STEPHEN JONES is the winner of two World Fantasy Awards and two Horror Writers of America Bram Stoker Awards, as well as being a nine-time recipient of the British Fantasy Award and a Hugo Award nominee. A full-time columnist, television producer/director and genre film publicist and consultant (the first three Hellraiser movies, Night Life, Nightbreed, Split Second etc.), he is the co-editor of Horror: 100 Best Books, The Best Horror from Fantasy Tales, Gaslight & Ghosts, Now We Are Sick, The Giant Book of Best New Horror, H.P. Lovecraft’s Book of Horror, The Anthology of Fantasy & the Supernatural, and the Best New Horror, Dark Voices and Fantasy Tales series. He has also compiled The Mammoth Book of Terror, The Mammoth Book of Vampires, The Mammoth Book of Zombies, The Mammoth Book of Werewolves, The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein, Shadows Over Innsmouth, Clive Barker’s Shadows in Eden, James Herbert: By Horror Haunted, Clive Barker’s The Nightbreed Chronicles, The Hellraiser Chronicles, The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide, The Illustrated Dinosaur Movie Guide and The Illustrated Frankenstein Movie Guide.
RAMSEY CAMPBELL is the most respected living British horror writer. He has received the Bram Stoker Award twice, the World Fantasy Award three times and the British Fantasy Award seven times – more awards for horror fiction than any other writer. After working in the civil service and public libraries, he became a full-time writer in 1973. He has written hundreds of short stories (most recently collected in Alone With the Horrors and Strange Things and Stranger Places) and the novels The Doll Who Ate His Mother, The Face That Must Die, The Parasite, The Nameless, The Claw, Incarnate, Obsession, The Hungry Moon, The Influence, Ancient Images, Midnight Sun, The Count of Eleven, The Long Lost and The One Safe Place. He has also edited a number of anthologies, reviews films for BBC Radio Merseyside, and is President of the British Fantasy Society. He is much in demand as a reader of his stories to audiences.
THE
BEST NEW
HORROR
VOLUME FIVE
Edited by
STEPHEN JONES
and
RAMSEY CAMPBELL
Robinson
London
Constable & Robinson Ltd.
55–56 Russell Square
London WC1B 4HP
www.constablerobinson.com
First published in the UK by Robinson Publishing 1994
The Best New Horror copyright © Robinson Publishing Ltd
Selection and editorial material copyright © Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell 1994
All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library
ISBN 1-85487-299-0
eISBN 978-1-4721-1359-7
Printed by HarperCollins, Glasgow
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Cover Art by Luis Rey
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Horror in 1993
THE EDITORS
Later
MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH
When the Red Storm Comes
SARAH SMITH
The Exhibit
MARTIN PLUMBRIDGE
Leavings
KATHE KOJA
Human Remains
EDWARD BRYANT
Flying into Naples
NICHOLAS ROYLE
The Sixth Sentinel
POPPY Z. BRITE
The Brothers
RICK CADGER
The Owen Street Monster
J.L. COMEAU
One Size Eats All
T.E.D. KLEIN
Mulligan’s Fence
DONALD R. BURLESON
How She Dances
DANIEL FOX
Passages
KARL EDWARD WAGNER
Easing the Spring
SALLY ROBERTS JONES
Safe at Home
STEVE RASNIC TEM & MELANIE TEM
Mother of the City
CHRISTOPHER FOWLER
Justice
ELIZABETH HAND
The Big Fish
KIM NEWMAN
In the Desert of Deserts
THOMAS TESSIER
Two Returns
TERRY LAMSLEY
The Moment the Face Falls
CHET WILLIAMSON
Darker Angels
S.P. SOMTOW
The Timbrel Sound of Darkness
KATHE KOJA & BARRY N. MALZBERG
The Tsalal
THOMAS LIGOTTI
In the Still, Small Hours
CHARLES GRANT
Ice House Pond
STEVE RASNIC TEM
The Dog Park
DENNIS ETCHISON
The Marble Boy
GAHAN WILSON
Mefisto in Onyx
HARLAN ELLISON
Necrology: 1993
STEPHEN JONES & KIM NEWMAN
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Kim Newman, Jo Fletcher, Sara and Randy Broecker, Peter Coleborn, Chris Kenworthy, Steve Lockley, Michele Slung, Ellen Datlow, Stefan Dziemianowicz, John Maclay and Thomas F. Monteleone for their help and support. Special thanks are also due to Locus, Science Fiction Chronicle, Necrofile, Variety and Screen International which were used as reference sources in the Introduction and Necrology.
INTRODUCTION: HORROR IN 1993 copyright © 1994 by Stephen Jones and Ramsey Campbell.
LATER Copyright © 1993 by Michael Marshall Smith. Originally published in The Mammoth Book of Zombies. Reprinted by permission of the author.
WHEN THE RED STORM COMES Copyright © 1993 by Sarah Smith. Originally published in Shudder Again. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE EXHIBIT Copyright © 1993 by Martin Plumbridge. Originally published in Chills 7, Winter 1993. Reprinted by permission of the author.
LEAVINGS Copyright © 1992 by Kathe Koja. Originally published in Borderlands 3. Reprinted by permission of the author.
HUMAN REMAINS Copyright © 1992 by Edward Bryant. Originally published in Darker Passions. Reprinted by permission of the author.
FLYING INTO NAPLES copyright © 1993 by Nicholas Royle. Originally published in Interzone No. 77, November 1993. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE SIXTH SENTINEL Copyright © 1993 by Poppy Z. Brite. Originally published in Swamp Foetus. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE BROTHERS Copyright © 1993 by Rick Cadger. Originally published in Sugar Sleep. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE OWEN STREET MONSTER copyright © 1992 by J.L. Comeau. Originally published in Borderlands 3. Reprinted by permission of the author.
ONE SIZE EATS ALL copyright © 1993 by T.E.D. Klein. Originally published in Outside/Kids, Summer 1993. Reprinted by permission of the author.
MULLIGAN’S FENCE copyright © 1993 by Donald R. Burleson. Originally published in Lemon Drops and other Horrors. Reprinted by permission of the author.
HOW SHE DANCES Copyright © 1993 by Daniel Fox. Originally published in Dark Voices 4: The Pan Book of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.
PASSAGES copyright © 1993 by Karl Edward Wagner. Originally published in Phobias. Reprinted by permission of the author.
EASING THE SPRING Copyright © 1993 by Sally Roberts Jones. Originally published in Cold Cuts. Reprinted by permission of the author.
SAFE AT HOME Copyright © 1993 by Steve and Melanie Tem. Originally published in Hottest Blood. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
MOTHER OF THE CITY Copyr
ight © 1993 by Christopher Fowler. Originally published in The Time Out Book of London Short Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author.
JUSTICE Copyright © by Elizabeth Hand. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 1993. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE BIG FISH copyright © 1993 by Kim Newman. Originally published in Interzone No. 76, October 1993. Reprinted by permission of the author.
IN THE DESERT OF DESERTS Copyright © 1993 by Thomas Tessier. Originally published in After the Darkness. Reprinted by permission of the author.
TWO RETURNS copyright © 1993 by Terry Lamsley. Originally published in Under the Crust: Supernatural Tales of Buxton. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE MOMENT THE FACE FALLS copyright © 1993 by Chet Williamson. Originally published in Monsters in Our Midst. Reprinted by permission of the author.
DARKER ANGELS Copyright © 1993 by S.P. Somtow. Originally published in Confederacy of the Dead. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE TIMBREL SOUND OF DARKNESS Copyright © 1993 by Kathe Koja and Barry N. Malzberg. Originally published in Christmas Ghosts. Reprinted by permission of the authors.
THE TSALAL Copyright © 1994 by Thomas Ligotti. Originally published in Noctuary. Reprinted by permission of the author.
IN THE STILL, SMALL HOURS Copyright © 1993 by Charles Grant. Originally published in Deathport. Reprinted by permission of the author.
ICE HOUSE POND Copyright © 1993 by Steve Rasnic Tem. Originally published in In the Fog. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE DOG PARK Copyright © 1993 by Dennis Etchison. Originally published in Dark Voices 4: The Pan Book of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.
THE MARBLE BOY Copyright © 1993 by Gahan Wilson. Originally published in After the Darkness. Reprinted by permission of the author.
MEFISTO IN ONYX by Harlan Ellison copyright © 1993 by The Kilimanjaro Corporation. Reprinted by arrangement with, and permission of, the Author and the Author’s agent, Richard Curtis Associates Inc., New York, USA. All rights reserved.
NECROLOGY: 1993 copyright © 1994 by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman.
For Dennis Etchison,
who introduced us both
to The Dark Country . . .
INTRODUCTION:
HORROR IN 1993
WE SAY IT EVERY YEAR, but in 1993 the much-heralded collapse of the horror market once again failed to materialize. In fact, the number of original horror books published on both sides of the Atlantic was slightly up on the previous two years.
There were no new novels from Big Names Stephen King or James Herbert, but Dean Koontz as usual top-and-tailed the year with a brace of better-than-usual books: Dragon Tears featured two cops being stalked by a superhuman killer, while Mr Murder dealt with a psychopathic clone.
Lasher was Anne Rice’s sequel to The Witching Hour, about the titular demonic spirit, while Darkest Hour was the fifth in the Gothic “Cutler Family” series by Andrew Neiderman, writing as the trademarked V.C. Andrews.
Peter Straub’s The Throat was a thriller sequel to both Koko and Mystery, Whitley Strieber’s The Forbidden Zone concerned the reawakening of an ancient evil, and The Last Aerie marked the second volume in Brian Lumley’s follow-up vampire series to his bestselling Necroscope volumes.
There were major new novels by such modern masters of the genre as Ramsey Campbell (The Long Lost), Dennis Etchison (Shadowman), Charles L. Grant (Raven), Graham Masterton (The Sleepless), Kathe Koja (Skin), and Peter James (Host).
Richard Laymon kept himself busy with a pair of dark thrillers, Alarms (aka Alarums) and Endless Night, plus the unwieldily-titled Savage: From Whitechapel to the Wild West on the Track of Jack the Ripper. Meanwhile, Jack the Ripper’s dog Snuff narrated Roger Zelazny’s Hallowe’en fantasy A Night in the Lonesome October, illustrated with typical ghoulish glee by Gahan Wilson.
As usual, serial killers were popular as evidenced by Facade by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, I’ll Be Watching You by Samuel M. Key (aka Charles de Lint), Dark Visions by T. Lucien Wright, Bloody Valentine by Stephen R. George, and Flesh and Blood by D.A. Fowler.
Garry Kilworth added the middle initial “D” to his byline for Angel, about a serial killer angel, which shared shelf-space with Angels by Steve Harris, Angel Kiss by Kelly Wilde and Stone Angels by Mike Jeffries.
There were also plenty of detectives around battling against the forces of evil, as detailed in Christopher Fowler’s Darkest Day, a sequel-of-sorts to Rune which once again featured his characters Bryant and May; R. Chetwynd-Hayes’ aptly-titled The Psychic Detective, and Goodlow’s Ghosts by T.M. Wright, about another psychic investigator. Sleepeasy, from the same author, concerned the exploits of a dead detective; Shawn Ryan’s Brethren featured a homicide detective who used the powers of his warlock ancestor to defeat a serial killer; while The Thing That Darkness Hides by Robert Morgan (aka C.J. Henderson) was the third in a series about private eye Teddy London, who had to buy a millionaire’s soul back from Satan himself.
Michael Cadnum’s The Horses of the Night was about another deal with the Devil, and demons and evil spirits turned up in After Life by Andrew Neiderman, Panic by Chris Curry, Gideon by Stephen Laws, The Curse by John Tigges, The Living Evil by Jean Ruby Jensen, Playmates by Abigail McDaniels, and Harrowgate by Daniel H. Gower.
Many of these manifestations were the result of witchcraft and voodoo, and the Black Arts were conjured up by Guy N. Smith in Witch Spell, Megan Marklin in The Summoned, Elisabeth Graves in Black River, Brian Hodge in The Darker Saints, and Ellen Jamison in Stone Dead.
The old-fashioned ghost story rematerialized in Ghosts by Noel Hynd, Ghost Beyond Earth by Australian author G.M. Hague, Don’t Take Away the Light by J.N. Williamson, And Then Put Out the Light by Deborah Grabien, Help Wanted by Richie Tankersley Cusick, Darkling by Michael O’Rourke, and The Possession by Ronald Kelly.
It was no wonder that property prices were falling according to Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite, House of Lost Dreams by Graham Joyce, Cradlesong by Jessica Palmer, and The Voice in the Basement by T. Chris Martindale (all featuring haunted houses); Shattered Echoes by Barbara A. Shapiro (a haunted apartment); The Chosen by Edward Lee (a haunted inn); or Beloved by Antoinette Stockenberg (a romance about a haunted cottage).
The family unit wasn’t all that supportive either, with that old mid-list staple, the evil child, getting up to tricks in Black Ice by Pat Graversen, Shadow Walkers by Nina Romberg and Animus by Ed Kelleher and Harriet Vidal. In Stephen R. George’s Deadly Vengeance a murdered child was reincarnated as the family dog, Shawn MacDonald’s The Darkness Within featured a demonic grandmother, while Patricia Simpson’s romance The Haunting of Briar Rose was about a family curse. Obviously hoping to appeal to all tastes, Rick Hautala’s Ghost Light combined a ghost, a psychopathic father, and two abused children.
If you tried to escape into the country, then there were always the regional horrors to be found in the evil Scottish forest of Joe Donnelly’s Still Life; Phil Rickman’s Crybbe (aka Curfew), about a town on the Welsh borders where the dead don’t stay dead, or the cursed mine of Mark Chadbourn’s Underground. In Bats by William Johnstone vampire bats developed a taste for human blood, something nasty waited beneath the waves in both The Lake by R. Karl Largent and Dark Tide by Elizabeth Forrest, while hot-on-the-heels of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park and Harry Adam Knight’s Carnosaur, Penelope Banka Kreps decided that the idea of genetically-mutated prehistoric monsters was worth another shot in Carnivores.
The Book of the Damned by D.A. Fowler was a horror novel about people who read horror novels, Pranks by Dennis J. Higman featured a joker from beyond the grave, and The Keeper by Robert D. Lee (aka Mary Ann Donahue and Robert Derek Steeley) concerned a veritable circus of horrors. There were also new novels from Freda Warrington (Sorrow’s Light), Shaun Hutson (Deadhead and White Ghost), Tanith Lee (Elephantasm), Graham Watkins (Kaleidoscope Eyes), and Ed Gorman (Shadow Games an
d, under his “Daniel Ransom” pseudonym, The Long Midnight). Veteran Richard Matheson also returned to the horror genre (almost) with an entertaining Twilight Zone-ish thriller, 7 Steps to Midnight.
1992 proved to be a phenomenally successful year for vampires, thanks to the publicity surrounding Francis Ford Coppola’s movie of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. And proving that the old themes still remain popular, vampire fiction accounted for around 21 per cent of adult horror books published in 1993, an increase over even the previous year’s rise.
The Golden by Lucius Shepard was a superior vampire murder mystery with more than a nod to Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy. Anne Billson’s Suckers was satire about yuppie vampires in contemporary London, and there were more modern bloodsuckers in The Book of Common Dread: A Novel of the Infernal by Brent Monahan. Lois Tilton’s Darkness on the Ice featured Nazi vampires in Greenland, a virus turned people into vampires in Blood by Ron Dee, and Shadows After Dark by Ouida Crozier was a lesbian novel about an alien vampire.
The undead overran Chicago in Yvonne Navarro’s After Age, and they stalked the small town streets of Arizona and Oregon respectively in The Summoning by Bentley Little and Golden Eyes by John Gideon.
And still they kept bating away: The Knighton Vampires by Guy N. Smith, The Night Inside by Nancy Baker, Night Blood by Eric Flanders, Blood Feud by Sam Siciliano, Blood and Roses by Sharon Bainbridge, Precious Blood by Pat Graversen, Blind Hunger by David Darke (aka Ron Dee), Insatiable by David Dvorkin, and Domination by Michael Cecilione.
Steven Brust took time off from his successful heroic fantasy novels to produce Agyar, an acclaimed dark fantasy about a contemporary vampire’s love affair. Eternity by Lori Herter was the fourth in her romance series about vampire David de Morrissey’s search for an eternal companion, and other romance titles featuring the undead included Forever and the Night by Linda Lael Miller and Twilight Phantasies by Maggie Shayne.
The Phallus of Osiris by Valentina Cilescu was an erotic vampire novel and a sequel to her Kiss of Death, and The Vampire Journals by Traci Briery was another sequel, this time to The Vampire Memoirs.
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