From the Dusklands: Dark Fiction from the Pen of Aaron Gudmunson (Hazardous Press) is a debut collection featuring ten pieces of fiction, two reprinted essays, and one new novella.
In a Season of Dead Winter by Mark Fuller Dillon (Smashwords) is an interesting collection of seven stories, most published for the first time. Several of the stories are open to interpretation as to whether anything supernatural occurs or if all the events are in the minds of the protagonists.
Rose of Sharon and Other Stories by Gary A. Braunbeck (Creative Guy Publishing) is available as an e-book only. The twenty-nine stories provide a good overview of the author’s work. Three of them are new.
Your Place is in the Shadows by Charlie Williams (Gibbous Moon) is a very good collection of six edgy dark crime stories, available only for Kindle. One story is new.
The Dragonfly and the Siren: A Collection by Jay Wilburn and T. Fox Dunham (Hazardous Press) has eleven stories, six by Dunham, five by Wilburn, all but two (by Dunham) published for the first time.
Dark Renaissance Books is a new publishing venture by Joe Morey, intended to produce beautiful, limited edition, illustrated hardcover books. Three of the first books are prose collections and the fourth is a poetry collection (see under “Poetry” for this last): Worship the Night by Jeffrey Thomas (Dark Renaissance Books) has eight stories, two new. It has black-and-white interior illustrations by Erin Wells. The Universal and Other Terrors by Tony Richards (Dark Renaissance Books) has twelve stories, five of them new. The best of these is the title story, a nicely wrought sf/horror tale. William Meikle’s entertaining Sherlock Holmes: The Quality of Mercy and Other Stories has ten Holmesian adventures, six of them new. The book is a treat for those fans who don’t mind supernatural outcomes for the character. Frontispiece and interior illustrations are by M. Wayne Miller.
Twisted Fairy Tales by Maura McHugh (Barron’s) is a gorgeous package of twenty dark, retold fairy and folk tales illustrated by Jane Laurie. Included are some adult and/or grisly takes on “Snow White,” “The Red Shoes,” “Rapunzel,” and seventeen others. McHugh had a second book out from Barron’s, this one Twisted Myths, with many of the stories sporting more feminist and positive outcomes for the characters. The stories were inspired by Greece and Norse myths and legends from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Again, it is beautifully illustrated by Jane Laurie.
Their Hand Is at Your Throats by John Shire (Invocations Press) is an interesting collection of ten Lovecraftian stories, six originally published in small press journals between 1997 and 2007, four appearing for the first time. The new stories are surprisingly good, mostly rising above pastiche.
Three Miles Past by Stephen Graham Jones (Nightscape Press) is a powerful and disturbing three-story collection (two are new novelettes) that leaves the reader wanting more. Jones provides extensive story notes with each story.
Darkscapes by Anne-Sylvia Salzberg translated from the French by William Charlton (Tartarus Press) features fifteen weird and usually darkly fantastic tales, most appearing in English for the first time. Although some of the stories are overly oblique, most of them are effective.
Staring into the Abyss by Richard Thomas (Kraken Press) is the author’s second collection — made up of twenty reprints — most of which pack a surprisingly powerful punch at very short length.
Dead Clown Barbecue by Jeff Strand (Dark Regions Press) features twenty-nine stories, including seven new ones.
Fresh Cut Tales by Kenneth W. Cain (Distressed Press) is the second collection by the author and has sixteen stories, half of them appearing for the first time.
Unfortunately, I only got hold of Let the Old Dreams Die and Other Stories, John Ajvide Lindquist’s 2012 horror collection (Quercus) in 2013. The eleven stories were translated from the Swedish by Marlaine Delargy and includes a story that might be considered a tangential sequel to his brilliant vampire novel, Let the Right One In. There’s also an afterword about the Swedish and US film versions of his novel (he enjoyed both very much) stating that the implied ending of both versions don’t reflect his intent at all.
How to Die Well by Bill Breedlove (Bad Moon Books) features twenty effective humorous horror stories.
The Tightening Spiral by Tara Fox Hall (Hazardous Press) has nineteen stories, some new and some reprints.
Dead Reflections by Carol Weekes (Journalstone) contains a short novel, five short stories, and two poems.
Cravings by Joan VanderPutten (Necon E-Books) is a ten-story reprint collection.
David A. Riley had two new collections out in 2013: His Own Mad Demons (Hazardous Press), with five stories published between 2007 and 2010; and The Lurkers in the Abyss and Other Tales of Terror (Shadow Publishing), a more substantial collection with seventeen stories, the first published in 1974 and one appearing for the first time in this volume. The introduction to the latter is written by David Sutton.
Tricks, Mischief and Mayhem by Daniel I. Russell (Crystal Lake Publishing) has twenty-two stories, almost half published for the first time in 2013.
Bible Stories for Secular Humanists by S. P. Somtow (Diplodocus Press) features nine reprinted stories and an essay that was originally published in Iniquities Magazine.
Lovecraft’s Pillow and Other Strange Stories by Kenneth W. Faig, Jr. (Hippocampus Press), who is best-known as a Lovecraftian scholar, but this is a collection of his fiction, mostly stories previously published in the Esoteric Order of Dagon (EOD) and Necronomicon amateur press associations between 1977 and 2006.
Black Tea and Other Stories by Samuel Marolla (Mezzotints) is a minicollection of three dark tales published for the first time in English. The stories are translated from the Italian by Andrew Tanzi, and Gene O’Neil supplies an introduction.
Absinthe & Arsenic: Tales of Victorian Horror by Raven Dane (Telos) has sixteen mostly supernatural tales, of which all but a couple are new.
The Whispering Horror by Eddy C. Bertin (Shadow Publishing) has fourteen mostly Lovecraftian horror stories originally published between 1968 and 2013. One is new to the collection.
Not to Be Taken at Bed-Time & Other Strange Tales by Rosa Mulholland (Sarob Press) contains seven of what are considered this Victorian writer’s best supernatural and weird stories. This is the first time they’re collected in one volume. It features an introduction by Richard Dalby.
Bleeding Shadows by Joe R. Lansdale (Subterranean Press) is a big, beautiful, 150,000-word collection of thirty stories, novellas, and poems in all the genres Lansdale excels: crime, dark fantasy, and horror. It contains story notes.
Across the Event Horizon by Mercurio D. Rivera (Newcon Press) is an excellent showcase for this relatively new author of science fiction, who is not afraid of delving into the dark aspects of future behavior. The thirteen stories within were originally published in Interzone, Black Static, Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Electric Velocipede, Sybil’s Garage, and some anthologies. Some of the stories are sf/horror.