The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Seventeen, page 3
Dracula Beyond Stoker edited by Tucker Christine is a print journal of fiction devoted to new and reprinted stories featuring characters from Bram Stoker’s Dracula. There were four issues in 2024, one spotlighting the brides, one spotlighting Arthur, Quincey, and Jack (the three friends who loved Lucy Westenra). The “Brides” issue is especially good. One issue was a one-story chapbook. There were notable stories by Jamie Flanagan, Erica Ruppert, Emma Rose Darcy, Amelia Mangan, L. L. Garland, Emily Elledge, and Michael R. Colangelo.
Chthonic Matter Quarterly edited by C. M. Muller is a print magazine of horror, dark fantasy, and weird fiction. It had a very good 2024, with notable stories by Charles Wilkinson, Douglas Ford, Dan Howarth, Sam Dawson, Jacob Steven Mohr, Maureen O’Leary, Mathew L. Reyes, Patrick Samuel, Logan McConnell, and Phoebe Murphy. The Ford and Wilkinson are reprinted herein.
Nightmare Abbey is edited by Tom English and illustrated throughout by Allen Koszinski, and it’s becoming a strong entry in the horror field. There were three print issues published in 2024. Each issue includes a generous number of stories and lengthy essays. There was notable original fiction by Steve Rasnic Tem, Helen Grant, Ray Cluley, Gary McMahon, Simon Bestwick, Gary Fry, Daniel Braum, Sean Hogan, Ramsey Campbell, Steve Duffy, and Stephen Volk.
Pseudopod edited by Shawn Garrett and Alex Hofelich is the horror section of the Escape Artists original podcast. During 2024, they had an uptick in excellent work, with notable horror stories by Carlie St. George, K. Bosgra, M. O. Pirson, Marianne Kirby, and Jess Whitecroft.
The Dark edited by Sean Wallace is an online monthly that usually publishes two or three original horror or dark fantasy stories and two reprints a month, as well as running podcasts. There were notable horror stories by James Bennett, Matthew Cheney, Abigail Kemske, Katie McIver, Jack Klausner, Sara Omer, H. Pueyo, and Laura Mauro.
Fraidy Cat Quarterly edited by Robert Helfst is a new print magazine and had good work in 2024 by Chris W. McGuinness, Colin Leonard, Emlyn Meredith Dornemann, and J. C. Wiles.
Apex Magazine edited by Lesley Conner is published as an e-zine and online. Six issues were published in 2024 and there was good, dark fiction by Koji A. Dae, Rachel Bolton, K. T. Bryski, and Marie Croke. The Croke is reprinted herein.
The Deadlands: A Journal of Endings and Beginnings edited by E. Catherine Tobler. It is a quarterly, online speculative journal publishing fiction, poetry, and non-fiction about death. In 2024, notable fiction and poetry was published by Avra Margariti, Chris Panatier, Nwuguru Chidiebere Sullivan, Vivian Shaw, and Corey Farrenkopf.
MIXED-GENRE MAGAZINES AND WEBZINES
Not One of Us edited by John Benson is one of the longest-running small press magazines regularly publishing horror. It’s a quarterly, containing weird, dark fantasy, and horror fiction and poetry. There were notable stories and poetry in 2024 by Patricia Russo, Neil Williamson, Christopher Yusko, Pamela Weis, Morgan Delaney, and Tess Bahoosh. Also a beautiful fantasy by C. L. Hellison. Bourbon Penn edited by Erik Secker is one of my favorite magazines, even though it only occasionally publishes horror. The best dark stories published by the magazine in 2024 were by J. Ashley-Smith, R. M. Graves, Jeffrey Ford, François Harvey, Alex Jennings, Steve Toase, Thomas Ha, Brian Evenson, Rich Larson, Sasha Brown, and Rebecca Bennett. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction edited by Sheree Renée Thomas has been publishing consistently good science fiction, fantasy, and horror for seventy-five years. Only two issues came out in 2024, with notable dark stories and poetry by Moustapha Mbacké Diop, Deborah L. Davitt, Christina Bauer, Tonya R. Moore, Bonnie Elizabeth, and Suzanne J. Willis. Penumbra: A Journal of Weird Fiction and Criticism edited by S.T. Joshi published Issue No. 5 in 2024, including twelve new stories, one classic reprint, ten poems, and eight non-fiction pieces. There was one notable story by Joshua Green. Bloodlines Volume 1: Horrors Past, Present, & Future edited by Kevin Lucia (Cemetery Dance Publications) is a new print fiction magazine that plans to publish classic reprints, past reprints, some new stories, each with a blackout poem by Jessica McHugh as an epitaph. The first issue has five reprints. Conjunctions, the venerable literary journal edited by Bradford Morrow and published by Bard College, brought out two issues in 2024. Issue #82’s theme was “Work and Days.” The one of more interest to horror readers, though, was Revenants: The Ghost Issue Conjunctions 83 edited by Joyce Carol Oates and Bradford Morrow, the traditional fall issue of this venerable literary journal, usually containing darker stories. Although only a few of the twenty-nine entries are actually horror or even truly dark, there is good reading in both issues and online by Jeffrey Ford, Ben Okri, Mark Anthony Richardson, Joanna Scott, Brian Evenson, Ryan Habermeyer, Patricia Smith, Carmen Maria Machado, Justin Noga, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen Graham Jones, Elizabeth Hand, Julia Elliott, Jonathan Carroll, and Paul Tremblay. The Evenson and Tremblay are reprinted herein. Body Shots: A Contemporary Journal of New Short fiction edited by Cliff Hensley is a new annual print journal including some horror. There were notable dark stories by Tom Johnstone and Gary Smith. The Johnstone is reprinted herein.
Vastarien: A Literary Journal edited by Jon Padgett publishes weird fiction and poetry, much of it dark. There were notable dark stories and poetry by Rebecca J. Allred, Laura Cranehill, Richard Gavin, Emma Murray, Marisca Pichette, and Chris Kuriata. Also included was a non-fiction piece about Thomas Ligotti’s work by Shawn Phelps. Bare Bones edited by John Scoleri and Peter Enfantino is back. The non-fiction magazine and website mostly covers, crime, mystery, and thrillers, but also some horror.
There are other magazines and websites that occasionally published dark fiction in 2024, including Asimov’s Science Fiction, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Fiyah, Phantasmagoria (which publishes whole issues of non-fiction and sometimes new fiction), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Strange Horizons.
COLLECTIONS
The Dead Spot: Stories of Lost Girls by Angela Sylvaine (Dark Matter INK) is a debut collection of seventeen brief horror stories, eight of them new.
Invaginies by Joe Koch (CLASH Books) is a strong collection of seventeen stories of brutally visceral yet strangely poetic surreal horror and weirdness. Included is a new novelette.
Droplets by Paul Lubaczewski (St Rooster Books) has twenty-one stories, one new. Each story has a brief introduction by the author.
Slow Burn by Mike Allen (Mythic Delirium Books) is the author’s powerful fourth collection of horror. The book, with an introduction by Christina Sng, contains fourteen stories and thirteen poems, one of them appearing for the first time. Several of the stories and poems are collaborations.
Recreational Panic by Sonora Taylor (Cemetery Gates Media) presents twenty-one pieces of mostly flash fiction and poems, more than half published for the first time.
The Dancing Bears: Queer Fables for the End Times by Rob Costello (Lethe Press) is the author’s debut, with eleven bleak, dark stories—some of them supernatural, others not—yet still horrific. Three of them previously unpublished.
Spiritus Ex Machina by L. C. Von Hessen (Grimscribe Press) is the debut collection of an up-and-coming author of weird, dark fiction. Michael Cisco provides the introduction to the fourteen stories, one published for the first time.
No One is Safe! by Philip Fracassi (Lethe Press) is the third collection by the author, and pulpier than his usual fare. These fourteen stories were originally published in magazines, webzines, and anthologies. The book includes one new story, and has an introduction by Ronald Malfi.
Mischief Night Massacre by Jason Parent (Corpus Press) has ten stories about Halloween, four of them new.
Preaching to the Perverted by James Bennett (Lethe Press) is a strong debut collection of thirteen stories, eleven published since 2021, two of them new. One, “Morta,” won the British Fantasy Award.
These Things That Walk Behind Me by David Surface (Lethe Press) is the author’s second collection and features fourteen weird and dark stories, two of them published in earlier volumes of Best Horror of the Year. Five stories are new, and John Langan provides an introduction.
Beyond Here Be Monsters: A Collection of Creatures and Curiosities by Gregory Frost (Fairwood Press) is the author’s first collection in almost twenty years and features fourteen mostly dark, sometimes weird tales.
Mystic: The Monk Addison Case Files by Jonathan Maberry (WordFire Press) collects eleven terrific dark crime stories and two poems about the killer of killers, Monk Addison. Monk is haunted by dead people who hire him to find and punish their murderers. His tattoos show a history of those he’s helped. Two stories and one poem were published for the first time in 2024. With an introduction by Jim Butcher. Maberry had a second collection published in 2024 by WordFire Press, this one titled Midnight Lullabies: Unquiet Stories and Poems. It has nineteen nicely varied stories and poems, a handful of them new. With a foreword by Joe R. Lansdale.
Good Night, Sleep Tight by Brian Evenson (Coffee House Press) is the author’s sixth collection, and as always it’s a winner—its nineteen stories filling the reader with a sense of unease. The stories were all originally published in various literary and horror venues.
Spirits of the Dead by Ron Weighell (Sarob Press) is the excellent third (and final) collection of eleven stories—three never previously published—by an author who took inspiration from Arthur Machen and M. R. James. It includes an extensive introduction by Mark Valentine.
Demons in my Bloodstream by Candice Nola (Death’s Head Press) is a debut collection, with six stories and novelettes, four of them published for the first time.
Flowers From the Void by Gianni Washington (CLASH Books) is a debut collection of thirteen stories, all but two new.
Glass Shatters Fist by James Cooper (DIP) is a strong fifth collection of sixteen new stories by this excellent British writer of horror. His supernatural fiction and psychological horror stories are equally good. One story is reprinted herein.
One Hand Screaming: 20 Haunting Years by Mark Leslie (Stark Publishing) is an expansion of this Canadian author’s first collection, originally published in 2004. This current volume of almost four hundred pages includes reprinted stories and poetry, with a few new works.
Old Monsters Never Die by Tim Waggoner (Winding Road Stories) is a strong new collection by this veteran writer, featuring thirteen stories originally published between 2018 and 2023.
The Haunted Heaven: Ten Strange Stories by Reggie Oliver (Tartarus Press) is another excellent collection from a master writer of strange, dark tales. As usual, Oliver’s work as an actor, director, and playwright sometimes shows up in his fiction. Four of the ten stories appear for the first time, and one was published simultaneously in the collection and in an anthology.
Come Sing For the Harrowing by Dan Coxon (Weird Little Worlds) is the excellent third collection of sixteen darkly weird stories, seven of them published for the first time. Coxon is also the editor of several anthologies, but should be better known for his short fiction. One story is reprinted herein.
Not a Speck of Light: Stories by Laird Barron (Bad Hand Books) is the author’s first collection since 2016 and features sixteen excellent stories, one—the title story—published for the first time.
Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud by Lee Murray (The Cuba Press) is an excellent collection of work using the myths and history of New Zealand to weave into stories and poems of pain, with gorgeous, poetic imagery. It focuses on the trials and tribulations and racism suffered by Chinese women who moved to New Zealand in the early twentieth century.
Other Places by Thomas Smith (Cemetery Dance Publications) features sixteen stories, four new in this debut collection.
This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances by Eric LaRocca (Titan Books) collects four new stories and novellas as grotesque and creepy as anything else LaRocca has done.
All Who Wander Are Lost: Destination Horror Stories by Gemma Amor (Cemetery Gates Media) is a powerful and varied collection of ten stories, all but one published for the first time. It was put together during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was inspired (in all its dark glory) by the author’s inability to travel during that period of time. One story is reprinted herein.
Hauntings; Tales of Supernatural Dread by Peter Bell (Sarob Press) has a copyright date of 2023, but wasn’t shipped until early 2024. It includes ten stories, six of them published for the first time.
The Unholy Trinity by L. Marie Wood (Mocha Memoirs Press) combines three earlier volumes of her work with about forty new vignettes and pieces of flash fiction.
Nightmare Logic: Tales of the Macabre, Fantastic & Cthulhuesque by Leigh Blackmore (IFWG) has twenty-two stories, seven published for the first time. With an introduction by Darrell Schweitzer.
Saturday Fright at the Movies: Thirteen Tales From the Multiplex by Amanda Cecilia Lang (Dark Matter INK) is a promising debut collection, a loving tribute to b-horror (and occasional sf) movies featuring thirteen stories, five of them new.
Change and Other Terrors by Jim Horlock (Quill & Crow) contains thirteen stories, all very short, and all but one new.
Sick xoxo by Kenya Moss-Dyme (self-published) has eleven stories about distorted love; four of the stories are reprints.
Phiction: Tales From the World of Phantasm by Don Coscarelli (Molotov Press) contains six new short stories in the Phantasm universe.
The Truest Sense by Laura Keating (Cemetery Gates Media) is an excellent debut collection of fifteen varied horror stories, all but three of them new. Keating is a writer to watch.
Hunting by the River by Daniel Carpenter (Black Shuck Books) is another excellent debut collection, with five of the fourteen weird and dark stories published for the first time.
Around Eldritch Corners by Christine Morgan (Word Horde) contains sixteen Lovecraftian stories, two of them published for the first time.
In the Blood and Other Stories by Joseph Anthony Montecillo (University of Philippines Press) is a debut collection, with fourteen brief horror tales, all previously published in Filipino magazines and anthologies.
Gods of a Nameless Country by Jeffrey Thomas (JournalStone) contains one story and two novellas (the story is a reprint) about a mysterious country resembling those in Southeast Asia.
The Old Gods Awaken by Donald Tyson (Weird House) features eleven new Lovecraftian tales, each tied to one monster from the mythos. An enjoyable collection for fans of the Old Ones. The cover and each story is illustrated by M. Wayne Miller in this impressive-looking limited edition.
The Nightmare Box and Other Stories by Cynthia Gómez (Cursed Morsels) is a debut collection with twelve stories, seven of them new.
Midwestern Gothic by Scott Thomas (Inkshares) features four novellas about the dark side of the Midwest.
MIXED-GENRE COLLECTIONS
Death Aesthetic by Josh Rountree (Underland Press) is this author’s third collection, and it’s a strong one featuring ten stories, one new, most of them focused on death and grief. Flint Kill Creek by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press) is a collection of thirteen recently published dark stories by a writer who writes excellent work in all genres. Of Sands and Tides: The Chronicles of Captain Georgianna Forsyth by Jan Edwards (Alchemy Press) is an entertaining collection of eight dark fantasy adventures about a special agent of the Ministry of Arcane Events. Cosmic horror galore. Five of the stories are published for the first time. Lost Estates by Mark Valentine (The Swan River Press) features twelve entertaining stories, four of them new. Although some hint at the supernatural, they’re generally more weird than dark. Cheer the Sick by Verity Holloway (Black Shuck Books) is a strong, intriguing debut collection, with sixteen stories, five of them new. Some are horror, others are unsettling, if not dark enough to consider horror. A Place Between Waking and Forgetting by Eugen Bacon (Raw Dog Screaming Press) features seventeen mixed-genre stories by this talented African Australian writer, eight of them published for the first time. With an introduction by Linda D. Addison. Seven Stars: Collected Stories by Erica Ruppert (Trepidatio Publishing) is the author’s second collection, and has twenty-three dark fantasy stories, vignettes, and poems. Three of the stories are new. Different Faces by Canadian writer Rory Say (Dim Shores) is a mini-collection of five weird stories, two of them new. The Voice in the Night: The Best Weird Stories of William Hope Hodgson (Hippocampus Press) contains sixteen of his ghostly and other supernatural tales selected by S. T. Joshi. Included is “The Hog,” published posthumously and featuring Carnacki, the psychic detective. Vistas of Carrion by Matthew M. Bartlett (Chiroptera Press) is a large volume of forty-seven weird, often dark and macabre stories, three of them appearing for the first time. Most of them were previously reprinted in earlier story collections by Bartlett. All These Steps Lead Down by Nelson W. Pyles (Cold War Radio) contains short stories, flash fiction, a radio play, and an essay. The flash fiction and one of the stories are new. Limelight and Other Stories by Lyndsey Croal (Shortwave Publishing) is a debut collection of sf/horror, mostly about how technology can—and will—be abused. It includes four new stories. Haunted House and Other Strange Tales by Katherine Kerestman (Hippocampus Press) is a debut collection featuring more than thirty poems, vignettes, and flash fiction. Twelve are reprints. Dead Girl Driving and Other Devastations by Carina Bissett (Trepidatio Publishing) is a debut collection with twenty fantasy, dark fantasy, and horror stories, two of them new, all published between 2015 and 2024. Julie C. Day has supplied the introduction. Atmospheric Disturbances by Helen Grant (The Swan River Press) is the second collection by an excellent writer of the uncanny, with thirteen stories, one of them new. The Skinless Man Counts to Five and Other Tales of the Macabre by Paul Jessup (Underland Press) is a collection of twenty-four weird, often dark stories, four published for the first time. The Servants and Other Strange Stories by John O’Donoghue (Tartarus Press) features nine stories and novellas, most published for the first time, but only a few of them are all that strange. The Ice Plague and Other Inconveniences by Tim Lees (Incunabula Media) is the author’s third collection, and includes eighteen stories some dark and weird, with some just plain weird. Three of the stories appear for the first time. Suite 13 by David J. Schow (Subterranean Press) is an entertaining collection of fiction and non-fiction, with cover and spot illustrations throughout by Thomas Canty. There are four new stories, the best of which are two, non-supernatural crime pieces. The non-fiction covers everything from reviews, commentary, and prefaces and introductions to other writers’ works. These and Other Mysteries by Steve Duffy (Sarob Press) is the author’s seventh collection, and contains eight stories, three of them reprints and not all of them horror. Two of the reprints also appeared in earlier volumes of my Best Horror of the Year. The author provides story notes for each piece. Glass Stories by Ivy Grimes (Grimscribe Press) contains seventeen brief weird tales, a few of them dark, a little more than half of them reprints. The Tree of Sacrifice by Per Faxneld (Egaeus Press) contains forty-four folk tale vignettes. Calvaria Fell: Stories by Cat Sparks and Kaaron Warren (Meerkat Press) is a weird, futuristic collection of twelve stories and one novella. Four of Sparks’s stories are new, as is the novella by Warren. Stone Gods by Adam Golaski (NO Press) has fifteen weird stories, some of them dark. Five of them are reprints. You Like it Darker: Stories by Stephen King (Scribner) is a very good new collection of twelve stories and novellas by a master of the form. The five novellas are new. Love is a Crematorium by Mercedes M. Yardley (Cemetery Dance Publications) has seventeen stories, some but not all horror, five of them new. One Eye Opened in That Other Place by Christi Nogle (Flame Tree Press) has twenty-seven brief, weird, sometimes dark stories, four of them new. A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez, translated into English by Megan McDowell (Hogarth), is the Argentine author’s third collection. Many are darkly surreal, but to me, it’s somewhat of a stretch to call most of them horror. A Prisoner of Dreamland and Other Oneiric Terrors by Garrett Boatman (Weird House) is a well-written, varied debut collection, with fourteen stories ranging from science fiction, dark fantasy, and horror. Ghost Camera by Darcy Coates (Poisoned Pen Press) collects a revised novella, one new novella and seven short stories, mostly reprints. There’s no table of contents, which is obviously a deliberate attempt by the publisher to obscure the fact that the book is a collection. We Don’t Talk Anymore and Other Dark Fictions by J. P. Behrens (self-published) is a debut with sixteen brief dark fantasy and horror stories, vignettes, and a poem, all but six new. Intervals of Darkness by Ray Newman (Boak & Bailey Publishing) has fourteen weird and/or dark stories, all but three of them new. Ain’t No Witch: The Wanderings of Mamma Lucy by John Linwood Grant (Mocha Memoirs Press) is comprised of sixteen related stories about a conjure woman. About half have been previously published. Strained Sigma Bonds by Arasibo Campeche (Water Dragon Publishing) is a debut collection with fifteen science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories. Two of the stories are new. Harbor Lights by James Lee Burke (Atlantic Monthly Press) collects six reprints and two new pieces of fiction (one a novella) by a master of the mystery and crime novel, whose passion and complex emotions about his home state of Louisiana and the South’s history is always evident in his work, often using ghosts to explore that past. Kevin J. Anderson’s Horror and Dark Fantasy Volumes 1 and 2 (WordFire Press) collects all of bestselling author Anderson’s darker work from 1984 on, with a few original pieces in each volume. Haunted Scotland by William Meikle (Weird House Press) contains thirteen entertaining supernatural stories taking place in Scotland, all but four new tales. A few feature a young Arthur Conan Doyle assisting his professor in solving mysterious murders.
