Fell Beasts edited by Ty Schwamberger (Dark Quest Books) features eleven stories about things that go bump in the night.
Delicate Toxins is a very good original anthology of strange tales inspired by Hanns Heinz Ewers and edited by John Hirschhorn-Smith (Side Real Press) — it has notable stories by rj krijnen-kemp, Mark Howard Jones, Colin Insole, Daniel Mills, Reggie Oliver, Peter Bell, Michael Chislett, and Adam S. Cantwell.
Demons: Encounters with the Devil and His Minions, Fallen Angels, and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers) contains thirty-seven stories and excerpts, mixing reprints and originals. The strongest of the originals are by Zak Jarvis, Alethea Kontis, Brian Hodge, Livia Llewellyn, John Skipp, and Adam-Troy Castro.
Swallowed by the Cracks: Sixteen Stories of the Space in Between by Lee Thomas, Gary McMahon, S.G. Browne, and Michael Marshall Smith (Dark Arts Books) features four stories from each writer — several published for the first time. The book is edited and introduced by Bill Breedlove and John Everson.
Vampires: The Recent Undead edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books) is a big book of twenty-five vampire stories first published between 2000 and 2010. Included are stories by Holly Black, Kim Newman, Charlaine Harris, Karen Russell, John Langan, Michael Marshall Smith, and others.
Zombiesque edited by Stephen L. Antczak, James C. Bassett, and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW) presents all new stories, most from the zombie point of view. The best are by Nancy Holder, Jim C. Hines, Charles Pinion, Xalieri Laszlo, and Wendy Webb.
Rock ‘N’ Roll is Dead: Dark Tales Inspired by Music edited by Marc Ciccarone (Blood Bound Books) would have been more coherent as a “theme” anthology if each contributor had supplied a paragraph explaining how the piece of music picked inspired the story. Readers unfamiliar with the songs will find it difficult to get a handle on the specific inspiration. Unfortunately, even for familiar songs the connection to the stories is pretty thin. Despite this, there’s good work by Rex McGuire, G. Winston Hyatt, Belen Lopez, and Natalie L. Sin.
The Book of Cthulhu edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books) is a 500+ page reprint anthology of twenty-seven stories and novellas about H. P. Lovecraft’s greatest creation that were published between 1976 and 2011—with two very good originals by John Hornor Jacobs and Laird Barron.
Comes the Night edited by Dorothy Davies (Static Movement) has twenty-seven brief horror stories about night time, with one notable story by Jeremy Bush.
The Eighth Black Book of Horror selected by Charles Black (Mortbury Press) has thirteen stories, the best of which are by Anna Taborska, Paul Finch, Stephen Bacon, Tony and Tina Rath, and Thana Niveau. There are no author biographies and there’s no introduction. The Taborska is reprinted herein.
Cover of Darkness edited by Tyree Campbell (Sam’s Dot) is a twice yearly non-themed dark fantasy and horror anthology of short stories, novelettes, and poems. The strongest work in 2011 was by Marc Colten, Richard H. Fay, Jason Andrews, and Dick Bowler.
Haunted: Eleven Tales of Ghostly Horror edited by Monica Valentinelli (Flames Rising Press) is about ghosts and ghost hunters. The best stories are by Alana Joli Abbott and Preston B. DuBose.
Death Rattles edited by Gary Fry (Gray Friar Press) contains six stories inspired by a BBC anthology horror program called Death Rattles that ran for only five or six episodes. According to the contributors, the show was controversial, graphic, and very disturbing. I’m honestly not sure whether this supposed “lost” series is a hoax or was for real, but the anthology is suitably creepy with stories by Stephen Volk, Simon Bestwick, Paul Finch, John Llewellyn Probert, Thana Niveau, and Gary McMahon.
In Laymon’s Terms edited by Kelly Laymon, Steve Gerlach and Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications) is the long-awaited tribute volume to the late Richard Laymon. The 600+ page volume includes personal reminiscences by friends and acquaintances, an interview from Mystery Scene Magazine, photographs, and reprints and original stories by writers who admired his work, plus several of his own short stories and poems. The best original stories are by Rain Graves and Bentley Little.
Supernatural Noir edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books) is exactly what the title says, with sixteen originals stories by writers including Paul G. Tremblay, Richard Bowes, Melanie Tem, John Langan, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Lucius Shepard, Nick Mamatas, Brian Evenson, Laird Barron, and nine other writers. The Langan is reprinted herein.
Blood and Other Cravings edited by Ellen Datlow (Tor) is a kind of follow-up to my first two anthologies of vampirism: Blood is Not Enough and A Whisper of Blood, which while including vampires and blood, attempts to broaden the idea of vampirism to include various types of preying on other beings. The seventeen stories include two reprints and fifteen new stories by Elizabeth Bear, Barbara Roden, John Langan, Margo Lanagan, Michael Cisco, Steve Duffy, and eleven others. The Lanagan is reprinted herein.
Teeth edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (HarperCollins) is a non-sparkly vampire anthology for young adults, with a wide range of different types of vampires. Included are stories and poems by Nathan Ballingrud, Neil Gaiman, Garth Nix, Jeffrey Ford, Tanith Lee, Melissa Marr, Suzy McKee Charnas, Lucius Shepard, Kaaron Warren, and other adult and young adult authors.
Evolve Two edited by Nancy Kilpatrick (Edge) has twenty-two stories about how future vampires might interact with humans, might dominate the planet, and even travel into space. There are notable stories by Ivan Dorin, Silva Moreno-Garcia, Peter Sellers, David Beynon, Heather Clitheroe, Jason S. Ridler, John Shirley, and Anne Mok.
Dead Red Heart edited by Russell B. Farr (Ticonderoga Publications) is a big trade paperback with thirty-three stories about vampires in Australia. There are some wonderfully vicious ones including those by Alan Baxter, Simon Brown, Damon Cavalchini, Joanna Fay, Patty Jensen, Chris Lawson, Angelela Slatter, Jen White, Joanne Anderton, Pete Kempshall, George Ivanoff, Raymond Gates, Donna Marie Hanson, Jacob Edwards, Anne Mok, and Lisa L. Hannett. There are others than are intriguing and/or charming. In all, a very nicely rounded variety of vampires in all their forms.
House of Fear edited by Jonathan Oliver (Solaris) has nineteen original haunted house stories, all of them good but the very best are by Lisa Tuttle, Terry Lamsley, and Christopher Fowler. The Lamsley is reprinted herein.
Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! edited by Otto Penzler (Vintage) is yet another reprint anthology of the living dead using an unusually broad definition of “zombie” with stories by Chet Williamson, Stephen King, Lisa Tuttle, Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Anthony Boucher, Robert E. Howard, H. P. Lovecraft (three stories), and over fifty other writers.
Terror Tales of the Lake District edited by Paul Finch (Gray Friar Press) is an entertaining anthology of thirteen stories plus brief interstitial “true ghost stories” written by the editor. Three stories are reprints. The strongest of the originals are by Carole Johnstone, Reggie Oliver, Steve Savile, and Simon Bestwick. The Bestwick is reprinted herein.
The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies edited by D.F. Lewis (Megazanthus Press) has some very good stories in it, despite its somewhat limited theme. There were notable stories by Reggie Oliver, E. Michael Lewis, Colin Insole, Rachel Kendall, Joel Lane, and David Mathew.