there’s not enough space for them. I’ve also tried to avoid publishing stories that are readily available, but if a story seems to be the one by a writer that has made the most impression on me, it’s difficult to not include it.
I’m often asked to name my favorite horror story. I always respond that I have no one favorite, but you can ascertain some of my favorites by checking out my Best of the Year anthologies. And you can narrow that down even further by reading Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror and Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror. These two volumes will point you to some of my favorites published since 1985. Consider them a guide to some of the best short-story writers currently working in the field of horror fiction. And in this volume specifically, a good representation of the excellent horror that was published between 2005 and 2015.
Dedicated to the writers of short horror fiction.
Without you, I’d have no career.
Without you, we’d have no field.
Thank you all.
Mark Samuels is the author of five short-story collections—The White Hands and Other Weird Tales, Black Altars, Glyphotech & Other Macabre Processes, The Man Who Collected Machen & Other Weird Tales, and Written in Darkness—as well as the short novel The Face of Twilight.
His tales have appeared in many prestigious anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, The Weird, Inferno, and A Mountain Walks.
