The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eleven

NIGHT SHADE BOOKS 2019

Edited by Ellen Datlow (my previous reviews of this editor: https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/ellen-datlow/)

Stories by Anne Billson, Ralph Robert Moore, Ray Cluley, Michael Marshall Smith, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Sam Hicks, Peter Sutton, Dale Bailey, Krist DeMeester, John Langan, Gemma Files, Eloise C. C. Shepherd, Amelia Mangan, Steve Toase, Bill Davidson, Damien Angelica Walters, Richard Thomas, Michael Wehunt, Thana Niveau, Laird Barron, Robert Shearman, Joe Hill, Adam-Troy Castro, Orrin Grey, Siobhan Carroll, Carly Holmes.

When I read this book, my thoughts will appear in the comment stream below…

The Hawler: the Sky’s Limit

MY GESTALT REAL-TIME REVIEWS OF SUCH AN AUTHOR NOW CRYSTALLISED IN PRINT:

Details of these books can be found HERE, including the books with my reviews of Black Static and Interzone.

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The authors covered by these books, alphabetic by forename:
Adam Golaski, Adam Nevill, Adam S. Cantwell, Alasdair Gray, Albert Power, Alcebiades Diniz Miguel, Alexander Zelenyj, Algernon Blackwood, Alison Moore, Allen Ashley, Allyson Bird, Andrew Condous, Andrew Hook, Andy Darlington, Anjali Sachdeva, Ann VanderMeer, Anne Cluysenaar, Arthur Machen, Avalon Brantley, Black Static, Brendan Connell, Brian Aldiss, Brian Evenson, Brian Howell, C.M. Muller, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Carly Holmes, Carole Johnstone, Cate Gardner, Charles Schneider, Charles Wilkinson, Christopher Priest, Clarice Lispector, Clark Ashton Smith, Colin Insole, Conrad Williams, D.F. Lewis, D.P. Watt, Damian Murphy, Damien Angelica Walters, David Mathew, Doris Lessing, Douglas Thompson, Edgar Allan Poe, Edith Wharton, Elizabeth Bowen, Ellen Datlow, Eric Schaller, Finnegans Wake, Fiona Pitt-Kethley, Flannery O’Connor, Frances Hardinge, Frances Oliver, François Mauriac, Gary Couzens, Gary Fry, Gary McMahon, Gemma Files, George Berguño, Georgina Bruce, Glen Hirshberg, Gwendolyn Kiste, H.A. Manhood, H.P. Lovecraft, Harold Billings, Haruki Murakami, Helen Grant, Helen Marshall, Henry James, Howard Watts, Ian Parkinson, Interzone, Jason A. Wyckoff, J.J. Haas, J.S. Breukelaar, J.W. Böhm, James Everington, Jean Ray, Jeffrey Ford, Jeffrey Thomas, Jeff VanderMeer, Jeremy Reed, Joan Lindsay, Joe Pulver, Joel Lane, John Langan, John Cowper Powys, John Gale, John Howard, John Travis, Johnny Mains, Jonathan Coe, Jonathan Wood, Jon Padgett, Julie Travis, Justin Isis, Karen Heuler, Karim Ghahwagi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kerry Hadley-Pryce, Kristi DeMeester, Kristine Ong Muslim, Kurt Fawver, L.A. Lewis, Laird Barron, Laura Mauro, Lee Rourke, Leena Krohn, Lesley Kara, Livia Llewellyn, Lord Dunsany, Louis Marvick, Malcolm Devlin, Malcolm Lowry, Marcel Schwob, Marion Arnott, Mark Samuels, Mark Valentine, Mary Rickert, Matt Leyshon, Matthew M. Bartlett, May Sinclair, Melanie Tem, Michael Cisco, Michael Griffin, Michael Wehunt, Michael Wyndham Thomas, Michel Faber, Mike O’Driscoll, Nadia Bulkin, Nathan Ballingrud, Neil Williamson, Nicholas Royle, Nicole Cushing, Nina Allan, Paul Auster, Paul Meloy, Paul Tremblay, Peter Bell, Philip Fracassi, Phyllis Paul, Priya Sharma, Quentin S Crisp, R.A. Lafferty, R.B. Russell, Rachel Cusk, Ralph Robert Moore, Rameau’s Nephew, Ramsey Campbell, Ray Cluley, Rebecca Lloyd, Reggie Oliver, Rhys Hughes, Richard Gavin, Robert Aickman, Robert W. Chambers, Ron Weighell, Rosalie Parker, Rosanne Rabinowitz, S.P. Miskowski, Salman Rushdie, Samuel Beckett, Samuel Fisher, Sarah Perry, Scott Nicolay, Silvina Ocampo, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Simon Strantzas, Sofia Samatar, Stephan Friedman, Stephen Bacon, Stephen J. Clark, Stephen King, Stephen Volk, Steve Duffy, Steve Rasnic Tem, T.E.D. Klein, T.E. Grau, Ted Chiang, Thomas Ligotti, Thomas Phillips, Thomas Strømsholt, Tim Nickels, Tristam Shandy, Truman Capote, Ursula Pflug, V.H. Leslie, Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, W.N.P Barbellion, William H. Gass, Wyl Menmuir, Xan Brooks.

Swift to Chase – by Laird Barron

JOURNALSTONE 2016

‘Swift to Chase’ by Laird Barron

When I real-time review this book, my comments will appear in the thought stream below.

Autumn Cthulhu

Lovecraft Ezine Press 2016

Introduction – Mike Davis
The Night is a Sea – Scott Thomas
In the Spaces Where You Once Lived – Damien Angelica Walters
Memories of the Fall – Pete Rawlik
Andy Kaufman Creeping Through the Trees – Laird Barron
There is a Bear in the Woods – Nadia Bulkin
The Smoke Lodge – Michael Griffin
Cul-De-Sac Virus – Evan Dicken
DST (Fall Back) – Robert Levy
The Black Azalea – Wendy N. Wagner
After the Fall – Jeffrey Thomas
Anchor – John Langan
The End of the Season – Trent Kollodge
Water Main – S.P. Miskowski
The Stiles of Palemarsh – Richard Gavin
Grave Goods – Gemma Files
The Well and the Wheel – Orrin Grey
Trick… or the Other Thing – Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.
A Shadow Passing – Daniel Mills
Lavinia in Autumn – Ann K. Schwader

When I real-time this anthology, my comments will appear in the thought stream below.

Robert Aickman – a new article

Laird Barron’s recent eye-opening article on Robert Aickman’s ‘The Hospice’ HERE. .  Something I wrote in 2013 on my blog: “I don’t want to harp on about this, but I genuinely think that – at least in part – that The Hospice (and Into The Wood?) forms a tribute to ‘The Magic Mountain’ by Thomas Mann and covers many of its themes which you can tick off one by one. And I think we know that Thomas Mann was one of Aickman’s major influences according to his letters. But I have been the first to decry this biographical type of literary criticism based on my life-long interest in the Intentional Fallacy! So I am torn.” My original real-time review of ‘The Magic Mountain’ (including comparison with Aickman) started HERE

A book I have compared to both ‘The Magic Mountain’ by Thomas Mann and ‘The Hospice’ by Robert Aickman is ‘The Inmates’ by John Cowper Powys: HERE

“and a dog’s eyes answered his stare with a look of such unutterable loneliness…” – from ‘The Inmates’

My proposal is that Aickman would not only have been a big fan of Mann but also of Powys.

Discussion forum thread about all this HERE.

Year’s Best Weird Fiction – Volume One

 I have just received YEAR’S BEST WEIRD FICTION Volume One as purchased from Amazon UK.

Guest Editor: Laird Barron – Series Editor: Michael Kelly

Undertow Publications (2014)

Stories by: Simon Strantzas, Paul Tremblay, A.C. Wise, Chen Qiufan, Sofia Samatar, Livia Llewellyn, Damien Angelica Walters, John Langan, W.H. Pugmire, Maria Dahvana Headley, Anna Taborska, Joseph S. Pulver Sr., Jeffrey Thomas, Richard Gavin, Scott Nicolay, Anne Sylvie Salzman, Kristi DeMeester, Jeffrey Ford, Michael Blumlein, Karin Tidbeck, John R. Fultz, Jeff VanderMeer.

MY EVENTUAL REAL-TIME REVIEW OF THIS BOOK WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE COMMENT STREAM BELOW AS AND WHEN I READ IT.

Puppets in Carcosa

I have just received these two books as purchased from Amazon UK.

A SEASON IN CARCOSA – THE GRIMSCRIBE’S PUPPETS : edited by Joseph S. Pulver Sr.

Miskatonic River Press 2012 & 2013

Stories by Eddie M. Angerhuber, Laird Barron, Allyson Bird, Michael Cisco, Nicole Cushing, Gemma Files, Cate Gardner, Richard Gavin, Cody Goodfellow, Michael Griffin, Pearce Hansen, Michael Kelly, Joel Lane, John Langan, Livia Llewellyn, Richard A. Lupoff, Gary McMahon, Daniel Mills, Edward Morris, Scott Nicolay, Jon Padgett, Kristin Prevallet, Robert M. Price, Joseph S. Pulver Sr., Ann K. Schwader, Darrell Schweitzer, Robin Spriggs, Simon Strantzas, Anna Tambour, Jeffrey Thomas, Paul Tremblay, Kaaron Warren, Don Webb.

Links above are to my reviews.

In the comment stream below, I hope eventually to conduct a gestalt real-time review – by surname alphabetical order of authors.

Ana Kai Tangata – Scott Nicolay

I have just received this book after purchasing it from Amazon UK.

Ana Kai Tangata by Scott Nicolay
Tales of the Outer the Other the Damned and the Doomed
Fedogan & Bremer 2014

Introduction by Laird Barron
Afterword by John Pelan (John Palen according to contents list)
Artwork by David Verba

I look forward to real-time reviewing this book once my Sabbatical is over in September.

MY EVENTUAL REAL-TIME REVIEW OF THIS BOOK WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE COMMENT STREAM BELOW AS AND WHEN I READ IT.

Fearful Symmetries

I have just received FEARFUL SYMMETRIES: edited by Ellen Datlow, as purchased from Amazon UK.

ChiZine Publications (2014)

Stories by: Gemma Files, Nathan Ballingrud, Bruce McAllister, Gary McMahon, Pat Cadigan, Helen Marshall, Terry Dowling, Stephen Graham Jones, Brian Evenson, Jeffrey Ford, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Robert Shearman, Michael Marshall Smith, Kaaron Warren, Laird Barron, Catherine MacLeod, Siobhan Carroll, John Langan, Carole Johnstone, Garth Nix.

MY EVENTUAL REAL-TIME REVIEW OF THIS BOOK WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE COMMENT STREAM BELOW AS AND WHEN I READ IT.

My previous review of an Ellen Datlow anthology: Wild Justice.

Burnt Black Suns – Simon Strantzas

 

BURNT BLACK SUNS by Simon Strantzas
Hippocampus Press 2014

I have just received this book as purchased from the publisher.
Cover Art by Santiago Caruso
Foreword  by Laird Barron

My previous reviews of Simon Strantzas books:

Beneath The Surface

Cold to the Touch

Nightingale Songs

MY EVENTUAL REAL-TIME REVIEW OF THIS BOOK WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE COMMENT STREAM BELOW AS AND WHEN I READ IT.