The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 2003, Volume 14

by Stephen Jones

  2 Creepy Stories from New York’s Small Beer Press contained just that, a pair of superior reprint tales by Kelly Link and Ray Vukcevich. Catskin: a swaddled zine was a strange little story by Link which answered the question: “Is this a cat?” It was published by The Fortress of Words/Jelly Ink Press as a small-sized booklet.

  From Gauntlet Publications’ Edge Books imprint, Right to Life contained the 1998 title novella and two original short stories by Jack Ketchum.

  Ketchum also introduced In the Spirit, a chapbook collection of three ghost stories (two original) by P.D. Cacek, published by Wormhole Books in a signed edition of 750 copies, a 250-copy hardcover edition and a lettered edition of fifty-two copies. From the same imprint came Twisted in the Dark, a collection of four mystery stories by Judith Post. Edgar Allan Poe’s Dark Dreams contained three poems by Poe, illustrated in colour by Alan M. Clark, and introduced by Edward Bryant with a biography of the author by Dawn Dunn. It was available as a 750-copy chapbook, a numbered hardcover of 250 copies and a fifty-two-copy lettered edition, signed by Clark, Bryant and Dunn. Wormhole also sent out Independence Day and Christmas cards containing short-short stories by Steve Rasnic Tem and Judith Post, respectively.

  Illustrated with photomontages by Eric M. Turnmire, Where the Southern Cross the Dog: The Green River Stories published by Seattle’s Fairwood Press contained three supernatural tales (one original) set in the rural South by Trey R. Barker, with an Introduction by Steve Rasnic Tem. Barker’s other chapbook from Yard Dog Press, Veil of the Soul, was about the life of Edgar Allan Poe.

  From the same publisher, Gary Jonas’s debut novel One-Way Ticket to Midnight involved an old blues musician and a serial killer of homeless people, while Jax Laffer’s The Blood Within featured telepathic twins and a cult of Satanic vampires.

  Florida’s Camelot Books and Gifts, Inc. launched its chapbook line with Pansu, a slim volume by Poppy Z. Brite about demonic possession.

  Nemonymous Two: A Journal of Parthenogenetic Fiction and Late Labelling contained eighteen anonymously published short stories whose authors would be identified in the following issue. Among those revealed as contributors to the first volume were Allen Ashley, Simon Clark, Rhys Hughes, Mike O’Driscoll and Jeff VanderMeer.

  The Vengeance Jar and Other Stories collected three new supernatural adventures of ship’s captain Luís da Silva by Chico Kidd, along with an Introduction and Afterword by the author.

  Mark McLaughlin’s Your Handy Office Guide to Corporate Monsters was an odd little booklet of blank verse published by Richard Geyer that introduced the reader to twelve ’orrible office workers such as “The Spittylicker”, “The Potbellied Smirkleflab” and “The Finickyfoofoo”. R. Chetwynd-Hayes would have been proud!

  From Beccon Publications, Once There Was a Magazine . . . was a personal view of the classic 1940s pulp magazines Unknown and Unknown Worlds, compiled and annotated by Fred Smith and filled with useful indexes.

  Despite winning a $500,000 judgement against his one-time business associate Ray Ferry in May 2000, 85-year-old Forrest J. Ackerman was forced to put his famed eighteen-room “Ackermansion” and collection of 300,000 science fiction and horror items up for sale to pay legal expenses estimated to be several hundred thousand dollars.

  Although Ferry claimed to be destitute, a US Bankruptcy Court found the transfer of assets, including the Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine trade mark, to be fraudulent and “an unlawful scheme to defraud” Ackerman, who had not collected any of the judgement after Ferry and his associates decided to appeal the verdict.

  On 12 November, the California Court of Appeal finally decided in Ackerman’s favour and affirmed the judgement against Ferry in its entirety. The Federal Court also issued an Order of Contempt against Ferry and fined him an additional $50,000.

  Meanwhile, in late March, Ackerman had successful surgery to treat a massive blood clot on the brain and, the following month, made a full recovery from a case of septic shock and pneumonia.

  Sporting a subtle title change and an improved interior design, Andy Cox’s beautifully produced The 3rd Alternative published four superior issues in 2002. Along with the regular book reviews by Peter Tennant and others, the magazine included fiction by Tony Richards, Ian Watson, Christopher Kenworthy, Gala Blau, Conrad Williams, Christopher Fowler, John Grant, Brian Hodge, Joel Lane and a superb novel excerpt by Graham Joyce. There were also articles and regular columns from Fowler, Allen Ashley and Gary Couzens, and interviews with M. John Harrison, Mark Morris, Alan Moore, Michael Marshall Smith, Mark Chadbourn and Neil Gaiman.

  From the same publisher, the four latest issues of The Fix featured numerous reviews of short-fiction publications, along with columns by Peter Tennant, Mat Coward and James Van Pelt; an interview with Richard Chizmar; reminiscences by Neal Asher and Brian Aldiss, plus Ed Gorman, Martin Edwards and Paul Di Filippo’s lists of their Top Ten Stories. Also published by TTA Press and edited by Andy Cox, Crimewave 6: Breaking Point contained eleven dark crime stories by Mat Coward, Gary Couzens, Steve Rasnic Tem, Conrad Williams and others.

  Meanwhile, the liquidators of Emagazineshop.com, which took online subscriptions to TTA Press and other magazines, returned monies to those who subscribed in June and July, during which time the company was trading fraudulently. Subscriptions taken before that time were still honoured by the publisher.

  Cemetery Dance published four solid issues, edited by Richard Chizmar and Robert Morrish, and featuring stories by Graham Masterton, William F. Nolan, Ed Gorman, Hugh B. Cave, Gary A. Braunbeck, Bentley Little, Darrell Schweitzer, Andy Duncan, Gary Raisor, Kathryn Ptacek, Mark Morris, Brian A. Hopkins, Phil Rickman and Steve Vance. Along with interviews with Masterton, Gorman, Braunbeck, Hopkins, Rickman, Michael Slade, Gahan Wilson, Poppy Z. Brite and Robert Weinberg, there were excellent regular columns by Bev Vincent (on Stephen King-related news) and Thomas F. Monteleone (on being ripped-off by television), plus more non-fiction and reviews from John Pelan, Charles L. Grant, Poppy Z. Brite, Michael Marano and Paula Guran.

  Edited by George H. Scithers and Darrell Schweitzer, Weird Tales celebrated its seventy-ninth year of publication with four more issues featuring fiction by Ashok Banker, Charles Harness, David Langford, Stephen Gallagher, Tony Richards, Tanith Lee, Ian Watson, Ian McDowell, James Van Pelt and Schweitzer, among others. Along with an interview with Tim Powers and non-fiction columns by S.T. Joshi (on Ramsey Campbell and Algernon Blackwood) and Douglas E. Winter (on Stephen King and Campbell), there was also some excellent artwork by George Barr, Tim Kirk, Russell Morgan and even a Virgil Finlay cover!

  As good as Weird Tales looked, other DNA Publications such as Fantastic Stories of the Imagination and Dreams of Decadence: Vampire Poetry and Fiction were nothing more than glossy fanzines, despite featuring fiction by Tom Piccirilli, James S. Dorr, Gerard Houarner and Sarah A. Hoyt, among others.

  Even Weird Tales wasn’t as good-looking as Black Gate: Adventures in Fantasy Literature. Published and edited by John O’Neill, this beautifully produced, perfect-bound quarterly included fantasy fiction by Mike Resnick, Darrell Schweitzer, Brian McNaughton, Michael McLaughlin, Tina L. Jens and Cory Doctorow, along with reviews, columns, and excellent interior artwork from Chris Pepper, Denis Rodier, Bernie Mireault, Richard Corben, Gabriel Morrissette, Chris Pepper and Chick Lukacs.

  Along with a clever short story by David J. Schow and an interview with Clive Barker, the fifth issue of Horror Garage included a number of short-shorts by Richard Kadrey, Charlee Jacob, Edward Lee, Greg Kihn and Rudy Rucker originally intended for a cancelled charity anthology created by John Shirley. Shirley himself was represented with a story in the sixth issue, along with a new vampire tale by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, an interview with Ed Gorman and a fine article by Norman Partridge about the rivalry between Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. With this issue, Paula Guran announced that she would no longer edit the International Horror Guild Award-winning horror/music magazine following disagreements over the style and con
tent of the publication. Assistant editor Michele Patterson resigned after Guran’s dismissal by publisher Rich Black, who took over all editorial duties himself.

  Gordon Van Gelder celebrated five years as the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and the periodical surpassed the total number of issues (602) published by the world’s first regular science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, making it the second most prolific SF title after Analog.

  The eleven issues of F&SF for 2002 (including an annual “double”) featured such writers as Harlan Ellison, Gene Wolfe, Jack Williamson, Steven Utley, Graham Joyce (a reprint), Carol Emshwiller, Thomas M. Disch, Gardner Dozois, William Browning Spencer, Don Webb, David Prill, Robert Sheckley, Scott Bradfield, Esther M. Friesner, Jack Cady, Lucius Shepard, Jeffrey Ford, Tanith Lee, the late Damon Knight, Terry Bisson, Ursula K. Le Guin, and another tale of Victorian ghostbuster Harry Challenge by Ron Goulart.

  Along with the usual book reviews by Charles de Lint, James Sallis, Elizabeth Hand, Robert K.J. Killheffer, James Sallis and Michelle West, and film reviews by Lucius Shepard and Kathi Maio, the magazine’s popular “Curiosities” column featured recommendations by Stefan Dziemianowicz, David Langford, Gregory Benford, Paul Di Filippo, Jeff VanderMeer, David Westwood, Bill Sheehan, Mike Ashley and John Eggeling.

  The cover of the December F&SFá showcased the last painting completed by artist Ron Walotsky, who died unexpectedly in July.

  Edited by David Pringle, Britain’s premier SF magazine Interzone celebrated its twentieth anniversary by publishing only ten issues instead of the usual twelve. Along with the news and reviews columns, there was fiction from Thomas M. Disch, Don Webb, Mary Soon Lee, Michael Swanwick, Brian Stableford, James Lovegrove, Richard Calder, Darrell Schweitzer, Stephen Baxter, Eric Brown, Terry Bisson, Norman Spinrad, Geoffrey A. Landis, Peter T. Garrett and no less than four stories apiece by Mat Colborn and Serbian writer Zoran Živković.

  Interzone also featured interviews with Živković, Kim Stanley Robinson, Harry Turtledove, Liz Williams, China Miéville, Bruce Sterling, Ted Chiang and Barrington J. Bayley, while TV reviewer Evelyn Lewes continued to annoy contributors to the letters column. Unfortunately, the struggling periodical was hit by a number of bad debts during the year.

  Edited by Trent Jamieson and Garry Nurrish, Redsine was a quarterly magazine of dark fantasy and horror from Australia, published in the US by Prime Books in trade paperback format. The four issues from 2002 included fiction by L.H. Maynard and M.P.N. Sims, D.F. Lewis and David Mathew, Michael Kauffmann and Mark McLaughlin, Rhys Hughes, Michael Laimo, Jeff VanderMeer, Keith Brooke, Stepan Chapman, Brian Stableford, Monica J. O’Rourke and John Urbancik, plus interviews with Kim Newman, Tim Powers, Elizabeth Hand and Brian Stableford.

  The two paperback-format issues of Paul Fraser’s Spectrum SF included stories by Mary Soon Lee, Neal Asher, a collaboration between Michael Coney and Eric Brown, and a serialized novel by Charles Stross, along with extensive book listings in “The Archive” section. The editor noted that the magazine’s future publication schedule would be “occasional”.

  Ben Jeapes’s print-on-demand imprint Big Engine launched editor Liz Holliday’s bi-monthly 3SF in October with stories by Darrell Schweitzer, Lawrence Watt-Evans and Mary Soon Lee, along with interviews with Ian McDonald and George R.R. Martin. The December issue featured fiction from Gene Wolfe, Joe Haldeman, David Langford and others, plus interviews with Haldeman and Megan Lindholm.

  Shawna McCarthy’s bi-monthly Realms of Fantasy remained one of the genre’s best-designed magazines. Although not strictly horror, except for Gahan Wilson’s insightful book-review column, it still featured superior fantasy fiction and articles by Bruce Holland Rogers, Liz Williams, Lois Tilton, Robert Silverberg, Terri Windling, Darrell Schweitzer, Karen Haber and others, along with a gallery of art by Frank Frazetta.

  Patrick and Honna Swenson celebrated the birth of their son Orion with two issues of the usually quarterly Talebones. Along with fiction and poetry by Nina Kiriki Hoffman, James Van Pelt, Joel Lane, Bruce Boston, Darrell Schweitzer and others, the perfect-bound digest included interviews with Harry Turtledove and James P. Hogan, and numerous book reviews by, among others, Edward Bryant.

  Mindfire Entertainment announced the acquisition of film magazine Cinefantastique after the untimely death of founding publisher Frederick S. Clarke in 2000. Editor-in-chief David E. Williams and editorial director Mark A. Altman planned to relaunch the title early in 2003. Mindfire also acquired CFQ’s sister publication, Femme Fatales.

  A year after it was officially cancelled by publisher Sovereign Media, Sci Fi, the official magazine of the SciFi Channel, was revived by the channel itself under the aegis of its original editor, Scott Edelman. The bi-monthly issues contained all the expected features on the Star Wars and Matrix sequels, TV’s Smallville, Stargate SG-1 and Farscape, plus a special edition previewing Steven Spielberg’s miniseries Taken, which included a bonus CD-ROM. The magazine’s companion website, SciFi.com, attracted three million visitors per month.

  Tim and Donna Lucas’s Video Watchdog kept to its monthly format with features on Dario Argento, Paul Verhoeven, William Castle, John Frankenheimer, Buckaroo Banzai, Mulholland Drive, Thirteen Ghosts, Hannibal, Harry Potter, The Others and TV’s The Outer Limits. Although the digest magazine could have done without the self-indulgent reviews of Charles Largent and a totally pointless interview with actress Kay Linaker, there was perceptive commentary from the always-reliable Bill Cooke, Shane M. Dallman, Kim Newman, David J. Schow, Richard Harland Smith and Douglas E. Winter. Journalist-turned-film director Joe Dante also joined the staff with a series of reprint reviews from three decades ago.

  Canada’s glossy Rue Morgue included interviews with Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman, along with numerous reviews, while Michael Stein’s Outré interviewed Ted V. Mikels, Tura Satana and artists Basil Gogos and Gahan Wilson. Stein’s companion title, Filmfax, looked at lost horror films, the careers of Yvette Vickers and Jack Elam, and the special effects of TV’s The Twilight Zone.

  Despite initial worries by editor/publisher David Longhorn that the title would not survive due to lack of subscriptions, Supernatural Tales produced its third and fourth issues featuring well-chosen fiction by Steve Duffy, Joel Lane, Chico Kidd (another in the “Captain da Silva” series), Tina Rath, Michael Chislett, Don Tumasonis and others. Unfortunately, the presentation was as dull as usual.

  Mythos Books published three more belated issues of Robert M. Price’s long-running Crypt of Cthulhu, including a special “Herbert West” edition. These included fiction and poetry by Robert E. Howard and C.J. Henderson (a new Solomon Kane story), August Derleth and John Glasby, Lin Carter and Laurence Cornford, Brian McNaughton, L. Sprague de Camp, Joseph S. Pulver Sr, Darrell Schweitzer and Richard L. Tierney, plus articles from T.G. Cockcroft and Wilum Pugmire.

  Edited by John Navroth, Lovecraft’s Weird Mysteries #5 from Pentagram Publications contained four stories by Michael Vance, Reginald Bloom, Lyn McConchie and K.A. Laity, plus an article by Michael Ramaeur and artwork by Allen Koszowski. From the same publisher and editor, Midnight Carnival #4 contained five “unsettling” stories by Sharon Black, Lee Clark Zumpe, Jason Brannon, Vera Searles and Melody Clayton.

  Also from Pentagram, the first issue of Navroth’s Diabolique: A Journal of Lost Literature was dedicated to the Symbolist/Decadent movement of the late-nineteenth century, with contributions by Brian Stableford, Ben Hecht, Charlee Jacob, Aubrey Beardsley and others. Hand-bound with an embossed signet linen cover, a ribbon bookmark was laid into the spine, and the limited-edition magazine came with a certificate of publication signed by the publisher.

  Edited by Brian Lingard, Mythos Collector from Darktree Press was devoted to H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. The latest three issues featured fiction and articles, along with interviews with Paul W. Ganley, S.T. Joshi and artists Steven Philip Jones, Allen Koszowski and Bernie Wrightson. Lingard’s Black Satellite #2 publi
shed weird horror and startling science fiction in the spirit of The Twilight Zone.

  St Michael Amorel’s Cthulhu Sex featured stories, poetry and artwork aimed at an adult audience.

  Gordon Linzner’s Space and Time published its usual two issues containing fiction and poetry by A.R. Morlan, Brian A. Hopkins and Brett Alexander Savory, Charlee Jacob, Trey R. Barker, Joey Froehlich and others, along with an article by Jack Ketchum, an interview with Owl Goingback, and some impressive black-and-white artwork by A. Wiedemann, Glenn Chadbourne, Ron Wilber and Bob Conway.

  Published by The Haunted River, Weirdly Supernatural #1 was a journal dedicated to the weird and supernatural in literature, film and art. It was edited by Chris Barker, with fiction and articles by T.E.D. Klein, Peter Haining, Richard Dalby, Brian Stableford and others.

  Paul Bradshaw’s The Dream Zone managed three new issues, with cleaner design and fiction from Allen Ashley, Rhys Hughes, Peter Tennant, Paul Pinn, Michael Pendragon and others. With issue #13 the magazine was combined with John Lawson’s online publication The Dream People.

  The ninth issue of Jack Fisher’s Flesh & Blood contained an interview with Jack Ketchum.

  Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine was billed as “Australia’s newest science fiction and fantasy magazine”. Launched in June and edited by Robbie Matthews, the first four bi-monthly digest issues featured fiction and poetry by Lyn McConchie, Stephen Dedman, Richard Womack, Cory Daniells and John B. Rosenman, amongst others, along with various reviews, convention reports and a letters column.

  Published in trade paperback, Fantasy Commentator #53-54 edited by A. Langley Searles featured articles by Andrew Darlington, Everett Bleiler, Sam Moskowitz and Bruce Boston on David Keller, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Hugo Gernsbach and others, including Isaac Asimov who, it was revealed in a new book compiled by his wife, had actually died of AIDS in 1992 after contracting HIV from a tainted blood transfusion a decade earlier.