The Best Horror of the Year Vol 16, edited by Ellen Datlow

The Best Horror of the Year Vol 16, edited by Ellen Datlow

Reviewed by Mario Guslandi

Ellen Datlow is widely regarded as the most famous and prolific editor of horror anthologies in the world. Her name is so well-known that she requires no introduction. As is customary, her annual “Best of” volume has just been published, and it’s a must-read for any horror enthusiast.

Her name is so widely known that she doesn’t need any introduction.

As customary, her annual “Best of” is now being published, a volume not to be missed by any horror lover.

Datlow summarizes once again what happened during the previous year in the horror area ( novels, poetry, movies,magazines, prizes etc) providing  invaluable information about all aspects of horror available  in the English language. Every time I read her “Year summation” I realize how much interesting material I’ve missed and, when possible, I try to secure those books or films that I completely ignored during that specific  year.

But the core of Datlow’s “Best of” anthologies is always represented by the short horror stories selected by her to represent that period of time.

The current volume collects nineteen stories, some of which had totally escaped my attention at the time of their publication and were an unexpected gift to me, a confirmed lover of horrific short fiction.

Did I like all nineteen stories?

To be frank, no. But this is normal, because our personal taste always plays a very important role. On the other hand there are some stories that I’ve found truly excellent and I’m grateful to Ellen for bringing them to our attention. Here they are.

“Dodger” by Carly Holmes is a very fine piece of psychological horror featuring a young mother fighting against her fears and fantasies, while “ The Maddening Heat” by Ray Cluley is a very disturbing paranormal whodunit where a wicked creature living inside a wall attracts and murders people.

Veteran author Ramsey Campbell provides “ The Assembled”, vividly describing the nightmarish predicament of a man accepting a car ride by a group of people revealing a menacing, scary attitude.

Tananarive Due pens “Return to Bear Creek Lodge”, a great story imbued with dread from beginning to end, where a dying grandma is accompanied in her last journey by a terrible, inhuman creature.

“ The Motley” by Charlie Hughes is one  of the most unsettling and frightening stories I ever  read,where dark and horrific events surround the inexplicable disappearance of a young girl.

Happy shivers..!

The Best Horror of the Year Vol 16, edited by Ellen Datlow

From Ellen Datlow—“the venerable queen of horror anthologies” per the New York Times—comes a new entry in the series that has brought you thrilling stories from Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, the best horror stories available.

For more than four decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave. Now, with the sixteenth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. Encompassed in the pages of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as: Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Stephen Graham Jones, Joyce Carol Oates, Laird Barron, Mira Grant, and many others.

With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.

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