Anthology:
Christmas and Other Horrors (Titan) published October 24
all of the below stories also eligible:
Short fiction
The Importance of a Tidy Home Christopher Golden 6000
The Ones He Takes Benjamin Percy 2400
His Castle Alma Katsu 4900
The Mawkin Field Terry Dowling 5500
The Blessing of the Waters Nick Mamatas 3200
Last Drinks at Bondi Beach Garth Nix 1500
The Ghost of Christmases Past Richard Kadrey 5000
All the Pretty People Nadia Bulkin 4900
Löyly Sow-na Josh Malerman 6600
Cold Cassandra Khaw 3000
The Visitation Jeffrey Ford 3800
No Light, No Light Gemma Files 5700


Long fiction
Dry and Ready Glen Hirshberg 8500
Gravé of Small Birds Kaaron Warren 10,300
Our Recent Unpleasantness Stephen Graham Jones 9300
After Words John Langan 10,000
The Lord of Misrule M. Rickert 8200
Return to Bear Creek Lodge Tananarive Due 8200

Tor.com/Nightfire
Novellas:
The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw (Nightfire) (horror) May 2
Wild Spaces by S.L. Coney (Tor.com) horror August 1
The Navigating Fox by Christopher Rowe (Tor.com) fantasy Sept 26

Stories and novelettes:
Even if Such Ways Are Bad by Rich Larson (sf) 8400 words February 8, 2023
The Dark House by A.C. Wise (horror) 6200 March 15, 2023
Pretty Good Neighbor by Jeffrey Ford (horror)4500 May 24 2023
Ceffo by Jonathan Carroll (fantasy)7500 June 28, 2023
Headhunting by Rich Larson (dark fantasy)8300 August 9 2023
Jack O’Dander by Priya Sharma (horror)7600 October 25 2023
The Sound of Reindeer by Lyndsie Manusos (horror)4360 December 13 2023

Table of Contents

Solivagant                                                       Angela Slatter

Gate 9                                                             Jeffrey Ford

Flaming Teeth                                                Garry Kilworth

On the Hills, the Knitters                                 Steve Toase

New Fox Smell                                               Livia Llewellyn

The Harvester of Ladslove                           Steve Duffy

Incident at Bear Creek Lodge                         Tananarive Due

The Myth of Pasiphaë                                     Andy Davidson

The Loneliness of the Long-Distant Reporter Daniela Tomova

In the Wabe                                                    Alison Littlewood

New Meat(™)                                                 Jordan Shiveley

Eyes Like Small Black Stones                       David Surface

Bb Minor, or The Suicide Choir: An Oral History Gemma Files

Lifelike                                                           Gary McMahon

The Zoo                                                          Gemma Amor

Dinner Plans With Baba Yaga                       Stephanie M. Wytovich

The Collection                                                Charlie Hughes

Tell-Tale Tit                                                   Margo Lanagan

The Last Box                                                  Luigi Musolino trans James D. Jenkins

1855                                                                Jacob Steven Mohr

Enough For Hunger and Enough For Hate     John Langan

Call for Submissions

I edit The Best Horror of the Year for (Night Shade Books) and am currently reading for the sixteenth volume, covering material published in 2023.

I am looking for stories and poetry from all branches of horror: supernatural, uncanny, sf horror, psychological, dark crime, terror tales, or anything else that might qualify.

This is an all reprint anthology, so I’ll only consider material published in 2023. Deadline is December 1st 2023.

Authors please confirm that your publishers are sending me review copies. If a book or magazine is coming out after my deadline, I’ll look at galleys or manuscripts. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE.

The only excuse is if you’re a foreign publisher and shipping everything at one time saves postage. If you want your work to get a fair read, do not do this.

I’ll look at e-versions of anthos and collections only if they’re navigable and have running heads. Otherwise, they won’t be read. I always prefer print, if available.

Authors can query as to whether I have/need your collection or an anthology/magazine in which you have a story at datlow@yahoo.com.

My summation of “the year in horror” includes novels, anthologies, collections, nonfiction, poetry, art books, and “odds and ends”– material that doesn’t fit elsewhere but that might interest horror readers.
Ellen Datlow
Best Horror of the Year Volume Sixteen
8 Stuyvesant Oval 9G
NY NY 10009

I regularly cover most magazines/webzines that publish horror: F&SF, The Dark, Nightmare, Not One of Us, crime digests, Horrorzine, Uncanny, Apex-when their publishers send me the material. If you’re not sure, ask them first).

Please ask your publisher to send the entire magazine or anthology-unless the venue doesn’t regularly publish horror. In that case, you can send me a word file of your story. For online publications, email individual word doc files—not pdf files– include on the ms where and when the story has been published.

If I choose a story you will be informed. Otherwise, you will not hear back.
Ellen Datlow
www.datlow.com