A nice big chunky collection of recent stories. As with any anthology, I liked some selections more than others, but there are more than enough gems here to make the chaff worth sifting. 3.51 average rounds up to 4...**** “Wheatfield with Crows,” Steve Rasnic Tem Steve Rasnic Tem is a master of horror, and demonstrates it here. Seemingly simple things are imbued with an ominous aura - and things that are less simple are even spookier. A young man, accompanied by his mother, returns to the scene

Ratings of the stories so far:1. '"Wheatfield with Crows" by Steven Rasnic Tem ★★★★½2. "Blue Amber" by David J. Schow ★★★★3. "The Legend of Troop 13" by Kit Reed ★★★½4. "The Good Husband" by Nathan Ballingrud ★★★★★! <35. "The Soul in the Bell Jar" by KJ Kabza ★★★½6. "The Creature Recants" by Dale Bailey ★★★★7. "Termination Dust" by Laird Barron ★★★8. "Postcards from Abroad" by Peter Atkins ★★★½9. "Phosphorus" by Veronia Schanoes ★★★★½10. "A Lunar Labyrinth" by Neil Gaiman ★★★★11. "The Prayer of

This is my first time reading a volume of The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror and I'm hooked. Editor Paula Guran has assembled several spooky tales from across the span of the genre--whether it be ghost stories, vampires, werewolves, or sword-and-sorcery fantasy, this collection has it. While some of the stories are just okay, more than enough of them were terrific.Possibly the most horrific story is "Blue Amber," by David J. Schow, which starts when police are called to investigate a human sk...

This rating represent the average of the rating of each story (see my status updates for more information). Overall, I must say that I was tired of the theme at the end, even if the last stories weren't that much close to it. If the book have been a little less long (and stories more carefully chosen), I would probably have enjoyed it more.***Now I can say that my challenge for 2015 is truly finished :)

If you aren’t too familiar with the current fantasy and/or horror that is being published today, or if you only know these genres from the novel form, there is no better place to start than this mammoth collection. Featuring varied stories across the genres from both print and electronic sources, regular and individual publications, established and upcoming authors, Paula Guran assembles a great overview of 2014. As typical for these types of anthologies, I wouldn’t consider all of these my favo...

Even the fastest, most dedicated readers can’t read everything that’s published each year. Not even in relatively limited genres like fantasy or horror. That’s where “Year’s Best” collections come in handy. Someone or several someones has gone through the enormous pile of short literature produced in the previous year, and winnowed it down to a manageable size of good stories for you.Admittedly, these collections also come down to a matter of personal taste. In this case, Ms. Guran has chosen no...

Overall, I liked it. For me, the standout was "Iseul’s Lexicon" by Yoon Ha Lee. The heroine is a spy in occupied territory, where the occupiers have forbidden use of the native language and are confiscating books in that language. She learns that the censors are not destroying the books, but are instead compiling a lexicon. And yes, they have a breath-takingly nefarious purpose in mind.I also really liked "Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell" by Brandon Sanderson and "A Little of the Nigh...

The dark fantasy and horror collection includes some big names—Laird Barron, the Stephen King of the Pacific Northwest; Neil Gaiman; Elizabeth Bear; George R. R. Martin). But there are plenty of authors included that fall into the “who?” category.Barron’s story is a tale of psycho spree-killing in Alaska—which is enough of a depressing place without people being gutted right and left—that seems to have a supernatural evil involved. Gaiman goes for the Twilight Zone-style morality play in “A Luna...

Recieved this from NetGalley to review.This was so long. But I had a bunch that I really enjoyed! So I will write them here!This colleciton is great if you wanna try out some very well known authors (and even new authors) and getting a taste of their style and thinking before attempting one of their books or series. I really liked and was surprised by how mich bipoc and lgbt there was in this collection even though it's so old.The Good Husband by Nathan Ballingrud: gripped me and was great.The S...

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm still not convinced that short stories are for me. One of the main things I like about stories tends to be world building and character development and with short stories, these two aspects tend to be left by the wayside and the plot focused on more heavily. There's nothing wrong with that but I often feel that I am just getting to know the characters and becoming invested in whether they triumph or fail just as the sto...

I've been reading these Best of anthologies for years. This one I found exceptionally weak. There were a handful of great stories, but I probably stopped reading about half of them, which made me sad. I was expecting to be wowed.

Christmas truly is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and I'm not just referring to the celebrations or the music or even the 24 Hours of A Christmas Story, though truly all of those things are most wondrous. Actually in our house it's the sudden influx of new books which are inevitably given and received as gifts. If you're a Goodreads user, it's a fair bet that you harvest this holiday (your choice of holiday may vary) bounty each year as well and probably look forward to it with the same re...

My thanks to NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.This book received two stars from me because it wasn't absolutely horrid. The third star was all Brandon Sanderson. That man can write and he is the only reason I would recommend this book. Don't get me wrong, some of the stories were very good, but the ones that were bad or confusing outweighed the good ones in my opinion.I usually don't read compilations edited by anyone other than Ellen Datlo...

RATING: 3.5This is a collection of 32 short stories, edited by Paula Guran. I'm not usually drawn to short story collections, but with a desire to read more paranormal and horror, I chose this.There are some standouts - Blue Amber by David J Schow, The Good Husband by Nathan Ballingrud, The Soul in the Bell Jar by KJ Kabza, Postcards from Abroad by Peter Atkins, Phosphorous by Veronica Schanoes, A Lunar Labyrinth by Neil Gaiman, A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson, Dark Gardens by Greg Kurzawa...

Yet another solid anthology with the expected mix of really good stories with a couple duds. I really should be more disciplined about noting which stories are my favorites, especially for cases like this where my reading spanned nearly two and a half months. The final story in this volume was a particular stand-out with a fascinating premise about language controlling the manipulation of reality, and was an excellent choice to close out the proceedings.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)No matter your expectations, the dark is full of the unknown: grim futures, distorted pasts, invasions of the uncanny, paranormal fancies, weird dreams, unnerving nightmares, baffling enigmas, revelatory excursions, desperate adventures, spectral journeys, mundane terrors, and supernatural visions. You may stumble into obsession — or find redemption. Often disturbing, occasionally delightful, let The Year’s Be...

I got this collection for one story, Sarah Monette's "To Die for Moonlight." This story is part of a series which begins in the collection The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth. It is still good as a stand-alone, but I think better if you know that character and his background adventures. 4 starsSince I had the book anyway, I read some stories by authors I tend to like:"Cuckoo" by Angela Slatter was directly after Monette so I read that first. I liked it, although not a...

Anthologies are always an interesting conglomeration of new and veteran authors in a particular genre, and since horror has been mostly neglected, books like Guran’s are more useful than ever. In this 2014 edition, we take a look at what she deems the most interesting stories of 2013. There were a couple written in the second person but I don’t find that bothering in any way. Some would say a story or two don’t have ‘horror’ elements (ie, monsters, ghosts, etc) but even something that puts you o...

Solid anthology. One of the better collections.

This was a fat collection and I got a bit of sensory overload by the time I finished and couldn't wait to be done already. Maybe I shoulda spread it out more over a couple months.It's so hard to find an anthology that is thrilling top tobottom and this is no exception. Especially with just so many stories involved. However, I did really enjoy quite a lot of them. Plenty were merely fine, and there were a few here or there I skipped all together after a couple pages because life is short and if y...