PRAISE FOR BEST NEW HORROR
“A worthy reflection of the diversity and high quality of contemporary horror and dark fantasy, this annual volume remains an absolute necessity.”
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Anyone who is interested in the contemporary horror scene should buy a copy of this book and devour it.”
– The Times (London)
“The best horror anthologist in the business is, of course, Stephen Jones.”
– Time Out
“From its inception, the Best New Horror series has been an invaluable resource for all of us who believe in the genre.”
– Clive Barker
“An essential volume for horror readers.”
– Locus
“The Best New Horror series continues to break from the herd, consistently raising the bar of quality and ingenuity.”
– Rue Morgue Magazine
“An essential record, invaluable and irreplaceable, of modern horror fiction in all its range and variousness.”
– Ramsey Campbell
“All you need to bring you up-to-date with the horror scene.”
– SFX
“No self-respecting relisher of the macabre should ever deny him- or herself a copy.”
– Gahan Wilson, Realms of Fantasy
“Essential reading.”
– Hellnotes
“A real treat for any lover of the genre.”
– SF Site
“Best New Horror is a darkly shining beacon of hope in an unimaginative world.”
– Neil Gaiman
“The most valuable horror book of the year.”
– Kirkus Reviews
“An Ordnance Survey map of the terrain of contemporary horror and dark fantasy.”
– Fantazia
“Stephen Jones’ always reliable series remains the key horror anthology of the year.”
– Starlog
“The definitive series of Horror ‘Bests’.”
– Science Fiction Chronicle
“The collection we’d recommend if you had to make a choice.”
– Interzone
“The sheer range of dark fantasies here is impressive.”
– Shivers
“Best New Horror continues to provide a valuable and salutary service for horror.”
– Fear
Also available
The Mammoth Book of 20th Century Science Fiction, vol. 2
The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime
The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics
The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics
The Mammoth Book of Best of Best New SF
The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 9
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 19
The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga 3
The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 22
The Mammoth Book of Best War Comics
The Mammoth Book of Bikers
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First published in the US as The Very Best of Best New Horror by Earthling Publications.
First published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 2010
Collection and editorial material copyright © Stephen Jones 2009, 2010.
The right of Stephen Jones to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
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UK ISBN 978-1-84901-304-8
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First published in the United States in 2010 by Running Press Book Publishers
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This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.
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US Library of Congress number: 2009929923
US ISBN 978-0-7624-3841-9
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Cont
ents
Acknowledgments
Editor’s Foreword
Introduction: Bettering the Best
RAMSEY CAMPBELL
1989
No Sharks in the Med
BRIAN LUMLEY
1990
The Man Who Drew Cats
MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH
1991
The Same in Any Language
RAMSEY CAMPBELL
1992
Norman Wisdom and the Angel of Death
CHRISTOPHER FOWLER
1993
Mefisto in Onyx
HARLAN ELLISON®
1994
The Temptation of Dr Stein
PAUL J. McAULEY
1995
Queen of Knives
NEIL GAIMAN
1996
The Break
TERRY LAMSLEY
1997
Emptiness Spoke Eloquent
CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN
1998
Mr Clubb and Mr Cuff
PETER STRAUB
1999
White
TIM LEBBON
2000
The Other Side of Midnight: Anno Dracula,
KIM NEWMAN
2001
Cleopatra Brimstone
ELIZABETH HAND
2002
20th Century Ghost
JOE HILL
2003
The White Hands
MARK SAMUELS
2004
My Death
LISA TUTTLE
2005
Haeckel’s Tale
CLIVE BARKER
2006
Devil’s Smile
GLEN HIRSHBERG
2007
The Church on the Island
SIMON KURT UNSWORTH
2008
The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates
STEPHEN KING
Index to Twenty Years of Best New Horror
I: Index by Contributor
II: Index by Title
III: Contents of Previous Omnibus Editions
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Ramsey Campbell, Paul Miller, Hugh Lamb, Val and Les Edwards, Duncan Proudfoot, Pete Duncan, Dorothy Lumley and all the authors, editors and publishers who have contributed to the series over the past twenty years, for their help and support.
EDITOR’S FOREWORD copyright © Stephen Jones 2009.
INTRODUCTION: BETTERING THE BEST copyright © Ramsey Campbell 2009.
NO SHARKS IN THE MED copyright © Brian Lumley 1989. Originally published in Weird Tales No.295, Winter 1989. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE MAN WHO DREW CATS copyright © Michael Marshall Smith 1990. Originally published in Dark Voices 2: The Pan Book of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE SAME IN ANY LANGUAGE copyright © Ramsey Campbell 1991. Originally published in Weird Tales No.301, Summer 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author.
NORMAN WISDOM AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH copyright © Christopher Fowler 1992. Originally published in Sharper Knives. Reprinted by permission of the author.
MEFISTO IN ONYX by Harlan Ellison® copyright © The Kilimanjaro Corporation 1993. Originally published in Mefisto in Onyx. Reprinted by arrangement with, and permission of, the author and the author’s agent, Richard Curtis Associates Inc., New York, USA. Harlan Ellison® is a registered trademark of The Kilimanjaro Corporation.
THE TEMPTATION OF DR STEIN copyright © Paul J. McAuley 1994. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein. Reprinted by permission of the author.
QUEEN OF KNIVES copyright © Neil Gaiman 1995. Originally published in Tombs. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE BREAK copyright © Terry Lamsley 1996. Originally published in Conference with the Dead: Tales of Supernatural Terror. Reprinted by permission of the author.
EMPTINESS SPOKE ELOQUENT copyright © Caitlín R. Kiernan 1997. Originally published in Secret City: Strange Tales of London. Reprinted by permission of the author.
MR CLUBB AND MR CUFF copyright © Peter Straub 1998. Originally published in Murder for Revenge. Reprinted by permission of the author.
WHITE copyright © Tim Lebbon 1999. Originally published in White. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT: ANNO DRACULA, 1981 copyright © Kim Newman 2000. Originally published in Vampire Sextette. Reprinted by permission of the author.
CLEOPATRA BRIMSTONE copyright © Elizabeth Hand 2001. Originally published in Redshift. Reprinted by permission of the author.
20TH CENTURY GHOST copyright © Joe Hill 2001. Originally published in High Plains Literary Review, Vol.XVII, No.1–3, 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, The Choate Agency.
THE WHITE HANDS copyright © Mark Samuels 2003. Originally published in The White Hands and Other Weird Tales. First published in substantially different form as “Amelia” in Black Tears No.1, 1993. Reprinted by permission of the author.
MY DEATH copyright © Lisa Tuttle 2004. Originally published in My Death. Reprinted by permission of the author.
HAECKEL’S TALE copyright © Clive Barker 2005. Originally published in Dark Delicacies. Reprinted by permission of the author.
DEVIL’S SMILE copyright © Glen Hirshberg 2006. Originally published in American Morons. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, Anderson Grinberg Literary Management, Inc.
THE CHURCH ON THE ISLAND copyright © Simon Kurt Unsworth 2007. Originally published in At Ease with the Dead. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE NEW YORK TIMES AT SPECIAL BARGAIN RATES copyright © Stephen King 2008. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 2008 and Just After Sunset: Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author.
INDEX TO TWENTY YEARS OF BEST NEW HORROR copyright © Stephen Jones 2009.
This volume is dedicated to
NICK ROBINSON
KENT CARROLL
and
HERMAN GRAFF
for their trust and vision twenty years ago.
And also for
RAMSEY CAMPBELL
for his continued guidance and
inspiration during all those years.
Editor’s Foreword
OKAY, LET’S GET SOMETHING absolutely straight from the beginning – despite what the title of this book says, this volume does not necessarily represent the twenty finest stories that have ever appeared in the Best New Horror series over the past two decades. For a start, those previous twenty volumes have contained more than 450 stories by almost 200 authors and, given the nature of any “Year’s Best” series, all the stories in those books can be considered to be the “best” in some form or another – at least according to the criteria of those who compile them.
Back in 1992, in the third volume, my co-editor Ramsey Campbell and I pointed out that: “Best New Horror does not purport to be a collection of the year’s best horror stories. Instead, we hope to present a varied selection of fiction – loosely connected by various notions of horror – that illustrates the range of themes and ideas currently being explored in the genre, by top names in the field and exciting newcomers.”
That policy statement could just as well be applied to this current compilation as well.
We decided very early on that it would be presumptuous to claim that Best New Horror contained a definitive selection of the year’s best horror stories. After all, such definitions are totally subjective and differ widely between each individual. So instead, as Ramsey and I explained, these anthologies over the years have attempted – based on the material seen – to present an annual “snapshot” of some of the best horror fiction writing to be published in a particular year.
With so many superior stories and talented authors to choose from, and with the number of tales necessarily constrained by the word-length of a single book, I decided to limit my choice for this anniversary edition to
what I considered to be one of the best stories from each volume.
When it came to my definition of “best”, I considered whether a particular story was the most effective, stylish or simply influential in any individual volume. As a consequence, this led to some juggling of titles and authors until I felt that I had achieved a representative selection of twenty superior horror stories (and don’t expect me to define my “various notions” of what constitutes “horror” here – this book speaks for itself).
Unfortunately, because I also decided to allow authors only one story per volume, by necessity some very fine tales and their creators have had to be left out of this anthology.
As a result, many excellent writers who have regularly contributed to the series over the years – including Poppy Z. Brite, Dennis Etchison, Stephen Gallagher, Charles L. Grant, Brian Hodge, Graham Joyce, Joel Lane, Tanith Lee, Thomas Ligotti, Kelly Link, Nicholas Royle, David J. Schow, Steve Rasnic Tem, Karl Edward Wagner, Cherry Wilder and Gene Wolfe, to name only a few – are not represented in this current volume.
There is nothing to say that these and other equally talented writers could not be included in another compilation using the same criteria at a later date. There is certainly a wealth of talent and some extraordinarily powerful material to draw upon throughout the distinguished history of this anthology series. But until then – like the series itself – this current volume should be considered a representative sampling of some of the finest work that has been included in Best New Horror over the past twenty years.
Is it actually the best of the Best? I’m not so sure . . . but I do know that these tales and the authors who crafted them represent the pinnacle of the horror genre from the preceding two decades. And that can’t be a bad thing for any “Best of” compilation . . .
Stephen Jones
Costa Dorada, Spain
May 17, 2009
Introduction
Bettering the Best
TWENTY YEARS! We’ve seen horror dwindle almost to nothing under the pitiless light of the marketplace, tottering away only to grope, however tentatively, back into the open. I’m reminded of the 1950s, when I discovered the field. The great pulps were dead or dying, and almost no horror was being published as such. All horror comics had been banned by the British parliament, and yet two years after the ban came into force, the august Faber & Faber published Best Horror Stories with a gleefully lurid cover. The genre was largely being kept alive – underground, if not in its grave – by enterprising small presses and short-lived magazines. In time it struggled to its feet, and by the mid-1970s it was prancing and showing all its many teeth. Like any monster, it was eventually overwhelmed, but we know monsters never really die. Perhaps we’re back in that stage of its eternal gestation where I began, with an undead hibernation behind us and an uncertain future to come.