The Best Horror of the Year Volume 3 [Paperback]

It's rare for a non-theme horror anthology to have much cumulative effect. A diverse selection of stories may be intellectually interesting, but it can't often send shivers up the spine in the way an anthology with a common thread can, never mind a single author collection. Happily, The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three is an exception. At first, I planned to read about half of it in a single night. But after a run of particularly creepy tales, I didn't want to put it down, and kept telling myself "I'll stop here... or here... or here." Eventually it was 2:00 AM, and after turning the last page, I found I was seeing things out of the corner of my eye and jumping at small noises. After I closed my bedroom door and got under the covers, I got to thinking about how anything might be sneaking up on me in the hall outside. Anything.

Likethe ominous presence that haunts a funeral home in Glen Hirshberg's Jewish ghost story "Shomer." The atypical werewolf of John Langan's stylish, self-aware "The Revel." Or the sourceless singing that threatens a small boy in "Till the Morning Comes" by Stephen Graham Jones. Or even the nameless terror unearthed by the amateur filmmakers in Richard Harland's "The Fear," a fine addition to the roster of stories using the lost-movie trope. Each of these stories gave me the visceral chill that, for all my intellectual pretension, is still my favorite part of reading horror stories.

But nearly every entry in the table of contents for this best-of volume distinguishes itself in some way. From the love triangle with a ghoulish twist in "City of the Dog," another story by the versatile John Langan, to the disjointed prose poetry of Joseph S. Pulver, Sr.'s "Just Another Desert Night with Blood;" from the hallucinatory Alaskan landscape and violent psychosis of Richard Christian Matheson's "Transfiguration," to the achingly almost-human zombies of Catherynne M. Valente's "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles;" and from the eccentic, decayed seaside attraction of Christopher Fowler's "Oh I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside," to the unlikely friendship struck up between isolated children in "Just Outside Our Windows, Deep Inside Our Walls" by Brian Hodge, this anthology goes from strength to strength.

A few miniature trends can be observed. Several stories offer end of the world scenarios, whether caused by demons, zombies or ordinary birds. Fractured familial and romantic relationships are also common, as monsters prey on people in the midst of more mundane sufferings. But it's diversity, not sameness, that defines the 140,000 words of well-crafted, ambitious fiction that accompany Ellen Datlow's usual thorough summary of the year in horror fiction. Fans of subtle, thoughtful horror probably already know it, but The Best Horror of the Year is a series not to be missed.

Finished reading "The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Three" last night, edited by Ellen Datlow and really enjoyed it.

I read a great of deal of short horror stories from multiple periodicals and web sites, much of which is drek. It's wonderful to sit down and peruse this collection, in which every story is so well written, unique, and truly a "best of." Some of the stories I read before, but they helped set the mood for other authors I was not familiar with. The horror tales in this anthology are not slasher/ splatter, but quiet horror, filled with emotion and insight with plots which are skewed just enough to send the proverbial shivers up your spine. Datlow's summation of the year, listing award-winners and numerous recommendations for further reading is especially appreciated. It is a telling recap of the 2010 year of horror and dark fiction.

Some of my personal favorites in this collection are "The Days of Flaming Motorcycles" by Catherynne M. Valente, "The Folding Man" by Joe R. Lansdale, and "Transfiguration" by Richard Christian Matheson. This book is filled with many other wonderful authors as well - Cody Goodfellow, Tanith Lee, Laird Barron, John Langan, and a dozen others. Highly recommended!

I am going to be completely honest, I have never really enjoyed collections of stories when they are gathered by various authors. I have always found that their have been to many of them that come out at the same time and just figured there was no point in getting involved with something that I found tedious. Now let me tell you that my mind set has been completely changed.

Editor Ellen Datlow's selection of short horror fiction in this book actually kept me entertained. I actually found my self not wanting to put down the book, wanting to continue my journey through the world of these stories. With the exception of two stories that I just couldn't get into all the others kept me locked into place until I completed them.

Amazingly enough two of my favorite stories out of the entire collection were both written by the same author, I am not sure how I missed that when I first read them, however when I came back across them I was pleasantly surprised. John Lagan's "The Revel" (which I considered the best of the collection) and "City of the Dog" are instantly going to go down as favorite stories of mine.

"City of the Dog" dealing with a canine that is not your typical of sorts and "The Revel" a werewolf story that is so brilliantly written that I started rereading it over again just to enjoy the way the author writes.

Another story that really stuck out to me was Richard Harland's The Fear, it was one of those ones that I had no idea what was going to happen within the story as the group of friends try to find the other film reel of a horror flick that they find to be absolutely genius.

Joe R Lansdale's "The Folding Man" actually managed to creep me out, it didn't help that while I was reading this I kept hearing odd noises out side of my window and down my hall way. It made even more eerie considering the I could imagine just what the mans noises sounded like after he was going after those children on that horrible Halloween night.

I got to be honest when I first looked at the Summation I wanted to skip over it. I know how horrible of me. Well thankfully I didn't. It gave me a list and reference to other works that I could check out at another time.

I'm going to have to go back and read the two that one I found irritating to read simply from the way it was written. That would be "30" by Laird Barron the other was "Shomer" by Glen Hirshberg. Perhaps a second viewing of the two will expand my love for this collection. I would recommend this to other readers now as for my self looks like I need to go hunt down the other volumes and start paying more attention to Collections.