Shimmer, edited by E. Catherine Tobler, had two issues out in 2013 with notable stories by Cate Gardner, Dennis Y. Ginoza, William Jablonsky, Alex Dally MacFarlane, Sunny Moraine, and Christie Yant.
Interzone, edited by Andy Cox, is the sf/f sister to Black Static, but occasionally some quite dark pieces slip into Interzone. During 2013, there were notable dark stories by Greg Kurzawa, Damien Walters Grintalis, and Melanie Tem.
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by Gordon Van Gelder, is a bi-monthly magazine that publishes sf/f/h in addition to columns, book and movie reviews, and a cartoon. During 2013, there was notable dark fiction by David Gerrold, Joe Haldeman, M. K. Hobson, Ken Liu, Bruce McAllister, Chen Qiufan (translated by Ken Liu), Michael Reaves, Dale Bailey, Harry Campion, Albert E. Cowdrey, Brendon Dubois, and KJ Kabza. The Kabza is reprinted herein.
Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine is a monthly magazine edited by Sheila Williams and, in addition to sf/f (and the occasional horror story), also includes columns and reviews. During 2013, there were notable dark stories by Gregory Frost, Garrett Ashley, Jack Dann, Nancy Kress, Kit Reed, and Leah Thomas.
Black Candies: See Through is the 2013 edition of an annual “literary horror” journal published by So Say We All Press. Many of the stories are interesting but only a few are dark. The best of those were by Adrian Van Young, C. A. Schaefer, and Julia Evans.
Phantom Drift: A Journal of New Fabulism, edited by David Memmott, Martha Bayliss, Leslie What, and Matt Schumacher, is an annual published in the fall. The 2013 issue has excellent dark fiction and poetry by Zoltán Komor, Julia Patt, and Jeannine Hall Gailey. The Gailey is reprinted herein.
McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, edited by Will Georgantas, often has darker material within its pages.
Issue 45: Hitchcock and Bradbury Fist Fight in Heaven was especially rich with classic reprints by Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, and Frederic Brown and new dark stories by Brian Evenson and China Miéville.
Chilling Tales: In Words, Alas, Drown I, edited by Michael Kelly (Edge), is the second volume of new, non-theme horror stories in what I hope will be a series. There are some excellent stories among the twenty, including those by David Nickle, Sandra Kasturi, Catherine MacLeod, Ian Rogers, Derek Künsken, Helen Marshall, Simon Strantzas, Daniel LeMoal, and Michael Matheson. The Künsken is reprinted herein.
Dark World: Ghost Stories, edited by Timothy Parker Russell (Tartarus Press), has fourteen stories, all but one original to the anthology. There are notable stories by Steve Rasnic Tem, Anna Taborska, Jason A. Wyckoff, Mark J. Saxton, John Gaskin, Rhys Hughes, and Reggie Oliver. The book is a fundraiser for the Amala Children’s Home in the Tamil Nadu region of India. For more information on the project, visit www.amalatrust.org.
The Grimscribe’s Puppets, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Miskatonic River Press), is a tribute to weird fiction writer Thomas Ligotti with twenty-two stories, all but one published for the first time. Most of the contributors do an admirable job using Ligotti’s dense, visionary, strange work to create their own weird fictions. There were notable stories by Livia Llewellyn, John Langan, Gemma Files, Jeffrey Thomas, Paul G. Tremblay, Nicole Cushing, Richard Gavin, Michael Griffin, Michael Kelly, Joel Lane, and Kaaron Warren.
Deep Cuts: 19 Tales of Mayhem, Menace, and Misery, edited by Angel Leigh McCoy, E. S. Magill, and Chris Marrs (Evil Jester Press), is a an anthology created to celebrate women horror writers and was funded by Kickstarter. It features nineteen stories (all but three original) by both men and women, and each story is introduced by a woman writer who influenced the contributor. There are notable stories by R. S. Belcher, Samael Gyre, Michael Haynes, Sandra M. Odell, Stephen Woodworth, Colleen Anderson, James Chambers, and Scathe meic Boerh.
Exotic Gothic 5 Volumes I and II, edited by Danel Olson (PS Publishing), has doubled its size to twenty-six stories, split between two volumes. There are notable stories by Nick Antosca, Kola Boof, Terry Dowling, Lucy Taylor, Reggie Oliver, Sheri Holman, Deborah Noyes, John Llewellyn Probert, and Anna Taborska.
Dead North: Canadian Zombie Fiction, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Exile Editions), is, as is evident from the title, a zombie anthology — a good one. There are five reprints and fifteen new stories, with excellent originals by Rhea Rose, Jamie Mason, Sèphera Girón, Tyler Keevil, and Simon Strantzas. The Strantzas is reprinted herein.
Turn Down the Lights, edited by Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications), celebrates twenty-five years of Cemetery Dance Magazine with ten entertaining stories (all new but for the Ed Gorman) by Stephen King, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and six other writers who have appeared in the long-running horror magazine.
Shadow Masters: An Anthology from The Horror Zine, edited by Jeani Rector (Imajin Books), presents thirty-seven previously unpublished stories. The more interesting ones are by Chris Castle, Simon Clark, Elizabeth Massie, and Yvonne Navarro. The Clark is reprinted herein.
Arcane II, edited by Nathan Shumate (Cold Fusion Media), is an un-themed anthology showcasing twenty-one stories of dark fantasy, horror, and weird fiction. There are notable stories by Harry Markov, Patrick S. McGinnity, Craig Pay, Priya Sharma, Anna Sykora, Nicole M. Taylor, Steve Toase, Andrew Bourelle, and Eric Dimbleby.
Undead & Unbound: Unexpected Tales from Beyond the Grave, edited by Brian M. Sammons and David Conyers (Chaosium, Inc), presents nineteen stories about people who return from the grave. There are notable stories by Gary McMahon, Robert Neilson, David Dunwoody, and Mercedes M. Yardley.
Tales of Jack the Ripper, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Word Horde), is the first book out from this new California publisher and marks the 125th anniversary of one of the most famous serial killers of all time. Most of the nineteen stories and poems are original to the anthology, and the most interesting ones are by T. E. Grau, Laird Barron, Orrin Grey, Joseph S. Pulver, Jr., and E. Catherine Tobler.
Fearie Tales: Stories of the Grimm and Gruesome, edited by Stephen Jones and illustrated by Alan Lee (Jo Fletcher Books), takes the retold fairy tale sub genre, already claimed and used exquisitely in fantasy and dark fantasy fiction, deep into horror territory. Each of the fifteen stories has a précis of the original story and a black-and-white illustration by Lee.
There are notable stories by Ramsey Campbell, Peter Crowther, Brian Hodge, Tanith Lee, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Brian Lumley, Garth Nix, Reggie Oliver, Angela Slatter, Robert Shearman, and Michael Marshall Smith.
A Killer Among Demons, edited by Craig Bezant (Dark Prints Press), has ten new stories mixing crime and horror. The strongest are by Angela Slatter, Chris Large, William Meikle, and S. J. Dawson.
Second City Scares: A Horror Express Anthology, edited by Marc Shemmans (Horror Express Publications), features twelve horror stories that take place in Birmingham, England, including two by members of the editor’s family. There are notable stories by Mike Chinn, Joel Lane, John Howard, and David A. Sutton.