the search for a legendary bluesman, Ramblin’ John Hastur, whose music reputedly sent men mad and caused the dead to rise.
Jonathan Wood’s No Hero was another debut novel, about an Oxford police detective recruited to battle tentacled Lovecraftian horrors.
On the same theme, editor Ross E. Lockhart’s The Book of Cthulhu collected twenty-seven tales (two original) by Ramsey Campbell, David Drake, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Thomas Ligotti, Joe R. Lansdale, Cherie Priest, Bruce Sterling, Gene Wolfe and other, more surprising, contributors to the Mythos.
The Panama Laugh was a zombie novel by Thomas S. Roche, while J. M. Lassen edited the YA anthology Z: Zombie Stories containing eleven stories (one original) by Kelly Link, Nina Kiriki Hoffman and Scott Nicholson, amongst others.
The Miscellaneous Fictions of Clark Ashton Smith from Night Shade collected eighteen peripheral stories (two original), a poem and a play, along with a Foreword by editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger and an essay by Donald Sidney-Fryer.
Published by Tartarus Press, Reggie Oliver’s fifth collection, Mrs Midnight and Other Stories, quickly sold out of its 400-copy hardcover printing. The book contained thirteen stories (four original) and also included some delightful heading illustrations by the author.
Michael Reynier made a fine debut with his collection Five Degrees of Latitude, which contained five novellas written in the classic tradition, while Frankenstein’s Prescription by Tim Lees was an impressive novel about the search for eternal life that also involved Mary Shelley’s sympathetic creature.
Also from Tartarus, Dark Entries, Powers of Darkness and Cold Hand in Mine reprinted the stories by Robert Aickman (1914–81), while We Are the Dark was a reprint of the 1964 collection of collaborations between Aickman and Elizabeth Jane Howard. The new edition was officially launched at the Halifax Ghost Story Festival.
From Side Real Press, Delicate Toxins: An Anthology Inspired by Hanns Heinz Ewers was a beautifully-crafted hardcover edited and introduced by John Hirschhorn-Smith. It contained eighteen original tales inspired by the German author of “strange” fiction (1871–1943) by such writers as Richard Gavin, R. B. Russell, Mark Valentine, Reggie Oliver, Michael Chislett, Mark Samuels and Thana Niveau. Limited to 350 numbered copies and priced at a very reasonable ?30.00, copies purchased directly from the publisher came with a unique signed bookplate.
Paul Kane’s Shadow Writer from MHB Press was a beautifully-produced volume containing the contents of the author’s first two collections, Alone (In the Dark) (2001) and Touching the Flame (2002), along with four previously uncollected tales (two original), poetry, a graphic novel script, story notes and an Introduction by Simon Clark. The special signed edition was limited to a 150-copy numbered Collector’s Edition, a seventy-five copy Deluxe Edition numbered in roman numerals, and twenty-six copies lettered A — Z.
Clark also supplied the Introduction to Paul Kane’s third collection of the year, The Adventures of Dalton Quayle from Mundania Press, which contained seven comedic reprints featuring the eponymous psychic investigator.
Rumours of the Marvellous collected fourteen stories (one original) by Peter Atkins, with an Introduction by Glen Hirshberg. It was published by Alchemy Press/Airgedlamh in a signed and numbered hardcover edition of just 250 copies.
From Screaming Dreams, Hunter’s Moon was a debut novella by Charlotte Bond, about four university friends who discovered that dark forces awaited them on holiday in a quiet French village.
Everyone’s Just So So Special was a collection of twenty-one tales “of the comic and the macabre” (fourteen original) by Robert Shearman, published in teeny-tiny type by Big Finish Productions.
Published in pocket-size by Borderlands Press, A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff collected obscure fiction, introductions, essays, speeches and poetry by Neil Gaiman.
Edited by D. F. Lewis, The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies from Megazanthus Press was a clever idea for an anthology, even though not all of the twenty original stories stuck strictly to the theme. Contributors included Rhys Hughes, Joel Lane, E. Michael Lewis, Mike O’Driscoll, Reggie Oliver, Mark Valentine and D. P. Watt.
Published in an edition of just 100 copies to coincide with a special exhibition of artist John Martin’s work at London’s Tate Britain gallery, Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse was edited by Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin and contained eighteen original stories by Lauren Beukes, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Lou Morgan, Jonathan Oliver and others, along with an Introduction by Tom Hunter. The hardcover was sold exclusively through Tate Britain, although an e-book edition was also available.
The revived Sarob Press issued Mark Nicholls’ collection of classical ghost stories, Dark Shadows Fall, while Flame & Other Enigmatic Tales contained four short stories (one reprint) and two novellas by the conjoined Maynard Sims, illustrated by Paul Lowe.
From Small Beer Press, The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories was a posthumous collection of nineteen delightful stories (seven original) by Joan Aiken (1924–2004), mostly written in the 1950s and 1960s. The book also included a 1995 Introduction by the author and a new piece by her daughter, Lizza Aiken.
Maureen F. McHugh’s After the Apocalypse: Stories collected nine contemporary tales (three original).
Edited by Eduardo Jimenez Mayo and Chris N. Brown for Small Beer, Three Messages and a Warning: Contemporary Mexican Short Stories of the Fantastic contained thirty-four quite short tales with an Introduction by Bruce Sterling.
Published in trade paperback by Two Ravens Press (“the most remote literary publisher in the UK”, situated on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides), Murmurations: An Anthology of Uncanny Stories About Birds was edited by Nicholas Royle and contained thirty stories (sixteen original) by, among others, Joel Lane, Russell Hoban, Tom Fletcher, Jack Trevor Story, Mark Valentine, Conrad Williams, R. B. Russell, Michael Kelly, Daphne du Maurier, and the editor himself. Featuring a Foreword by Angelica Michelis, all royalties and fees were donated to The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Bite Sized Horror: The Obverse Quarterly: Book One was edited with an Introduction by Johnny Mains for Obverse Books. The slim anthology featured original stories by Reggie Oliver, Paul Kane, David A. Riley, Marie O’Regan, Conrad Williams and the editor himself.
Herbert van Thal’s “lost” 1933 collection Child Performer was reprinted by Noose & Gibbet Publishing as The Mask and Other Stories. The author’s only collection of short stories, written when he was in his twenties, the slender hardback was bulked out with a new Introduction by Johnny Mains, van Thals’ 1945 essay “Recipe for Reading” (originally written for his two godsons), and various Introductions by the author. The 100-copy edition sold out in under a month.
The stated ethos of new imprint Dark Minds Press was to publish projects that were “produced to the best standards of production achievable”. Unfortunately, the anthology Dark Minds: An Anthology of Dark Fiction, “selected and prepared for publication” by Ross Warren, featured far too many basic design and typographical errors. Gary McMahon and Stephen Bacon were the best-known of the twelve contributors, while Will Jacques contributed some squiggly interior art.
David J. Howe’s Telos Publishing imprint issued a collection of his own writings, Talespinning, that included short stories (five original), a pair of unfinished novels, two 100-word Doctor Who drabbles and a couple of DVD scripts.
From the same imprint, Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings collected thirteen stories (ten original) and six poems (five original) by Sam Stone, along with a Foreword by Graham Masterton, and half-page Afterword by actor Frazer Hines, and copious commentary by the author. Russell Morgan supplied the interior art.
The Bible Repairman and Other Stories from Tachyon Publications collected six ghostly stories by Tim Powers, including a sequel novella to The Stress of Her Regard.
