Nightmares: a New Decade of Modern Horror

Starred review from October 17, 2016
Editor Datlow has compiled a stunning array of horror in her newest anthology, drawing on new and terrifying leaps in the genre. Some stories are plausible and others are otherworldly and fantastical, but all maintain a feeling of dread. A young woman relives the experience of sexual assault in Lisa Tuttle's "Closet Dreams." Margo Lanagan's "The Goosle" is a grisly reimagining of "Hansel and Gretel." A husband struggles and fails to love his doll-obsessed wife in Robert Shearman's eerie "That Tiny Flutter of the Heart I Used to Call Love." Each tale is inventive and startling. Perhaps the most arresting in the collection, Anna Taborska's "Little Pig," proves that horror grounded in realityâin this case, a family being required to make an unbearable sacrificeâcan be the most horrific. This is the perfect introduction to the horror genre, especially for readers who don't crave easy scares but appreciate slow burn that lingers long after the book is closed.

Starred review from October 15, 2016

Ten years of short horror fiction plucked from previous anthologies come together in these 24 tales, in which "what goes bump in the night" ranges from ghosts to madmen to what lurks inside the human psyche. One actor's last hope for reconstructive surgery resides within television itself. A horror writer creates a story come to life, only to get caught in the middle of it. Renowned authors such as Caitlin R. Kiernan, Robert Shearman, Garth Nix, and Kaaron Warren vividly capture the darkness, evil, and fear found in great horror fiction. VERDICT Noted anthologist Datlow (The Best Horror of the Year) once again draws upon her curating skills to highlight the best the genre has to offer. The variety of stories shines a light on the depth and breadth of this sometimes marginalized literary form.--KC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2016

Ten years of short horror fiction plucked from previous anthologies come together in these 24 tales, in which "what goes bump in the night" ranges from ghosts to madmen to what lurks inside the human psyche. One actor's last hope for reconstructive surgery resides within television itself. A horror writer creates a story come to life, only to get caught in the middle of it. Renowned authors such as Caitlin R. Kiernan, Robert Shearman, Garth Nix, and Kaaron Warren vividly capture the darkness, evil, and fear found in great horror fiction. VERDICT Noted anthologist Datlow (The Best Horror of the Year) once again draws upon her curating skills to highlight the best the genre has to offer. The variety of stories shines a light on the depth and breadth of this sometimes marginalized literary form.--KC

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2016
Building off her indispensable Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (2010), which covered the years 19852005, Datlow has here collected the 24 stories that she has most enjoyed from 200515. Her task is aided greatly by the fact that the last decade has been a fertile one for the genre, with the emergence of incredible new voices and the decision by nongenre writers to give horror a try. Arranged in chronological order by year of publication, these tales represent the breadth of horror from psychologically chilling to all out terrorizing and feature just about every type of monster or ghost imaginable. As a result of this range, however, not every reader will like every story, but that is not this book's goal. Rather, it should be taken as an exemplary and accurate representation of what readers can expect from horror today, in general, in one concise volume. Of particular note are the stories by rising stars Laird Barron and Stephen Graham Jones and Australian Kaaron Warren, and a refreshingly original entry into the crowded field of zombie stories by literary-fiction author Dan Chaon. This volume is not only the perfect discovery tool for readers looking for the very best of modern horror, it should also be used as a collection-development tool by library staff.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)