The Best Horror of the Year. Volume 4

As I Embrace My Jagged Edge by Lee Thompson (Sideshow Press) is about a Jewish family constantly on the run from forces of evil that are intent on using a powerful talisman taken from Solomon’s Temple. Old Albert by Brian J. Showers (Passport Levant) is a series of episodes in the life of a house called Larkhill, built by a rich man obsessed with the study of birds. There is much horror here but as the prologue explains there are no solutions. While increasingly disturbing and creepy, the overall story is a bit too muddled to provide a satisfying conclusion. Four Legs in the Morning by Norman Prentiss (Cemetery Dance Publications) is number nine in the signature series of CD chapbooks. It includes three stories, or “curiosities” as they are dubbed — all linked by the presence of Dr. Sibley, distinguished Chair of the English and Classical Literature Department of a small southern University. His specialty is Oedipus Rex and anyone who crosses him should beware. Some wonderfully creepy stuff. Bad Moon Books brought out the following chapbooks: The Cranston Gibberer by Martin Mundt is a clever, over the top little epistolary parody of Lovecraftian literature purportedly written by someone very much like H. P. Lovecraft. Humorous but not very scary. When the Leaves Fall by Paul Melniczek is about sinister happenings in the town of Haverville and the two boys who get caught up in them one Halloween night. Ursa Major by John R. Little is about a camping trip gone very very bad. Heart of Glass by David Winnick is about a married couple who have grown apart. The husband discovers a glass jigsaw puzzle in an antique shop and is certain that with his wife’s help they can reassemble their marriage as they solve the puzzle. The Bone Tree by Christopher Fulbright is about two boys in rural Texas in the late 1960s suddenly faced with supernatural evil. Alice on the Shelf by Bill Gauthier is a dark variation of Alice in Wonderland in which a man searches for a friend who disappeared. This Little Light of Mine by Nate Southard (Burning Effigy Press) is about a man trapped underground after an earthquake and what ensues. Ill at Ease is a chapbook of three dark stories by Stephen Bacon, Mark West and Neil Williams (PenMan Press). A Ghost Story for Christmas by Sam Dawson (Supernatural Tales) is about a divorced man who spends Christmas with his sons in the house he grew up in. Ink in the Veins: Pioneering Writing on Stephen King and Ink in the Veins: Further Writings on Stephen King is a two volume chapbook profiling critics of King’s work by Kevin Quigley (Cemetery Dance Publications). Drawn into Darkness: The Comic-Book Landscapes of Stephen King by Kevin Quigley (Cemetery Dance Publications) is a look at graphic novels made of King’s prose. A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff by Neil Gaiman (Borderlands Press) is the final volume in this adorable hardcover series and contains nineteen poems, essays, memorials, reviews, and other bits and pieces. Blindspot by Michael McBride (Dark Regions Press) is about an experimental process enabling the user to see through the eyes of the dead — the only possible chance to avert nuclear annihilation. Rusting Chickens by Gene O’Neil (Dark Regions Press) is about a veteran of a secret black ops mission in Pakistan who returns home to more horror. Dark Regions Press debuted their “doubles” series with the first book by William Meikle, including a short novel and a novella. The Light is the Darkness by Laird Barron (Infernal House) is a novella about a modern day gladiator whose FBI agent sister goes missing and his search to find her. The Cases of Dana Roberts by Joe R. Lansdale is a chapbook published by Subterranean Press as a bonus to purchasers of the limited edition of Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy 2. The two well-told tales are the start of a new series by Lansdale about a skeptical detective of supernormal happenings.

ODDS AND ENDS

There is a new series from The Burns Archive Press, which over the years has published a number of gorgeously produced books of memorial photography, including Sleeping Beauty volumes I and II. Masterpieces of Medical Photography: Selections from the Burns Archive, and Harm’s Way: Lust & Madness, Mystery & Mayhem among many other volumes.