Vintage Vampire Stories edited by Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Richard Dalby (Skyhorse) contains thirteen stories and two novel excerpts written in the nineteenth century.
Vampires: Classic Tales edited by Mike Ashley (Dover) is an anthology of twelve stories including early ones by Lord Byron and Alexander Dumas and contemporary ones by Tanith Lee, Nancy Holder, and Brian Stableford.
Halloween edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books) is a reprint anthology of thirty stories and three poems by Ray Bradbury, F. Paul Wilson, Nancy Holder, K. W. Jeter, Peter Straub, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Stewart O’Nan, and many others.
Bewere the Night edited by Ekaterina Sedia (Prime Books) has twenty-nine original and reprint tales of shapeshifters, with contributions by Kaaron Warren, Elizabeth Hand, Nick Mamatas, Richard Bowes, Holly Black, and others.
New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books) is a big reprint anthology of almost thirty stories of Lovecraftian horror by Neil Gaiman, Laird Barron, Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear, Paul McAuley, Michael Marshall Smith, John Shirley, and many more.
Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters edited by John Langan and Paul Tremblay (Prime Books) has twenty-six reprints by Clive Barker, David J. Schow, Joe R. Lansdale, Sarah Langan, Gemma Files, Lisa Tuttle, Norman Partridge, and others.
Shivers VI edited by Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications) is a non-theme anthology of original and reprinted stories. Fourteen of the twenty stories appear for the first time. There are notable originals by Jay Bonansinga, Brian Hodge, Alan Peter Ryan, Al Sarrantonio, and David B. Silva.
Fell Beasts edited by Ty Schwamberger (Dark Quest Books) features eleven stories about things that go bump in the night.
Delicate Toxins is a very good original anthology of strange tales inspired by Hanns Heinz Ewers and edited by John Hirschhorn-Smith (Side Real Press) — it has notable stories by rj krijnen-kemp, Mark Howard Jones, Colin Insole, Daniel Mills, Reggie Oliver, Peter Bell, Michael Chislett, and Adam S. Cantwell.
Demons: Encounters with the Devil and His Minions, Fallen Angels, and the Possessed edited by John Skipp (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers) contains thirty-seven stories and excerpts, mixing reprints and originals. The strongest of the originals are by Zak Jarvis, Alethea Kontis, Brian Hodge, Livia Llewellyn, John Skipp, and Adam-Troy Castro.
Swallowed by the Cracks: Sixteen Stories of the Space in Between by Lee Thomas, Gary McMahon, S.G. Browne, and Michael Marshall Smith (Dark Arts Books) features four stories from each writer — several published for the first time. The book is edited and introduced by Bill Breedlove and John Everson.
Vampires: The Recent Undead edited by Paula Guran (Prime Books) is a big book of twenty-five vampire stories first published between 2000 and 2010. Included are stories by Holly Black, Kim Newman, Charlaine Harris, Karen Russell, John Langan, Michael Marshall Smith, and others.
Zombiesque edited by Stephen L. Antczak, James C. Bassett, and Martin H. Greenberg (DAW) presents all new stories, most from the zombie point of view. The best are by Nancy Holder, Jim C. Hines, Charles Pinion, Xalieri Laszlo, and Wendy Webb.
Rock ‘N’ Roll is Dead: Dark Tales Inspired by Music edited by Marc Ciccarone (Blood Bound Books) would have been more coherent as a “theme” anthology if each contributor had supplied a paragraph explaining how the piece of music picked inspired the story. Readers unfamiliar with the songs will find it difficult to get a handle on the specific inspiration. Unfortunately, even for familiar songs the connection to the stories is pretty thin. Despite this, there’s good work by Rex McGuire, G. Winston Hyatt, Belen Lopez, and Natalie L. Sin.
The Book of Cthulhu edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books) is a 500+ page reprint anthology of twenty-seven stories and novellas about H. P. Lovecraft’s greatest creation that were published between 1976 and 2011—with two very good originals by John Hornor Jacobs and Laird Barron.
Comes the Night edited by Dorothy Davies (Static Movement) has twenty-seven brief horror stories about night time, with one notable story by Jeremy Bush.
The Eighth Black Book of Horror selected by Charles Black (Mortbury Press) has thirteen stories, the best of which are by Anna Taborska, Paul Finch, Stephen Bacon, Tony and Tina Rath, and Thana Niveau. There are no author biographies and there’s no introduction. The Taborska is reprinted herein.
