Year end accolades keep rolling in for Ellen Datlow’s NIGHTMARES: A NEW DECADE OF MODERN HORROR.

For B&N SCI-FI & FANTASY BLOG, Sam Reader includes the book among The Best Horror of 2016.

Culled from a decade’s worth of dark and disquieting fiction, Ellen Datlow’s followup to her essential collection DARKNESS offers another helping of terrifying short reads, spanning black comedy, Lynchian fever dreams, absurdism, gothic fiction, and more besides. Datlow assembles a host of horror’s heaviest hitters for NIGHTMARES, and the collection finds them at their best, spinning tales of outsider art, murderous writers, vengeful fairies, and deadly urban legends. The result is a perfect roadmap for where to start getting into dark fiction, with entries to suit just about any taste.

Standout Stories: “Ambitious Boys Like You” by Richard Kadrey, “Spectral Evidence” by Gemma Files, “Dead Sea Fruit” by Kaaron Warren

Becky Spratford on RA FOR ALL: HORROR lists the book as one of the best.

For the last 10 days I have been participating in Library Reads’ #LibFaves16 countdown of the top 10 books you read this year.  Library workers all over the country have been using the hashtag to countdown their favorite 2016 titles. You can click here whether you are on Twitter or not to see everything, or wait until the organizers compile it all nicely for you.

I decided that my participation would be the most helpful to all of you out there working with leisure readers if I focused on my favorite Horror reads of 2016. I have used the last 10 days to promote what horror from 2016 I think is most worthy of inclusion in your library collections.

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Okay, now here is the list as I unveiled it on #LibFaves16 from 12/12/16 thru today, with links to my full reviews.

10. The Sleepless by Nuzo Onoh
9. I Am Providence by Nick Mamatas
8.  Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
7.  The Women in the Walls by Amy Lukavics
6.  Two, single author, short story collections. I read many horror, single author, story collections this year and I thought it was best to combine them into one. And yes, I know this is cheating, but since I am the only one in the library world doing this, I figured I can sneak in 1 extra title. Hey, it’s all to help you help patrons.
     6.1 Swift to Chase by Laird Barron
     6.2 A Long December by Richard Chizmar
5. Pressure by Brian Keene
4. Haven by Tom Deady (the best horror debut novel I read this year, hands down)
3. NIGHTMARES: A NEW
DECADE OF MODERN HORROR, edited by Ellen Datlow (my top horror anthology of the year (again, I read many)
2. Children of the Dark by Jonathan Janz
1. The Fireman by Joe Hill

(credit: THIS IS HORROR)

HORROR-WRITERS.NET delivers a fresh of the anthology.

Ellen Datlow is a master curator of fiction, and though she calls herself a “horror enthusiast,” I don’t think it’s a stretch to say she is also one of the guiding hands of the genre. Her Best Horror of the Year anthologies are a snapshot of current trends in horror, offering readers a sampling of new and established authors in one volume. NIGHTMARES expands on those best-of collections and represents Datlow’s favorite short fiction from the years spanning 2005 to 2015.

Every story in the collection is exceptional. This surprised me. Usually, anthologies contain a tale or two that made me wonder how it made the cut, but not this one. There were a few stories that I’d read before and was delighted to read again. Sometimes, a story brought up personal terrors and was hard to read, but isn’t that what horror is supposed to do?

It took me several weeks to read all 24 stories because I had to think about what I’d just read. I spent a few nights staring at the ceiling trying to chase the afterimages out of my brain so I could sleep.

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This is the best anthology I’ve read all year and a must-have for any horror fan’s bookshelf.

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