The Best Horror of the Year. Volume 4

CHAPBOOKS AND LIMITED EDITIONS

Two new notable chapbook series started up in 2009 and 2011. First, Nicholas Royle began publishing stories under the Nightjar Press imprint. In the first year of publication he brought out an award-winning story by Michael Marshall Smith (taken for my best of the year). During 2010 four chapbooks were published. And in 2011 he published another four: Field by Tom Fletcher is a brief tale about a tight-assed forest warden and his assistant investigating a complaint of trespassing. Lexicon by Christopher Burns is a disappointing tale that’s not saved by the mythic trappings surrounding a somewhat predictable narrative. Sullom Hill by Christopher Kenworthy is a depressing but effective story about three boys: the narrator, his mentally slow friend, and a nasty little tuff. Remains by GA Pickin is about a young man who loses his way on the moor enroute to meeting friends at a holiday cottage. Simon Marshall-Jones started Spectral Press in 2011 with four chapbooks: Abolisher of Roses by Gary Fry, is about an obnoxious businessman who gets his comeuppance during a walk through several art installations in the woods. What They Hear in the Dark by Gary McMahon is a tense and powerful tale about a couple whose child has been murdered by three boys and how each parent deals with the anger, and pain of loss. Nowhere Hall by Cate Gardner is a surreal tale about a despairing man whose impulse to commit suicide is stymied by a detour into a mysterious hotel. King Death by Paul Finch is about a survivor of the Medieval plague who disguised as “death” scavenges among the dead.