Masquerade by Marija Elektra Rodriquez (Huntress Ink) has twenty-eight erotic horror stories and vignettes (most vignettes). Three appear for the first time. Unseen Moon by Eliza Victoria (CreateSpace) is a five-story collection with one new story by this award-winning Filipino writer.
Mouths to Speak, Voices to Sing by Kenneth Yu (self-published) is the first collection of a Filipino writer, showcasing fifteen stories originally published in a variety of genre magazines, webzines, and anthologies.
Antiquities and Tangibles and Other Stories by Tim Pratt (The Merry Blacksmith Press) is the third collection of the Hugo Award-winning author. There are twenty-three science fiction, fantasy, and dark fantasy stories here, including three new ones.
Before and Afterlives: Stories by Christopher Barzak (Lethe Press) has seventeen fantasy/dark fantasy, gothic, and ghostly stories. One is original.
Rabbit Pie and Other Tales of Intrigue by Brian Clemens (PS Publishing) collects fifteen oddball stories by a writer best known for his screen and television work, particularly for writing the pilot and most of the scripts for The Avengers television series.
The Year of Ancient Ghosts by Kim Wilkins (Ticonderoga Publications) presents five fantasy and dark fantasy novellas by the multi award — winning Australian. Two of the novellas are new, one a horrific story about a vengeful ghost’s incursion into the contemporary world.
The Man Who Noticed Everything by Adrian Van Young (Black Lawrence Press) is the author’s first collection and has seven stories, five new. Although none of the stories is actually horror, most of them dwell on the fringes of the dark and might appeal to horror readers.
If Angels Fight by Richard Bowes (Fairwood Press) showcases a dozen stories written over twenty-five years, all originally published in anthologies, magazines, and webzines. Some of them are very dark indeed. Two new pieces of flash fiction are included.
The Tenth of December by George Saunders (Random House) has ten stories, and while generally considered a mainstream writer, Saunders’s work — usually satire — slops over into the fantastical (and to the dark) enough to be of interest to aficionados of the dark. (His 2009 story, “The Red Bow” was chosen by me for The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth Annual Collection).
Goblin Fruit, a quarterly webzine edited by Amal El-Mohtar, Jessica P. Wick, Caitlyn Paxson, Oliver Hunter, and Dmitri Zagidulin remains the best publisher of fantasy and dark fantasy poetry, consistently publishing varied, quality material. Some of the darkest poems in 2013 were by Laura Lee Washburn, Jennifer Jerome, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, Samantha Hen derson, Liz Bourke, Mike Allen, Yumi Dineen Shiromi, Shweta Narayan, C. S. E. Cooney, and Andy Humphrey. The fall issue, in addition to its usual great line up of poetry, featured an interview and series of poems by Mike Allen.
Star*Line, edited by F. J. Bergmann, is the bi-monthly journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association and publishes science fiction, fantasy, and horror poetry. During 2013, it published notable dark poems by Ann K. Schwader, Wade German, and Ian Hunter.
Paper Crow (no editor listed) is meant to be bi-annual, but only had one issue out in 2013. There were notable dark poems by Bruce Boston and Jill Crammond.
Dreams of Fear: Poems of Terror and the Supernatural, edited by S. T. Joshi and Steven J. Mariconda (Hippocampus Press), is, according to the publisher, the first comprehensive historical anthology of weird, horrific, and supernatural poetry in more than fifty years. The survey begins with The Odyssey and ends with contemporary weird poets Richard L. Tierney, Bruce Boston, W. H. Pugmire, and Ann K. Schwader.
The Sex Lives of Monsters by Helen Marshall (Kelp Queen Press) is the prose writer and poet’s strong second collection, the first of which won Canada’s Aurora Award. Much of Marshall’s poetry uses fairy tale, myth, and urban legends. Six of the seventeen poems are new.
Letting Out the Demons and Other Poems by Terrie Leigh Relf (Elektrik Milk Bath Press) has forty poems, most brief, some published for the first time.
Death Poems by Thomas Ligotti (Bad Moon Books) is the first collection of poetry by the author of much strange, dark prose. Nine of the almost fifty poems have never before been published.
The First Bite of the Apple by Jennifer Crow (Elektrik Milk Bath Press) is an excellent collection of dark fantasy/ horror poetry. Many of the poems use fairy-tale motifs. Among the more than fifty poems are several new ones.
Scenes Along the Zombie Highway by G. O. Clark (Dark Regions Press) is an entertaining collection of more than forty pieces of zombie poetry, most appearing for the first time.
Dark Roads: Selected Long Poems 1971–2012 by Bruce Boston (Dark Renaissance Books) is a substantial overview of this popular dark poet’s work. It features illustrations by M. Wayne Miller.
Four Elements by Charlee Jacob, Marge Simon, Rain Graves, and Linda Addison is an entertaining volume of all new poetry and prose with each writer taking a season and running with it.
Demonstra by Bryan Thao Worra (Innsmouth Free Press) collects about seventy poems written over twenty years by this award-winning Laotian-American poet. Most are new.
The 2013 Rhysling Anthology: The Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Poetry of 2012, selected by the Science Fiction Poetry Association and edited by John C. Mannone (Science Fiction Poetry Association/Hadrosaur Productions), is used by members to vote for the best short poem and the best long poem of the year.
Its sister publication Dwarf Stars 2013, edited by Stephen M. Wilson and Linda D. Addison (Science Fiction Poetry Association), features the best very short speculative poems published in 2012 and is used by members to vote for the best poem of the year ten lines or fewer.
Star Kites: Poems & Versions by Mark Valentine (Tartarus Press) is the author’s first book of poems, many drawing on the same inspirations of his short stories.
Dangerous Dreams by Marge Simon and Sandy DeLuca (Elektrik Milk Bath Press) is a collaboration of erotic dark poetry and art created by both women.
Telling Tales of Terror: Essays on Writing Horror and Dark Fiction, edited by Kim Richards (Damnation Books), presents advice by Lisa Morton, Sephera Giron, and other practitioners of the craft.
Devil’s Advocates is a series of single-film books published by Auteur Press (an imprint of Columbia University Press) and edited by John Atkinson. Begun in 2011, the 2013 titles are: Witchfinder General by Ian Cooper, The Descent by James Marriott, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre by James Rose, and The Silence of the Lambs by Barry Forshaw.
New Critical Essays on H. P. Lovecraft edited by David Simmons (Palgrave Macmillan) contains twelve entries about Lovecraft and his work.
The Women of Hammer Horror by Robert Michael “Bobb” Cotter (McFarland) is a reference book featuring every known actress who worked with the studio.