Not only does MAXIMUM POP include Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR among THE 6 SCARIEST BOOKS YOU NEED IN YOUR LIFE THIS WINTER but also is giving away copies of the acclaimed anthology.

Terrifying? Haunting? Bound to make you think twice about turning that light out? Yep, yep and double yep. But it’s also such a THRILL. Tachyon publishing have really gone all out with this one. And including great authors like Garth Nix, what’s not to love?

U.S. based MP!ers: Want to win a copy? Here’s how…

1. Follow us @maximumpopbooks
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MONSTER LIBRARIAN praises the book.

NIGHTMARES is a collection of stories chosen by Ellen Datlow as the best stories of 2005-2015. It is a companion volume to DARKNESS, a previously published anthology of stories chosen by her as the best stories written between 1985 and 2005. Not being as widely read in contemporary short horror fiction as Datlow is, I can’t say whether I agree with her choices or not, but I can say that the stories she chose do live up to the book’s title: in one way or another, they are all nightmares.

Datlow chose stories that take a variety of approaches to instilling horror, from the understated to over-the-top: you’ll find weird fiction, cosmic horror, twisted fairy tales, disturbing family secrets, ghosts and hauntings, Gothic horrors, body horror, incestuous relationships, and more than enough blood and gore. As a reader who prefers creepy and atmospheric writing to graphic descriptions, I found this book to be emotionally, mentally, and even physically exhausting. I received it as an ebook from NetGalley and am not sure how long it actually was, but it required several days for me to read it through. However, as a sampler of well-done short fiction in the horror genre, I think it is successful. Certainly, I have found that several stories have stuck with me even though a few weeks have passed since I finished it.

For those horror readers who enjoy variety in their short fiction, NIGHTMARES is an excellent way to discover authors they may not have tried out before. With her choices for this collection of short fiction from the past decade, despite her disclaimer, Ellen Datlow continues to show not just her enthusiasm as a fan of the horror genre, but her excellence as an anthologist. Recommended.

For more info about NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Nihil

Design by Elizabeth Story

For more info about DARKNESS: TWO DECADES OF MODERN HORROR, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by Ann Monn