The Best Horror of the Year

Starred review from October 26, 2009
After 22 years of pulling the horror content for the now-discontinued Year's Best Fantasy and Horror series, Datlow (Lovecraft Unbound
) goes solo with this stellar start to a new “best of” annual. As in the past, her picks confirm that “horror” is a storytelling approach with endlessly inventive possibilities. In E. Michael Lewis's “Cargo,” a haunting Twilight Zone
–type tale, an airplane picks up something otherworldly as part of its latest transport. Euan Harvey's creepy “Harry and the Monkey” turns an urban legend into reality. R.B. Russell's “Loup-garou” is a highly original shape-shifter story with a subtle psychological twist, and Daniel LeMoal's “Beach Head” a bracing conte cruel
with a Lord of the Flies
cast. In addition to the richly varied stories, Datlow provides her usual comprehensive coverage of the year in horror in an introduction that's indispensable reading for horror aficionados.

May 23, 2011
In the third volume of this annual series, famed editor Datlow brings together 17 stories published in 2010 in a variety of sources both popular and obscure. In Cody Goodfellow's "At the Riding School," a veterinarian makes a strange house call at a girls' school. Catherynne M. Valente's "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles," one of several zombie stories, sketches the life of the only living woman among the undead horde. John Langan uses self-conscious narrative to twist the werewolf story in "The Revel." The usual lists of honorable mentions and award-winners and a thoughtful assessment of the field will encourage readers to seek out the year's other notable horror stories. As always, Datlow delivers a top-notch anthology with a nice balance of new and established writers.