From Ellen Datlow—“the venerable queen of horror anthologies” per the New York Times—comes a new entry in the series that has brought you thrilling stories from Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, the best horror stories available.
For more than four decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave. Now, with the fourteenth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. Encompassed in the pages of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as: Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Stephen Graham Jones, Joyce Carol Oates, Laird Barron, Mira Grant, and many others.
With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.
Table of Contents
- Summation of the Year 2021—Ellen Datlow
- Redwater — Simon Bestwick
- Caker’s Man — Matthew Holness
- Black Leg — Glen Hirshberg
- The Offering — Michael Marshall Smith
- Fox Girl — Lee Murray
- Shuck — G. V. Anderson
- The Hunt at Rotherdam — A. C. Wise
- Dancing Sober in the Dust — Steve Toase
- The God Bag — Christopher Golden
- The Strathantine Imps — Steve Duffy
- The Quizmasters — Gerard McKeown
- All Those Lost Days — Brian Evenson
- “Elephant Subjected to the Predations of a Mentalist” – Dir. B.S. Stockton, 1921 And “Ol’ Will’s Birthday Bash and Dither Family Reunion” – Dir. Various, 1952
- — Jonathan Raab
- Three Sisters Bog — Eóin Murphy
- The Steering Wheel Club — Kaaron Warren
- The King of Stones — Simon Strantzas
- Stolen Property — Sarah Lamparelli
- Shards — Ian Rogers
- Chit Chit — Steve Toase
- Poor Butcher-Bird — Gemma Files
- Trap — Carly Holmes
- I’ll Be Gone By Then — Eric LaRocca
- Jack-in-the-Box — Robin Furth
- Tiptoe — Laird Barron
- Honorable Mentions
- About the Authors
- Acknowledgment of Copyright
- About the Editor