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The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XI
HORRORS GALORE!
"Wagner has done his work well, and DAW deserves the thanks of horror readers, and librarians catering to them, for keeping this anthology going, its price low, and its quality high"
So comments the American Library Association's Booklist about this series, and this latest volume will uphold their estimate. Once again Karl Edward Wagner has probed the horror tales of the past year and come up with a headsman's basket of spine-chilling goodies.
Among the authors you will find Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison, Michael Kube-McDowell, Manly Wade Wellman, M. John Harrison, Sheila Hodgson, and many more.
All sure to give you the willies! Don't try reading them all at one sitting!
Contents:
The Grab: Richard Laymon.
The Show Goes On: Ramsey Campbell.
The House at Evening: Frances Garfield.
I Hae Dream'd a Dreary Dream: John Alfred Taylor.
Deathtracks: Dennis Etchison.
Come, Follow!: Sheila Hodgson.
The Smell of Cherries: Jeffrey Goddin.
A Posthumous Bequest: David Campton.
Slippage: Michael Kube-McDowell.
The Executor: David G. Rowlands.
Mrs. Halfbooger's basement / Lawrence C. Connolly.
Rouse Him Not: Manly Wade Wellman.
Spare the Child: Thomas F. Monteleone.
The New Rays: M. John Harrison.
Cruising: Donald Tyson.
The Depths: Ramsey Campbell.
Pumpkin Head: Al Sarrantonio.
"Wagner has done his work well, and DAW deserves the thanks of horror readers, and librarians catering to them, for keeping this anthology going, its price low, and its quality high"
So comments the American Library Association's Booklist about this series, and this latest volume will uphold their estimate. Once again Karl Edward Wagner has probed the horror tales of the past year and come up with a headsman's basket of spine-chilling goodies.
Among the authors you will find Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison, Michael Kube-McDowell, Manly Wade Wellman, M. John Harrison, Sheila Hodgson, and many more.
All sure to give you the willies! Don't try reading them all at one sitting!
Contents:
The Grab: Richard Laymon.
The Show Goes On: Ramsey Campbell.
The House at Evening: Frances Garfield.
I Hae Dream'd a Dreary Dream: John Alfred Taylor.
Deathtracks: Dennis Etchison.
Come, Follow!: Sheila Hodgson.
The Smell of Cherries: Jeffrey Goddin.
A Posthumous Bequest: David Campton.
Slippage: Michael Kube-McDowell.
The Executor: David G. Rowlands.
Mrs. Halfbooger's basement / Lawrence C. Connolly.
Rouse Him Not: Manly Wade Wellman.
Spare the Child: Thomas F. Monteleone.
The New Rays: M. John Harrison.
Cruising: Donald Tyson.
The Depths: Ramsey Campbell.
Pumpkin Head: Al Sarrantonio.
237 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1983
About the author
Karl Edward Wagner
247 books414 followersKarl Edward Wagner (12 December 1945 – 13 October 1994) was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into Whose Hands". He described his world view as nihilistic, anarchistic and absurdist, and claimed, not entirely seriously, to be related to "an opera composer named Richard". Wagner also admired the cinema of Sam Peckinpah, stating "I worship the film The Wild Bunch".
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 28, 2016
A great collection of stories. This was published in 1983, so the stories are from 1982. I don't know if it's nostalgia or what, but for some reason older stories just seem scarier than more modern ones (at least for the most part.)
This one has some of the standout authors of the time such as Ramsay Campbell, Dennis Etchison, Richard Layman, Manley Wade Wellman, Al Sarrantonio and many more.
Overall a nice collection that includes some traditional ghost stories, some more graphic horror, and then some stories that just can't be easily defined.
If you are a fan of horror short fiction, particularly 80s horror as I am, this could be worth tracking down. Great Halloween read!
This one has some of the standout authors of the time such as Ramsay Campbell, Dennis Etchison, Richard Layman, Manley Wade Wellman, Al Sarrantonio and many more.
Overall a nice collection that includes some traditional ghost stories, some more graphic horror, and then some stories that just can't be easily defined.
If you are a fan of horror short fiction, particularly 80s horror as I am, this could be worth tracking down. Great Halloween read!
February 2, 2014
If you want to be reminded of how much the world has changed in the last 30 years or so, give this book a try. I picked this up used somewhere along the line, and I know I read it shortly after that, but last week I had occasion to revisit it, and what really surprised me was NOT that I'm a lot pickier now--I knew that--but that I hadn't realized the degree to which authors like Stephen King and some others have really raised the collective bar for horror.
1983 was apparently a year during which a publishing house would consider releasing a "year's best horror" anthology without featuring Stephen King on the cover, and honestly there is little here that couldn't have been written in the 50s or 60s. There's nothing like Carrie here, or The Girl Next Door, or Peter Straub, or Neil Gaiman. Strictly old school stuff here, as anyone familiar with the editor's work would expect. Ramsey Campbell is as close as we get to the cutting edge.
That said, if you're in the frame of mind for that sort of thing, you could do worse. There are some decent stories here, and some duds.
1983 was apparently a year during which a publishing house would consider releasing a "year's best horror" anthology without featuring Stephen King on the cover, and honestly there is little here that couldn't have been written in the 50s or 60s. There's nothing like Carrie here, or The Girl Next Door, or Peter Straub, or Neil Gaiman. Strictly old school stuff here, as anyone familiar with the editor's work would expect. Ramsey Campbell is as close as we get to the cutting edge.
That said, if you're in the frame of mind for that sort of thing, you could do worse. There are some decent stories here, and some duds.
July 30, 2020
I usually like the Karl Edward Wagner Year's Best series, but this one felt a little too outdated, I don't know. Too many MR James clones, and Manly Wade Wellman writing in his 80s was a little too hokey. Oh and the SECOND Ramsey Campbell story in the book was way too long and had people slowly going crazy, which is my very least favorite thing Campbell does, DRIVES ME CRAZY. But here are the better stories:
"The Grab" by Richard Laymon. Cool story about a weird jar in this bar, and people bet money on whether or not they can keep cool enough to reach in and get something out of it. I can't reveal anymore, but this one was cool.
"The Show Goes On" by Ramsey Campbell. The notoriously hit and miss Campbell hits here, about a bookstore that shares a wall with an old, closed cinema, and the shopkeeper stupidly investigates.
"A Posthumous Bequest" by David Campton, not really a horror story but a great morbid comedy.
"Slippage" by Michael Kube-McDowell, the best story in here. Again not really a horror story, more like a Twilight Zone episode, about a man who is slowly being erased from existence.
"Mrs. Halfbooger's Basement" by Lawrence C Connolly, about some punk ass little kids who want to break into an eccentric old woman's house. Reminiscent of early Stephen King/ Robert McCammon.
"Spare the Child" by Thomas F. Monteleone, very cool story about a bored New York couple who send money to some save-the-children organization, then stop later then they get bored, but the receivers of the money on some mysterious island in the middle of nowhere won't let them get off that easily.
"Cruising" by Donald Tyson, very short story about a car load of girls who trick a guy flirting with them into some deadly brutal shit. Very cool story, could be a Tarantino short film.
"Pumpkin Head" by Al Sarrantonio. I was hoping this would be the Pumpkinhead I know from the movie, but it was still a cool short story about a weird new girl in class who starts telling a story during the class Halloween party about a kid with a giant soft head. The story ends at a Halloween party in the basement of a kid's house that night. This could have been an episode of Monsters or Tales From the Darkside, if you are old enough to remember those fantastic shows.
"The Grab" by Richard Laymon. Cool story about a weird jar in this bar, and people bet money on whether or not they can keep cool enough to reach in and get something out of it. I can't reveal anymore, but this one was cool.
"The Show Goes On" by Ramsey Campbell. The notoriously hit and miss Campbell hits here, about a bookstore that shares a wall with an old, closed cinema, and the shopkeeper stupidly investigates.
"A Posthumous Bequest" by David Campton, not really a horror story but a great morbid comedy.
"Slippage" by Michael Kube-McDowell, the best story in here. Again not really a horror story, more like a Twilight Zone episode, about a man who is slowly being erased from existence.
"Mrs. Halfbooger's Basement" by Lawrence C Connolly, about some punk ass little kids who want to break into an eccentric old woman's house. Reminiscent of early Stephen King/ Robert McCammon.
"Spare the Child" by Thomas F. Monteleone, very cool story about a bored New York couple who send money to some save-the-children organization, then stop later then they get bored, but the receivers of the money on some mysterious island in the middle of nowhere won't let them get off that easily.
"Cruising" by Donald Tyson, very short story about a car load of girls who trick a guy flirting with them into some deadly brutal shit. Very cool story, could be a Tarantino short film.
"Pumpkin Head" by Al Sarrantonio. I was hoping this would be the Pumpkinhead I know from the movie, but it was still a cool short story about a weird new girl in class who starts telling a story during the class Halloween party about a kid with a giant soft head. The story ends at a Halloween party in the basement of a kid's house that night. This could have been an episode of Monsters or Tales From the Darkside, if you are old enough to remember those fantastic shows.
August 22, 2026
Another year, another selection of Wagner's supposed best horror stories. More old-fashioned Jamesian pastiche, more writers who later went on to obscurity, and two examples of Ramsey Campbell's chopped liver approach to prose.
Decent (actual horror) stories from Laymon, Etchison, Kube-McDowell, Connelly, Monteleone, Tyson, Sarrantonio, which comprise less than half the book.
With this middling standard, it's little wonder that Splatterpunk happened.
Decent (actual horror) stories from Laymon, Etchison, Kube-McDowell, Connelly, Monteleone, Tyson, Sarrantonio, which comprise less than half the book.
With this middling standard, it's little wonder that Splatterpunk happened.
Read
April 7, 2023My top 5 of the collection would be The Show Goes On; The New Rays; Come, Follow; The Executor; and Rouse Him Not.
Reviewed so far:
The Grab:
Visitors at a dive bar play a game involving a severed head in a jar. Wagner talks about the EC horror comics of the 50s in his introduction, and this feels essentially like a non-comic version of those. Fine for what it is, although it's not really my preferred style of horror.
The Show Goes On:
After a series of break-ins occur, a shopkeeper becomes convinced that the culprits are entering through an abandoned movie theater next to his store. As he searches the theater, memories of a frightening event he experienced there as a child begin to resurface, and he finds that there's something in the dark with him. The atmosphere and setting are rendered extremely well, and some of the imagery in this has stuck with me for years since I first read it. There's a sequence where the main character recalls seeing something (just what it is he can't tell) through a window in the theater that really manages to capture the feeling of, as a child, being absolutely terrified of some innocuous object and being unable to express why it evokes such fear. Probably the best story in the collection.
The House At Evening:
A short piece about college students who end up at a brothel run by . The subject matter, I'll admit, isn't normally something I would find terribly interesting, but the atmosphere is well done, making it more effective than a lot of similar stories.
I Hae Dream'd A Dreary Dream:
A rock climber in Scotland hears a legend of a place where the locals refuse to visit, after several people disappeared there. When he tries to climb the place, he learns that the name 'Pass of the Dead' is all too literal. A solid piece of folk horror, with a well-rendered setting.
Deathtracks:
An elderly couple's grief leads them to spend their lives obsessively listening to the laugh tracks on old sitcoms. An odd piece, perhaps not horror in the strictest sense (although it could perhaps be viewed as a non-supernatural take on the ghost story), but I like Etchison's writing enough that I'm not going to complain.
Come, Follow:
Mysterious footprints outside a house, an old church with a sinister atmosphere, faces peering through windows at night, an encounter with a shadowy form on a lonely country road, and a memorably creepy size-changing apparition; very much M. R. James territory here. James happens to be my favorite author, so anything done in his style is going to win extra marks from me.
Reviewed so far:
The Grab:
Visitors at a dive bar play a game involving a severed head in a jar. Wagner talks about the EC horror comics of the 50s in his introduction, and this feels essentially like a non-comic version of those. Fine for what it is, although it's not really my preferred style of horror.
The Show Goes On:
After a series of break-ins occur, a shopkeeper becomes convinced that the culprits are entering through an abandoned movie theater next to his store. As he searches the theater, memories of a frightening event he experienced there as a child begin to resurface, and he finds that there's something in the dark with him. The atmosphere and setting are rendered extremely well, and some of the imagery in this has stuck with me for years since I first read it. There's a sequence where the main character recalls seeing something (just what it is he can't tell) through a window in the theater that really manages to capture the feeling of, as a child, being absolutely terrified of some innocuous object and being unable to express why it evokes such fear. Probably the best story in the collection.
The House At Evening:
A short piece about college students who end up at a brothel run by . The subject matter, I'll admit, isn't normally something I would find terribly interesting, but the atmosphere is well done, making it more effective than a lot of similar stories.
I Hae Dream'd A Dreary Dream:
A rock climber in Scotland hears a legend of a place where the locals refuse to visit, after several people disappeared there. When he tries to climb the place, he learns that the name 'Pass of the Dead' is all too literal. A solid piece of folk horror, with a well-rendered setting.
Deathtracks:
An elderly couple's grief leads them to spend their lives obsessively listening to the laugh tracks on old sitcoms. An odd piece, perhaps not horror in the strictest sense (although it could perhaps be viewed as a non-supernatural take on the ghost story), but I like Etchison's writing enough that I'm not going to complain.
Come, Follow:
Mysterious footprints outside a house, an old church with a sinister atmosphere, faces peering through windows at night, an encounter with a shadowy form on a lonely country road, and a memorably creepy size-changing apparition; very much M. R. James territory here. James happens to be my favorite author, so anything done in his style is going to win extra marks from me.
July 27, 2012
Again, really excellent collection. The best stories are:
The show goes on / Ramsey Campbell
Deathtracks / Dennis Etchison
Come, follow! / Sheila Hodgson
The smell of cherries / Jeffrey Goddin
Slippage / Michael Kube-McDowell
The executor / David G. Rowlands
Mrs. Halfbooger's basement / Lawrence C. Connolly
Rouse him not / Manly Wade Wellman
Spare the child / Thomas F. Monteleone
The new rays / M. John Harrison
The depths / Ramsey Campbell
Pumpkin head / Al Sarrantonio
The show goes on / Ramsey Campbell
Deathtracks / Dennis Etchison
Come, follow! / Sheila Hodgson
The smell of cherries / Jeffrey Goddin
Slippage / Michael Kube-McDowell
The executor / David G. Rowlands
Mrs. Halfbooger's basement / Lawrence C. Connolly
Rouse him not / Manly Wade Wellman
Spare the child / Thomas F. Monteleone
The new rays / M. John Harrison
The depths / Ramsey Campbell
Pumpkin head / Al Sarrantonio
Currently Reading
October 12, 2022"Mrs. Halfbooger’s Basement" by Lawrence C. Connolly - Sean escapes from an old woman's home where she has kidnapped children and buried them in the basement.
"Rouse Him Not" by Manly Wade Wellman - Thunstone uses his cane sword to slay a familiar left behind after its sorcerer was hanged.
"Spare the Child" by Thomas F. Monteleone - wc
"I Hae Dream'd a Dreary Dream" by John Alfred Taylor - wc
"Rouse Him Not" by Manly Wade Wellman - Thunstone uses his cane sword to slay a familiar left behind after its sorcerer was hanged.
"Spare the Child" by Thomas F. Monteleone - wc
"I Hae Dream'd a Dreary Dream" by John Alfred Taylor - wc
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 2, 2014
4 stars for The New Rays, Cruiding, The Depths.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews