Best Of Best New Horror (Ed: Stephen Jones)

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Several of my friends have been following Stephen Jones' annual Best New Horror series for some years now. I pick one up now and then if they say that a particular volume has an unusually high proportion of good stuff; I tend to prefer single-author collections in general.

Anyway, this March sees the release of a Best Of Best New Horror (released in the US as The Mammoth Book Of The Best Of Best New Horror for some reason). Constable & Robinson Ltd - Books - The Mammoth Book of the Best of Best New Horror - Stephen Jones

Stephen Jones' website has the table of contents:

EDITOR'S FOREWORD Stephen Jones
INTRODUCTION: BETTERING THE BEST Ramsey Campbell
NO SHARKS IN THE MED Brian Lumley
THE MAN WHO DREW CATS Michael Marshall Smith
THE SAME IN ANY LANGUAGE Ramsey Campbell
NORMAN WISDOM AND THE ANGEL OF DEATH Christopher Fowler
MEFISTO IN ONYX Harlan Ellison
THE TEMPTATION OF DR STEIN Paul J. McAuley
QUEEN OF KNIVES Neil Gaiman
THE BREAK Terry Lamsley
EMPTINESS SPOKE ELOQUENT Caitlín R Kiernan
MR. CLUBB AND MR. CUFF Peter Straub
WHITE Tim Lebbon
THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT: ANNO DRACULA, 1981 Kim Newman
CLEOPATRA BRIMSTONE Elizabeth Hand
20TH CENTURY GHOST Joe Hill
THE WHITE HANDS Mark Samuels
MY DEATH Lisa Tuttle
HAECKEL'S TALE Clive Barker
DEVIL'S SMILE Glen Hirshberg
THE CHURCH ON THE ISLAND Simon Kurt Unsworth
THE NEW YORK TIMES AT SPECIAL BARGAIN RATES Stephen King

What do you think?

 

[GOLLUM]

HMMM....Great minds appear to be diverging once again (see my previous post in the other thread) EXCEPT I now see what you meant....

I agree it's overall a good series to get and there's more good than bad but that "other" antholgoy I like to promote here still holds fonder memories for me. It was still consistently better year in and year out IMHO than the Mammoth edns.

To be fair, as an exclusively Horror anthology it probably is the best and most affordable annual anthology I'm aware of doing the rounds at the minute. I think this release would be worthwhile to purchase actually but I wouldn't personally be rushing out to collect the back issues.

Thanks for posting.

 

[j d worthington]

I must admit I'm surprised to see "Mephisto in Onyx" there; not that it isn't a fine story (it is), but it is hardly what I would call "new", even comparatively speaking....

 

[Connavar]

Its looks a very strong collection, the fact i know most of the stories by name should mean they are rated stories i could have known only by seeing that they were nominated for awards.

Heh i have been looking for books by Caitlín R Kiernan,Elizabeth Hand,Paul J. McAuley,Peter Straub, Kim Newman.

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I must admit I'm surprised to see "Mephisto in Onyx" there; not that it isn't a fine story (it is), but it is hardly what I would call "new", even comparatively speaking....

It's a compilation of the best tales from 20 years of this anthology series, so the vintages of individual tales will vary.

 

[j d worthington]

It's a compilation of the best tales from 20 years of this anthology series, so the vintages of individual tales will vary.

Yes, I'd gathered that much; I had simply thought Ellison's story went a bit further back than this series....

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Oh, alright. Sometimes my writing can be opaque, so I thought that was the problem.

 

[j d worthington]

No, you were quite clear; I had just been in error about the time factor. At any rate, it looks a very interesting collection....

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

I've read some of these before and liked most of them. Among the newer titles, THE WHITE HANDS is an excellent story in a somewhat traditional vein; as a matter of fact Mark Samuels is an author who may appeal to some of us here. Has anyone read any more of his stories?

 

[j d worthington]

I'm afraid I have to say the name doesn't ring a bell right off (though perhaps it should)....

 

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

Samuels is something of an authority on late-Victorian weird fiction with a particular interest in Arthur Machen. He's had three collections out, although I haven't yet been able to sample any because of availability and price. You can read about his debut collection and sample a story here: The White Hands and Other Weird Tales by Mark Samuels, published by Tartarus Press

 

[j d worthington]

*click* Now the memory kicks in! Yes, I've not read, but have indeed come across references to... and from what I've heard (and from sources I tend to respect), definitely someone worth looking into, and whose work should be more widely available....