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Saturday, July 13, 2019

BOOK REVIEW: The Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven - Ellen Datlow


BOOK REVIEW
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven
by Ellen Datlow
Night Shade Books
Pub Date 01 Sep 2019

Description

For more than three 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 tenth 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 Kim Stanley Robinson Stephen King Linda Nagata Laird Barron Margo Lanagan 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.

Available Editions

EDITION
Paperback
ISBN
9781597809726
PRICE
$15.99 (USD)

Ellen Datlow has been at the forefront of selecting the finest short stories in horror for decades now and her name alone sells these Best Horror books. You know that only quality short stories are going to be included in the volume, regardless of if the author is a big-ticket writer like Joe Hill, Stephen King or a relative newbie in the industry.

The Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven contains 26 top-notch pieces of speculative fiction and vivid horror that will keep you awake at night. As usual with Datlow’s collections, there is mention of other author’s stories that just didn’t make the cut but are worth the read. Which is great if you finish the book and are left wanting more because of the quality of the writing.

There are quick reads starting at a short 1,700 words to decent novelettes at 10,300 words. An interesting piece was written by four authors, each with a different character’s perspective. The writers hail from all across the world with ten stories by women and sixteen by men. Half of the authors have never appeared in a Datlow collection before, so it’s great to see fresh faces amongst those we already know.
Themes range from two strangers waking up in an unfamiliar room, naked and covered with blood with shredded clothes and body parts around the room, to the unsettling story of everyone in the world suffering from uncontrollable rage at the same time. A Post-apocalyptic story about a winter covered world where survival and cannibalism are one and the same. Folk horror, cosmic horror, postapocalyptic horror, cannibalism, urban legends and creature horror are some of the themes covered in these twenty-six tales.

If you have never read short stories before then I would definitely recommend this collection to whet your appetite.
5 out of 5 stars.

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