The Best Horror of the Year

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.

May 15, 2012

From Stephen King's tale of pain personified ("The Little Green God of Agony") to Peter Straub's macabre story of two lovers' ill-fated trip down an unnamed river ("The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine"), these 18 pieces, all originally published in 2011, show that dark fantasy and horror retain their power to instill dread and fear in readers. VERDICT Genre aficionados should enjoy the variety of stories in this sampling of today's best horror writers.

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