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A review by sharonleavy
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror: 2014 by Paula Guran
4.0
RATING: 3.5
This is a collection of 32 short stories, edited by Paula Guran. I'm not usually drawn to short story collections, but with a desire to read more paranormal and horror, I chose this.
There are some standouts - Blue Amber by David J Schow, The Good Husband by Nathan Ballingrud, The Soul in the Bell Jar by KJ Kabza, Postcards from Abroad by Peter Atkins, Phosphorous by Veronica Schanoes, A Lunar Labyrinth by Neil Gaiman, A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson, Dark Gardens by Greg Kurzawa, Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma were all stand-out tales. Dark Gardens in particular was something unique, refreshing and genuinely creepy.
There were some I thought were just okay, they needed more background, more meat. I enjoyed them but thought they'd work better as longer stories. In particular - Wheatfield With Crows by Steve Rasnic Tem, The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning by Joe R. Lonsdale (very Sherlock-esque), Let My Smile Be Your Umbrella by Brian Hodge, Air, Water and The Grove by Kaaron Warren, A Little of The Night by Tanith Lee, Pride: A Collectors Tale by Glen Hirshberg, Our Lady of Ruins by Sarah Singleton, The Marginals by Steve Duffy, Fishwife by Carrie Vaughn, The Dream Detective by Lisa Tuttle, Event Horizon by Sunny Moraine, and Moonstruck by Karin Tidbeck.
Some, I felt, were too long to be included. Kindle estimated the reading time of both Shadows For Silence in The Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson and Iseul's Lexicon by Yoon Ha Lee as over 35 minutes, so in all honesty I skimmed them. I couldn't get into the stories, and they didn't grab me from the offset.
Other stories just plain confused me - Termination Dust by Laird Barron had murders, visions of murders, and an appearance from Michael Jackson. The Prayer of Ninety Cats by Caitlín R. Kiernan had a load of waffle about the history of cinema before revealing that the main story was a film in a cinema, but I felt the tale could have stood up on its own without the history parts. The Plague by Ken Liu was extrememly short and very confusing. The Creature Recants by Dale Bailey was about The Creature from the Lagoon realising he was being used by a production crew, and falling in love with his leading lady. I found it ridiculous. Cuckoo by Angela Slatter was about some kind of body snatcher - but it was rushed and I couldn't get a handle on the character.
Overall, I found this book very enjoyable and I have discovered some horror authors I want to follow up on. My favourite story from the whole (almost 600 page) book was Dark Gardens by Greg Kurzawa - it was beautifully written and genuinely creepy.
There were two other stories that stood out, mainly for the fact that the horror lay in the human elements of the stories. The Good Husband by Nathan Ballingrud was a heartbreaking tale of how a husband dealt with his repeatedly suicidal wife. A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson was about a man who had suffered a horrific brain injury and therefore had a very inaccurate and skewed version of the world.
One story I would avoid altogether is The Legend of Troop 13 by Kit Reed. A crowd of girl scouts go missing in the mountains, and for years later, busloads of curious people (mainly horny men) go on trips up the mountains to try and find the girls (who must be grown up and horny by now) so they can seduce them. I didn't enjoy that story at ALL.
Sincere thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for honest review.
I will be keeping an eye out for next years' anthology, and tracking down the previous ones!
This is a collection of 32 short stories, edited by Paula Guran. I'm not usually drawn to short story collections, but with a desire to read more paranormal and horror, I chose this.
There are some standouts - Blue Amber by David J Schow, The Good Husband by Nathan Ballingrud, The Soul in the Bell Jar by KJ Kabza, Postcards from Abroad by Peter Atkins, Phosphorous by Veronica Schanoes, A Lunar Labyrinth by Neil Gaiman, A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson, Dark Gardens by Greg Kurzawa, Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma were all stand-out tales. Dark Gardens in particular was something unique, refreshing and genuinely creepy.
There were some I thought were just okay, they needed more background, more meat. I enjoyed them but thought they'd work better as longer stories. In particular - Wheatfield With Crows by Steve Rasnic Tem, The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning by Joe R. Lonsdale (very Sherlock-esque), Let My Smile Be Your Umbrella by Brian Hodge, Air, Water and The Grove by Kaaron Warren, A Little of The Night by Tanith Lee, Pride: A Collectors Tale by Glen Hirshberg, Our Lady of Ruins by Sarah Singleton, The Marginals by Steve Duffy, Fishwife by Carrie Vaughn, The Dream Detective by Lisa Tuttle, Event Horizon by Sunny Moraine, and Moonstruck by Karin Tidbeck.
Some, I felt, were too long to be included. Kindle estimated the reading time of both Shadows For Silence in The Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson and Iseul's Lexicon by Yoon Ha Lee as over 35 minutes, so in all honesty I skimmed them. I couldn't get into the stories, and they didn't grab me from the offset.
Other stories just plain confused me - Termination Dust by Laird Barron had murders, visions of murders, and an appearance from Michael Jackson. The Prayer of Ninety Cats by Caitlín R. Kiernan had a load of waffle about the history of cinema before revealing that the main story was a film in a cinema, but I felt the tale could have stood up on its own without the history parts. The Plague by Ken Liu was extrememly short and very confusing. The Creature Recants by Dale Bailey was about The Creature from the Lagoon realising he was being used by a production crew, and falling in love with his leading lady. I found it ridiculous. Cuckoo by Angela Slatter was about some kind of body snatcher - but it was rushed and I couldn't get a handle on the character.
Overall, I found this book very enjoyable and I have discovered some horror authors I want to follow up on. My favourite story from the whole (almost 600 page) book was Dark Gardens by Greg Kurzawa - it was beautifully written and genuinely creepy.
There were two other stories that stood out, mainly for the fact that the horror lay in the human elements of the stories. The Good Husband by Nathan Ballingrud was a heartbreaking tale of how a husband dealt with his repeatedly suicidal wife. A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson was about a man who had suffered a horrific brain injury and therefore had a very inaccurate and skewed version of the world.
One story I would avoid altogether is The Legend of Troop 13 by Kit Reed. A crowd of girl scouts go missing in the mountains, and for years later, busloads of curious people (mainly horny men) go on trips up the mountains to try and find the girls (who must be grown up and horny by now) so they can seduce them. I didn't enjoy that story at ALL.
Sincere thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy in exchange for honest review.
I will be keeping an eye out for next years' anthology, and tracking down the previous ones!