The latest reviews and mentions of Tachyon titles and authors from around the web.

Jake Markey for THIS IS HORROR reports on his experience at NecronomiCon 2017.

During the Guests of Honor panel at NecronomiCon Providence this year, moderator s.j. bagley asked each of the guests to define Weird Fiction. There were intelligent, elegant responses (all of which have slipped right out of Ol’ Uncle Jake’s brain because he was so enchanted by the Guests to actually take notes, haha) but the summation of it seemed to be that while horror fiction contracts the world of the reader, weird fiction expands it. It takes the feeling of things are not what they seem and alters it into something closer to things are not what they seem but we’ve got to live with it anyway. The goal is destabilization, to knock the reader off their feet a little, to throw a Dutch angle into their life and show them something that will make them rethink the world as they know it. Weird fiction unnerves. It alters. It twists. Survival’s not even the primary goal in a lot of Weird stories. It’s acceptance.

Of course, the best part about defining the Weird is if you ask twenty different people you get twenty different answers, so let’s all just agree that it’s a thing and if you’re anything like me, you love it.

I had the pleasure this year to meet each of the Guests of Honor. I rode elevators with Stephen Graham Jones and Ellen Datlow, sat beside Peter Straub, chatted with Nnedi Okorafor, had drinks with Kij Johnson, and besides their influence on the past, present, and future of Weird Fiction, the one thing they all have in common is that they’re all incredibly nice and generous with their time. I’m hoping there might be a story or two here you haven’t read before, and that it might lead you to pick up more fiction by the Guests, or to get more Weird Fiction in general.

Instead of single stories this month, I’m going to recommend three excellent anthologies by another of NecronomiCon Providence’s esteemed Guests of Honor: Ellen Datlow. All three of these Lovecraftian anthologies are filled with tremendous stories by a variety of tremendous writers, and all are worth your time. If you want an education in modern weird and horror authors, get these three collections and read them front to back. Your mind will be properly blown.

For CITY SOUTH MAGAZINE, Ginger Gomes suggests great and horrible October reads.

NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR edited by Ellen Datlow, 2016

As 24 of the best horror stories from 2005-15, these tales represent the breadth of horror from psychologically chilling to all-out terrifying. A great representation of what readers can expect from horror today.

Gabo Kiadó announces their plans for the Hungarian edition of DARKNESS: TWO DECADES OF MODERN HORROR.

We publish the horror anology written by Ellen Datlow, DARKNESS, with twenty-one years of horror film production. Datlow is one of the oldest people in the industry, working for more than thirty-five years as a science fiction, fantasy and horror novelist, has produced more than a hundred anthologies, and in 2014 he was awarded the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award.

We are still working on this publication so we will be able to contact you later on (the above cover is just an illustration, we make your own). For the time being we only include the authors’ names: Clive Barker, Edward Bryant, Thomas Ligotti, George RR Martin, Peter Straub, Dan Simmons, Pat Kelly Link, Gene Wolfe, Steve, David J. Schow, Joey Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Link, Gene Wolfe, Steve Marshall Smith, Dennis Etchison, David J. Schow, Rasnic Tem, Ramsey Campbell, Terry Dowling, Glen Hirshberg and Joe Hill.

Translation from Hungarian courtesy of Google

Both LIT REACTOR and BOOKBUB recommend Datlow’s latest anthology HAUNTED NIGHTS (co-edited with Lisa Morton).

Annie Neugebauer at LIT REACTOR: 

Compiled by multi-award-winning editor Ellen Datlow and leading Halloween expert Lisa Morton, with the backing of the Horror Writers Association and published by Blumhouse Books, this anthology looks set to be a juggernaut in the field of seasonal horror. Out this year, HAUNTED NIGHTS includes sixteen all-original stories from genre favorites like Stephen Graham Jones, Jonathan Maberry, and Kate Jonez. Additionally, it’s the only collection on this list that specifically includes related holidays like Dia de los Muertos, All Souls’ Day, and Devil’s Night

Kristina Wright at BOOKBUB:

Sixteen never-before-published chilling tales that explore every aspect of our darkest holiday, Halloween, co-edited by Ellen Datlow, one of the most successful and respected genre editors, and Lisa Morton, a leading authority on Halloween.

In addition to stories about scheming jack-o’-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick or treating in the future, HAUNTED NIGHTS also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls’ Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Devil’s Night.

For more info about LOVECRAFT’S MONSTERS, visit the Tachyon page.

Cover by John Coulthart

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