The Last Days of Kali Yuga by Paul Haines (Brimstone Press) is the third collection of raw, unflinching dark fiction by the multi-award winning Australian writer. All but one of the twenty stories and novellas are reprints. Included is his acclaimed, harrowing novella “Wives.”
Two Worlds and In Between The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan (Volume One) (Subterranean Press) is, at 600 pages, a very generous helping of this excellent writer’s short fiction output between 1993 and 2004. A must-have for fans of Kiernan’s dark fictions. Her background in geology and vertebrate paleontology infuse her science fiction work as well as her Lovecraftian influenced stories.
Stories from the Plague Years by Michael Marano (Cemetery Dance Publications) is the author’s debut collection and brings together nine stories and novellas (two original to the collection) published in a variety of venues in print and online, beginning in 1995. John Shirley provides the introduction and the author provides individual story notes.
We Live Inside You by Jeremy Robert Johnson (Swallowdown Press) contains eighteen very readable stories and short-shorts of crime, horror, and sf/horror, all but one reprints.
The Devil’s Dictionary, Tales, and Memoirs by Ambrose Bierce (Library of America) collects four books and an additional eight stories. Edited and with notes and chronology by S. T. Joshi.
The Engines of Sacrifice by James Chambers (Dark Regions Press) is a well-written interconnected collection of four Lovecraftian novellas.
Campfire Chillers by Dave Jeffery (Dark Continents Publishing) contains thirteen brief tales of nasty things that happen to those who go camping.
Voices: Tales of Horror by Lawrence C. Connolly (Fantastist Enterprises) is a collection of thirteen stories published between 1982 and 2010, with two new ones. Each comes with commentary by the author.
Talespinning by David J. Howe (Telos Publishing)) has seventeen new and previously published short stories and movie scripts by a writer who is better known as the publisher of Telos.
Richard Matheson’s Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (Gauntlet Press) edited by Tony Albarella includes the short story, Matheson’s original script for the Twilight Zone episode, the George Miller/Matheson script for The Twilight Zone movie and storyboards from the TZ movie. There’s also an interview with Matheson by the editor for the book.
Ewerton Death Trip by A. R. Morlan (Borgo Press) is a collection of dark stories about one fictional town and is inspired by the classic photography book: Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy. It contains twenty-five stories, four new.
Published by Centipede Press, Masters of the Weird Tale: Karl Edward Wagner, is a 700+ page limited edition of Wagner’s short stories, with introductions by Stephen Jones and Peter Straub, an afterword by Laird Barron, and new color illustrations by J. K. Potter.
The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates (Mysterious Press) contains seven dark stories by the prolific author. One was published in my cat horror anthology back in 1996, one recently won the World Fantasy Award, one was published in 2011, first in the literary journal Boulevard, and now in this collection.
Ash-tree Press has not published any books for the past couple of years but in November, publisher Christopher Roden launched a new series of e-books. Included in the series are collections of stories by Frederick Cowles, H. R. Wakefield, Matt Cardin, Reggie Oliver, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Steve Duffy, Barbara Roden, and others.
Kitty’s Greatest Hits by Carrie Vaughn (Tor) collects twelve reprints, an original story, and an original novella about werewolf and radio personality Kitty Norville. Yellowcake by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin, Australia) is the fourth collection of short stories by the acclaimed Australian writer of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Nine of the ten stories were originally published between 2006 and 2009, several in anthologies for young adults. The Winter Triptych by Nicole Kornher-Staci (Papavaria Press) is a beautiful little book of elegant, puzzle-like interconnected dark fairy tales. The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories by Joan Aiken (Small Beer Press) contains nineteen stories, and what may be the last unpublished stories by Aiken (who died in 2004). Only a few in this collection are dark but the darkest and one of the best of the new ones is “Hair” (published earlier in the year by The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction). Strange Tales by D. M. Youngquist (Dark Continents Publishing) contains fifteen stories, all but three originals, a couple mainstream. After the Apocalypse by Maureen F. McHugh (Small Beer Press) has nine science fiction, fantasy, and sf/horror stories, three original to the collection. Diversifications by James Lovegrove (PS Publishing) is the author’s second collection and contains sixteen mostly science fiction reprints, with a couple of horror stories. Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti (Twelfth Planet Press) is a well-written and absorbing dark fantasy suite of five interconnected stories about a detective who handles unusual cases in an alternate world in which some people have special powers. What Wolves Know by Kit Reed (PS Publishing) is a mixture of thirteen science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy stories by a deft satirist who keeps her knives sharp. One story, published for the first time, was intended for Harlan Ellison’s Last Dangerous Visions. Bluegrass Symphony by Lisa L. Hannett (Ticonderoga Publications) is a fine introduction to an up and coming Australian writer of dark fantasy and horror, with twelve stories, all but one original to the collection. Hannett is skillful at creating seemingly authentic voices and settings in these stories of the American South. Do Not Pass Go by Joel Lane (Nine Arches Press) is a collection of five dark crime stories, some original. I haven’t seen the book but from the description, it might appeal to Lane fans, whatever the genre. Everyone’s Just So So Special by Robert Shearman (Big Finish Productions) is the third weird collection by the author and this batch is as strange as his earlier two with some extremely dark stories. Of the twenty-one in the book, most appear for the first time and “The Big Boy’s Big Box of Tricks” is a knockout. It’s For You by Keith Minnion (White Noise Press) is by a writer better known as an illustrator. It contains nineteen science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories published between 1979 and 2009, plus five originals. Lore and Dysorder by Patrick Thomas (Padwolf Publishing) is a collection of six stories (two new) about a Sumerian deity who becomes the chief of Hell’s secret police. The stories are dark fantasy and charming rather than horrific but fans of Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim novels might get a kick out of them — although they’re not as edgy as Kadrey’s work. This New and Poisonous Air by Adam McOmber (BOA Editions) is an interesting collection of ten stories, some of them weird, a few dark. Two stories appear for the first time. Thief of Lives by Lucy Sussex (Twelve Planets) is a brief, entertaining introduction to this Australian writer’s range, featuring four very different short stories. Karen Joy Fowler provides an introduction. Lucy Sussex had a second, more substantial collection out in 2011: Matilda Told Such Dreadful Lies (Ticonderoga Publications) with twenty-five stories of sf/f/h, including one fine original. In the Time of War and Other Stories of Conflict and Master of the Road to Nowhere and Other Tales of the Fantastic by Carol Emshwiller (PS Publishing) is a double volume of twenty tales of science fiction and fantasy, with touches of darkness. The first half is introduced by Ursula K. LeGuin and the second half by Phyllis Eisenstein. Forever Azathoth: Parodies and Pastiches by Peter Cannon (Subterranean Press) collects seventeen amusing parodies and pastiches of Lovecraftian tales including the six-part sequel to Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep” plus mash-ups of F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, and P.G. Wodehouse. Clarimonde and Other Stories by Théophile Gautier (Tartarus Press) collects twelve supernatural and science fiction tales by this nineteenth-century French contemporary of Baudelaire. Most of the translations are by Lafcadio Hearn. Introduction by Brian Stableford. The Door to Lost Pages by Claude Lalumière (ChiZine Publications) is organized like a novel but actually consists of five stories.